Thank you Jortiz,

I have seen the check-six forums and was very impressed with the build there. I am afraid I won't be able to build anything that complex myself, I don't have the know-how. I was hoping your design would be simpler to fabricate and assemble.

I am now thinking of taking the check-six drawings to a professional joinery shop and have them cut all the wood parts for me - the only work I would do would be assembly, sanding, filling, sanding, finishing, more sanding, painting and integration of electronics.

It's a big project, not a quick project - it's worth doing well and spending some money on quality work and parts, I suppose. I do intend to spend a lot of time in it when it's finished. No quick way to happiness.

Thanks for your offer of help - you are very kind and talented.

There are some super builds on these forums!

FM

Hi guys.

I'm modding my Logitech X3D pro. Basically I took a 10k linear potentiometer, mounted it on the stick base, and then connected that to the input that normally handles the twisty function (since I have pedals I have no need for the twist axis).

The problem is that in the XP Game Controllers window the axis response doesn't seem to be linear. Parts of the rotation seem to give greater changes on the axis display than others.

The other problem is that if I don't center the pot when plugging the stick in, I can't use the full range. I.e. if the pot is all the way in one direction when I plug it in, then the computer thinks that that position is the "middle" of the axis. Hope that makes sense.

Is there a way to fix either of these problems?

I'm modding my Logitech X3D pro. Basically I took a 10k linear potentiometer, mounted it on the stick base, and then connected that to the input that normally handles the twisty function (since I have pedals I have no need for the twist axis).

The problem is that in the XP Game Controllers window the axis response doesn't seem to be linear. Parts of the rotation seem to give greater changes on the axis display than others.

Might be due to what you hooked the pot to correcting for something in the original stick?

Things to look at would be hook a meter to your pot and check for linear resistance and then if the original
sensor is still in the stick see how that varies with twist.

If you have a soundcard with gameport then you can run 4 axes and 4 buttons through that with 8-bit resolution.

Another thing you might want to check is the "taper" of the pot. It sounds like you've got an Audio Taper pot on your hands instead of a Linear Taper pot.

Here's how to identify which kind you've got:
"The way to identify an audio taper pot is to set it to half rotation and measure from center to each end with an ohmmeter. If the resistances are approximately equal you have a linear pot. If the resistance from the counter clockwise end to center is about 10% of the total and the resistance from the clockwise end to the center is about 90% then you are holding an audio taper pot." - from http://www.angelfire.com/elect...ubes/Amp-Volume.html

An audio taper pot won't work out really well when used in a linear control situation as you've seen (if in fact that's what you've got)

g.

No it's definitely a linear pot

Then what does Logitech use for their twist sensor that you've replaced?

Unsure, I couldn't find a serial number on it that I could look up.

It's a small pot that only gives a resistance for a very short range of motion. Outside of that range it just gives an open circuit.

http://il2.na85.ca/img/twistpot.jpg

A grab from my digital camera

quote:

Originally posted by na85:
I.e. if the pot is all the way in one direction when I plug it in, then the computer thinks that that position is the "middle" of the axis.

Get used to it or add a switch to comfortably "unplug" the device whenever you forgot to center. Personally, i went the way of option one with my logi-box, before i could be bothered to try option two. Now i rarely forget to set prop pitch to neutral when virtually stepping out of the plane.

na85, if it's for trim then set up a key to neutralize that trim axis, center the pot and hit the key.

quote:

Originally posted by M_Gunz:
na85, if it's for trim then set up a key to neutralize that trim axis, center the pot and hit the key.

Nice. I'll do that, thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by M_Gunz:
na85, if it's for trim then set up a key to neutralize that trim axis, center the pot and hit the key.

That won't help, the joystick controller itself will think that "physically 100%" is 50% (if the pot is at maximum when plugging in) and keep to this delusion until physically reset.

I recently made a few tests (*) with the "trim neutralize" key btw. and i had to conclude that it works different than you describe: it sets the trim to center, but when the next joystick input comes on the trim axis it will simply jump back to joystick position, completely ignoring any information about "desired center position" it might have retrieved from the neutralize keypress. So it really only makes sense for people who use increment/decrement for trim instead of an axis. Or are there two different "neutralize" keys per axis?

(* test goes like this: move trim axis far off center, press neutralize, watch the control surface glide back to neutral, then move trim axis a little closer to the actual center, watch the control surface return to roughly where it was before "neutralize". If IL2 would internally recalibrate the trim axis to consider the current position as the new center then the movement of the control surface would be in the opposite direction)

Original post here: http://forums.ubi.com/eve/foru...091036108#4091036108

quote:

Originally posted by NuMcA_of_CS:
I am creating a PCB board for my Flight Console "ICARUS ONE" and i have been a whole week without it! I could not take no more without IL2, so i started using my old MiniStick.. But shown i felt it was not good enough.. So, i did a brand new PCB (it's PCB-age for me now) and hooked up a BU0836 to it, directly on board. I also added 2 new high precision joystick-potentiometers and some more buttons.
Now it features 8 axis:

• Aileron
  
• Elevator
  
• Rudder
  
• Right Engine throttle
  
• Left Engine throttle
  
• Prop.pitch
  
• Flaps
  
• Brakes
  

..and 12 buttons, with integrated software-controlled trim on all axis.

Here are some pictures:




Click on the thumbnails to see larger pictures








more pictures here:
http://s202.photobucket.com/al...MiniSTICK/?start=all

And much more in my blog: http://miskatonic-tech.blogspot.com/

Talk about compact! Great job, you've just invented the "travel" HOTAS!

HAHAHAHAHA!
THX, i have started flying with this and i figured out this:

I CAN EVEN USE IT ON MY LAPS!! great when traveling long distances by bus! (My hometown is 7hours away). First test-drive in Xmas holidays!

Is that a second mini stick on the front of the box? At first I thought it was jsut a large switch, but now I guess it must be a mini stick if you're using all 8 of the BU086 axes. What is it used for? Rudder (L-R) and brakes (Up-down)?

Seven hours of solid flying? I almost envy you that bus trip!

Yes it is Rudder and Brakes!

Explanation photo is comming first thing tomorrow morning!

I see one pedal down by the floor, the red stick is your pitch and roll axes, the one you fly with?

quote:

I see one pedal down by the floor, the red stick is your pitch and roll axes, the one you fly with?

No, the floor pedal is part of my "home"-simpit:



More on pedals here: Pedals v1.3

The MiniStick is my "mobile-simpit"..I use it when i am on travel, on my EEE PC laptop.. HOW NERDY IS THAT???

This message has been edited. Last edited by: NuMcA_of_CS,

IL2 running on a EEE?

Talk about testing out the extremes of the performance band!

(i've used it on an old laptop too, but that was on an acutal pentium-M which would still be twice as fast as an atom if it was clocked that low)

ATOM??? No way mate! I am on CELERON! Overclocked at ~1033MHz, but normally using it at 900MHz..

All hail to Celeron generation! 5years and the saga continues!