Ok, the pedals part is ready. Now I need to put it on the base. I guess I will use the base and the existing part [for reciprocating mechanism] from my first prototype.
Electronics will be simple. I will use âecosystemâ
I built âthrottle quadrant/button boxâ out of old MS Sidewinder 2 joystick base. It was kind of project where a thousand words is worth a picture - I removed the grip and use only the âheadâ part of it as additional buttons + I use the throttle lever which is comfortably big + I added small trackball to it.
So all the x-y-z axes are free to be used. I will use the original rudder axes for the pedals. Resolution is of course not on a par with hall or mag sensors but they are enough precise I would say.
Pics!!
If you want to experiment, I could send you a hall sensor and a magnet. I have a bunch. They are a drop in replacement for a potentiometer. If you have an old joystick that you could scrounge the controller board from, you could hook it up to that. Or you could buy an arduino or teensy controller and use MMJoy2 (freeware) to program it.
Thats kind of you Troll. I will save your offer for later. Thx
At this moment I will go for the ecosystem. Will use the spare rudder axes potentiometer from my diy throttle quadrant and will leave it conected to the joy board. So I will end up with throttle unit and rudder unit where both will show as single joy in Win.
For now the MS Sidewinder 2 pots are enough precise imo. Had that joy for many years and there was no single trouble with them.
If I will be happy with the concept I can experiment further with the sensors.
Ok, I will photoshop some pics so they will be publish-able
No further experiments with PVC pipes. Troll you were right, the pipes are not enough rigid for the rudder pedals. Even the biger diameter with thicker pipewals didnt help.
So as this concept failed ( no pics, sry ) I have to think of something else.
At least I took a pic of my throttle quadrant for you.
As mentioned earlier it is MS Sidewinder 2 joy with trackball. The trackball is not equiped with scroll wheel so I have added one from clasic mouse (gray wheel below throtle lever).
Inside the joy base I have installed small USB hub so everything is connected together and there is only single USB cable to the PC.
As for plastic pipes, yes, your feet are heavy and the legs are strongâŠ
But I totally loved that idea with bicycle pedal arms though. That could be the way to go!
There are two versions of this trackball available on ebay, with and without scroll wheel. They are simple and cheap and relatively small what counts.
But not enough small when looking on that Thumbelina. Thats the right size device.
Btw ps2 could be still hooked to the PC, at least my main board still has this conector
Yes I agree, the bicycle pedal arms looks like the way to go. I have to look for local stores for all the necesary components like bearings, rods with ball joints etc.
First of all question: I am using Cobra M5 joystick electronics. For axis there are magnetic sensors. The magnets are mounted on a plastic part = non magnetic material. Can I mount the magnet directly on screw = magnetic material instead? Will this cause some interference / degradation of the magnet / âŠ
Or if someone has photo of the sensor placement from the VKBs that will be realy instructive. thx for info
Back to the progres.
The prototype was completed and it was actualy working quite fine with the DCS Mi-8! I am writing was as I disasembled the ruders again.
What hapened? As the pre-prototype was built out of plastics I wanted to test the robustnes of this all metal+aluminum+aloy solution. I pressed with both my toes against the pedals at the same time and I set âout of placeâ the housed bal bearing which is used to translate the sliding motion to rotary motion.
After short inspections of the VKBs photos on the web I realized that one housed bal bearing is not enough here as also the VKBs has two of them.
Here you can see it on the folowing pic of VKBs. The green arows depicts the housed bal bearings. VKBs using two âgreensâ - one for the rotary movement, second for the cam system. I am using just the one hiden below the metal plate for the rotary movement.
But the one I mised in my build is the one in red circle. This âredâ one suports the rotary movement of the âgreenâ one below the plate.
I have no photos yet. You know, it is just a prototype, there are some placeholder parts etc.
Later, once I will be on the version IV, like VKB, I will show you some photos just joking
Once I finish the two bearings solution I will make some photos for you
This will most likely degrade the magnetic flux through the Sensor, which would degrade the resolution and signal to noise ratio. I would advise you to test that arrangement before making anything permanent, just to be safe.
This is how itâs done on the VKB Black Mamba, BRD-N, VPC T50, my DIY throttle quadrant (and my old throttle that used hall sensors and ring magnets).
The thing with magnetic fields is that the magnet doesnât have to be in contact with other magnetic materials to cause a disturbance in the magnetic field.
That will happen as long as there is other magnetic materials within range. Doesnât matter if the magnet is mounted on plastic, and then onto steel, for example.
The thing is that the rare earth neodymium magnets are so strong, that their magnetic field saturate the sensor.
On my first throttle quadrant I used quite big magnets, and they actually caused a disturbance on the other sensors. I solved this by putting up 2mm steel plates, shielding the axes from eachother.
In short, other magnetic materials wonât cause disturbance, but the magnets may disturb eachothers sensors.
A small bit of metal pipe grounded to the chassis helps a lot. If your rotational construct can fit in the pipe that is. Pretty standard shielding method but highly effective. The biggest danger is causing transient noise in the ground plane of the PCB if itâs not properly filtered when it means other ground connections. Unfortunately noise on the ground plane is all too common even among professionally designed PCBâs.
thx guys. Like advised. Just put it on the screw so the magnet is kept in place just by it is own magnetic force. For now it is working without problems.
