My warthog extender

[metalnwood]

Without going in to to much measurement, something could probably be done which would cater for those, they still look like they are adding 10mm to the length.

 

Have a search around, I couldnt find anything on RS which was the correct plug - i.e. 6 pin mini din.

[LostOblivion]

I'm wondering if this could be used when mounting the base housing onto a wooden plate on the floor and then use a rather long extension up to the stick itself. Is this feasable? I reckon the extension would have to be around 300 mm tall.

[9Thumbs]

Most any joystick could be extended that much, but I'm not sure you would be happy with the results. There may be a couple of drawbacks - first, to use it comfortably you would need to limit the range of motion (throw). You can recalibrate for the restricted movement, but you would be losing half the resolution of the pots/Hall sensors.

 

The other problem is the loss of spring effectiveness - no centering and little force needed to move the stick. Some guys actually like that - depends on your preferences.

 

If you really want a floor-mounted stick, I would suggest building your own gimbals and transferring the grip and electronics from a donor stick.

 

Here's a pic of mine. I've been happily flying with it for several years, although I'm working on a FFB version now.

 

floor mount"]floor mount

 

9T

[LostOblivion]

Ah nice, is the stock TT hog housing inside that box?

[9Thumbs]

Nope - homebuilt with Hall sensors from Cubpilot and electronics/grip from TM Cougar. Smooth movement with about 5lbs of force at maximum throw.

 

naughty bits"]naughty bits

 

9T

[TulsA-10]

Sent you a pm.. I WTB an 8in if you have any.. Thank you and great job!

[metalnwood]

Hi guys, I have just finished some extenders but there is just enough to do one more. I wont be able to fit it in this week but if anyone is interested I can send it this time next week.

 

It's $85 + $20 shipping and if you don't want to do your own cable by following the instructions earlier in the thread I can make you up a modded cable for $10.

 

Thanks,

[BigBANGtheory]

Your solution inspired me to create my own extenstion with an awful lot of help of an engineer. I really wanted to introduce a bend in the extension to bring the handle closer as I use a regular office chair that can't have the cut out for the central mounting.

 

Im not offering to make these for others btw, but happy to share info on the parts and construction.

 

[pitbldr]

Im not offering to make these for others btw, but happy to share info on the parts and construction.

 

Very nice work! Please share the parts you used and the source for them.

[metalnwood]

Nice, there are a couple more posted in this thread using the plumbing supplies but I think the earlier ones only found plastic nuts.

 

I must try it like that as well but most people who have wanted one with a bend also want then fairly long which puts it too far from the center and they dont spring back.

 

Yours looks like a good compromise for a bend vs the height.

[agrasyuk]

I must try it like that as well but most people who have wanted one with a bend also want then fairly long which puts it too far from the center and they dont spring back.

well, even without the bend long stick provides hardly any resistance and given the considerable weight of hardware will not spring back from extreme deflection. i inquired and posted my solution http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1328495&postcount=4

ugly, but functional. i have a cloth cover in works to pretty this up somewhat.

 

 

Im not offering to make these for others btw, but happy to share info on the parts and construction.

 

Please do share. i wonder about source for the big nut. I also wonder how much of a twist element such a drastic bend introduces into X axis.

[BigBANGtheory]

Thanks guys Im a fan of your respective works too.

 

The extension measures 95mm height with the bend moving the stick 40mm off center. The stick does spring back to center but I wouldn't want to push it much further I think it was more luck than good judgement to not over do it. In my case I intend to build a pedestal to center mount the base with the extra 40mm afforded by the bend allowing me to mount it further away from my legs/body. Thats the plan anyway...

 

The copper section is a 22mm cross-over pipe section that has been machined down, then silver soldered to a copper reducer. These bits are easy to get hold of from a plumbing store. The nut and thread comes from a hydraulic fitting P/N 739-326 from a UK company called Radio Spares, the manufacturer is Parker and their P/N is GE28LREDCF.

 

The tricky bit is to machine the thread off the hydraulic fitting then silver solder it to the copper. The nut at the other end is is prevented from coming away by a brass insert soldered to the copper reducer.

Edited December 2, 2011 by BigBANGtheory

[shagrat]

Nice, there are a couple more posted in this thread using the plumbing supplies but I think the earlier ones only found plastic nuts.

 

I must try it like that as well but most people who have wanted one with a bend also want then fairly long which puts it too far from the center and they dont spring back.

 

Yours looks like a good compromise for a bend vs the height.

 

Hi folks,

 

not shure if this works also with a bend, but perhaps with a more powerful spring:

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=75434

 

...I just had no tools to bend the pipe :D

[metalnwood]

well, even without the bend long stick provides hardly any resistance and given the considerable weight of hardware will not spring back from extreme deflection. i inquired and posted my solution http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1328495&postcount=4

ugly, but functional. i have a cloth cover in works to pretty this up somewhat.

 

 

 

 

Please do share. i wonder about source for the big nut. I also wonder how much of a twist element such a drastic bend introduces into X axis.

