Application for Molevitch

We need pictures in a dedicated section of this forum!

Hey Mole. There's a training setup Sunday night (Monday 0000 ZULU) if you think you can make it.

Welcome Mole!

A little late to the party but thought I say hi. I hope you can make it for Sundays training flight. How's the weather on that side of the pond? :D I used to fly with a lot of ww2 sim guys from out your way. Are you close to Duxford? I keep getting invited there for the airshow each year and tea and biscuits. Beer and potato chips is fine with me! (that's my Yank showing) I'll get to that airshow one day.

I'm very new to the choppers so I'm easy to spot on the field, if its flopping like a fish or a smoking hole..its probably me. Although with the guys help I am getting better, I don't crash every time. Looking forward to winging up with you sometime!

BK

Mole, welcome!  I was accepted into the group last week and I'm happy to see it is a good group of people.  

Regarding time zone differences, I would think the room is open for you to schedule flights at a time on weekends that fit your schedule.  As Bad said, as we grow, people will be looking for different times to fly.  Don't forget, if you are making your own missions for the group, you are the one that schedules the meet up, so you can set the schedule.  

Regarding FFB sticks, if you need help figuring out why your 2nd frankenstick isn't working, don't hesitate to contact me.  Or if there is a forum topic where you are discussing it, point me to it. I design electronics and software for a living, and in fact one of my projects is to design my own FFB stick from scratch, so I am very familiar with the circuits for driving a FFB stick.  I was considering doing one of PeterP's sticks using a pair of Microsoft FFB2's, but I concluded I would rather design and fab my own gimbals, circuits, etc. and merge it with a Thrustmaster Cougar/Warthog.  Not a trivial project, but something I will achieve eventually.   

Hi Bad,

Monday Zulu 0000 it is then! I will get my Teamspeak set up etc. Please supply details of where when how etc. so I am not late to the gig. I am looking forward to my assessment and hope I pass muster....

Hi BlackWolf,

I look forward to having a crashing competition with you!Most crashes or least crashes in a single mission? :E

Hi Drakoz,

It was seeing your posts in DCS Forums that led me to apply to join BSD. 

I have not been busy with FFB custom work this past couple of months as my days have been occupied with son's summer holidays and building a koi pond in the garden. That's all done nearly, and as the nights draw in I will return to the anglepoise lit desk and soldering iron. I don't think I will ever get to build my own pcb's, but you never know. I am a fixer and a bodger, and a bit lazy too, though I think my mig 21 stick took 4 x longer than if I had built it from scratch, instead of building the grip around the MSFFB grip.... I will post pix on DCS forum and let you know.

Thanks for the offer of help with my dodgy ffb stick. Its a strange problem.... I have used all the existing MS boards and buttons, just repositioned it all. I had some problems at first with the buttons, but they all seem to work now, but the ffb is pulling to a corner, not centring, and the last time I had that problem was when I built the 2 x ffb stick a la PeterP. That was sorted eventually. But I did not expect that on my Mig 21 stick, as I have not tinkered with the ffb, just the buttons... Any ideas on a solution gratefully received!

I will be doing my test flight on Sunday night so hope to meet you then.

Yes, a picture gallery a great idea!

Robin Archer wrote:

Hi BlackWolf,

I look forward to having a crashing competition with you!Most crashes or least crashes in a single mission? :E

I'd say least crashes for a single mission! All joking aside I'm sure you will do just fine. See you Sunday!

 

Molevitch, I look forward to meeting at the flight tomorrow.  

Regarding the stick, it might be one of the pots is bad, noisy, or the wire got damaged.  The FFB needs to know the position of the stick to know when it has moved the stick to the desired location (it's a feedback loop).  It is less likely you would have damaged the circuit, but very possible in re-arranging it that you damaged a wire, connector, or pot.  This kind of "easy" problem is often very likely the problem.  So I'd focus on those kinds of things first.  Also, ask yourself what else you may have touched that might have resulted in the problem.  

If you don't find anything, then the next thing is to study the circuit board to see if you did anything there (a loose solder blob or piece of wire shorting out something).  Unfortunately, if you don't find any obvious causes like that, then it's time to dive into the circuit itself and see if a component got ruined.  Sadly, it might just be easier to buy another one on eBay.  But if you dive into it that deep, I'll help if I can.  

If you haven't seen it already, this page (http://www.simprojects.nl/ms_siderwinder_ff2_hack.htm) has schematics for the driver circuit and maybe some other interesting info that may help you.  

Hi Drakoz, 

Well let's have a chat tonight. I just realised that Zulu is 1 hour behind GMT.... Yikes! Better have a small espresso.