Saitek X52 spring tension mod.

[jeffn]

X52 owners,

I went from a Microsoft force feedback II (best stick ever IMO) to this X52 flight system with rudder pedals. For the most part I have been happy with the versatility of the stick and throttle,,,,except the spring tension. The X52 seams to be way to stiff in comparison to the MSFF II for my liking. So I slightly modified, but not permanently, in case I ever want to go back to original spring tension or if the spring gets to loose due to use.




I used stainless steel safety wire that I us for wiring my grips on my motocross bike. I suppose small zip ties would work to.

<S>
JeffN

[Molsman]

cool or the top of a plastic inner circle of a multi cd cover case works also pretty good

[jeffn]

I believe the CD case mod is for creating more spring tension. At least on the X52 I have a lighter spring is what was needed.

<S>
Jeffn

[DREDIOCK]

Dont those sticks come with a variety of springs to begin with?

Maybe I'm thinking of a different stick

[Molsman]

The new Saitek X55 has the different springs ya can change to make it stiffer to a loose feeling.

[DREDIOCK]

Yanno. Its sad sticks have to be modded at all. or worse yet that you have to come up with outside the box ideas to mod or repair them

The more I have to screw around with stick the more I am convinced that if I just had access to one of their plants I could come up with a better one.

Example of problems that could be easily fixed

Hatswitch. There is the one part that keeps wearing out on me. Im about to get my 3rd fighterstick in the last 7 years only because of the hat.
Now if I take it apart I can see the wear on the buttons of switches themselves. the problem is the button contact points are plastic and the switch itself not very easy to unsolder to replace, and attached to a circuit board about 2 1/2 inches in diameter  whos contact wires are also soldered in place.

Improvements that can be made. Those contact points could be covered with metallic caps. Similar to the ones used in black power guns (just to give an idea of what Im talking about.) The rod coming down from the hat itself could also be either metal or some other hardened material. Would it never wear out? no. But it certainly would last longer. Or leave the hat alone as its only a simple screw that holds it in place.

Also. Either those switches themselves could be made to plug in rather then be soldered into place. Making replacing them easier to swap out if one does go bad. Same thing with the little circuit board itself. This can be done using something similar in fashion to the little jumpers used on the motherboard. Or like the fuses are connected in your car.

The idea is it would make these parts either less likely to wear out or easier to swap out

[633DH98]

DREDIOCK,

But that would cost the manufacturer too much.  Too much in parts cost and more importantly too much in lost sales of complete replacement sticks. 

[JimmyD3]

DREDIOCK,

But that would cost the manufacturer too much.  Too much in parts cost and more importantly too much in lost sales of complete replacement sticks. 

633DH98 has it right I suspect. You can find good quality hat switches on-line for $15 to $30, the problem is the interface to the sticks USB interface. Impossible? Probably not, but neither would it be easy.

My X52 hat switch does stick occasionally and wont give me the rear view, but a quick rotation of the switch usually clears it up. I have had to take it apart twice now to clean and adjust the hat switch, so far that has taken care of major issues.