 

Yes, yours is fairly long. Mine adds about 85mm in my set up and I find it ideal. There is certainly less tension when using it byt the spring has no issue at bringing it back, I can let it go at the extremes and it jumps back in to place ok.

 

The one with the bend, even though it is only fractionally longer is bringing the weight of the stick further back so it will have trouble recentering from pulling back more than it will from pushing forwards.

 

Any longer and travel becomes a problem anyway, i.e. you have to move your arm too much.

[shagrat]

Any longer and travel becomes a problem anyway, i.e. you have to move your arm too much.

 

Sort of, but I found it easy to get used to it. It's similar to flying real planes with old style center sticks: You use your arm, not the wrist to move the stick.

 

Only issue was the missing tension.

 

The spring fixes this. I know there are other spring setups, but they all need additional plates, more space etc.

 

I thought of the "Flight seat" modification shortly, but requirements like needs-to-be-compatible-with-wife let choose the other approach :music_whistling:

[BigBANGtheory]

The one with the bend, even though it is only fractionally longer is bringing the weight of the stick further back so it will have trouble recentering from pulling back more than it will from pushing forwards.

 

The bend design (within the limits/dimensions I used as a compromise) copes fine recentering forwards and backwards from full deflection. :joystick:

 

It is I would say close to its limit from my subjective tests, the Warthog handle as you know has a fair bit of weight and if say you attempted 50mm off center I think you may start to see a problem.

 

I guess you could counter-weight it somehow like telescopes and equatorial mounts.

 

The long stick extension designs require a different solution it will be interesting to see how the cockpit builders solve that issue I don't think we have seen a 'long stick with bend' yet. Perhaps something building on agrasyuk's solution with adjustable spring tenstion...

[PeterP]

Here is a Quick/Simple idea how to overcome this weight issue when having a longer extension- without having to go trough the base of the stick:

 

 

I have to build exactly something similar to overcome the problems I have right now with my Stickextension:

Have a friend that works with metal - and he will work something out with me after Christmas.

I plan to remove the grip of the MS-FFB2 entirely - and only have the Cougar grip at the FFB.

... and than it will also not look so awkward like it does right now...

 

But first wait for Christmas ... maybe Santa will bring a HOTAS-Warthog and than I will put the Cougar-grip aside and Use the WH-grip on the MS-FFB2 base. (because I don't know the exact weight of the WH-Grip )

Edited December 3, 2011 by PeterP

[agrasyuk]

Peter, i have a hunch that with the leverage and weight of the extended WH grip there will be almost no FFB feel left

[PeterP]

Yes, of course - ;) I know how the physics work in this Universe.

But it isn't so much less force as you might expect.

 

I was also first very sceptic... But I thought I give it a try (and it really cost me almost nothing as you can see on the picture) and I was really surprised how well this works.

 

I was following the instructions in this thread: Cougar with FFB ( no more pictures in this thread - but I found this self-explaining video: http://www.veoh.com/watch/v16515202T...Cougar+FFB+Mod )

 

And I already run enough test with my goofy looking "construction" to see that the FFB is reduced by -let's say 50% - but it is still enough to have sufficient feed back for trim and holding the stick in place once I have a counterweight installed.

And after all I have to say that even if the force is reduced - it's more spring-load than you have on a X52 for instance.

 

Still really don't know if I will install a counterweight like I posted here or go through the base like in this "Cougar with FFB" thread.

but at a closer look ... when the counterweight is installed at the opposite side of the turning axis - there will be virtually no weight to lift for the motors - and the stick will be in any position in balance.

 

I may go this way like shown in the video and install it under the base.

 

...will post a update when it is done.

Edited December 3, 2011 by PeterP

[BigBANGtheory]

I think you would want something more like this where the counter weight has adjustable and at a raise angle so the support bar doesn't collide with the base during forward movement:

 

 

I think the bend in the real stick is fairly low, lower than these diagrams suggest. Again it depends on your situation one size doen't fit all because people are different height, have their seats at different heights and have different designs of seat.

Edited December 3, 2011 by BigBANGtheory

[PeterP]

Thanks BigBANGtheory for your inspiration and "tuning"!

 

This was just a quick drawing to illustrate a "idea"...

 

Please don't take the dimensions too serious- But I can see you understood what I wanted to show.

 

I will go maybe another route - and mount a counterweight directly under the base - like I described in my previous post and is seen in the video from "urze".

:)

[BigBANGtheory]

Now pedestal mounted to a height 10mm below my desk to allow it to be stored away and used centrally between ones legs with a normal office chair:

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/attachment.php?attachmentid=60341&stc=1&d=1324289629

[element1108]

Now pedestal mounted to a height 10mm below my desk to allow it to be stored away and used centrally between ones legs with a normal office chair:

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/attachment.php?attachmentid=60341&stc=1&d=1324289629

 

Very nice!

[elchacal]

It looks beautiful! Good work!

[metalnwood]

For anyone interested I have one extender I can ship in the next two days. It is currently 125mm but I can make it smaller - 100mm is the most popular.

 

If you want it PM me, it is $85usd + $20 shipping and another $10 if you want a modded cable.

 

Thanks.