Correct! I should add that to the instructions…
Looking forward to hear your thoughts when you have tried them. 
They work great for things you need to assemble and disassemble often. I use them on the collective that I am slowly finishing off, so I can take off the faceplate over and over again without damage. You’re probably right that they might not be necessary on this print, but it never really hurts.
Yeah, step file works thanks!
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Ok! Yes, I know and have used thread inserts and nuts. I had never heard the term melt-in, though 
I’m away until monday. Will fix stp files for you then.
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What also has a high shear strength is a nut that is recessed on one side in the material with the bolt/washer combo on the other side.
CNC Kitchen is one of the most useful channels to follow if you want to better understand design considerations for 3D printed parts if you’d ask me!
Goodmorning troll! unfortunately my print has gone bad, so i have my pieces i could use for some tries. I have some question because i have 2 problems: first of all, the side of the main piece looks too thin to fit the M6 ball plunger, so when i insert them the border deform a lot… Maybe is better to use m5 ball plungers? will it fit in your opinion? (i bought the wrong ball plunger… this is m6 15mm but is too long, my shop doesn’t have the 12mm or shorter so i have to buy online…)
The other question is about the upper part of the main piece, i think my throttle have the right hand grip a little lower than the left one, so it touches the piece. As you see in the picture, i can’t put it in place. It might be enough if i polish it a little? or is better to modify the cad file? I ask you this because i don’t know if PLA plastic is easy to polish…
Thank you!
Are you sure your printer prints in the right scale? Is a calibration cube precise?
(just checking if that’s the problem, since you had fitting issues)
the scale is correct. The pieces under the throttle grips are perfect, even that piece in lenght are perfect, it’s only too high. Maybe is my throttle which has different grip lenghts… I tried to unscrew the 2 screw on the throttle grip, trying to see if it can be moved up or down, but i think there are holes in the metal tubes, so i can’t move the grips up or down…
i think polishing is the way
Strange that one grip is lower than the other… 
On the VPC forum, one user had a throttle with less angular movement. He couldn’t put the throttle into the idle/shut-off lock. It turned out that he could adjust the angle stops. Perhaps there is a way to extend the throttle lever? I will do some research.
As for the plunger holes you should use a thread tap to cut threads into the plastic.
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I’m having trouble exporting to step… Trying to resolve the issue.
Due to popular demand, I have made a new arc piece, for the idle lock version.
This one has got deeper and wider grooves.
I have not tested it yet. Please give me some feedback if you do.
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Nice work Troll, Wish I had a 3D printer.
Wheels
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No problem. If you can get it to work, great. If not, no worries.
I printed the parts from the .STL. I have the last version of the CM throttle before they switched to the CM2, and on my throttle at least the printed center detent is about 1mm too tall. The race the bolt head rides in is perfect, but the top bridge contacts the throttle handles and binds.
I’m going to try to work with the .STL file, but editing a mesh file sucks.
I ended up converting the STL to a fully solid object in Fusion 360, and trimmed 1.0mm off the top. It’s in the printer now, so we will see.
Good to hear.
When I convert the file to STP, the damn thing interprets mm to in, so it gets huge.
Does the handle bind only at the top position…? Not along the entire top arc?
Weird with the STP thing. What file format is it in currently? Whenever I open an STL file in Fusion360 it scales up the model 10x. It’s easy to fix, and that’s what I did with your model.
The bottom of the handle was binding on the top of the printed detent piece fairly consistently through the entire travel. After I reduced the top by 1 mm and filleted the edges, it fits perfectly. The 30mm bolt ride nicely inside the groove without touching. I should have the ball detent in the next couple days, and will get it fully tested out after that.
It’s a great design though. I was toying with trying to build something similar from scratch, but yours is much better than the one I was planning.
Here is the model before and after being converted from a mesh, and adjusted.
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I’m on an old Mac and use TurboCad. The file is proprietary to TC and must be exported to other useable files.
Hey Troll,
All the parts finally arrived and I have just printed it and installed it yesterday. I used the version of it that has an AB detent and a Idle detent but without an Idle gate.
It work flawlessly and even works with the F-18 straight “out of the box” with no need to tweak the throttle curve.
I love it. Thank you VERY MUCH!
I did notice that the AB gate itself takes up a relatively wide range of throttle movement due to the thickness of the screws and plungers (it takes exactly the width of 1 screw plus the plunger steel ball). Can you think of a way to reduce this width/range in future versions?
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Oh and this post is getting very big and the different file versions are scattered in individual links to your G.Drive all over the post. Do you have Thigiverse page? That could help consolidate all the different versions into one centralized location. What do you think? This could help many Virpil owners.
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Hi, @Jonny and thanks!
Glad to hear that it works!
Yes, but I also wanted to make simple solution that wouldn’t require too many parts.
I am talking to VPC about enabling deadzones for the plunger areas, where the throttle signal is “silent” in the range around the plunger.
No, but it’s a good idea.
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That would be a great solution for the problem and a good idea however it still has 2 drawbacks - 1. the physical range is still lost; 2. If one wants to use the throttle with a sim like DCS where not every aircraft has an AB, the deadline would still exist…
However if you could come up with a solution that would dramatically reduce the “dead range” than a dead zone throttle profile won’t be necessary.
Gr8! looking FWD to that!
Oh and BTW another interesting mechanism to add would be a quick release of the detent plungers, for cases when often changing between aircraft from ones that have an AB to ones without.
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