F-18 grip, WARTHOG compatible

[SkipperSMG]

well Saitek is out of the question takes them 10 years to release supporting drivers.

 

 

 

Thrust master another company that fails to support their products.

 

 

 

Logitech at least their on the ball as far as keeping up with the jones's.

 

 

Saitek was always a grate choice if it came to sim products, but as soon as MadCatz took over the Company the quality has gone down to hell. Same with the customer support.

[IceBurner]

Great work hegykc !! Subscribing to this thread to follow progress :-))

[ralfidude]

I would love to try this thing out. We need some more joystick variety out there on the market.

[Fakum]

Looks ready for retail, what's the prognosis?

[*Rage*]

Here's a "little" update:

 

For the past month or two I have focused my attention to designing the stick and throttle base. It might not be apparent from the renders, but the base is just slightly larger than the warthog one, with a ton more features:

 

 

-steel construction

-separate springs for pitch and roll axis

-adjustable spring strength (by replacing the springs)

-"on the fly" adjustable pre-tension of the springs

-hydraulic damping (adjustable by oil replacement)

-built in stick extension (fully adjustable in length and grip rotation)

-adjustable office chair mount with ability to rotate and fold the whole thing under the seat

-adjustable stick displacement in all directions separately

-functional safety pin and "remove before flight" tag

-ability to connect up to 6 more axis and 40 buttons (I plan on designing replica and "desktop general purpose" type panels to connect to both stick and throttle bases

-tri-axis SPI interface 14-bit resolution hall sensor, programmable in a million ways

-the whole thing is designed per F-18 cockpit station geometry (extension length and grip position) and can be set up to have the same amount of travel/displacement as a real F-18 grip

 

 

It seems that I've missed some of the updates from before. That F18 stick and base look insane!

[Dudikoff]

Logitech at least their on the ball as far as keeping up with the jones's.

 

I would have to disagree because their G940 software is terrible and they never fixed the reverse axis problem on throttle and pedals (only on the stick).

[pr1malr8ge]

Here's a "little" update:

 

For the past month or two I have focused my attention to designing the stick and throttle base. It might not be apparent from the renders, but the base is just slightly larger than the warthog one, with a ton more features:

 

 

-steel construction

-separate springs for pitch and roll axis

-adjustable spring strength (by replacing the springs)

-"on the fly" adjustable pre-tension of the springs

-hydraulic damping (adjustable by oil replacement)

-built in stick extension (fully adjustable in length and grip rotation)

-adjustable office chair mount with ability to rotate and fold the whole thing under the seat

-adjustable stick displacement in all directions separately

-functional safety pin and "remove before flight" tag

-ability to connect up to 6 more axis and 40 buttons (I plan on designing replica and "desktop general purpose" type panels to connect to both stick and throttle bases

-tri-axis SPI interface 14-bit resolution hall sensor, programmable in a million ways

-the whole thing is designed per F-18 cockpit station geometry (extension length and grip position) and can be set up to have the same amount of travel/displacement as a real F-18 grip

 

AND a bonus for all of your patience. Fully functional chair mounted ejection handle:

 

 

-all steel construction

-industrial grade shaft bearings for extra smooth pull/slide movement

-dual action ( first it activates No.1 switch, then No.2 switch ) so you can map it to both canopy jettison and seat eject

-functional safety pullout pin (pin operates a slide master switch so no action until you remove the safety tag and the pin)

-possible additional ARM ON/OFF toggle on the top plate?

 

I probably forgot to mention some of the features. Note that this is a still evolving design. Just wanted to let you know that the wheels are still grinding. Most of the work went into re and re-designing, removing part by part, and reducing the size until I was left with the smallest possible container, with the least amount of parts possible to perform the task. And then it was off to designing the tools, jigs and machinery to manufacture each part. If it doesn't have machine/tools designed for it, it is not in the renders. There are no CNC manufactured parts here, which should keep the price way down. Laser cutting steel is still pretty expensive, but i plan to make a few pieces and send them out to respective members of this community for a closed beta test. After we solve any problems, and they put their stamp of approval, they'll do open reviews and I will consider a crowdfunding campaign for a metal laser cutter which will reduce the price by 40-60% as this is the biggest cost and the last piece of the puzzle.

 

F-18 grips alone are pretty much ready for production, but I do not want to improve Thrustmuster or Saitek sales by selling grips only. And that will happen If I get tied up into fulfilling F-18 orders of TM and Saitek compatible grips, and people who want more have to wait unitl I design, test and manufacture my own base system.

