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#4531635 - 07/27/20 05:33 PM Simpit Collective lever  
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 748
AndyB Offline
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AndyB  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 748
Ayrshire, Scotland
[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]


Hi guys,

I decided to remake the collective on my Comanche pit. I based the design of the new one on the Blackhawk.

I designed all the parts for the handle, box, panel and switch guards in DesignSparks Mechanical and exported as .STL files for 3D printing. The two hat switches were printed from a download on Thingiverse.

Parts were all painted and finally assembled. I'm waiting for some M3 x 6 Allen head screws coming to screw it together. Still haven't finished fitting the laser module to my wee engraver yet, so just stuck some printed labels on for now.

Cheers,

Andy

Last edited by AndyB; 07/27/20 05:41 PM.

Andy's simpit: http://www.simpit.me.uk
Inline advert (2nd and 3rd post)

#4536923 - 09/14/20 07:20 AM Re: Simpit Collective lever [Re: AndyB]  
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Viper1970 Offline
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Viper1970  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Bavaria, near Munich
Hi Andy,

very nice work!!!

I'm also doing a remake of all my selfmade exchangeable HOTAS-Systems for my homepit project at the moment. Mine are only STL-Files at the moment and still have to print them all. I hope that the resolution of my Ender 3 Pro is good enough, cause it's a real pain to sand PLA. Sadly the cross section of my SDA-printer is to small to print those parts. Maybe I will use PETG for those new parts, but I haven't printed with it until now, so I have no experience with this fillament. It must be much better for sanding and finishing as PLA is.

Here are some of the things I'm working on. The first one is an AH-64D cyclic, the second one is a F/A-18C stick and the last one is the F/A18C throttle (not finished yet). I also want to make an F-14 throttle, an A-10 throttle (only a few buttons which are differnt from the F-15 throttle - I will use an old Suncom SFS for this with USB electronics) and a new collective for the helos.

I'm using them with my old interchangeable HOTAS system, I made years ago. Those days I couldn't make real replicas of the originals, cause of the limitations with the material I made them of (I used old Thrustmaster and Suncom sticks and throttles and modified them). Now with a 3D printer things are different, so I decided to redo all the failed sticks and throttles from those days. Some of them were really good (e.g. the F-14B stick) and will still be used again. The rest like the F-15 and the F-16 HOTAS will remain original Thrustmaster and Suncom gear, I only changed the electronics to Pokeys cards and made them compatible with my own interchangeable system.


Attached Files AH-64D Cyclic.jpgFA-18 Stick (Front).jpgFA-18 Throttle (Early 2).jpg
Last edited by Viper1970; 09/14/20 07:30 AM.

CockpitPC1: Ryzen9 5950X|64GB DDR4|512GB M2 SSD|2TB M2 SSD|Geforce RTX3090|Reverb G2|Win11Pro
CockpitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|32GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|2x Geforce GTX660 SLI|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC1: Ryzen9 3900XT|32GB DDR4|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce RTX2070|Win11 Pro
ComUnitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|16GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce GTX660|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC3: AthlonII X2 250|2GB DDR2|2TB HDD|Geforce 5950Ultra|2x VoodooII SLI|WinXPPro32&WinME
ComUnitPC4: K6-2+|768MB SDR|640GB HDD|Geforce 256DDR|VoodooI|Win98SE
#4537029 - 09/14/20 07:13 PM Re: Simpit Collective lever [Re: AndyB]  
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 748
AndyB Offline
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AndyB  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 748
Ayrshire, Scotland
Hi Viper,

Love the idea of interchangable sticks and collectives/throttles. How do they connect electronically ? I assume you'll be using some sort of multi way connector. Are they easy to swap over ?

I agree about sanding PLA, it is a pain. The least amount of speed and the surface starts melting. I just took it very slow and used lots of primer ....... I did read somewhere recently that you should WET sand PLA, but haven't tried it yet.

I've tried printing with PETG a couple of times but kept getting blocked nozzles. I did have the nozzle temp at 247 and the bed at 75 with no cooling as recommended. I still have a capricorn bowden tube down to the nozzle on my Ender 3 so that might not have helped. I'll be interested in how you get on with it.

I recently purchased a couple of all metal hotends from Aliexpress which are supposed to work better at higher nozzle temps, but when I tried it on PLA it was a disaster so went back to original.

Good luck with the prints,

Cheers,

Andy

PS Just purchased the files to print an SA80 rifle to clip in to the pit for a bit more realism.

Unfortunately it's only 1/4 scale and if I scale it up to full size, the parts are too big to print.

I'm now using Freecad to import each part, convert it to a solid and save that. Then use Ansys Spaceclaim to cut and separate the part in to more manageable sizes then export them as .STL files to be printed. I'll then glue them all back together and paint it.

Last edited by AndyB; 09/14/20 07:18 PM.

Andy's simpit: http://www.simpit.me.uk
#4537201 - 09/15/20 10:11 PM Re: Simpit Collective lever [Re: AndyB]  
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Viper1970 Offline
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Viper1970  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Bavaria, near Munich
Hallo Andy,

the sticks and also the throttles are relatively easy to swap over, but the electrical part isn't implemented very nice. I just use simple cables with pinconnectors from the sticks and throttles to the bases. I'm also thinking about a new connection-system, something the way like the TM Warthog uses. With the 3d-printers much more is possible now, as it was back those days.

