Skywalkers just slide all over

[Jetliner]

On hardwood floor, Ive tried 2 throw rugs, 2 brands of carpet spikes, and 4 different rubber furniture stoppers with and without the rug and nothing can keep these pedals in place.  At this point I am getting ready to toss them out and get a different set of pedals.  HOW are you guys keeping these things on the floor?  The pad it shipped with was utterly useless as well.

If nobody has any good ideas, who has the best pedals on the market that ACTUALLY stay where they need to during normal operation?

[Wostg]

foam tape or plumbers rubber tape - the stuff you have to scrape off the surface once it settles

[Raiden]

self adhesive velcro tape

I have been using this method with my rudder for years and it works perfectly.

 

Edited June 11, 2024 by Raiden

[Phantom711]

Get a plank and 4 screws.

[Jetliner]

On 6/10/2024 at 10:30 PM, Raiden said:

self adhesive velcro tape

I have been using this method with my rudder for years and it works perfectly.

 

(snip)

 

This is what I'm thinking so far but now I have a nice rug that I dont necessarily want to just toss either.  Maybe I can put just one side of the velcro on the pedals and it will grab the rug?

On 6/10/2024 at 10:05 PM, Wostg said:

foam tape or plumbers rubber tape - the stuff you have to scrape off the surface once it settles

Hmmm I'll have to look into that stuff

On 6/11/2024 at 4:11 PM, Phantom711 said:

Get a plank and 4 screws.

(snip

The closest wall is a decent ways away, would be a pretty big plank and (I know it doesnt matter really but) a pretty unsightly solution.

 

It really seems WinWing had a massive failure of design with anchoring these to the floor.

Edited June 13, 2024 by Jetliner

[Phantom711]

As an interim solution, you could remove the spring. You loose the centering function, but you would also use less force from your legs and hence not push the whole construction over your floor.

Maybe you could have someone 3D print something for you…something that has some kind of sawteeth on it, that dig into your rug!?

I agree, that the options that WW came up with were unsatisfactory…but I also don‘t see any other unintrusive or „pure weight“ option that they could have come up with.

[Phantom711]

One more idea:

Get a floor protection mat. They are usually available in clear plastic. Take one that is large enough to put the weight of your desk on, so it won‘t slide. Now you can combine that with the other ideas of taping the rudderpedals on there or using velcrotape etc… Your rug and flooring will remain unharmed.

Edited June 13, 2024 by Phantom711

[Nightdare]

13 hours ago, Jetliner said:

The closest wall is a decent ways away, would be a pretty big plank and (I know it doesnt matter really but) a pretty unsightly solution.

I sincerely doubt your stick is mounted to the closet wall as well ...Can't you place a plank width-wise and tie/chain/bolt that to your desk/setup

Hell, maybe a simple 2x4 width-wise against the desk legs might just be enough to block the pedals from moving?

[Jetliner]

On 6/13/2024 at 11:03 AM, Nightdare said:

I sincerely doubt your stick is mounted to the closet wall as well ...Can't you place a plank width-wise and tie/chain/bolt that to your desk/setup

Hell, maybe a simple 2x4 width-wise against the desk legs might just be enough to block the pedals from moving?

You got me thinking about using my rig as the mounting point instead and I came up with a great solution!  Thank you!!

[Nightdare]

I tend to be good in coming up with practical, crude improvisations

(Just never ask me to follow up and plan something out that also has to look good, either the plan fails, or the improvisation looked better  )

[Aronis]

This thread made me smile.  I have a Logitech pedal set and I used a few boxes between the wall and my pedals to keep it in place.. I was going to cut a piece of wood like above, but the boxes work fine so I did not bother.  I'll do the same with the Skywalker pedals.

 

Mike

[Aronis]

Box against wall, block of wood between box and pedal base.  Works great.

Mike

[Cgjunk2]

On 6/16/2024 at 4:50 PM, Nightdare said:

I tend to be good in coming up with practical, crude improvisations

(Just never ask me to follow up and plan something out that also has to look good, either the plan fails, or the improvisation looked better  )

 

On 9/6/2024 at 8:08 PM, Aronis said:

This thread made me smile.  I have a Logitech pedal set and I used a few boxes between the wall and my pedals to keep it in place.. I was going to cut a piece of wood like above, but the boxes work fine so I did not bother.  I'll do the same with the Skywalker pedals.

