Orion 2 Throttle thumbwheel tension adjustment?

[TheSlickOne]

I have the Orion2 F/A-18 Hornet Throttle Combo and would like to make the friction/tension of the two thumbwheel sliders (picture below) stronger so they're not so easy to move. Is there an adjustment for these? Did anybody disassemble this throttle before and see if anything could be done?  Btw, if anybody has any info on how to take it apart safely I'd like that information. There are too many screws.

[MustangSally]

No adjustment - disassemble at your own risk

[Guest]

It is very annoying that they are so loose. Very weird that the engineers would find this to be ok.

Edited August 27, 2023 by Razor68

[FZG_Immel]

I have 2 orion base.. Orion 1 and Orion 2

 

they are perfect in Orion 1. loose in Orion 2.

 

I will soon be receiving an Orion2 anniversary. I will tell you how this one is

[TheSlickOne]

For those with the loose Orion2 base sliders, it's possible to get them tighter. Take off the base plate (lots of screws but no cables to worry about), unscrew the two retaining screws on each slider and pull it out (there are no cables). You need to take the slider body apart by unscrewing the 3 small metal screws and gently pry the two halves apart with a knife. You will see two thick and one thinner plastic pins protruding from one of the halves. The thinner pin that goes through the cutout in the slider is what's providing the spacing for the upper part of the plastic body. You can file down this plastic pin a bit to be able to tighten the top screw therefore pulling the slider body halves closer together to create more friction. Only need to remove a hair, don't overdo it. You can just press the two halves of the slider body together to test the feel.

The actual factory friction is created by a thin spring washer that is bent in a U-shape. You'll see once you take it apart. I thought about putting more bend into this part to increase the friction but it's so flimsy that I was afraid it might break. Plus, I wanted a very tight slider and my feeling was that even bending this spring wouldn't increase the friction that much. So I chose the other option described above. Make sure you file the pin end in a right angle to make sure the tightness is even once assembled. If the end is slanted the slider body halves won't mate up evenly and you'll end up with the slider having more resistance during one half of it's travel.

I managed to get them much tighter than the Warthog HOTAS slider. An accidental bump won't move them now and at the same time the action is still smooth. Hope this helps someone.

Edited November 1, 2023 by TheSlickOne

[zaelu]

Maybe it helps someone later. There is a guy (spanish but translation works great) that has several videos about disassembling and modding the Orion 2 Throttle and you can see the mechanisms inside the throttle base. It doesn't look complcated and maybe tightening or changing the nut with a self locking nylon insert one is all you need. He has a link to such nuts on amzaon in video description but everybody should know them.

 

[PawlaczGMD]

18 hours ago, zaelu said:

Maybe it helps someone later. There is a guy (spanish but translation works great) that has several videos about disassembling and modding the Orion 2 Throttle and you can see the mechanisms inside the throttle base. It doesn't look complcated and maybe tightening or changing the nut with a self locking nylon insert one is all you need. He has a link to such nuts on amzaon in video description but everybody should know them.

 

I have done this mod. As explained in the thread, you just need to file down a protruding plastic tube 1 mm and tighten the screw.

[zaelu]

On 12/16/2023 at 9:06 AM, PawlaczGMD said:

I have done this mod. As explained in the thread, you just need to file down a protruding plastic tube 1 mm and tighten the screw.

I tried to visualise your explanation without opening my Orion 2 throttle and couldn't really understand if it's a job worth doing. Maybe someone else is in the same boat like me and needs some more visual help. The videos of this guy on youtube are are more explanatory of how the hardware layout is. He is not talking about your mod... He designed new parts for different purpose etc... but in doing so you get to see very well what you might need to do to achieve what you did with your mod and what the original poster asked.
Cheers.

[Keith Briscoe]

I notice in the thumbnail of the video above that his unit does NOT have the long arms on the dials.  I have to imagine that without the long arms, the dial would not feel quite so "loose" - without the need to disassemble and tighten.

WinWing, if you're seeing this - my suggestion is to simply use a much smaller nub for center of the dial, in the future.

[PawlaczGMD]

8 hours ago, Keith Briscoe said:

I notice in the thumbnail of the video above that his unit does NOT have the long arms on the dials.  I have to imagine that without the long arms, the dial would not feel quite so "loose" - without the need to disassemble and tighten.

WinWing, if you're seeing this - my suggestion is to simply use a much smaller nub for center of the dial, in the future.

This exacerbates the issue, but the wheels were really loose even if you didn't touch the arm. And the arm is great for finding the wheel without looking. So my suggestion is to not use a smaller nub, just tighten the wheels  

[zaelu]

On 12/20/2023 at 4:08 PM, Keith Briscoe said:

I notice in the thumbnail of the video above that his unit does NOT have the long arms on the dials.  I have to imagine that without the long arms, the dial would not feel quite so "loose" - without the need to disassemble and tighten.

WinWing, if you're seeing this - my suggestion is to simply use a much smaller nub for center of the dial, in the future.

OK... maybe a short description of the movie above because probably not many are watching. It's about a mod. A hardware mod. The guy replaced the knobs with shorter 3d printed ones because he pllays VR and the long handles on those knobs were in the way for him to reach easy the switches in front of the throttle. Those knobs are not just redesigned and printed in resin but actually contain new magnets so they reconstitue the HALL sensors. That nut that holds them is a 10mm nut. If replaced with self locking one it will not go anywhere not to mention that the shape and dimensions of the thread of those knobs can be now modified before printing.
It looks like this in Blender.

Edited December 23, 2023 by zaelu