Quote:
Originally Posted by jimbop
Thanks - I've just been thinking about using a U-joint or similar for building a stick and now I know I'm not crazy... A car U-joint seems a bit excessive though? What about a tie rod end or something?
Is that yours in the link?
|
Yes, that's my stick.
There's no such thing as excessive when it comes to human input devices!
Also my stick uses the weight (inertia) to give it a more realistic feel.
People have also used motorbike u-joints, which are smaller but can still retain the hollow cross-piece / spider. You might also check out steering u-joints, although they won't have the axis holes, but the metal might be soft enough to drill and tap, unlike u-joint's cross-piece.
IIRC all the completely custom built gimbals are larger than these u-joints, but of course they are made to perfectly suit the base, grip and sensors.
A tie rod end's movement isn't separated nicely into two axes (also it can rotate in the Z axis), so you'd find it harder to measure the X and Y rotation with sensors, whereas a u-joint has done it already. However, there are three axis sensors that can deal witht this method.