Ghostpilots Aluminium Delta Throttle build-log

[Ghostpilot]

I ordered the wrong torsion springs the first time around and ended up with stainless 90 degree springs. I then returned those and ordered piano wire 120 degree ones instead. They arrived yesterday.
I haven't really had time to take a closer look at them until now. I knew they weren't EXACTLY the same as the McMaster or Amazon Supply ones, but the data were close enough to not cause too much trouble, I assumed. The thing is that it doesn't have as many winds as the one you guys use. Force-wise all three of them will still be able to hold the weight of the platform with the handle AND added weight of my hand. On that I have no doubt, but lesser winds on the spring also means lesser width. Lesser width on the springs will create empty areas on the shafts if I maintain the current spacing between the bearing blocks. That's too bad, because I have made a base plate already. I think I will need to redesign the base plate and have narrower width between the bearing blocks.

With my current bearing blocks the shaft ends up a tad bit too high from the base plate surface for my taste. The torsion springs doesn't expand that much when under pressure, so there is really no need for the shaft to sit that high up from the base. So it looks like I will have to go back to "ye olde drawing board" like Wile E Coyote and redesign everything from scratch to fit the available hardware. That means narrow the space between the bearing blocks to eliminate empty gaps between the parts. Shorten or redesign the bearing blocks to sit lower on the base plate. That means I have to switch from M4 screws to M3 which is slightly smaller and a little more common find in my parts drawer at home. I want to make the shaft sit as low as I possibly can without compromising movement of the pivot arm and expansion of the torsion springs.

It is with mixed feelings I choose to abandon my finished base plate and the bearing blocks.
If someone would like to take over my old parts and continue working with the size that was made for Actobotics parts, send me a PM.
I can make a new Z-spring anchor for myself, so I'll leave the one that's one there so it's a complete base plate with bearing blocks (and no bearings).

[Ghostpilot]

Slow progress lately. Although, some things have been completed.
I got the free samples of plastic rod ends with PEEK (Poly-Ether-Ether-Ketone, thermoplastic polymer that is very tough) pivot sphere from igus.de a while back. Those rod ends are different from the Traxxas rod ends in both length and thread type, M3 thread instead of M4. So I had to measure them (to get an average length/deviation in length) and calculate the length of the connecting rod that had to be made. That I did and set out to make the rods out of scrap alca+ alu. That kind of aluminium isn't very suitable to chuck up in a lathe because it tends to be a little bit sticky when turning from square shaped scrap. That's not an universal truth though, just my own observation. So the surface finish became like blistered skin or worn leather. However, I will most likely bead blast the parts with glass sand later, so hopefully that will smooth out the worst. I didn't want to turn a male thread in the lathe, so I made female threads. The rod ends also has female threads, but I took a long enough M3 screw and hack sawed the head off and turned chamfers on the cut end in the lathe. As an added bonus that made it easier to adjust the rod ends so they faced the same way. Just had to adjust the M3 rods to make the rod ends seat the way I wanted.
In legth, I aim for the numbers found in the source code, which is mentioned in this thread.

[Ghostpilot]

Next up is designing my pivot arms. I take inspiration from the redesigned multi spring compatible arms that SC-Maik showed in this thread (page 2, first post).
I will make my versions from aluminium and thus can slim them down a bit. I will incorporate the set screw locked slit groove for the spring legs from SC-Maik's design somehow.
I don't want to make it as small as I can be because it would look weird with too flimsy and thin pivot arms, so I set my eye on old steam engines and their very stylish design.
Like this one below for example, I will try to borrow some shape and general look from the big beam at the top of the engine.
I like the idea of filling the pockets with colour and have the "frame" of the beam raw metal. Brass colour is more beautiful than aluminium, but I will stick to using aluminium.

[aniron]

Nice to see your build progressing despite the setbacks.

I'm still struggling to get my printer bed level enough to print my base prototype.

Do you have any plans yet for your handle? I was considering incorporating a trackball like on the CIG/Saitek Star Citizen HOTAS concepts.

[Ghostpilot]

Do you have any plans yet for your handle? I was considering incorporating a trackball like on the CIG/Saitek Star Citizen HOTAS concepts.

I haven't given it that much thought yet. I have an extra 3Dconnexion spaceNavigator that I could use as handle, but Delta Throttle's 3 axis plus spaceNavigators 6 axis will most likely be hard to control in one hand. Someone mentioned a handle like an old school gearshift knob wrapped in leather. I kind of like that idea somehow. I think I have to go out into the real world and squeeze and feel all the handles that come in my way to find one that really resonates with my bony hand. I accidentally stumbled into the slingshot community when searching for ergonomic grips. Those guys really know how to make handles. I may have to nerd away a little into their world to see how they make those ergonomic handles. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine. But I think I prefer a wide handle over a taller thin one.

