New throttle concept

[HomeBoy]

This is an F-22 - like concept.  It's intended to somewhat replicate the F-22 throttle but be flexible enough to work for jet simmers, WW2 simmers, as well as FS types.  It is just on the drawing board at present.  It may never go any further.  I am interested however in what you folks think. 

Here are some features of the design.

    * H1 is an 8-way hat useful for POV
    * All other hats are 4-way
    * Contains a MiniStick with a large "thimble" for fine control
    * Contains elevator, rudder and aileron trim controls using high precision 270 degree pots
    * A latch that locks the throttle halves together when a single throttle is desired
    * A detent for WEP/Afterburner





Note, this drawing is horribly out of scale.  It's just a quick drawing to show the basic concept.  Before you point out that only someone with "Grinch-like" hands could reach those trim wheels, if controls could not be comfortably reached, they would be omitted.  I believe I could turn those trims 90 degrees and place them well within reach.

Any thoughts are most welcome.
-mark

[wrag]

VERY interested!!!!!

[falcon23]

It looks really neat..but it "LOOKS" like it would leave button imprints all over your hands,and also very uncomfortable to use...That is just a drawingboard opinion..otherwise.looks very nice..
                                                     Falcon23

[StarOfAfrica2]

It looks really neat..but it "LOOKS" like it would leave button imprints all over your hands,and also very uncomfortable to use...That is just a drawingboard opinion..otherwise.looks very nice..
                                                     Falcon23

I think you are looking at it backwards.  The buttons and hat switches would be on the front, and on the left side, controlled by the left hand. 

Is the left hand side already at an angle?  If not I'd certainly angle it back.  Otherwise I think its very workable.  That was the entire reason I chose the standard CH Pro Throttle instead of the Quadrant setup.  Lack of hats and buttons.  The Pro Throttle has lots of options, even though its only one throttle stick.  Your setup would give the best of both worlds.  Definitely very interested.

[Delirium]

Homeboy,

You have basically recreated a Suncom throttle (even has the throttle lock) with alot more bells and whistles. I can't really help with the technical details much, but I can offer my input on the ergonomics with confidence.

When I built mine, http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn270/DeliriumP38Lightning/MVC-004F.jpg I had wanted to keep the original Suncom buttons and such in place. I realized that the 90 degree angle of the hats to the throttle itself made manipulating those buttons almost impossible without major carpal tunnel problems. Add to the fact that the throttle changes the overall positioning of the buttons upon movement (ie the farther away from the axis the movement, the more the buttons move) and it can cause hand cramps. I had to modify my own a few times, even after finishing the thing to reduce this ache.

What I found was putting the buttons at an angle of 45 degrees off the throttle is the most comfortable. If you look at your hand (or glove) at rest, the thumb rests at about a 45 degree angle as well.

My other concern is how are you going to synchronize both throttles? I found that pots even installed in the same position don't always respond the same. I had to tweak mine alot until both throttles were moving in sync, even a slight difference can cause twin engine aircraft in AH to snaproll when you don't intend to.

Having the pots set to the base of the throttles where any movement from the top (where your hands will be) causes a faster response is good, but harder to fine tune. The sliding control (like the Prothrottle) is nice because the work to sync the 2 axis wouldn't be as difficult, but there would be alot more of a 'split' when using both throttles differentially.

If I can help in anyway, Homeboy, let me know.

[SIK1]

I like the concept, as for the ergonomics of it, don't know. I probably would buy one to find out, if it wasn't too expensive.

[Reschke]

Looks pretty close to the Suncom throttle setup which I thought was a great one by the way. Keep us informed on how it proceeds because I might like to have it but I would like it to have a way to connect to a TM Cougar. That way I can keep my current stick and not have to buy a whole new stick just for the throttle.

[NHawk]

If you could add 2 more axes for RPM that would be ideal.

Perhaps on the outside portion of the housing?

And that would be the perfect argument for the board I'm working on. It could be configured to allow all axis without the joystick centering area in Windows Game Controllers.

Edit: I know the one I'm working on doesn't have enough axes. But, I can switch to 8 in a heartbeat. I just hate soldering surface mount MCUs. Which would have to be done since I already checked on a chip carrier for that MCU and that's only around $250 a pop. 

I'm sure if you ask Leo, he can change the report descriptors for the X & Y axis from "Pointer" to "Generic Desktop" and the Usage from "Joystick" to "Multi-Axis Controller". It wouldn't take but 15 seconds to do it. And it wouldn't affect any other portion of his program.