I had been wanting to build a joystick extension for quite a while but never seemed to quite get round to it. Part of that was deciding on the method and also sourcing the right parts i.e. the hose connector for one thing (I never thought to look on Amazon.com assuming that they wouldn't deliver to the UK like so many other companies, but on this item they do).
The basic idea came from recoilfx's solutions - -
thank you - - but with a few differences to suit my hardware and limited workshop. My controller is a TM Cougar with Ian Johnston's U2 NXT mod. This left me with the original gimbals shaft spare. I thought it would be good to try to incorporate it into the extension.
Materials:
Beech: For the wooden bits
Copper ferrules : Made from 1x 1" 90 degree pipe bend. That was just what I had to hand. Anything will do as long as it's around 1".
Original Cougar gimbals shaft:Steel tubing: This came from an old busted garden swing seat and is approx 1.25" external diameter.
The Gardena 39035 5/8-Inch Metal Garden Hose Connector:A bit of scrap aluminium:
A PS2 extension lead:
Two part epoxy adhesive:
Some time and patience.Having got all the bits and pieces together including a PS2 extension cable I set to work.
Rather than scour the local plumbing merchants and DIY outlets for suitable copper pipe to fit inside the swing seat tube I decided to utilize my wood lathe and make something to fit exactly. Turning the wooden bush and drilling the hole for the old gimbals shaft went without a hitch.
The old gimbals shaft however, has two "lugs" on it so I was left with two options. First I could grind off the lugs so the shaft would fit the wooden bush, or I could leave them intact and try to cut a slot in the wooden bush. I went with cutting the slot as this would facilitate making the handle adjustable later on.
Next, the copper pipe joint was cut to give me two ferrules. Fine, but they were too small to fit over the turned wooden bush. My solution was to split them and open them up enough to slide over the wooden bush. They'll be epoxied in place anyway.
This pic shows all the components used except the wiring. The first four components from the left go to make up the part of the extension the handle locates into. A small hole in the white tubing was drilled to take a small self tapping screw (shortened to suit) to bear on the copper ferrule to lock the handle at the desired angle. The old gimbals shaft is eventually glued into the wooden bush with two part epoxy.
The other end of the extension, the bit that fits into the Cougar's base and U2 NXT gimbals shaft was made as follows:
Again, another wooden bush was turned and drilled, but this time with a lip on it to match the outside diameter of the tubing. The bush had to be done in two parts this time as the hose connector had to be "captive". These two parts I finally glued together with ordinary PVA. Some careful use of a small chisel cut the profile in the wood to match (as near as I could) the cnc'd profile of IJ's gimbals shaft. It ended up a nice tight fit even if it doesn't look too pretty.
The problem with wood is that it isn't quite as hard as metal and repeated assembly and disassembly could very quickly wear the wood away. My solution to this was to make a small fishplate from some scrap aluminium and fix that to the bottom of the bush. This assembly will be fixed in place in the tube with epoxy.
The following three pics show the top and bottom assemblies test fitted together and also how the final assembly will look.
All that's left to do now is the wiring and final assembly.
The ends of the PS2 cable had to be carefully trimmed circular to fit into the locations in the shaft. I did this with a very sharp wood chisel with the connectors held in a vice (be careful not to over tighten and distort or break the connector). Once trimmed to fit there is not a lot of material left on the connectors. Carefully does it is the key here.
A point to note is that the original male connector in the Cougar's (and probably Warthog's ) handle has a plastic locating tab to fit in the female connector in the base. This tab is positioned slightly differently to the PS 2 tab and socket. I overcame this by fitting a fine grinding bit into a Dremel type tool and elongating the slot in the female PS2 socket. It worked a treat and I didn't have to break off the tab on the original Cougar connector.
The cable was then cut to length and the wire ends prepared for soldering. Don't forget the shrink tubing.
All wires soldered and the unit is ready for testing. I coiled up the small amount of excess cable into the extension tube and connected it to the Cougar's base. Nothing is glued permanently at this stage as it all may have to come apart again if it doesn't work. I needn't have worried but it's best to be safe. The stick with extension calibrated perfectly using the Cougar
HOTAS CCP.
It WORKS - YAY!!! That done successfully, The final outer bit of shrink tube was applied. You can see the small self tapping screw fitted to the tube to the right of the pic. This bears onto the copper ferrule shown protruding and facilitates handle adjustment.
After the test the original gimbals shaft was glued into the wooden holder using epoxy, and after coiling the excess cabling into the tube, the bush holding the hose connector was glued into the other end of the tube and the whole lot left over night to cure.
Here's a pretty poor pic of the almost finished extension in situ in a hastily built pedestal made from MDF. I don't have a proper cockpit yet (or the brownie points needed with my good lady to build one which is more to the point
) so my setup is a bit of a mess at the moment and not ideal, but it does work. I just have to tart up the extension tube so it looks good and black. A black joystick on a white shaft doesn't look that great. Still, that's just my opinion.
Oh, I couldn't let it go like that so here's the finished article.
Ah that's better. A bit of black carbon fibre vinyl wrap finishes it off nicely. I will tidy up the disgraceful wiring and strive for a better overall layout ..................... honest
.
No original Joystick parts were harmed or altered in any way during the making of this extension.