[aniron]

Do you have any plans yet for your handle? I was considering incorporating a trackball like on the CIG/Saitek Star Citizen HOTAS concepts.

I haven't given it that much thought yet. I have an extra 3Dconnexion spaceNavigator that I could use as handle, but Delta Throttle's 3 axis plus spaceNavigators 6 axis will most likely be hard to control in one hand. Someone mentioned a handle like an old school gearshift knob wrapped in leather. I kind of like that idea somehow. I think I have to go out into the real world and squeeze and feel all the handles that come in my way to find one that really resonates with my bony hand. I accidentally stumbled into the slingshot community when searching for ergonomic grips. Those guys really know how to make handles. I may have to nerd away a little into their world to see how they make those ergonomic handles. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine. But I think I prefer a wide handle over a taller thin one.

I was thinking more wrt buttons, ministicks and other auxiliary controls. After all, the DirectInput spec leaves room for another 5 axes, 128 buttons and a 8-way POV hat after three axes is used for the Delta 3dof mechanism. Might as well use some of them.

What will you use your throttle for?
Your forum name suggests Star Citizen with its F7C-S 'Ghost' Hornet, but could be something else entirely.

[Ghostpilot]

I was thinking more wrt buttons, ministicks and other auxiliary controls.

When I ordered those free samples from AMS, I also got their magnetic micro joystick module and the control chip for it along with the magnets for the Delta Throttle. At some point I will need to decide if the Delta Throttle will be a primary or secondary control device. If it will be the primary one, it would make sense to think through the grip design a couple of times more and add a small thumb-joystick, fire button and auxiliary buttons. If it would be secondary, and used only for steering the ship (if we stay in the world of space sims), the button placement will not be as critical as there would be another device used for aiming, shooting and such.

What will you use your throttle for? Your forum name suggests Star Citizen with its F7C-S 'Ghost' Hornet, but could be something else entirely.

This is a little embarrassing to admit, but I choose to to build the Delta Throttle just because I can and because it seemed like a fun project to do. I have yet to buy a game to use it with. Star citizen and Elite Dangerous come to mind, not because I know much about them, but based on the fact that they have their own sections here on the forum.
My nickname is "borrowed" from a far older game for the 32bit NeoGeo console/arcade machine, with the same name.
But since you made the connection to F7C Ghost Hornet, that may very well be what I end up piloting.

[aniron]

That's a perfectly valid reason.

For space sims, you need a conventional joystick to go with the Delta, and in large world MMO space sims like Star Citizen and Elite it would be helpful with a conventional throttle as well for long distance travel (unless implementing the ambitious force feedback with a throttle mode that is being developed on this forum)

I plan on using the Delta when in combat, when landing/docking or when otherwise navigating tight environments, e.g. asteroid mining, salvage operations.

This means my left hand will need to be on it when fast easy access to controls will mean the most, and that it should be studded with buttons, toggles, ministicks and perhaps a small kitchen sink, as long as those all can be accessed while still holding the handle in position.

[Ghostpilot]

It's going to be tiny compared to before. The width between the bearing blocks outside edges is ~41mm now. You can see the old mounting holes in the unchanged baseplate underneath.
I have borrowed the universal spring leg slit from SC-Maik's pivot arm, but changed it a bit to fit the size of the springs from www.fjadrar.se. I'm not done with the shape of my pivot arm just yet, but it's starting to look like my version of the Delta Throttle now. I'm also thinking about modifying the bearing block that will be neighbour to the hall effect sensor chip holder. I want to add a flange/lip connection between those two so they mate surface to surface and captures the hall chip PCB between them with no gap except for where the cables to come out. I want to minimize the places where dirt can gather.
When someone mentioned gear shift knobs, I googled a few. I am playing with the idea of making a leather bellows or "tent shaped pouch" like the one that you find on gear shift sticks in sports cars. It may not be possible for a number of reasons, but I will look into it regardless.

[Ghostpilot]

Time for an update. [s]Not ONLY because the last post in my thread is made by a f*#§ spam bot.[/s]
As I said earlier I am not using actobotics stuff, because I didn't think is was necessary when I had some ball bearings in my parts box. So I set out to make my own parts.
At first I used the general size of the actobotics bearing blocks, but that ended up looking a little silly with my tiny ball bearings in them. I then realized that I needed to redesign most of the parts attached to the base to fit the overall size of the other parts used. The picture I posted last time shows the decreased size of the components. But then the components weren't changed shape wise only in size.
This time however, I sat down and really thought on how to manufacture these parts with as little effort as possible.
In general you don't want to have asymmetrical parts which will be hard to clamp down when machining the other sides of it. So I split some parts and made them key into each other like puzzle pieces.
Again I want to send my thanks to SC-Maik for the idea of a polygonal fitting on an aluminium shaft for the pivot arm AND the universal torsion spring leg hook pocket with a set screw.
(click the picture to go to my photobucket album)