Hi guys, hc625ma here. As a number of Simchair peripherals increases and they became more polished and sophisticated, the need for adequate documentation for the project grows. I think a better organization of files will help as well. All the software is now on GitHub, as every peripheral will have its own Arduino board (or ADC) inside from now on. This site will also be the place where I will be able to post development photos and a to keep a dev blog, and hopefully, receive feedback from you.
So, welcome aboard!
Hello,
I like your design but I was questioning my self, do you have any centering device in your stick and how lose the stick is in movement? Further on is there the possibility to use 20 mm tube for the cyclic or will it become to heavy.
Thanks for your design
Kind regrads
Hello Christian! I have tried using rubber bands for centering, but the experiment resulted in bearings getting pressed out of their sockets after a few days of use. Maybe if you use some glue, it will be ok. I have to say though, non-centering cyclic is more realistic than a centering one! Why? That’s because of 2 factors:
In a light heli with no hydraulics, cyclic probably should have some kind of a force feedback from the rotor system on it, which is hard to reproduce in a sim.
In a larger heli with hydraulics, (let’s look at the UH-1) there are magnetic brakes that provide centering forces. You can press the button on the stick (the top one) to relieve all the forces from cyclic and the stick position in which you release it will be a new center. To have this functionality, you should have an FFB on your stick (which makes things a lot more complex and expensive). But, if you simply press the FORCE TRIM switch on the pedestal to disable it, you will have cyclic with no forces on it, just like this one =) So, just switch “FORCE TRIM” off and enjoy realism! 😀 I’ve heard that force trim, in fact, is rarely being used (at least in a hover), because it introduces jitter to the controls, just like in a regular joystick with a spring. So, you basically have to hold the button while hovering, which is not super comfortable.
As for the 20mm pipe, no problem with that, you just have to design an adaptor for it. If it is hard for you, I will help.
Cheers!
About force trim, this guy is a Huey pilot IRL:
Quote from comments under the video:
slinkysoars Force trim on or off?
verticallyreferenced@slinkysoars The only thing I’ve found the force trim good for is holding the controls still when running on the ground. I turn it off before lifting and it’s the first thing I touch after I land.
slinkysoars@verticallyreferenced thanks for that!
Thanks for your answer
You’re welcome! By the way, I have added pseudo force trim function recently, which, along with sensitivity switch FORCE TRIM mode is probably the most realistic behavior you can get of a non-FFB stick.
http://hc625ma.org/pseudo-force-trim-added/
Great