I will test this wet sanding with the new parts, if they are finished. PLA is such a good material for the printing process, but really a pain for finishing. I have two rolls of PETG fillament here, but I still haven't tried to print with it. I will catch this up for this project now. I hope I will have a bit success with it, cause the only other alternative to PETG if it comes to finishing is ABS, which is really hard to print with an open system like the Ender is.

Is this Ansys Spaceclaim a part of the Ansis Student version? If I could easily cut and seperate parts to a smaller size, maybe I'm able to print some oft the things with my SLA-printer which has a much better print quality.

Cheers,

Sven


CockpitPC1: Ryzen9 5950X|64GB DDR4|512GB M2 SSD|2TB M2 SSD|Geforce RTX3090|Reverb G2|Win11Pro
CockpitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|32GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|2x Geforce GTX660 SLI|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC1: Ryzen9 3900XT|32GB DDR4|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce RTX2070|Win11 Pro
ComUnitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|16GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce GTX660|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC3: AthlonII X2 250|2GB DDR2|2TB HDD|Geforce 5950Ultra|2x VoodooII SLI|WinXPPro32&WinME
ComUnitPC4: K6-2+|768MB SDR|640GB HDD|Geforce 256DDR|VoodooI|Win98SE
#4537254 - 09/16/20 11:57 AM Re: Simpit Collective lever [Re: AndyB]  
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Posts: 748
AndyB Offline
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AndyB  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 748
Ayrshire, Scotland
Hi Sven,

Yes, it's part of the student version. It shows up as "SCDM 2020 R1" under the "ANSYS 2020 R!" section of the start menu.

Easy to use ( I use it a lot for CAD and 3D modelling).

Open a new model (or an STL file, it will convert it to a solid).

Select PLANE on the top menu and place a PLANE on one surface and then move it to where you want it cut.

On the top menu select "Split Body". It will prompt you to select the body to cut. Highlight the whole model.

Now it will prompt for the cutting tool. Select the PLANE. Hit Enter and it's done. You should now have 2 solids in the structure tree.

Select "Move" in the top menu and then select one of the solids in the structure tree. Move the part to seperate them. You can now delete the PLANE.

You can now repeat this process to split the parts further.

When you want to save the parts you need to untick all the parts in the structure tree EXCEPT the part you want to save, then do a save as to an STL file. Then untilck it and tick another part to save that.

It sounds more complicated than it really is.

If you have any problems give me a shout.

Cheers,

Andy


Andy's simpit: http://www.simpit.me.uk
#4537468 - 09/17/20 06:23 PM Re: Simpit Collective lever [Re: AndyB]  
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Viper1970 Offline
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Viper1970  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Bavaria, near Munich
Hello Andy,

thank you very much for your detailed description! I will download the student version and experiment a little bit with it biggrin

A much bigger SLA printer would be nice, but they are still very expensive and it's always a real pain to make them clean after use.

FDM printers are much more user friendly, but this "stairway"-effect in roundings is really annoying. If you use smaller nozzles the printing-time increases rapidly and the possibility of failures also.

Last edited by Viper1970; 09/17/20 06:27 PM.

CockpitPC1: Ryzen9 5950X|64GB DDR4|512GB M2 SSD|2TB M2 SSD|Geforce RTX3090|Reverb G2|Win11Pro
CockpitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|32GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|2x Geforce GTX660 SLI|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC1: Ryzen9 3900XT|32GB DDR4|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce RTX2070|Win11 Pro
ComUnitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|16GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce GTX660|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC3: AthlonII X2 250|2GB DDR2|2TB HDD|Geforce 5950Ultra|2x VoodooII SLI|WinXPPro32&WinME
ComUnitPC4: K6-2+|768MB SDR|640GB HDD|Geforce 256DDR|VoodooI|Win98SE
#4537487 - 09/17/20 08:09 PM Re: Simpit Collective lever [Re: AndyB]  
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 748
AndyB Offline
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AndyB  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 748
Ayrshire, Scotland
Hi Sven,

You could print with a 0.4 mm nozzle but take the layer height down to 0.12 mm (magic number) and that should improve the finish of the part. You'll still have layer lines, but they'll be much finer.

The price you pay is of course longer print times, but I haven't had any failures doing it this way.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

Andy


Andy's simpit: http://www.simpit.me.uk
#4537553 - 09/18/20 03:16 PM Re: Simpit Collective lever [Re: AndyB]  
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Viper1970 Offline
Member
Viper1970  Offline
Member

Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,179
Bavaria, near Munich
Ah, this is a good advice!

At first I wanted to use a 0.3mm nozzle with a standard layer height of 0.15mm (half the width), but the tip with the 0.4mm Nozzle and 0.12mm sound really good.

At the moment I'm using a 0.8mm nozzle with 0.4mm layer height for making some construction-frames. Nothing what has to be good looking. Saves a lot of time and the results are very stable.

Cheers Sven


CockpitPC1: Ryzen9 5950X|64GB DDR4|512GB M2 SSD|2TB M2 SSD|Geforce RTX3090|Reverb G2|Win11Pro
CockpitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|32GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|2x Geforce GTX660 SLI|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC1: Ryzen9 3900XT|32GB DDR4|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce RTX2070|Win11 Pro
ComUnitPC2: PhenomII X6 1100T|16GB DDR2|2x 2TB HDD|Geforce GTX660|Win7Pro64
ComUnitPC3: AthlonII X2 250|2GB DDR2|2TB HDD|Geforce 5950Ultra|2x VoodooII SLI|WinXPPro32&WinME
ComUnitPC4: K6-2+|768MB SDR|640GB HDD|Geforce 256DDR|VoodooI|Win98SE

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