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#4010973 - 09/17/14 03:55 PM First project, need some help.  
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Mudcat Offline
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Well, I'm about to embark on my first diy project and have a few questions maybe someone can help me with. I have a Logitech 3d extreme pro just sitting around and thought maybe I can make the thing a bit useful. Upon pulling it apart to get a good look at the guts I noticed the sensors for the axis'.

My first question is, can I re-purpose those sensors for other things? Could I get them to work with trim wheels?

Ideally I'd love to be able to make a bank of trim wheels/dials like in the P-51. Although if using those sensors for that type of thing isn't an option, then I guess I could look at some other things I can do with it. *Just a note* I'd really like to try to re-use some of what is already there. The last time I soldered anything was 20 some years ago in high school metal shop class :P

Inline advert (2nd and 3rd post)

#4010981 - 09/17/14 04:14 PM Re: First project, need some help. [Re: Mudcat]  
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Cold_Gambler Offline
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Yep, sure you can.

I've done this sort of thing with some Logitech rumble pads.

I'm not familiar with the innards of the Logitech 3D but there's no reason the potentiometers and buttons can't be re-purposed. If you want to use the pots for trim wheels you will probably want to get some gears as the pots only swing through an arc of less than 120 degrees whereas most trim wheels have multiple rotations of travel.


looks very modernishy-phoney-windows eighty-tabletty like

Asus P8P67 Pro Rev. 3.0 // i5 2500k @4.3 GHz with Noctua NH-D14 // nvidia gtx 780 // 8 GB DDR3 1600 //Win7 home 64 bit //450 GB VelociRaptor //Recon3D Champion
#4010988 - 09/17/14 04:27 PM Re: First project, need some help. [Re: Mudcat]  
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Mudcat Offline
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here's a pic of what the insides looks like.


Last edited by Mudcat; 09/17/14 04:30 PM.
#4011042 - 09/17/14 06:40 PM Re: First project, need some help. [Re: Mudcat]  
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Well, at least 2 axes should be pretty easy: the X and Y pots are just sitting in the black plastic brackets which have just been popped into the white plastic. You don't even need to de-solder anything to use those two pots so long as the wire is long enough. (Edit: actually, Logitech hasn't even soldered the pots: they've just connected white plastic headers onto the posts of the potentiometers- I presume that the wires from the headers are soldered onto the controller board. That said, I imagine at least some of the switches- little micro buttons- are soldered directly onto the controller board- those may be trickier)

As I suspected, the pots won't have much travel (an arc of maybe 60-90 degrees).
You can either live with it as-is and mount the pots vertically in the existing little black brackets but you'll certainly have to extend the knobbly black bit with a handle of some sort as it is way too short right now to give you any precision for trimming. Or, in the alternative you can get some gears to make a more realistic multi-turn trim wheel.
For a first project you might want to go with the first option but it's your call smile

Last edited by Cold_Gambler; 09/17/14 06:59 PM.

looks very modernishy-phoney-windows eighty-tabletty like

Asus P8P67 Pro Rev. 3.0 // i5 2500k @4.3 GHz with Noctua NH-D14 // nvidia gtx 780 // 8 GB DDR3 1600 //Win7 home 64 bit //450 GB VelociRaptor //Recon3D Champion
#4011043 - 09/17/14 06:40 PM Re: First project, need some help. [Re: Mudcat]  
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I'm not a pit builder, but I had some work with similar Logitech device (I made it work with XBOX360, just for fun). these resistors has rotation limits and you can't use them as trim wheel sensor. but, I can recommend you to think about using mouse wheel - usually it's 360 degrees rotation sensor with three pins. another question is how easy it will be get it work - can't say is it possible to use two mouse wheels at once or not. of course, you can't just replace them so you should use mouse board and drivers instead.

Last edited by thealx; 09/17/14 07:48 PM.
#4011189 - 09/18/14 12:35 AM Re: First project, need some help. [Re: Mudcat]  
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Allaire Offline
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The Logitech pots in the budget joysticks are crap plastic things.


Silent enim legēs inter arma.

Cave canem, te necet lingendo.
#4011216 - 09/18/14 02:02 AM Re: First project, need some help. [Re: Mudcat]  
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If they're not spiking now, why not use 'em? They'll get a lot less abuse as trims than as JS axes.


looks very modernishy-phoney-windows eighty-tabletty like

Asus P8P67 Pro Rev. 3.0 // i5 2500k @4.3 GHz with Noctua NH-D14 // nvidia gtx 780 // 8 GB DDR3 1600 //Win7 home 64 bit //450 GB VelociRaptor //Recon3D Champion
#4011463 - 09/18/14 06:14 PM Re: First project, need some help. [Re: Mudcat]  
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Mudcat Offline
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thanks for the help, will have to spend some time in the near future with this. I'm sure there will be plenty of trial and error. Will probably just go with the easiest option for the time being, I'm not going to worry about the buttons just yet either, baby steps :P I think for at least the time being, i'll go with functional (hopefully) before I try for a more realistic options. Always like to see something that I can get working first before getting too involved with grander plans. Will update when I get something going


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