So some of you might recall my first mod the which was a 109 Grip and a few days back I ordered some more items for my next project






P.S. The tape is only a temporary solution, I was not sure how the spade would fit on top now I do and so can make a proper adapter for the KG13.

Hopefully after all the wiring and assembly it will look something like this...






Not sure how long it will take to complete but it should be fun, hopefully I don't electrocute myself too much ...

Now which one will I end up using the most... :!:

So today I got started on cleaning up the spade grips button and casing...

BEFORE



I managed to blow aluminium swarf into my eye OUCH, I started to wear my safety glasses after that.

AFTER







So what do you think..

I was using these pictures for reference.





Next I will work on button

Okay another quick update, unfortunately due to a hangover I was not able to do as much as I had planned on... however given that I was not expecting to receive any of the items until next week I won't be too hard on myself :P

So the button and button housing are basically finished, the nut and bolt are only place holders I am going to use something else for the final fitting...





Finally here are some images of the button at work...



Cannons



Machine Guns



The only button I have yet to work on is the fire of both cannon and maching guns, this will be achieved by a slot in the button which will allow me to press on the centre and activate both buttons at the same time... Well that's the plan anyway :o

Obviously its nothing like an actually spade button but it works



P.S. Any comments are welcome.

Work is slowly progressing on the spade grip, I got hold of the brass parts of the button and have been trying to get the shape of the grip filed into them but its proving a hard task, I will probably have to live with a few gaps













FYI its held together with bluetak atm

So a bit more filing is required and hopefully the circuit board will arrive tomorrow so I can test the buttons a few finishing touches and by next week it should all be done.

Brake lever is now done



So this week the Teensy Board arrived and after a small problem I managed to get the buttons working .

So my finial list of "Things to do" are as follows..

1) File down brass bars and check installation of buttons.

2) Solder buttons and the Teensy Board.

3) Epoxy coat the handle to replicate the grip.

4) Paint.

5) Assemble ...

Very quick bad pic before i go and finish off the spades grip errr,.... grip

Hey, what a brilliant job you have done Krupi! It will be a nice add on to your Steuerknüppel! What are the spade casting & brake lever made of?

Thanks Maister, its aluminium but unfortunately I am not sure what grade it is.

I have a few more bits and pieces to go, I loath working with Brass and thats the final piece of the jigsaw.

I spend about three hours yesterday kneading putty epoxy and wrapping it around the string and then another three after it had dried scoring the putty to give the grip effect...

My attempt



What do you think?

Krupy, may I ask where you got the trigger assembly parts from?? Got an aluminium spade grip casting myself, and still are looking for the trigger parts....
Great job!!

I will PM you the email of the guy that made it, I am not sure if he is making them any more though...

Looks fabulous Krupi! You did a great job with the grip texture. The angle of the switch seems to be a bit off compared to your reference. Maybe it is easy to fix.
Did you put some potmeter under the brake lever?

Thanks, I just put the button there for the picture its not in the final place yet (nice spot).

I could have used a potmeter but decided to drill a hole in the raised section on the back and attach a button. With the brake lever i drilled a hole in short curved "arm" and put a bolt with a few washers in it, this way the brake lever only travels the distance I want it to.

I will upload some more images tomorrow to make it a bit clearer.

The early Machine gun spade grips is totally different to the MkV Cannon/Machine gun grip..Been there tried that... You really have to start with a MkV grip Which is as rare as hens teeth and veeeeeery expensive..

Not if you have a casting of a mkv grip

Could you elaborate on that Spitty?

J.A.K. any pics?

Its somewhere in my attick, will have look for it.

How wide is that spade grip?

tnx.

g.

Roughly 14cm

Nice work, pretty slick build.

The first two pics are the cannon grip.The bottom the early Spit spade grip..We sent a full 3D file of the MkV grip to Tarmack Aces to rapid Prototype in return for a produced grip.It was complete except for the rocker switch.We have received nothing so far...Sooo a leetle bit hesitant in helping people..

Thanks for the dimension.

I'd love to try cutting that model on my ShopBot...

I could make it from a few laminated layers of Baltic Birch plywood and then cut with a 1 degree taper ball nose bit...

g.

Not really seeing much difference other than the cannon connection...!

Its a pity Tarmac went under

Correct But it does change it enough to be a pain..



Gene I still have the Solidworks 3D file of the cannon spade grip if your interested in firing up the Shopbot
Here is a pic of the grip we got the measurements from..

If you've got it in STL (or can save it in that format), I'll see how Aspire or Cut3D handle it.

That original grip is pretty grim looking.

g.

Done
Will pm you my email address...

Yes thats the problem with magnesium...

For those curious, front:



...and the back:



I'll know this weekend whether or not my 3D-fu is up to the task.

g.

Gene that would look sweet made out of a nice piece of timber, polished and just sitting on a shelf . Good luck with it, hope it works out.

First one will be made from high density pink insulation foam. If that works out, I'll build a block of material by laminating a few layers of 3/4" Baltic Birch together. That'll look really cool if it works out.

g.

Stunning.Will try get a 3D rocker switch going.In the Spitfire world the Cannon Spade grip in original condition are very rare.

Anyone know the measure of external diameter of Spitfire spad fire button?

This:



Sokol1

Just curious, how do you align the front and back passes?

If you're asking me, I used a base plate with alignment pins in it.

g.

Thanks Gene. I presume the sockets for the pins are drilled through on the blank beforehand?

