3d printed helicopter collective journey

[Neilsoon]

I started this whole journey about 6 months ago, looking for a better way to control rotor pitch in sims than the HOTAS setup I had. After some google-fu I found some thingiverse files and fired up the printer. I originally settled on the basic collective by Gazmac

 

using a variety of switches and momentary push buttons configured through a pro micro and MMJoy2. MMjoy however is a bit of a pain as its no longer updated, and even though it works, its a little outdated. This design works incredibly well, however the nature of this hobby is that you want more and more "real" so I went on a journey (still on it, really) to come up with a design that felt a bit more real and was more functional. Queue 4 months of learning fusion alongside playing games and working. 

 

I settled on copying the UH60 collective, as it seems quite ergonomic and the blackhawk is quite an iconic helicopter. The first attempt was pretty poor, if I'm honest. I tried to design a new enclosure for the head, but that didn't scratch the itch. I reused the mount from Gaz' design and hoped that I could just swap the buttons and switches and be happy. But no. Itch still very unscratched...

 

Next I figured out how to model a grip onto the head, and after doing a rough guesstimate of the curvature and dimensions, I actually printed this version out 

This version had the look and the feel, at first. Then I noticed that it wasn't quite as accurate as I'd liked, it was too unbalanced feeling and the thumb stretch wasn't equal, so we went again. I kept the same rough dimensions as this felt perfectly comfortable in my hand, however I made changes to the head, to accommodate more accurate switches, the 3d printable ones by Huzarski on thingiverse

 

At this point I'll point out that I am aware that the collective I've based this off of has another 4 way switch usable by the thumb from a growth on the handle, however I have chosen to leave this out as I dont think I'll need the 17 possible controls it already has, let alone another 4, so I opted to avoid the headache of adding that in. 

 

So onto version 12 at this point, I modeled a switch in fusion to make sure they'd fit in the box and the holes, added a face plate to cover up any mounting hardware, added mounting holes and tidied up the internal geometry to make printing a bit easier. I was finally happy with it, until I realised I'd forgotten the throttle assembly. Queue copious swearing and failed attempts to figure it out, until I finally settled on a solution.

 

I haven't printed this version out yet, but from assembly in fusion, it all SEEMS as if it should fit up and work quite nicely. Again its not entirely accurate, but its accurate enough for me, for now, and it covers all the controls I might need. I'm still working on a suitable base, as the original base from Gaz' design is not sturdy enough to support the significant weight added to the head, and I'd like to incorporate some sort of mechanical braking in order to give the axis a better "feel" and some resistance. 

 

 

I'll be printing non stop for about 3 days before I can assemble it and make sure it works. This post is more to log my learning and the progress than anything else, but if for any reason any one is interested in the progress or outcome, I'll likely be updating this with how it goes, good or bad. 

 

[Hawkeye60]

And if you do not mind,

Share the STL's.

I am a big 3D printer addict.

Made my own collective.

Files are here.

https://www.thingiverse.com/

[Neilsoon]

https://imgur.com/a/6wY5CXm
 

fitted with the buttons and switches, the base and faceplate are printing just now 

 

The first time it didn’t insert the photo correctly, and I can’t edit posts 

[Neilsoon]

After all, I changed it again. The curve just wasnt as comfortable as I wanted it to be, so i set to work making it more ergonomic, 

and redesigned the head so that controls were easier to access at a better angle. 

Then I decided I did want the thumb button after all, so set about getting that as good as I could, 

 

This version I did print, and found that the stem was just too thin, so thickened it up, reprinted it and was happy with the result

 

 

I modified the base I was using, fitted the throttle body, pot holder, spacer and 

 

 

Each "hat" switch is 5 way except the far left which is three way, up down and click, plus an (on)-off-(on) toggle, and one push button giving me a total of 26 controls, plus a throttle axis and a pitch axis, Im currently waiting on parts from Ali to build up the electronic side of things, however the switches/buttons, pot and hall sensor are already wired and are working, so hopefully within two weeks itll be fully functional. The drastically improved print quality is due to a printer upgrade, namely to a BambuLabs P1S, I've gone from printing 1 in 14 hours to printing 1 in 3.5 hours, which is fantastic. 

[Sr.]

Nice!

[Sr.]

On 12/12/2023 at 8:49 PM, Neilsoon said:

I started this whole journey about 6 months ago, looking for a better way to control rotor pitch in sims than the HOTAS setup I had. After some google-fu I found some thingiverse files and fired up the printer. I originally settled on the basic collective by Gazmac

 

using a variety of switches and momentary push buttons configured through a pro micro and MMJoy2. MMjoy however is a bit of a pain as its no longer updated, and even though it works, its a little outdated. This design works incredibly well, however the nature of this hobby is that you want more and more "real" so I went on a journey (still on it, really) to come up with a design that felt a bit more real and was more functional. Queue 4 months of learning fusion alongside playing games and working. 

 

I settled on copying the UH60 collective, as it seems quite ergonomic and the blackhawk is quite an iconic helicopter. The first attempt was pretty poor, if I'm honest. I tried to design a new enclosure for the head, but that didn't scratch the itch. I reused the mount from Gaz' design and hoped that I could just swap the buttons and switches and be happy. But no. Itch still very unscratched...

 

Next I figured out how to model a grip onto the head, and after doing a rough guesstimate of the curvature and dimensions, I actually printed this version out 

This version had the look and the feel, at first. Then I noticed that it wasn't quite as accurate as I'd liked, it was too unbalanced feeling and the thumb stretch wasn't equal, so we went again. I kept the same rough dimensions as this felt perfectly comfortable in my hand, however I made changes to the head, to accommodate more accurate switches, the 3d printable ones by Huzarski on thingiverse

 

At this point I'll point out that I am aware that the collective I've based this off of has another 4 way switch usable by the thumb from a growth on the handle, however I have chosen to leave this out as I dont think I'll need the 17 possible controls it already has, let alone another 4, so I opted to avoid the headache of adding that in. 

 

So onto version 12 at this point, I modeled a switch in fusion to make sure they'd fit in the box and the holes, added a face plate to cover up any mounting hardware, added mounting holes and tidied up the internal geometry to make printing a bit easier. I was finally happy with it, until I realised I'd forgotten the throttle assembly. Queue copious swearing and failed attempts to figure it out, until I finally settled on a solution.

 

I haven't printed this version out yet, but from assembly in fusion, it all SEEMS as if it should fit up and work quite nicely. Again its not entirely accurate, but its accurate enough for me, for now, and it covers all the controls I might need. I'm still working on a suitable base, as the original base from Gaz' design is not sturdy enough to support the significant weight added to the head, and I'd like to incorporate some sort of mechanical braking in order to give the axis a better "feel" and some resistance. 

 

 

I'll be printing non stop for about 3 days before I can assemble it and make sure it works. This post is more to log my learning and the progress than anything else, but if for any reason any one is interested in the progress or outcome, I'll likely be updating this with how it goes, good or bad. 

 

Check out this guy's series... His brake design is genius.

 

On 12/13/2023 at 12:32 AM, Hawkeye60 said:

And if you do not mind,

Share the STL's.

I am a big 3D printer addict.

Made my own collective.

Files are here.

https://www.thingiverse.com/

Have a link to your files?