It would be suprising to me if you could make a custom grip completely without soldering
It would be suprising to me if you could make a custom grip completely without soldering
ABut maybe there are suitable electronics available that don't requier too much tinkering
KWould be nice to have a wiring scheme for the shift register.
LHey I am here only for a game of whack-f*ck 
RSearch debolestis shift register.
R@Kalixto Hate to break it to you, but you will have to learn a basic and valuable skill soldering. Good news is it’s quite easy and not expensive.
Dreddit
3 votes and 14 comments so far on Reddit
DSadly, the project didnt get enough community interest and the developer is focusing on making it only for himself, the issue was the price for something like this was gonna be €202, which is a bit much for what it is
DKeep in mind when developing and building a joystick
R3D print or 3D print mold to resin is much cheaper. To say nothing of re tasking injection moulded commercial plastic housings. Like I did with my Thrustmaster X-Fighter B8 grip or the Suncom F-15/hornet stick I’ll eventually get around to finishing now that I have a trigger solution.
Most actual sticks are slush cast resin, not metal. You can slush cast resin in a lot of mold materials.
Most actual sticks are slush cast resin, not metal. You can slush cast resin in a lot of mold materials.
RHeck you can carve the stick out of clay, and build a mold off that.
T@keem85 @Kalixto I’ve done two custom 3D printed sticks from scratch, both using freejoy as the way to interface with my PC. Version 3 will be modified from V2 for a VPForce DIY kit. Custom design for someone who hasn’t done modeling before will be tough. But wiring has been made very simple by Walmis with the shift register board. It will require basic soldering skills but as @.rustbelt said this is a simple skill to learn. Pair it with the 3D printed F-4 Phantom grip listed above and you would have a great place to start to learn wiring. From there you could move on to learning to model your own grip keeping in mind the things you learned from wiring the previous.
TAlso my best modeling tip: If I was going to start from scratch again, I would first start with the electronics I wanted and build a grip around them rather than what I did which was build a grip shape and then try to fit buttons and functions in after the fact.
TOther modeling tips:
Start with a reference. Virpil as profile views of all their grips with some dimensions, you can use these to help guide how to shape and size your grips.
If you are just starting with modeling, YouTube is your friend. Also practice modeling things you have laying around to learn the different functions and different possibilities to get to the final result.
Start with a reference. Virpil as profile views of all their grips with some dimensions, you can use these to help guide how to shape and size your grips.
If you are just starting with modeling, YouTube is your friend. Also practice modeling things you have laying around to learn the different functions and different possibilities to get to the final result.
TPCB prototype board kits are a great place to start for through-hole soldering practice. You also might want to buy some bulk buttons/switches to practice soldering wires to the terminals. Making a button box with a freejoy or a bodnar board is a great place to learn soldering and build something practical to use. If you go the freejoy route, you can do a button matrix for a challenge problem, but I would say if you are confident enough to do a button matrix you could manage the shift register wiring and it would be much easier.
KI've got the grip ready, and I moded a thrustmaster with a teensy PCB, my question is about analog microcontroller, like the joysticks from the Xbox 360 first gen, those have a hall sensor in it. I think you can't use shift register with analog.
KGreat info, thank you! I think I will be able to solder. but I must know that I am soldering correctly.
I really really want to use a H145 grip (only seen by Komodo and Max Flight Stick so far), but these grips are so incredibly rare, so naturally I'm scared to destroy it.
But let's say I decide to solder my H145 grip. Would I just unscrew it from my Komodo cyclic and cut all the wires about 10-20cm sticking out from underneath the grip? And then solder this "freejoy" on to those sticking-out-cables?
I really really want to use a H145 grip (only seen by Komodo and Max Flight Stick so far), but these grips are so incredibly rare, so naturally I'm scared to destroy it.
But let's say I decide to solder my H145 grip. Would I just unscrew it from my Komodo cyclic and cut all the wires about 10-20cm sticking out from underneath the grip? And then solder this "freejoy" on to those sticking-out-cables?
