3-axes trim wheel / Do-it-yourself-style

[Kodoss]

Someone asked me to make a thread as I showed some picture of my own planned trim wheel quadrant.
So, here it is.

First of all, i'm not a nerd. I can't write C++ or any other pc-language.
Also I have no idea of higher electronical circuits. So what I do here is just buying parts, solder them and building a case.

For those who want to know how much this costs, I will give lower in this thread a list of parts and there prices.

Since I have already 2 Saitek throttle quadrants, I played with the thought of buying the "Saitek Cessna Trim Wheel". But the price of 50€ for only one axis trim? No way!
Then I remembered that I had upgraded my Thrustmaster Attack Throttle from 15-Pin-Connector to USB, some years ago.
So this little project was born.

Now to the important part. How should its look like, what's the planned size?!
As I mentioned before, I have 2 throttle quadrants. So it would be nice if I can make the whole thing compatible and fitting to it.
The size was then clear.

Height: 11cm
Length: 18cm
Depth: 9cm

Then I decided what I want to have on it.
3-axes for elevator, aileron and rudder!

So I made a list of parts, pices and sizes of what is needed. (for more info just click on the link)

1x A/D USB converter: Joywarrior-modul JW24MOD-A8-16 (http://www.codemercs.com/index.php?id=80&L=1) 14,75€
16 diodes for the button-wiring: 1,12€
3x 10-turn potis: Poti 3600° 100KOhm (http://www.conrad.de/ce/de/product/447165/POTENTIOMETER-3549S-1AA-104A-100-K-2-W) = 3 x 12,45€
buttons and switches: depends on what you want ( in my case 4 buttons, 6 double-switches = 32€ )
one alu-plate: 25cm x 50cm x 1,5mm: 10€
USB-cable: I will use an old one.
So in the end 100€.

Now I started designing it with the help of 3D Sudio Max ( damn, i'm not good at it ), to determine the other parts and the layout.
Because of the modul I used had 2 vairants, I made 2 models as seen below.

8 Button Layout
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16 Button Layout
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The trim wheels have in both cases a diameter of 10cm and a width of 1cm.
the radius of the front plate should be around 5cm.
As you can see from the list above, I decided in the end for the 16 button-solution.

So after my nightshift and 6 hours of work, this is the in between result.
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What's missing now are the sides, one stripe of alu for the last poti, the holes for the trim wheels, the trim wheels itself (not yet decided which material or design), solding and painting.
Unfortunatly I have tomorrow no time for further action.

[Sokol1]

Kodoss

Links for your pictures dont work...

Sokol1

[Kodoss]

Sorry, have added them as attachments again.

I will also add the latest Pic as my Avatar Pic.

I have done the sideparts, but work keeps me busy. So, not much progress to report here.

[Kodoss]

Good news!

I found a solution for my trimm wheel problem. Better said I found a design solution.

First I thought I should make the Wheel completely out of wood (feels and looks better than anything else). But to make it round and smooth would be difficult.

So I scattered my brain for a while. Then I thought: "Hmm, maybe someone sells rings out of wood in the diameter I need?!"
So I started the "for-eye-thingy" and !BINGO!

Wood rings! Diameter: 100x12mm.

So I made some tests with 3DS today and found my answer.
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Tomorrow I buy a new plate of aluminium for the blue parts and check if I have some green body ( alu again [ !cause of weight! ] ).

The silver parts are rivets ( 3,2mm dia ) and the green thing is a headless screw ( metric M3 ).

If you have questions or suggestion, just write it down.

[Flying H]

Can you please share prints and wireing layout of your work? It can be useful to me (and others) and tips on how to plug it in? It would be most appreciated as I can build but not draw and figure out the wireing!

[Kodoss]

A little update to the project.
What you see are the metall parts (aluminium, yeah) for the trimwheels.

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I also ordered the wooden rinds on the 19.Dec. but they didn't arrived till now.
Must be that X-mas and new year thingy.

Since I have a week of holidays now, I try to get further with it.
It all depends on when I get my wooden rings, that I can cut the big holes in the frontplate.

In the meantime I will do some drawings with open office for everyone who wants to build it.
If I have all the plans ready I will post them the same way.
Plans for front and back plate are already drawn.

PS: Sorry for my laggy updates.
PPS: I'm too slow at writing text. I always end up with: "Your session has ended. Please login again."

[Kodoss]

As promised, here are the plans.
The drawings are mostly in 1:2 (see right upper side).

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In this zipfile is a PDF (90KB).
Side 1-2 are the drawings of the parts.
Side 3 is positioning.
Side 4 is wiring.

The best is you begin with the backside and frontside.
Then bend the sideparts and adjust them to front and rear.
Bend the other 3 parts and you are mostly done with the housing.

The trickier parts are the trimwheels (in my buildup).
Other solutions might be considered, if it looks to difficult.

PS: by drawing the parts, I realised that I made the elevatorplate to high.
I will just bore the rivets out, cut a bit of and rivet it again.:rolleyes:

[Kodoss]

Woahh, 2 months already gone... ok, a little update again.

Thinking about how to attach my wooden rings with my center disk put my a little bit in a problem. I would have had (is this even gramatically correct?! ) to mill the rings 2mm in the inside on 4 positions and to drill the 8 holes in 1 disk with its plates. The problem would have been: how to adjust all parts without a runout.

So I came up with another resolution. And it turns out to be even easier to realise.

I build 3 new center disks, this time a bit thicker, and bought 12 screws (M3x40mm).
In the disks I drilled 5 threads. 4 threads all 90° and 1 thread 45°.
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The 45° thread goes to the core bore and will be used for securing the disk to the poti.
The other 4 threads will hold and adjust the ring to the center through the screws.

