VKB "force sensing" Mod

[Pickles]

Just sharing a small project to imitate a "force sensing" joystick for the F16 without going all the way with a Realsimulator FSSB.

Was finding that with a standard VKB Gladiator and "normal" joystick curves (either linier or exponential) it was difficult to find a setting that worked for the Viper.  F18 and A10 felt fine, but the software imitation of the F16's force sensing stick just didn't work for me.  Nothing impossible mind you, it just felt "off" and there was no way I could ever get close to an AAR connection.  

So after a bit of measuring and CAD work to make the stl, a 3D collar was printed in TPU to fit between the bottom of the grip and the top of the base.  The idea being that by printing in TPU (a flexible filament) with a low infill percentage it would both limit X and Y throws as well as act as a force to move against.

The print was done with 15% infill, which has worked out to be just about right for me.  It provides sufficient resistance while being able to deform to accommodate joystick movement.  Total throw is now about 10cm X and Y, with resistance increasing linearly from center.  Between the collar and the base is some thin foam material to help reduce the "stiction" of the TPU on the base body.

 

Flying the F16 is now very nice.  The limited movement and increasing resistance as the joystick moves from center makes it much nicer to fly - at least for me.  To the extent that within 10 minutes of using it I could get an AAR connect for the first time. Now I just need to stay there long enough to fill up! 

The X and Y curves are done in Joystick Gremlin and there's still some tweaking to do, but quite happy with the result.  

And while it's much better than before, I don't expect it's anywhere near as good as a FSSB.  I've started dropping hints to the wife that maybe I should get a Realsimulator FSSB for my 60th next year

VKB Collar.stl

 

[=617= Evil]

Very cool! 

For those of us that aren't as handy, there is something of a jury-rigged solution that I've been messing around with. I have a a VKB NXT Gladiator stick, so not sure how well it would translate to other sticks. But I swapped to the strongest springs the stick shipped with, and set the Pitch/Roll curves at -30 so it detects very small inputs. Only been using it for a short period of time, but I'm really enjoying it. Obviously it's still physically possible to crank the stick over, but it really takes some effort. 

The small inputs for large movements seems much more intuitive. Looking forward to testing it more.