KAnd, are there any guides on this on this Discord channel? Would love to watch some videos of people retrofitting older grips.
WIt says that it has USB2.0 protocol, so I assume it connects to PC directly (kinda like VKB adapter going with the cable)
WWoh, it's a collective here
K(That is a collective grip by the way) 
Hmm, but the end-plug on this cyclic grip I have has this weird shaped huge "din-like" plug
Hmm, but the end-plug on this cyclic grip I have has this weird shaped huge "din-like" plug
KI'm not home to check it now, but the plug is big, and has like 8 or 10 pins I think
Ware the pins documented?
KNo, I'm fairly certain they aren't
Khey I have a pic two sec
KI'm not at home right now, found on my phone, but here you see the plug going out of the extension and down to the base. It has this big connector
KIt was an incredibly overpriced cyclic for sure, but I love this grip really much. So naturally I don't want to destroy it because of those two reasons. It was custom made for me with grip length fitted to my rig and everything.
JThere is another online shop that has a very nice H145 collective, scanned from an original and then printed via the pulver 3d print (plastic) technology. Don't know the name right now, but might be able to look it up.
KI don't need collective though, only the cyclic grip
KHave been searching for one but not found it
JI was actually trying to write cyclic, but somehow I always write the wrong thing.
KBoth starts with a C 
JCyclic EC-135/145 incl. Basis
Cyclic Piloten Stick ähnlich zur EC-135 oder EC-145 für Homecockpits (v9) 1 teiliger Handgriff Polyamid Sinterlaserdruck schwarz matt lackiert 7 Taster ang
JQuite the hefty price, but maybe if you contact the seller that you only need the grip itself you might get a better deal.
KThank you! I think it was good price, I paid double of this for the Komodo.
Don't like the 3d print surface though
Don't like the 3d print surface though
KAlso I think microhelis stopped selling, but I'm not sure
KI also need to find a way to bend a tube to fit the Rhino
KThat's the second part of my challenge
JIt does say for me at least that it is shippable, but with 60 days of production time.
JYeah that is quite the challenge. Most companies that could easily do it and to your specifications don't sell to normal consumers like us.
KI can only dream 
JWhat is the komodo made out of?
KYouTube3DPRINTUK - Additive for Manufacture
Komodo Simulations manufacture their high end, helicopter control sticks and simulator parts using our Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) 3D printing service.
Material: Nylon 12
To achieve the professional finish, the raw printed MJF part goes through our polishing and dyeing post processing services.
Parts can be ordered on demand, in any quantity, 24...
Material: Nylon 12
To achieve the professional finish, the raw printed MJF part goes through our polishing and dyeing post processing services.
Parts can be ordered on demand, in any quantity, 24...
KThe creator is very kind and helpful, once you get a hold on him. But he can stop answering for a long time and you have to persistently send him mails to try and wake him up.
Allthough I'm happy with this product, I don't think I will go to him for more.
Microhelis seems like a good option number two.
I just have to do some research on button soldering and tube-bending.
Kind of hard to plan without having all the measurements beforehand.
Allthough I'm happy with this product, I don't think I will go to him for more.
Microhelis seems like a good option number two.
I just have to do some research on button soldering and tube-bending.
Kind of hard to plan without having all the measurements beforehand.
Mthe guys at authentikit do a good job of custom controls and no soldering https://authentikit.org/
V:package: 
RHINO #0059 Has Shipped!
RHINO #0059 Has Shipped!AThose authentikits look kind of interesting but what's wrong with them, prices for stuffs in double digits doesn't sound like 2020's
POh boy, my number is 10 away now. Can hardly believe it.
TThis looks great! Did you model this yourself? Walmis had mentioned to me in a previous post that with a shift register + an Arduino as an SPI slave you can have both digital and analog inputs to the Rhino/VPForce board. I’m currently in the R&D phase on that but not very far yet.
KCan the rhino be put the other way around? Base Buttons facing forward.. To t get the grip as close as possible.