Mobile Driving/Flying Cockpit with Motion and Tactile ( Build )

[RedBull48]

Very nice, I will do some more tinkering on my end to see if I can improve it any. Prusa will likely be my next printer, I really like their multi filament options.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I think that will work. In the morning I'll have the other half.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I like how this looks much better than what I had originally, so I'm putting it up on Thingaverse.

SC2 Fan Mount Rev 2 by RCHeliGuy

Fan mount/cover with shroud for SC2 Sport or Pro bolt pattern and SimLab vertical Mount. This is for VR use only as it would certainly be in the way of screens. This mount uses the long 8mm bolts extending behind the SimLab Vertical Mount and has clearance for that particular mount. I used this...

www.thingiverse.com

The top fits together and looks finished now and there are enough angular accents that it doesn't look bland anymore.

 

[RCHeliguy]

@DrRob I remember that you had casters under your rig.
With the P1-X legs on your rig, how far is the bottom of your rig off the floor?

Also I just received a shipping notice for my Collective Stick.

 

[DrRob]

@DrRob I remember that you had casters under your rig.
With the P1-X legs on your rig, how far is the bottom of your rig off the floor?

Also I just received a shipping notice for my Collective Stick.

Just high enough to vacuum underneath.
It's 10cm now, was less with the casters of course.

 

[RCHeliguy]

My helicopter collective landed in the US a couple days ago, so hopefully I'll see it soon and it won't get caught up in customs.

Positioning this will be a combination of X,Y,Z and possibly rotation. I'll initially position it horizontal relative to the bottom of the seat at full negative collective and see if the arc to full positive collective feels right.

I can mount profile to both my P1's frame, or extend 40x80 back bolted above or below the fight throttle mount plate. I have lots of pivots and other parts to play with to get this figured out.

What I'm thinking of doing is moving to a 3D printed clam shell mount that keys off of the holes on my seat brackets and is through bolted using holes not used to key the position. This would use a captured nut and hex head bolts with captured heads that end in knobs.

I'll do this for both the flight stick mount and the collective mount. Then there will be nothing sticking out when I'm not in flight mode.

I don't think I'll ever be comfortable going to a non-metal stick mount because of the how hard I may hit that, but the throttle and stick are not being pushed that hard and I think the right design for them may hold up well.

I'm actually printing some USB cable winders right now which recently won a Prusa Competition. I have a pile of USB charging cables with a smart charging hub that I take with me on trips. Remember those? It feels funny printing someone else's design, but they look pretty good.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I started shooting some video this morning for a rig walk through. After copying the files to my computer I realized that I haven't had my NLE installed on my computer since my reinstall of Windows 10.

I went ahead and upgraded to their current version with the full suite of tools. Much of it I won't have any use for, but I figured WTH, I'm just glad they are still around. I don't want to pay for the Adobe subscription for a tool I only use once in a while. That said, while they have a very solid lightweight application, I'm used to being able to do anything I want in the Pro version.

I was actually into videography for a while. I shot some instructional videos at work and I shot a number of wedding videos as wedding presents for a number of friends in 2003. I also edited my own wedding video shot that year, but I didn't get around to editing it until I had a break in employment a year later. A lot of our friends got married in 2003. Then I did my next door neighbor's daughter's wedding and hired a second camera for that and shot the wedding for a coworker's daughter. That's when my wife told me to stop because they were time consuming, ate weekends and generally took 20-30 hours to edit down. I also wasn't getting paid for them.

For the rig video I've started with tight shots that show individual features using my Nikon D500 with 16-80mm lens. It's the sharpest video I can create. That lens is more than adequate for these shots and convenient. I may pull out some primes for for some shots. My triple chip Panasonic HD camera does OK, but it's color isn't as good and it looks soft next to the Nikon. I'm going to see how useful it is to get some multi-camera shot. They would all need to be color matched in post because they all white balance differently, but I think they might work as Pictures in pictures.

I know people have gotten great results shooting with a smart phone, but I'm used to having a lot more control.

All that said, I feel rusty.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Really simple initial stab at this. No narration.

 

[Wmacky]

Fantastic! Where did those chassis mount wheel holders come from? Me wants!

 

[RCHeliguy]

Fantastic! Where did those chassis mount wheel holders come from? Me wants!

Actually you would get those from me. I made a small production run of them last Aug-September.
They are made from solid black Delrin and they come with a properly sized SS M8 bolt.

FYI, I made them only because people were asking me to. I'm not looking to have a store for them, but I do have a number left. Message me if you would like me to send you some.

Then my 3D printer arrived..... LOL!

