I've been using a microsoft sidewinder precision pro 2 for more than a decade now. I too was thinking of getting a hotas set a couple of years ago, but the sidewinder is not only reliable but also has a certain build quality and feel, so i ended up spending on a trackIR 4 instead.
Well, recently my trackIR camera died after a power failure, the trackclip pro with the LEDs works fine though and i've been experimenting with freetrack, trying to decide if it suits me or i should buy a used trackIR4 set.
I too have been thinking of upgrading my stick options, but a combination of my trackIR throwing a spanner in the works financially speaking, the value of the sidewinder stick i already have being so well proven after all these years and the issues with the rest of the hotas sets available currently (it looks like it's a choice between flimsy construction, bugs or extra high cost and even the not so top of the line options are not exactly cheap), i have been increasingly thinking of going for a customized solution.
Recently i got a friend of mine back into flight sims after a long break, he started flying IL2 and we are eagerly expecting CoD. He had an old saitek X35 hotas that uses a gameport interface, so i suggested to him Leo Bodnar's BU0836 USB joystick controller.
For those of you that might not know it, it's a USB capable joystick controller that comes in a few different versions (have a look here:
http://www.leobodnar.com/ ). He opened up the hotas cables, rewired it all through the BU0836 and can now use his old set just fine.
Naturally, after seeing the small size of the chip and already knowing its capabilities i started getting ideas of myself. I don't have a lot of spare room where i keep my PC, so even if i were to spring for throttle quadrants and rudder pedals i'm not sure it would be a comfortable fit for my available space.
I talked to my buddy about it and we might start if off by building a set of pedals first (he put it in a somewhat funny way too, he said "sure why not, i'm not going to pay $200 for a glorified seesaw with a potentiometer in the middle
)
He's well versed in tinkering with electronics which i'm not exactly an expert on, but on the other hand he's clumsy and not really comfortable with the mechanical part. However, after many years of helping my father with small, improvised home improvement jobs i think i could pull it off, so we would have a good synergy going.
The good thing about it all is that i can start as simple as bolting 3-4 pieces of flat wood together as proof of concept and then start improving gradually as i go from there. However, my main aim would be to make something of metal construction at some point and use hall effect sensors instead of potentiometers. I think i'm going to keep the stick and maybe just modify it with hall effect sensors and rewire it through the BU0836, i'd really like to make an elongated modification but it won't fit anywhere near my desk. However, what i'm mainly aiming for is building a set of pedals, plus a throttle quadrant with a small bank of switches that i can bolt on to my desk with some sort of clamp assembly.
Some family friends run an auto repair shop which i think would be a prime spot to search for spare levers, mounting joints and what not instead of having to pay for custom machined parts that would increase the cost.
02-14-2011, 11:05 PM
Hybrid Mode