 

Mike

We tend to undervalue practical “makeshift” solutions.   If they work, they work.  Crude is in the eye of the beholder.   
 

I’ve managed to make plenty of “crude” solutions in making a flight sim chair, mounting my center stick, making a collective mechanism that bolts on to my winwing throttle.   Mostly using lumber scraps, drywall screws, broom handles, and steel strap and steel angle from the hardware store.  A wood saw, hack saw, drill bits and a drill is all it takes for tools.  Once I’m flying, I don’t notice my contraptions as long as they work well.   Making it work well, though can take a little time and thought.  Though not much more time than researching ready made commercial solutions (that might not exist, and may not work as well). 
 

And if anybody needs anymore validation for “makeshift” solutions, I submit that aviation fabrication in general is full of them.  Look around some of the highly detailed cockpit models in DCS.  I see tape, zip-ties, string, simple angle brackets, etc all over the place lol.  If it’s ugly, but it works (without killing you or putting the plane in danger), then it’s fine!

Edited September 9, 2024 by Cgjunk2

[Aronis]

The Skywalker Pedals I received have a different base than those shown online.  A large flat metal plate. It did not include a no slip mat.  A large box (logitech Yoke (never even opened the box) with a 10 inch wide 1 inch pine board on the floor holding the base of the Skywalker solidly in place.

Now I have to retrain my feet to use the more realistic pedals properly.  Heals on the floor unless I am landing and need the brakes I guess. LOL.

Today I had a little time so I spent it cleaning up my setup, repacking my Logitech gear, getting rid of some excess junk and cleaned up the wires.  I made some custom labels for the Throttle and Take Off Panel.  Work in progress.   I hope to have a few hours on Thursday to attempt FIWOS Mission 3 with my new setup.

Mike

 

 

[Nightdare]

14 hours ago, Cgjunk2 said:

We tend to undervalue practical “makeshift” solutions.   If they work, they work.  Crude is in the eye of the beholder.   
 

I’ve managed to make plenty of “crude” solutions in making a flight sim chair, mounting my center stick, making a collective mechanism that bolts on to my winwing throttle.   Mostly using lumber scraps, drywall screws, broom handles, and steel strap and steel angle from the hardware store.  A wood saw, hack saw, drill bits and a drill is all it takes for tools.  Once I’m flying, I don’t notice my contraptions as long as they work well.   Making it work well, though can take a little time and thought.  Though not much more time than researching ready made commercial solutions (that might not exist, and may not work as well). 

 

Necessity is the mother of invention

For example:

When I got my VPC pedals, they were at a different position from the wall than the Saitek's I had, and gave issues with my sitting position with the stick mounted under my desk, a little later I got a Playseat

I just wanted the seat though, not the steering/pedal attachments, though i did get the Shifter plate to mount my throttle and VKB SEM

I first had to raise the seat on 4 2x4's or I'd be sitting behind my desk typing/moving the mouse like a T-rex, the shifter plate was too low for my tastes, so I went back to my old throttle mount (an old speaker cabinet), but I did like the adjustable stick bracket for my NXT, so I bolted that to the cabinet as well

Still had the issue with my pedals/stick position though

I then used the unemployed steering/pedal plate connecting beam that came with the seat, to attach my VPC mount (I have the old v1 straight mount) on the end, upside down/backwards, so I could slide the stick in the correct position and clamp it down, this also solved a previous issue where I had to dismount the stick every time I didn't use it, because now I can also slide it forward out of the way

Added bonuses: the change of the mount position allowed me to bolt my LT flight panel and a TM MFD in the location where it previously was and I could also strap a cheap programmable numpad forward of the stick on the mount, the reuse of my speaker cabinet with the shifter bracket gave enough space to bolt a WW Orion AND my old VPC CM on it, totally impossible on the shifter plate from Playseat (Ok, not in an ideal position, but 4 levers are handy flying the Mosquito and I mostly did this for the extra buttons of the CM)

 

So, 'out of the box', wasn't the perfect setup, but screwing around with what I had lying around gave me nothing but improvements

 

Looking forward, FFB bases come into view, and I'm eyeing my current setup which works pretty well, so I'm slowly brainstorming how to attach a big base to that beam in such a way I can still get the stick out of the way, while not having a shaking mess on my hands when in use, I'm getting the feeling those 2 cheap and insignificant 2x4's are gonna end up of more use than just raising the seat and might be key in getting a solid mounting