 

[Wmacky]

Not sure how I missed that? You have a PM

 

[RCHeliguy]

On a side note I had a large long package arrive today and I was hopeful, but it had towels in it

 

[Wmacky]

I hope for a small write up on your initial thoughts. Did you see the collectives the guy from Russsia sells on the DCS for sale forum? They look pretty good for $250

 

[RCHeliguy]

@Wmacky While I've had pilot training and flown Cessna 152's and sailplanes I've never flown a helicopter. The transmitters below have the only collective sticks that I've used before, so I can tell you how comfortable the stick that I ordered is, but I can't compare it to a real helicopter collective stick.

 

[RedBull48]

Just saw your initial setup video, good stuff. I somehow just noticed the anodized socket washers. I have the same ones on my rig. They really dress things up and I love the finish on them. Also very nice workshop you got there! I am slowly working my way toward a better workshop. Currently everything is crammed into half of a one car garage.

 

[RCHeliguy]

@RedBull48 My power tools, like my rig, are on casters. They all fit in front of my wife's car in our garage and I have to roll them out before I use them. I put a lot of effort into that rolling multi-purpose section with a router, sander, drill press, small bandsaw on top and lots of storage underneath. On the side wall are two halves of a class C ladder and all my clamps hang on them. Not shown in this image are my planer, metal belt sander, metal buffer, and a few other things that currently sit on the floor under the hanging ladders. There are also two fold out tables, one with clamps, and two extension tables for my table saw that attach in front, on the left side, or in back side by side.

 

[RedBull48]

Very cool, perhaps I will have to implement some caster solutions to make my tools more mobile. I was actually thinking of building a mobile miter saw table with fold up / down extensions on a pair of hinges. I see you must do a fair bit of woodworking. I personally really enjoy woodworking. I have a decent collection of tools going so far mainly being table saw, miter saw, 8" planer, 13" thickness planer, router and various hand tools / clamps.

 

[RCHeliguy]

The Collective stick arrived today.

Initial thoughts are that the operation is smooth and it is VERY light which is a good thing because it means that it doesn't require too much adjustable friction using the knob to keep it from slipping. That means it is less likely to stick when starting to move it from a stop helping create smooth operation.

That said, I wasn't expecting the entire base to be plastic, but it does make it lighter so I understand why.

There are no instructions, but I assume it will have a button box and two linear axis and once calibrated will show up as a typical control that I can map in DCS.

Looks like I could get by with an aluminum plate and a short run of 40x40 profile. I have it canted out just a bit otherwise it feels reasonably comfortable for an initial fit. I'm sure I'll tweak it before I finalize the mount.

 

[RCHeliguy]

For now I'm going to cut down a 4x4" by 1/4" thick piece of angle aluminum to hold the Collective stick.
It will bolt to a 150mm long piece of 40x40 profile that will share the flight throttle mount.

 

[mechsicko]

The Collective stick arrived today.

Initial thoughts are that the operation is smooth and it is VERY light which is a good thing because it means that it doesn't require too much adjustable friction using the knob to keep it from slipping. That means it is less likely to stick when starting to move it from a stop helping create smooth operation.

-snip-

Le me introduce you to my good friend Nyogel 767a. It's space age damping grease that when used for mechanisms like this you can run them with much higher drag (enough to hold it's position unaided..) because it remains smooooooooth as silk under all conditions. I've systematically tried many greases for this application in the last 10 years and nothing comes close to the performance of real damping grease. Plenty of 'thick' greases that are just awful for this though, as it's more complicated than simple viscosity.

I key in on this because you're aware the breakout pressure is usually unacceptable at higher pressures on friction joints, which leads to a sticky/ratcheting/overshooting unsatisfying mess that precludes precision. Nyogel solves that problem -breakout pressure is no greater than during the kinematic stroke, even if you really crank the friction rub down and make it really tight, it's uncanny. This grease also stands up to the elements, my aiming joystick that moves in pitch/yaw on friction rubs like a 2 axis version of a collective was last regreased in 2016. Totally exposed guts and it still feels fresh as day 1.

Damping greases (most made by Nye Lubricants) also show up other places, like precision optical adjustment mechanisms of telescopes/microscopes, radio tuning dials etc. Makes mechanisms that use it feel like they have real fluid damping. Anyhow, it's kind of expensive grease as greases go and worth buying however if you want some just to play with pm me, I frequently mail small bits of it in envelopes/tiny ziplocs to people and would be happy to give you some to experiment with. If you want to buy some Overready sells small tubes for decent prices and a little goes a long way.

https://www.oveready.com/flashlights/accessories/nyogel-lubricants/ (767a is the one you want)