Looking for a throttle

[The Fugitive]

Well, my old CH throttle is on its last legs. The hat switch shaft has a wear mark where it contacts the switches. When my joystick did this, I could not find no way to fix it so Im guessing Im in the same boat with my throttle.

Im looking for a throttle that isnt going to break the bank. AH is the only game I play..... well other than VR Poker and you dont need a throttle for that one  so Im not going to invest $350 for a Virpil. The TM throttle is cheap, but how well does it work and how well does it hold up?

Any other suggestions I can look into?

Thanks.

[Eagler]

I have had a tm1600 for years

I highly recommend it for bang per buck

It also has the rotor wheel on the left side I need for trim

Eagler

[Bruv119]

just get another CH throttle. 

[nrshida]

Well, my old CH throttle is on its last legs. The hat switch shaft has a wear mark where it contacts the switches. When my joystick did this, I could not find no way to fix it so Im guessing Im in the same boat with my throttle.

You can fix that or rather compensate for it. I once opened the 'port' on my Fighterstick hat switches and got full use back. Also the Superglue and baking powder trick works a treat if you want to replace the worn material. It's quite clever. If I've understood the chemistry correctly the alkalai in the baking powder neutralises the acid used to keep the cyanoacrylate liquid and it sets really quickly and hard. Can build up a hard replacement surface and then sand it back to the desired shape. I also had the part number for the momentary switches once. They are a standard part. Regarding CH had switches inside the case the hat is secured by a single screw underneath and you can just lift them out. Maybe worth a go if it's bound for the trash anyway.

[GasTeddy]

I have TWCS and quite happy with it. The sliding motion was bit hard to get used after "normal" one, but after loosening friction to zero it's ok.

[The Fugitive]

just get another CH throttle.

You just cant trust the quality on the CH stuff any more since they sold out.

You can fix that or rather compensate for it. I once opened the 'port' on my Fighterstick hat switches and got full use back. Also the Superglue and baking powder trick works a treat if you want to replace the worn material. It's quite clever. If I've understood the chemistry correctly the alkalai in the baking powder neutralises the acid used to keep the cyanoacrylate liquid and it sets really quickly and hard. Can build up a hard replacement surface and then sand it back to the desired shape. I also had the part number for the momentary switches once. They are a standard part. Regarding CH had switches inside the case the hat is secured by a single screw underneath and you can just lift them out. Maybe worth a go if it's bound for the trash anyway.

The problem is the tolerances are so close it is hard to get it even with out a machine shop.

I have TWCS and quite happy with it. The sliding motion was bit hard to get used after "normal" one, but after loosening friction to zero it's ok.

I did buy a TWCS and Im very happy with it. Looking for things I can use the other axis for in game.

[GasTeddy]

I did buy a TWCS and Im very happy with it. Looking for things I can use the other axis for in game.

I have head movement back/forward in roll used by little finger and zoom in/out in the rocker w/ middle one. Used to have head movements in mini joystick of front finger but for reason unknown it stopped working in AH, even in other applications and in test it works flawlessly.

[nrshida]

The problem is the tolerances are so close it is hard to get it even with out a machine shop.

I repaired mine without machine tools and got another three-years use out of it but since you have a replacement it is no longer relevant to you. Maybe others.

[The Fugitive]

I repaired mine without machine tools and got another three-years use out of it but since you have a replacement it is no longer relevant to you. Maybe others.

....and your the guy building your own controllers right?   

[nrshida]

....and your the guy building your own controllers right?   

I fabricate lots of things with very meagre hand tools and facilities. It's mostly knowledge - the trick - which is free to share. I appreciate people have different skill sets and confidence but repairing CH hat switches isn't very demanding. I might have even written a tutorial here once before Photobucket turned off their free hosting.

I can understand the expedience of buying new replacements but there might be others to whom this CH or that is their favourite or their budget too limited to replace.

[Mayhem]

just get another CH throttle.

I had an issue with a hat switch on my fighter stick similar to fugitives throttle and the data cable to one of my toe brakes on my pedals kept breaking. I decides to get a whole new ch set and keep the old ones for spare parts. My original throttle was still working fine but I wanted 2 sets of everything.

I received 3 pro throttles in a row with the 8 way hat switch installed wrong ... on two, up was left, and on the last one, up was right. With mapping it's not that big of a deal, but the QC was so bad that I got 3 bad ones in a row I doubt a new one would last long. My Pre Apem throttle was fine so I gave up on replacing it.

CH is absolute 8 bit crap, and ever since the APEM Group purchased CH in 2008 Their Quality and Support have gone to hell in a hand basket. Old Ch gear was American made, new Apem CH gear is made in china assembled in Mexico.

I wound up going virpil for my HOTAS+R and I gave my CH gear to my son.

Since Fugitive doesn't want to pay virpil prices and all he needs a throttle for is AH, I would recommend just getting the Thrustmaster TWCS.

I'm not sure what type of sensors it uses and I doubt it's 16 bit magnetic sensors, but even if it uses 8 bit potentiometers it can't be worse than Apem CH and the TWCS can be found for less $.


note:
8 bit = 0-255
16 bit = 0-65535

[Eagler]

Mod for the twcs throttle

https://youtu.be/y-AcrPFEkRI

Eagler