This is still a work in progress, I decided to mod my Hotas to have 1024 bits of precision on Axes, switch from potentiometers to hall effect sensors as in more expensive solutions and maybe add some bottons on the way.
Reason for this was that awful deadzone Thrustmaster hotas x have in the middle - you can move the stick about 1 cm in any direction with no reaction.
I chose ATmega32U4 as a controller, and among them - Arduino Pro Micro: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/pro-micro--fio-v3-hookup-guide
Pro micro is tiny, you can fit it anywhere, and have a native USB support (micro USB plug) no RS adapters required.
I started writing my own firmware, somewhere on the way I've found great library created by Mark Heironimus. It lacked some of the features I wanted, specifically 10 bit precision on the X and Y axes - it had only 256 steps per axis. So I forked off that library, started implementing my features, which I must add a lot of community asked for. I think this inpired original creator of the library, Mark, to work on that, and it turned out he added not only 10 bit precision to axes, but also some other stuff. Great job!
Since he did it way better than me, well.. ..I dropped mine, and will use his firmware probably: https://github.com/MHeironimus/ArduinoJoystickLibrary/network
All right. But what about physical modification of the stick? I decided to create a drop-in modules with hall sensors inside, and since I made a 3D printer before... (if someones interested: https://reprap.darmach.ovh ) I want to make them compatible with original thurstmaster potentiometers, so you will not have to void your warranty to replace them.
Here is the initial version, will need some improvements for sure:
From the bottom:
1. thats the base of the case, it have 3 holes on the bottom for Allegro A1301 hall sensor legs, and also holds it in proper place
2. thats the rotating element, have the hole in the bottom, which fits the hall sensor. Flat sides will have magnets attached
3. thats the upper case assembly, have the exact dimensions as original potentiometer, should fit right in his place.
You can download them, watch in 3D, and check out for yourself from thingiverse:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1607595/#files
Reason for this was that awful deadzone Thrustmaster hotas x have in the middle - you can move the stick about 1 cm in any direction with no reaction.
I chose ATmega32U4 as a controller, and among them - Arduino Pro Micro: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/pro-micro--fio-v3-hookup-guide
Pro micro is tiny, you can fit it anywhere, and have a native USB support (micro USB plug) no RS adapters required.
I started writing my own firmware, somewhere on the way I've found great library created by Mark Heironimus. It lacked some of the features I wanted, specifically 10 bit precision on the X and Y axes - it had only 256 steps per axis. So I forked off that library, started implementing my features, which I must add a lot of community asked for. I think this inpired original creator of the library, Mark, to work on that, and it turned out he added not only 10 bit precision to axes, but also some other stuff. Great job!
Since he did it way better than me, well.. ..I dropped mine, and will use his firmware probably: https://github.com/MHeironimus/ArduinoJoystickLibrary/network
All right. But what about physical modification of the stick? I decided to create a drop-in modules with hall sensors inside, and since I made a 3D printer before... (if someones interested: https://reprap.darmach.ovh ) I want to make them compatible with original thurstmaster potentiometers, so you will not have to void your warranty to replace them.
Here is the initial version, will need some improvements for sure:
From the bottom:
1. thats the base of the case, it have 3 holes on the bottom for Allegro A1301 hall sensor legs, and also holds it in proper place
2. thats the rotating element, have the hole in the bottom, which fits the hall sensor. Flat sides will have magnets attached
3. thats the upper case assembly, have the exact dimensions as original potentiometer, should fit right in his place.
You can download them, watch in 3D, and check out for yourself from thingiverse:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1607595/#files
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