Ben Sones Posted October 13, 2022 Posted October 13, 2022 My new Thrustmaster F-16C grip arrived, and I put it on my (desktop) WarBRD base, replacing the Virpil WarBRD grip that I've been using. The new grip is crazy-heavy--just shy of 1 kilogram, all by itself. I was expecting the standard springs on the WarBRD to be way too light for this grip; I've seen people on reddit and various forums saying that they can't even keep it centered, and that the grip leans a bit forward when your hands are off of it. I figured I might as well check it out before going to the trouble of swapping springs, though, so I popped it on the base, which is currently using the factory default "standard" springs and the soft-center aviation cams, and... it's fine? Like, the weight of the stick definitely makes the spring resistance feel lighter (especially around the center), though not as light as my CH Fighterstick, which is what I used prior to getting the WarBRD. If you move the grip off-center and let go, it will wobble back and forth for a bit before settling down, just from the weight of the stick. But it centers perfectly fine (values in Virpil's Joystick Tester are a consistent X: 50% Y: 50%), and feels fine to use, if a bit on the light side. The upside of the lighter resistance is that it moves very fluidly around the center; you still feel progressively more resistance as you near full deflection, but not enough to lift the base off the table. The main downside seems to just be the oscillation you get if you release the stick without returning it to center first, but is that really all that big a deal in practice? It seems like probably not. For comparison's sake, I opened up the base and swapped out the standard springs for the heavy ones (these are the middle-weight springs that Virpil offers, not the extra-heavy springs that you need to order separately). The heavy springs have a much stronger centering force, and correspondingly less oscillation when releasing the stick (though still some; given the weight of the grip, I think the only way to eliminate oscillation on release would be to add dampeners to the gimbal assembly). Resistance feels even more progressive, but now the stick is on the stiff side even moving around the center (it feels stiffer than the WarBRD grip with the standard springs did), and the center detent is much more pronounced, making precise movements around center more difficult. As you approach full deflection, resistance rises so much that the base lifts a bit. It's actually almost impossible to hit full deflection without lifting the base. I don't hate the stronger resistance, though I feel like the lighter springs are more practical for a desktop stick (no lifting) and offer better precision (movement around center with the standard springs is very fluid). Maybe the stronger springs would be better with the no-center cams? They certainly don't need the detent to help them center--the spring weight alone is probably enough. I dunno. The base lifting would still be an issue, though. Maybe I could add more weight to the base plate; it's pretty light compared to, say, the Warthog base. So I'm thinking about sticking with the standard weight springs. I'm curious: what springs are other people using? Particularly people using the WarBRD as a desktop stick. I know that's probably a small demographic, but mounting my stick is really not an option for me. My PC area is a multi-use workstation, and I need to be able to quickly and easily move all the flight gear out of the way when not in use.
Ben Sones Posted October 13, 2022 Author Posted October 13, 2022 And because I am a crazy person, I decided to try one more configuration: swap out the standard springs for the heavy ones, and then also swap out the standard "soft center" aviation cams for the "no center" ones. Swapping out cams is a little bit more of a project. It's not difficult, per se--just tedious. Getting those heavy springs onto the cams is a pain, though. The suggested method (hook the spring onto one cam, then grip the other end of the spring with needle-nosed pliers and stretch it out to hook it over the other cam) works fine with the standard weight springs, but the heavy ones require a lot more force to stretch out, and I worry about slipping and damaging the internals of the gimbal. So instead, I use Spring Replacement Easy Mode: flex the spring and wedge some dimes in between the coils to stretch it out. Five dimes is enough to hook the spring onto both cams using only my fingers. Then you just gently remove them with pliers (tip: instead of pulling the dimes, just gently wiggle them back and forth, and they will pop out on their own). Results: I like it. The "no center" cams give the stick the fluidity around the center of travel that I had with the standard springs, except even more so because now there's no center detent at all. At the same time, it has a nice level of progressive resistance as you move off center, and pushing the stick all the way full deflection requires rather a lot of force (still need to do something about base lifting at full deflection). Amusingly, without the center detent, releasing the stick results in just as much wobble as it had with the standard springs and soft center cams. I guess the physical detent acts as a bit of a dampener. That said, I'm not sure that I really care how the stick behaves when I'm not holding it. And spring force does keep it centered nicely--Joystick Tester registers a steady 50% X, 50% Y with hands off the stick, even without the detent to keep it centered. So, I guess I'll fly with this configuration for a while, to see how I like it.
Recommended Posts