Setting up throttle

[Paladin1cd]

Whew... Where to start. I'm struggling a little bit as I use it on my desktop and while it's awesome I thought it would be heavier and so I have to find a way to hold it in place without permanently mounting it. Any great ideas would be welcome. Also I'm having trouble getting it to work with the shut off detent. How do I set that up? 

 

Thanks to the community, I know someone here has done it and can steer me. Appreciate it. 

[MustangSally]

What throttle....Taurus or Orion?

The shutoff detent is a button press, just assign it to Idle Off/On in DCS

Edited June 7, 2022 by MustangSally

[Paladin1cd]

Sorry, Orion with the F16 group. 

[Dragon1-1]

You need to set the rail up so that the throttle bumps against the aft stop when it's in off detent. It can be adjusted, so play around with it.

Also, I recommend a semi-permanent mount. MonsterTech if you can afford it, a DIY setup like this one if you have access to a 3D printer or can get it printed at a decent price: 
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2788126

I use the latter, and there's nothing wrong with it, other than having to use a lot of filament for the stick mount (you need to print it very solid so it won't flex). Use the TM stick mount found in the remixes tab, it's compatible. I made a mount for the throttle (by modifying the original files, the Winwing throttle is too big for a single piece mount, so it's split in two), it's pretty easy to do yourself, or I can PM you the files if you need them.

[MustangSally]

Sorry, can't answer your mounting question as I have a Taurus

[Brother_Leb]

Monstertech is probably the best and most straightforward option. But if you don't want to pay those prices, @Dragon 1-1's suggestion gets you basically the exact same thing.

If you don't have access to a 3D printer (I don't), you can also purchase one of these on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KJCC4Q7. It's very easy to customize (it's essentially a bag of parts you can build to suit your needs) and works well, provided you build it and set up correctly and tightly. Don't fear the reviews about sturdiness, just keep your physics lessons about center of gravity and levers in mind when you set yours up and you should be fine. (For example, my build for a simple F-18 setup using WW stuff is here. I'm guessing the speaker stand wouldn't be sturdy enough for you. My brother has the F-16EX stick though and is using the amazon-purchased desk mount for it, and he likes it).

A Monstertech or Dragon's 3D printed version would probably be the most solid (short of resting it on cinderblocks or something), but the Monstertech is 3x the price and, as I said, I personally don't have access to a 3D printer so I couldn't do that. I also looked into building one myself using extrusion T-rail, but that was still more expensive than the Amazon one. If you've got the money though, I'm sure you could adapt the design from Dragon's post using t-rail and still save over buying a Monstertech one.

Edited June 7, 2022 by Brother_Leb

[Dragon1-1]

4 hours ago, Brother_Leb said:

I also looked into building one myself using extrusion T-rail, but that was still more expensive than the Amazon one. If you've got the money though, I'm sure you could adapt the design from Dragon's post using t-rail and still save over buying a Monstertech one.

The nice thing about the design in my post is that it uses 2060 alu extrusion. T-rails are massive hunks of aluminum that are typically 40x80, and as it happens, you don't need that kind of bulk at all. Indeed, 2060 gives you a little more flexibility (exactly 2cm, in fact) in how close to the desk you want to put things. My mounts don't flex one bit, my desk does, but that's a separate issue. I'm also using 1mm or so steel plates with a bit of TPU underneath to protect the table (no need for fancy Monstertech coatings), instead of extrusion, which further reduces cost, since steel is strong and cheaper than aluminum (but heavy and hard to work with, mine came with mounting holes, so there's that). 

[Paladin1cd]

Wow gotta look at these mounting options. As far as adjusting... I dont know how to adjust it forward and back for the idle, doesn't seem to move that way and if it does it will screw up the AB detent. 

[Dragon1-1]

Move the whole rail. The idle detent is the only physically important bit, as you have to hit the switches in idle. You can tune the AB detent later in software.

[Phantom711]

vor 6 Stunden schrieb Paladin1cd:

Wow gotta look at these mounting options. As far as adjusting... I dont know how to adjust it forward and back for the idle, doesn't seem to move that way and if it does it will screw up the AB detent. 

Ok...really this is not hard.

Calibrate your throttle in SimAppPro. Whan you do this, DO NOT MOVE your throttle further back then IDLE! You move it from IDLE to FULL AB and in the next step from IDLE to FULL MILITARY (or vice versa...can`t recall now, but the App should kind of talk you through it).

When you are done with that, just take a look at the throttles in the App:

Move your throttle to IDLE...you should see two green lights comming up  (in the App). One next to each throttle.