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A little preview how it hopefully looks like. I still have to drill the holes for the ring. First with 3mm, then 5mm for the screwheads.
Also clear paint will be put onthe rings.

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[Kodoss]

Since I had free today, I just worked further on my Trimwheel.

The rings are drilled, and painted twice with clear varnish. In the meantime I drilled the holes in the front and backplate so that I can screw them together instead of riveting. Also I marked where I have to cut my 3 holes for the trimwheels.

After the rings have dryed I screwed everything together just to see that the aileron-trim-wheel is a little bit to deep and touches the rudder-trim-wheel. Also it touched the plate which holds the rudder-trim. So I had to do some adjustments.

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I will later detach the rudder-trim-wheel, lathe the disk a little bit again and mount it 180° turned. So that I can get rid of the 3 spacers.

Here's a pic of the backside of the backplate. As you can see the screws are sinked, so that it can be fitted on my 2 Saitek throttle quadrants. I also sinked the screws which are holding the rudder plate.

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And the last picture of the day. Trimwheels assembled in harmony...

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Ok, they have a swash of 1 or 2 mm and a runout of 1 mm. But I think it's ok for me.

Edit: It also helps to pass the time and calm the mind until the patch is ready. Some others should try it too, instead of ....
You know what I mean.

[von Brühl]

Crazy looking, but nice work! ~s!

[Kodoss]

Today I tried to finish the front plate.

I took my little helper (which you can see below of my trimwheel) and made 2 little cuts for each trimwheel. After that I used a saw to deepen it.
Then again with the dremel( ok, it not a real dremel ) cuting the strips out.
After 4 hours of work, it still needs some adjustments so that I can turn the wheels without touching the housing with the rings.

Also it was a good idea from me to screw the rudder-plate on the back-housing.
Because to fit everything together I had to screw it of first.
Putting all parts together ( wiring, switches, trimwheels, housing) will become the toughest thing...
I also attached the side parts for checking, but they aren't drilled now for final assembly. The hole for the USB-cable is also missing.

Enough of words! Pics, pics, pics!!!:rolleyes:

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[Kodoss]

!!Update!!

The frontplate fits now with the trimwheels.
I also put the switches and buttons in it for checking.
The only metal work that remains are the side-parts. Fixing them, drilling holes, cutting threat in them. The usual stuff.

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Left side.
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Belly of the beast!!
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Solding will wreck my nerves. But before I have to choose a color and the painting method.

[tintifaxl]

This is awesome work here. :cool:

[gimpy117]

i say Luftwaffe cockpit grey, looks German to me

[Kodoss]

!!!Update!!!

Ok, not a real one...
Today I just bought some cable for wiring and screws M4x10.

Also I did a little fitting test with my 2 throttle quadrants.

9409

plan for tomorrow: adjusting the sideparts, solding and testing.

After that: -disassemble,
-breaking the last sharp edges on the plates,
-powder coating RLM 66 or black (might take some time)
-assembly
- having fun :mrgreen:

[Madfish]

Looks awesome. Have you used it for a while yet while playing? I want to build something similar but I was worried about the ergonomics. If you could please provide some insight on how it feels with the 3 axes alignes like this. :)

[Kodoss]

Looks awesome. Have you used it for a while yet while playing? I want to build something similar but I was worried about the ergonomics. If you could please provide some insight on how it feels with the 3 axes alignes like this. :)

Solding isn't done yet. Thats for tomorrow. So I can't tell you how it fells, while flying. But just sitting in the chair and turning on the wheels 10 revolutions from trim up to trim down feels awesome.

If you look for plans, just look at the pdf-file which I posted on the fist side. There's also a list of components which I'm using.
Edit: look at the post #7.

[Kodoss]

I have good and bad news.

Today I did the last work on the casing. The side parts are done and all edges are now smoothed. So it's ready for painting. That was the good news, now the bad one.

I tried to sold the wires on the platine. I had 10 already solded until I realized that I solded 2 wirepairs to the wrong points. As I tried to sold them of, the little metalconnection on the platine came of too. :shock:
Trying to reconnect it with solding didn't worked, so I have to buy a new platine. :evil:

Weekend is ruined at my side....

[5./JG27.Farber]

Looks good, looks kinda steam punkish. When soldering, put an old croc clip nearby the joint touching the metal. It will soak up the heat and can protect other parts. ;)

[Kodoss]

Good news everyone.

Today came the package with my little platine.
So I did some soldering with the wires and the USB cable (and this time without problems).

9513

It is only a test wiring for checking, so not final wire length or position, and it worked as I expected.
The next on my list is, powder coating of the housing.
This could take some time, because I don't do this myself.

[Kodoss]

Good news everybody.

On monday I was able to bring my case to the powder coating guys. He sayed I should call friday, then it could be ready. If not then definitely mid next week.

The color will be "RAL 7021" also known as "RLM 66".
On the weekend I will polish the wheels and then finish them with clear varnish.

So no pics this time.

[Kodoss]

Last update!!!

After 2 days of soldering, screwing and swearing I finished my trimwheel.:cool:

Pic of Insanity:
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This was the hardest part. Soldering and let the wire and wheels enough place.

The completed Product:
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So much work and nobody will ever see it.

And built on the 2 throttle quadrants.
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I will put some red and green paint one of the screws on each wheel, so that I can see where center is and how many revelutions I turn.

I will test the setup later today and trim the bf 110 out.:rolleyes:

Edit: all Pics in 2048*1536 pixel.