hc625ma's cozy hangar

I decided that maybe it’s a good time to update my lever, which was an early version of the MKIII base with a rubber bands mount, to the most recent MKIV EVO version of the lever, partly because I finally found a fair VR configuration for XPlane and thought having a pedestal would be nice, and partly – because the new base has 2 mode switches, and I wanted to test the 2nd one in everyday use and maybe find and fix some related issues. When I finished the build and started looking for the peripheral firmware to flash it, I suddenly understood that there isn’t one.

So, I was quite happy to fix that problem and added some code to support the I2C version of the Simple Collective SE lever (which is actually one of my favorites because of its compact size and rich functionality).

Also, I noticed that the wiring is slightly different from the USB version due to some minor differences in Pro Mini and Pro Micro pinouts, so the manual will follow shortly!

As always, you can find updated files in the simchair4_software repo on GitHub.

Cheers!

Hey guys, some cool news here – friction-enabled cyclic is coming soon! The idea was borrowed from Bell 206 cyclic design – a semi-spherical cup moving on top of the spherical gimbal enclosure. Lithium grease is used to provide smooth drag. Nuts are used to adjust the friction.

Parts-wise, the difference between this base and the spring-loaded one is only in the enclosure and longer bolts of the lever connector (200mm bolts are used in the prototype). The spherical friction cap in its “proof of concept” version was designed to require less plastic to print and will be redesigned for an easier print and better looks, two nuts will be replaced with a single plastic nut (similar to what we see on some of the real helicopters). Another feature I want to try adding back is a detachable stick – that worked awesome with the first version of the MKIII gimbal.

While testing it, I found that the cyclic felt kinda slow. Looking for the reasons for this behavior, I found that ADC poll rate was set to 64 times per second which was too slow. Changed this to 128 and updated the file in the repo.

If you want to change this in your configuration without downloading the whole firmware:

in i_cyclic_base.ino tab

change cyclic.setSPS(ADS1115_DR_64SPS) to cyclic.setSPS(ADS1115_DR_128SPS)

Stay tuned, cheers!

I am happy to offer a pre-built MKIV EVO Simple Collective SE lever #009 for sale.

Lever #009 is no longer available, but another one is in the making.

This lever offers maximized functionality in minimalistic and compact form:

• 5-way physical hat switch with mode switch support (2 hat switches and 5 buttons)
• support for 3 separate throttle axes enabled by the throttle mode switch
• mode switches can act as 4 joystick buttons
• USB socket on the base – integrated master controller
• support for MKIV collective base extensions (marked 4-wire i2c cable ribbon inside)
• completely repairable – the lever is made from widespread components that are easy to find and replace.
• extremely durable

More photos below.

Continue reading “Simple collective SE v2 USB available in the donation store”

Hi guys, here’s the video about the recent project updates:

In this video I talk about:
– the new EVO lever body
– VRMax head ported from MKIII version
– files re-organized, new naming convention, and changes to how files are stored
– simchair hardware configurator
– master configuration split into files
– the best way to test simchair hardware with joystick gremlin
– Arduino Pro Mega board

I am happy to present two latest devices I’ve designed recently, the USB collective base you’ve asked for and the Bell407 collective head!

Continue reading “Simchair MKIV EVO USB collective base and the Bell407 collective head are released!”

Hi guys! Today’s master controller update contains the following important changes:

• fixed throttle related special functions in levers with a physical latch

• added mode switch support for hat switches of Huey and AB412 heads
  
  if enabled
  
  #define HUEY_COLL_HEAD_HAT_RESPECTS_MODE_SWITCH 1
  
  or
  
  #define AB412_COLL_HEAD_LEFT_HAT_RESPECTS_MODE_SWITCH 1
#define AB412_COLL_HEAD_RIGHT_HAT_RESPECTS_MODE_SWITCH 1
  
  it will assign a physical hat switch of the Huey (or 2 of the AB412 head) to different hat switches/sets of buttons in different mode switch positions.

Please update!

While waiting for some parts from China I had some time to work on something entirely different, which I always wanted to make – a printable 450 class RC helicopter!

Continue reading “Open450 is released!”

Guys, a quick question, do you want a standalone USB version of the collective that will work without the master controller?

I see it as a lever for those of us who just want to add a collective to their existing system and the master box with one wire plugged in simply does seem really needed in that case.

This lever might have a USB-B socket on it instead of one of the RJ-45 sockets, this way you will still be able to connect extensions, but if the collective and, say, VRMax pedestal is all you really need, you won’t have extra wires and stuff hanging around.

What do you think? I’d like to hear some feedback in comments. Thanks! =)

Also, please fill the poll, that will help me to understand what devices are needed more than others =)

P.S. please leave a comment if you do so I could understand you’re not a robot.