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I am building a new rig.


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Hi folks.

 

Things have been slow over Christmas but at last the in-laws have departed and life is returning to normal.

 

Having received my nice shiny X55 for Christmas I am now looking forward to using it. I have installed the throttle unit which was easy as it will be a permanent fixture.

 

However the joystick poses a problem which I need advice on before I design the way it is installed. My problem is this:

 

The joystick is to be removable so that it can be replaced by a yoke.  Both are Saitek and will be controlled by a licensed version of FSUIPC.  However the buttons are naturally different.  If I program the joystick and then swap it out with the yoke then am I correct in thinking that the joystick buttons will be mapped to the yokes buttons by number, that is to say Joystick button 1 becomes yoke button 1 etc?  OR will the yoke become a different device an be able to be mapped separately?  This could pose a real problem if, say, button 1 on the yoke is a separate push button and on the joystick is part of a POV.

 

Has anyone had ant previous experience with this?

 

 

P.S. Photos of my completed home made seat to come very soon.

 

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You should be OK JG

My Saitek Yoke is seen as Joy#0 and my Thrustmaster joystick as Joy #1 so the programming would be independent so wouldn't necessary map across.

 

Trail and error matey.  :thum:

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I ordered a Wheel stand pro on the day after Boxing Day and it arrived today.  How's that for service!

 

The photos that follow next ase Brian's falt.  I blame him entirely, there is no shaddow of a doubt.  He planted the seed in my mind and so I couldnt help myself.  You cant denigh it Brian.... I have proof! see below:-

 

 

Looking good John.
I didn't notice any ejector mechanism on your chair


Blast, why did you have say that! This was to be a three stage project, now it has to be four stages.

 

 

So here it is .... my new sim chair....

 

seat1.JPG

 

 

seat2.JPG

 

seat3.JPG

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The left hand pedestal and chair complete, I am now starting on the right hand pedestal.  Although similar in shape and size to the left hand pedestal, it is much simpler in design.

 

The function of this pedestal is to manage the two computers I use in my FS rig.  It will therefore support two mini keyboards and two trackballs for PC control, but it will also contain two switched and two push buttons in a small panel. 

 

The purpose of the two switches is to switch the mains power on and off for each PC, these are essentially light switches that control a couple of banks of plug sockets.

 

The two push buttons are to start the PCs. These are push buttons wired in parallel to the PC's on buttons so that they mimic the PC's on off functionality.  The wiring and testing for this feature is now complete and tested, and with the pedestal built and in a bare wood state, this aspect is progressing quickly.

 

One of the things I wanted to create with my build is the feeling of being in a cramped military cockpit.  With both side panels in place and the big chair in position that feeling is most certainly there, but with no impediment to the flight sim's function. Indeed, with practically all of FSX's commands mapped to buttons and switches, leavers and dials, the function is greatly enhanced.

 

Construction of the second pedestal is simple and so I havent bothered to photograph it, but I will be displaying pictures of the completed thing.  

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

JG, I love that bang seat mate. I am thinking of how to do the seat on the Spit.

I realised pretty early on that I would be unable to replicate the deep seat pan for the parachute (and then that would mean I would have to make a dummy parachute as well...there are some limits) so I opted for just a seat - the woofer for the 5:1 surround sound system is buried in the bottom of it.

How did you do the upholstery? I am going to use a heavy drill in a sandy/brown or sage green (undecided at the moment) and need about 2-3" of high density foam. Any input from your side would be appreciated.

Steph

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@Stephan. The upholstery wasn't that difficult.  I used a dismantled office chair seat for the sit on surface and an old bed pillow for the back part.  I bought a couple of meters of brown leatherette from ebay for the coverings.

 

I then taught myself to use a sewing machine and created a pillow case for the back rest. I covered the seat with leatherette by stretching it over the seat and using a staple gun to secure it to the underside of the seat. 

 

Lastly I attached the seat to the frame with screws and the top of the backrest to the frame with the staple gun again by a flap of leatherette at the back top of the pillow on to the wooden back.  This was secured with the pillow at 180 degrees to its final position and then dropped down to conceal the attachment.

 

As long as you get the correct material and some foam or a pillow to cover you should be ok. Have you thought of using the parachute space as a void to store your headset etc when not using it? The box at head height on my chair is made of a small plastic box with a clip on lid. I use this box to store my headset etc.

 

Since the photos were taken I have made a head rest pillow that sits on the top box. I will be posting some new photos soon.

 

J

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JG. Headsets and helmets are to be hung nonchalantly over the windscreen arch (TIC), along with your silk scarf.

(Given me another idea - maybe some of that leatherette stuff to make a WWII style leather helmet complete with goggles?)

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I have hit a few of snags.

  1. The ejector seat is about three or four inches to high and I haven't added any height adjustment. I think this is because I used the seat of the broken chair I used before as a design change part the way through. Some work to do there.
  2. Opus isn't recognizing my new joystick. I need to look into Opus coping with multiple joysticks. If anyone can enlighten me on this I would be glad of the assistance!
  3. I have a dead USB hub. Another thing to look at.
  4. My secondary monitors are too low so I will have to rebuild their stand. No big deal, but more effort.

Otherwise it is all looking good, and once the above are done I will be back on the road...err..air.

 

The next stage of the project is to get the switches home made panels working, I have already mount the Arduino boards and wired the back of each switch or LED. I have also built most of the ribbon cabling and sockets that will link the switches to the boards and I need to electrically test these to ensure they are sound and that there are no shorts. It is going to take a while as there are 76 connections to test.

 

Latest photo:

 

cp240115.jpg

 

 

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I am getting on with it!!!  :D

 

It is like a project with massive scope-creep. Brian, you started it with this:

 

 

 

Looking good John.
I didn't notice any ejector mechanism on your chair

 

That got me thinking about a chair, then came the second side panel to give the whole thing symmetry and a new joystick and throttle into the mix and then reusing my throttle quadrant for spoilers all of which required a massive re-wire from the mains down and so on and so forth.  :wacko2:

 

I have been rebuilding the monitor stand today and will be looking at the height of the seat later or tomorrow. 

 

That will leave the FSUIPC programming, the Opus problem and the dead USB hub to do do before I have a running sim.  :heat:

 

After that I still have a ton of work to do but at least I will be able to fly.  :pilotic:

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I am getting on with it!!!  :D

 

It is like a project with massive scope-creep. Brian, you started it with this:

 

 

 

Looking good John.

I didn't notice any ejector mechanism on your chair

 

That got me thinking about a chair, then came the second side panel to give the whole thing symmetry and a new joystick and throttle into the mix and then reusing my throttle quadrant for spoilers all of which required a massive re-wire from the mains down and so on and so forth.  :wacko2:

 

I have been rebuilding the monitor stand today and will be looking at the height of the seat later or tomorrow. 

 

That will leave the FSUIPC programming, the Opus problem and the dead USB hub to do do before I have a running sim.  :heat:

 

After that I still have a ton of work to do but at least I will be able to fly.  :pilotic:

 

Hey John,

All that and no pics, I'm very disappointed. :rofl:

 

Good luck

 

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I have managed to lower the Ejector seat by about three inches and it feels a lot better.  I have also built a higher stand for my secondary monitors so that is two problems solved.

 

Next I need to tackle the dead USB Hub and the Opus issue.

 

On the latter, if anyone has had experience with Opus and using more than one joystick with it i would be grateful to know how you got on with it.  At the moment I cant get Opus to recognise my joystick input.

 

J.

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