Now move the throttle all the way back to shut-off! You will see another green light next to each throttle. Those green lights reflect the internal button presses created by the throttle!!! DCS will realize those as "DX buttons" being pressed.

Open DCS and go to the Controls setup for the respective aircraft:

Find the Commands for something like "IDLE detent" and "shut-off detent" or something like that. Klick on the empty space for that command and in the row of your Orion in order to assign the button. Now just move the throttles to the respective position until DCS recognizes the button being pressed. Do so for each throttle (or just once since you have the F-16 grip anyways).

Edited June 11, 2022 by Phantom711

[Dragon1-1]

He's talking about the physical detent. The F-16 grip has a rail with cutouts that provide the detents. As far as I understand it, his physical idle detent (a notch in the rail) is too far forward and the throttle doesn't actually hit the idle/off switches. This is a common problem since the rail tends to need some fine adjustments after installation.

[Paladin1cd]

Phantom, good instructions but it still isn't working quite right. Either idle is high or the afterburner detent kicks in out of whack. Dragon... I really don't see how to adjust it horizontally. Is it possible that one end of the rail needs to be higher than the other to adjust it? It does not look like it would adjust that much honestly but maybe...?

[Dragon1-1]

I don't have the Viper throttle, but that's what people who do have it said. Either way, AB detent is configurable in software, it's the idle one that you need to physically hit.

[MustangSally]

19 hours ago, Paladin1cd said:

Phantom, good instructions but it still isn't working quite right. Either idle is high or the afterburner detent kicks in out of whack. Dragon... I really don't see how to adjust it horizontally. Is it possible that one end of the rail needs to be higher than the other to adjust it? It does not look like it would adjust that much honestly but maybe...?

Calibrate your throttle first...in Simappro

Set your A/B detent second...in Simappro

Assign your idle detent in DCS settings to idle/off....in DCS

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by MustangSally

[Paladin1cd]

How do I set it in DCS? 

[MustangSally]

If it's the F/A-18, go into DCS - options -controls and search for the idle/off binding......you do know how to assign buttons in DCS???

[Paladin1cd]

It's the 16 throttle. Yeah I do, But that sets the idle so low I  have to pull the throttle back into the detent. 

[Phantom711]

It is really hard to understand, what your problem is, really.

In SimAppPro, when you are at the PHYSICAL Idle position…do the internal buttons light up? If not, where in relation to the physical stop are they?

confirm you have your throttle calibrated from the idle stop (NOT the full aft position) to full AB!

[Paladin1cd]

I'm not sure why it is hard to understand, but I'll explain again maybe differently. The physical detent does not align with the in-plane throttle. While in idle, the engine is producing thrust, running up to about 75%. In SimAppPro while in idle there is a blue indication that the throttle is advanced a bit. I'm trying to get that to line up with the physical idle slot for the throttle. I have not seen anywhere to adjust that and physically adjusting it would require the part to move fore and aft and would then mess with the cut off and the AB detent. 

[Phantom711]

again: you need to do the calibration in SimAppPro from IDLE to MIL and MAX AB. The throttle will then „consider“ the IDLE position as the „lowest“ position.

 

have you done that?

Edited June 18, 2022 by Phantom711

[Paladin1cd]

Yup, just as instructed above as far as I can tell. 

[Phantom711]

Then I am out of ideas here. After I calibrated my throttle it showed zero input when at idle or below. F-16 or F/A-18 throttle should not make a difference at all.

[MustangSally]

1 hour ago, Phantom711 said:

Then I am out of ideas here. After I calibrated my throttle it showed zero input when at idle or below. F-16 or F/A-18 throttle should not make a difference at all.

There is no throttle input from idle to below. When you move your throttle from the idle stop back, you are pressing the idle/off binding

[Phantom711]

vor einer Stunde schrieb MustangSally:

There is no throttle input from idle to below. When you move your throttle from the idle stop back, you are pressing the idle/off binding

Well...I don`t see that I said anything different really. Even though there is still a tiny bit of physical travel from IDLE till the aft backstop and the shut-off keybind is not pressed until I reach the full aft position.

Anyways...the important part of the massege was, that my throttle shows no axis input at IDLE (in SimAppPro).

Edited June 19, 2022 by Phantom711

[Phantom711]

@MustangSally

Also you are talking about the result, that a correct setup will have in DCS, whereas I am talking about setting it up correctly in SimAppPro in the first place.

Edited June 19, 2022 by Phantom711