Yes. What I did was create a cnc program that bored two pin holes diagonally opposed into a base plate. I then drilled the same two holes in the block. I set dowel pins into the base, set the blank in the pins and then bored two more holes so they'd line up in the same position when the blank was flipped.

g.

A mates got one will measure it up this arv

Received this info:





Sokol1

DOH...Thanks.It would be imperial so 1.5" and .75"

1:1 resin kit.

http://www.hyperscale.com/2013/reviews/kits/tailboompreviewbg_2.htm

Sokol1

Repop Spade grip

http://www.spitfirespares.com//Pages/controls.html

About a third way down the page

Repop grip for £140 and an extra £55 for the brake lever

there's a bloke on ebay uk that makes/casts them himself, you could get the grip and lever for under £100, don't pay stupidly extortionate prices from the likes of Sspares!

Since i want one to use as "joystick" PVC tube and epoxy putt save ~95 Euros.

http://i44.tinypic.com/10yi9ow.jpg

Sokol1

Is that one you've made Sokol?

Yes, I use this drawing posted above as reference, and parts of PVC electrical conduit 90 degree elbow.

http://i44.tinypic.com/2lt6fte.jpg

Is difficult get info about dimension - above Krupi say ~140mm as width, in another forum the guy say 130mm...
I did more close to 130mm.
The info about fire button I receive from a collector in Keypublishing forum (seem that a guy from there write a book about this grips).
Curiously I don't see pictures on Web similar to those drawing - and Krupi cast - that have large flange on base and different support for brake cable than AH2174 or AH8068. Is supposedly for Spitfire Mk.IX.

Sokol1

We got our measurements off an original.Diameter is 132mm

Very nicely done mate

I had toyed with the idea of PVC tubing myself, but I dont believe I'd get anywhere near a good a job as you've produced

Actually Sokol, given the end result, a thread of it's own for your PVC spade grip might be called for. I'd love to know more about the materials you used and the techniques you used to put it together to get the end result that you did.

I'm amazed at the quality of the finish

Oh yes Sokol, please share some more information about your build. The result is stunning!!

This is where I am with my spade grip just now. Using a resin grip, and picking up tips from Krupi and Sokol!

Mines done (although its a Hurricane stick )

Very nice Speyer


I'm jealous

Looks great

Stunning work...
Gene the baby arrived safetly finally Well done mate it looks awesome..Now to finish off the button...

Excellent! That stupid thing has been around the world *twice*. First time was my fault. *laughs*

I still haven't had a chance to tweak the model you sent in order to add the hole for the brake lever. I did buy the needed heat-set inserts for it though. I need a clone to do my day job so I can spend all my time tinkering with flight simulators.

g.

Its being put to good use Gene..

Ha! That's great! I take it you made some kind of mold from it first?

I hope to some day get back to working on the other model you sent in order to produce something more usable. I've already got the heat-set insert required to properly fit the brake handle mounting bolt.

How hard is it going to be to clear the wiring channel along the right arc?

g.

It's a green sand cast, right? That would explain why the channel couldn't be cast as well

That doesn't explain it.

g.

Gene, the channel has little to no draft, it would be nearly impossible to remove the master from the cast without disturbing the sand, no matter how tightly it is packed. The only option would be to add it in as a core, which would be thin and fragile, and require additional steps, like adding keys to ensure the core is properly aligned

Hey guys now have the Cannon Spade grip for sale at my Shapeways shop and also the rocker button and housing as separate pieces.Will add more bits and pieces in time.Also have other replica spit bits for sale as well.

https://www.shapeways.com/designer/Rossco?li=pb

Just wanted to throw this one over to this thread as it seemed more relevant.Here is the link for the early gun button parts for the Spitfire Spade grips.
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/spit?s=60#more-products

Other 3D print "Spade".

http://spitfirejoystick.blogspot.com.br/

Looks nice and compact...

Sketchup files for this "spade":

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=u0de0a507-ee64-4a19-83b5-7fb2058ec4ab

B type

windows 7 screen shot

Authot is "Air Ministry" user in Keypublishing forum.

Copy of booklet available in Spitfirespares.

Touche..
Counter thrust

With some "picture archeology" on Web figure how "BBC" safety-fire plate lock work, is just 2 pins.



In the above sketch the pins are draw too small, they are more tall and when out of 9:00-15:00 position prevent the trigger move down.
They support - part with tooth just turn around the barrels.



The CAM in the second gear moves the indicator pin up.

Sculpting it out of steel. Coming along slowly as I've just started welding after not doing so for many years. Would like to cast one out of aluminum next year when I get to it, but I thought I could make one the kids couldn't destroy!

Guys,
on the plans I can see that diameter is 18mm. Is it total diamater (including cover) or just the metal (?) corpse?

https://imgur.com/a/tBta1BV

Sunrrise,

This (unfinished) drawings (I did in Sketchup) is very imprecise, because are based on a small thumbnail of a drawing posted by an guy in forum.

But in this side view of same drawing - in better size, are measurements that allow you estimate better the tube size.

https://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=3617&d=1376535272

But quoting Machot of Heritageflightsim:

"There were also components supplied on a turnkey basis, like the Dunlop Spade Grip, for which there are no formal drawings to be found. In those cases we have to rely on actual measurements taken from surviving equipment."

Machot sell plans of Spitfire (Mk.IX) throttle, but don't know about Dunlop grip, contact then.

BTW - Are free set of Dunlop drawings available, that for an "joystick" grip seems OK.

https://grabcad.com/library/spade-grip-spitfire-mk-ix-1

Only original drawing I have seen of the Dunlop grip.