Time to be unlazy enough (and step away from Distant Worlds for a bit) to write up a post...
I tried HOTAS for a bit, but found the throttle not quite to my liking for movement in three dimensions, so decided to give double-stick a go (after taking a short detour with an ancient Microsoft Strategic Commander which was abandoned due to huge deadzone/lack of precision). After playing with L+R sticks for a short time, I thought it worked pretty decently, but the button positions/availability wasn't great, so decided to set out to make something that would work a bit better for me.
So, the starting device, a Thrustmaster T-16000M. Joystick with twist axis:
(Stock photo because I didn't take one before I started)
And the current state of the project:
Finishing is a bit rough, I know.
Those close ups make the imperfections pretty glaring!
The original plan was to take the throttle from the base and move it to the thumb position, and use that axis for vertical thrusters rather than a throttle. However, I could not come up with a good centering spring/mechanism, so ended up swapping the slider potentiometer for a mini-joystick pot instead (though am only using one axis).
So, for control usage, the left stick functions:
Left/right axis - left/right thrusters
Forward/back axis - forward/back thrusters
Twist axis - yaw left/right
Thumbstick up/down axis - up/down thrusters. The outer plate for it is built with only a vertical slot to restrict its motion to one axis, so it can't move forward/back (for which it isn't wired up anyways).
No throttle. The only place I ever use that is in supercruise, so I just have buttons bound to 0/50/75/100%.
Right stick is pitch & roll as usual. No pedals... yet!
Little finger sits on top of the '0' key, which serves as the 'Shift' modifier for other buttons, like I would do if I was playing with keyboard.
Issues so far and possible future changes:
The top right-most key (the '/') is too far to reach. Going to leave it unused, or at the least not for functions required in the middle of combat.
The three buttons on the underside are also hard to reach; planning on moving them to the side somehow, perhaps underneath the thumbstick.
Movement required for left/right/forward/back is a bit more than I had hoped. Might shorten the stick to reduce that. Other options may include playing with the sensitivity curve, along with putting a smaller square in the base to restrict the motion of the stick to a smaller area.
Thumbstick is a bit floppy. Not sure what I want to do here.
Paint is starting to rub off in places. Going to try something different.
Build pictures:
Potential next project: make something so I can move those off the top of my desk...
I tried HOTAS for a bit, but found the throttle not quite to my liking for movement in three dimensions, so decided to give double-stick a go (after taking a short detour with an ancient Microsoft Strategic Commander which was abandoned due to huge deadzone/lack of precision). After playing with L+R sticks for a short time, I thought it worked pretty decently, but the button positions/availability wasn't great, so decided to set out to make something that would work a bit better for me.
So, the starting device, a Thrustmaster T-16000M. Joystick with twist axis:
(Stock photo because I didn't take one before I started)
And the current state of the project:
Finishing is a bit rough, I know.
Those close ups make the imperfections pretty glaring!The original plan was to take the throttle from the base and move it to the thumb position, and use that axis for vertical thrusters rather than a throttle. However, I could not come up with a good centering spring/mechanism, so ended up swapping the slider potentiometer for a mini-joystick pot instead (though am only using one axis).
So, for control usage, the left stick functions:
Left/right axis - left/right thrusters
Forward/back axis - forward/back thrusters
Twist axis - yaw left/right
Thumbstick up/down axis - up/down thrusters. The outer plate for it is built with only a vertical slot to restrict its motion to one axis, so it can't move forward/back (for which it isn't wired up anyways).
No throttle. The only place I ever use that is in supercruise, so I just have buttons bound to 0/50/75/100%.
Right stick is pitch & roll as usual. No pedals... yet!
Little finger sits on top of the '0' key, which serves as the 'Shift' modifier for other buttons, like I would do if I was playing with keyboard.
Issues so far and possible future changes:
The top right-most key (the '/') is too far to reach. Going to leave it unused, or at the least not for functions required in the middle of combat.
The three buttons on the underside are also hard to reach; planning on moving them to the side somehow, perhaps underneath the thumbstick.
Movement required for left/right/forward/back is a bit more than I had hoped. Might shorten the stick to reduce that. Other options may include playing with the sensitivity curve, along with putting a smaller square in the base to restrict the motion of the stick to a smaller area.
Thumbstick is a bit floppy. Not sure what I want to do here.
Paint is starting to rub off in places. Going to try something different.
Build pictures:
Random box that something came in, made out of ABS according to the recycle symbol on it:
Holes cut out with a dremel:
Switches are MX Cherry clears:
Test fit to check positioning along with palm rest (ABS pipe):
Grind away, add filler, grind some more, add more filler, some high build primer, sand, sand some more, sand some more.
Side assembly is polycarbonate; prefer that over acrylic since it stands up against cracking a bit better when you tap threads into it. Came from the hardware store; use it for all sorts of projects.
The red switches are cheap ones from online somewhere (was it ebay or amazon? don't remember).
Under the thumbstick is this 100k ohm dual-axis post with push-switch (from Digi-Key).
I did wire the push switch up, but it's not being used because the force required tends to deflect the stick.
The thumbstick itself is made from a brass barbed fitting, press/friction fit onto the potentiometer shaft, with the other end threaded into a polycarbonate disk with filler overtop to give a bit of a concave shape.
Underside:
Wet-sanded the handle to 220 grit. Got impatient and didn't finish the other parts quite as nicely.
Prime, and paint. Going to have to find something besides Krylon Fusion I think, it's not holding up to the wear and tear as well as I like.
Test assemble:
After that, it was just a matter of running a whole bunch of wires (an old 25-pin parallel cable was sacrificed), and lots of soldering.
No real fancy tools. Drill, dremel, tap & die set, coping saw/hack saw, sandpaper.
Holes cut out with a dremel:
Switches are MX Cherry clears:
Test fit to check positioning along with palm rest (ABS pipe):
Grind away, add filler, grind some more, add more filler, some high build primer, sand, sand some more, sand some more.
Side assembly is polycarbonate; prefer that over acrylic since it stands up against cracking a bit better when you tap threads into it. Came from the hardware store; use it for all sorts of projects.
The red switches are cheap ones from online somewhere (was it ebay or amazon? don't remember).
Under the thumbstick is this 100k ohm dual-axis post with push-switch (from Digi-Key).
I did wire the push switch up, but it's not being used because the force required tends to deflect the stick.
The thumbstick itself is made from a brass barbed fitting, press/friction fit onto the potentiometer shaft, with the other end threaded into a polycarbonate disk with filler overtop to give a bit of a concave shape.
Underside:
Wet-sanded the handle to 220 grit. Got impatient and didn't finish the other parts quite as nicely.
Prime, and paint. Going to have to find something besides Krylon Fusion I think, it's not holding up to the wear and tear as well as I like.
Test assemble:
After that, it was just a matter of running a whole bunch of wires (an old 25-pin parallel cable was sacrificed), and lots of soldering.
No real fancy tools. Drill, dremel, tap & die set, coping saw/hack saw, sandpaper.
Potential next project: make something so I can move those off the top of my desk...
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