I will put the TM and Saitek compatible grips for sale first, but I need to have at least some prototypes of my own system before I do that.

 

Even more important than that, a low price like saitek is only possible through standardization of products, parts and processes. And standardization is only possible if you design multiple products at once. At least a few of them. This constant delays due to research, design and development will save a huge amount of time and money later on.

 

No throttle base renders yet, but expect the same amount of features and configurability.

 

 

I can say with certinty that I will purchase this if it's in a reasonable price range. Will you make a throttle set also? Would be interested in a full set throttle and stick/eject combo.

 

Awesome renders but when we going to see some prototype pictures?

[Revelation]

I can say with certinty that I will purchase this if it's in a reasonable price range. Will you make a throttle set also? Would be interested in a full set throttle and stick/eject combo.

 

Awesome renders but when we going to see some prototype pictures?

 

Have you not read the thread?

 

Your answers can be found in this thread very easily.

[pr1malr8ge]

Have you not read the thread?

 

Your answers can be found in this thread very easily.

 

Well first off I skimmed. I know he is making a full stick but have not seen anything mentioned about a full throttle set. I was talking about the base also not the paddle replacements for the warthog!

[X93355]

Hi hegykc,

 

You can count me in for an F-18 Stick and throttle set as well as an ejection handle (maybe two sets).

 

Just wondering if you have on your radar to produce a plug and play landing gear lever / module?

 

Keep up the good work.

[nerves]

you can count me in as well!

[adamski66]

and me too :D

[Dinger]

I am in ...but I have a quick question......Does the Ejection Seat Handle Really work???? if it does I wanna make sure the ole lady is sitting down in it before I test it out:lol::smartass::lol::smartass:

[FlyingHighAU]

I am in ...but I have a quick question......Does the Ejection Seat Handle Really work???? if it does I wanna make sure the ole lady is sitting down in it before I test it out:lol::smartass::lol::smartass:

 

Well it works in game - so that means it is a USB input device. It wouldn't be too hard to make it actuate the gas cylinder on your chair some how :)

[feefifofum]

Not to go too OT, but nice Autopilot avatar FlyingHigh! :lol:

 

Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit smoking...

[Blackbird34]

Hey hey,

 

I must say I'm very impressed by the work I see here done. You've really put some effort into the design! I have a question however about the throttle base and planned throttle assembly in general; Will you feature IDLE and AFTERBURNER detents & pull tabs into the throttle itself?

 

Thanks,

Peter

104th Balckbird.

[SPEKTRE76]

Hate to resurrect but what happened with this?

[tintifaxl]

Last update by hegykc was on Aug. 3rd. Look at the first post in this thread.

[Prophet]

Even though I got a modified TM Cougar, had a TM F22 before that, and hmm can't remember. I have never been happy with the support. Even in this day and age where we have been able to hammer customer support through social media and really make some changes in some big names, they have never come around. Heck the support page is like 15 years old.

 

I would be more than happy to wait and use my Cougar until you got your own base.

[CHRISXTR3M3]

I will happily spend money on your products! :joystick:

[71st_Mastiff]

Not sure what he's up to, he checks the forums, last check was today.

[Blaze]

Not sure what he's up to, he checks the forums, last check was today.

 

Not sure, maybe having a life outside the forums? :)

[71st_Mastiff]

Not sure, maybe having a life outside the forums? :)

 

Exactly..

[Destroyer37]

Just curious on when I could reasonably expect to send you my money?

[hegykc]

Sorry for the silence folks, but as usual, silence means work.

 

Turned out an industrial size non-metal laser cutter is a big priority. There will be engravings on the grips and a panel on the throttles, along with actual cockpit panels I plan on making. Also my custom 3d printer is 80% laser cut plexiglass and many other tools and jigs also. I had plans to outsource the cutting, but quantities became too large, or their lasers too small and too expensive.

 

So, for the last month or two I've been designing my own 2x3m laser cutter, which will in turn be used to make several 3d printers and panels and engravings needed on all the products. There's also a custom packaging foam cutting machine, cnc painting machine and many other tools I need to design and fabricate myself in order to make this project industrially and financially viable. That is, on the scale I have in mind at least.

 

Parts are arriving, things are in motion. But, in that 1% chance the large scale plan doesn't work out, I'll just switch to plan B and start producing these on a smaller scale, with some outsourcing and with a little less profit.

 

So don't worry. They're coming one way or the other. I have some backups, so in case my laser cutter runs into problems or delays, I have already outsourced parts for a few 3d printers so I can proceed with the grips themselves. They should be operational next month, so I hope to have functioning warthog grips out there by the end of this year.