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  • Author Author: tariq.ahmad
  • Date Created: Date Created
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DIY Arduino Helicopter Collective Joystick Control -- Episode 440

 

I love to fly in simulators, especially helicopters. But, there is just not an affordable collective control that I have found, so I decided to make one for myself! I am going to build a joystick using an Arduino Micro, with a bunch of buttons for assignable controls and a high quality encoder for the collective axis.

Supplemental Content:

 

Also you can watch the live Twitch recording about this build: element14 Presents Live Twitch Stream: DIY Arduino Helicopter Collective Joystick Control

Bill of Material:

Product Name Manufacturer Quantity Buy Kit
BOURNS Absolute Rotary Encoder, 120 rpm, 128 PPR, EAW Series BOURNS 1 Buy Now
ARDUINO Development Board, Arduino Micro, ATmega32U4 MCU, 20 3.3V I/O, 12 Analogue Inputs, ISCP Header ARDUINO 1 Buy Now
ITW SWITCHES Pushbutton Switch, Industrial, 59 Series, 13.6 mm, SPST-NO-DB, Momentary, Square ITW SWITCHES 1 Buy Now
ITW SWITCHES Pushbutton Switch, Industrial, 59 Series, 13.6 mm, SPST-NO-DB, Momentary, Square ITW SWITCHES 1 Buy Now
ITW SWITCHES Pushbutton Switch, Industrial, 59 Series, 13.6 mm, SPST-NO-DB, Momentary, Round ITW SWITCHES 1 Buy Now
ITW SWITCHES Pushbutton Switch, Industrial, 59 Series, 13.6 mm, SPST-NO-DB, Momentary, Round ITW SWITCHES 1 Buy Now
C & K COMPONENTS SWITCH, SPDT, 5A, 120VAC C & K COMPONENTS 3 Buy Now
BOURNS Incremental Rotary Encoder, Pro Audio, Continuous. 24 Detents, 24 Pulses, Quadrature Output BOURNS 1 Buy Now

 

Additional Parts:

 

Product Name

5 Way Momentary Square SMD Tactitle Switch

M3x5x2 Square Nuts

8mm Bore Diameter ball mounted pillow blocks

T6 Seamless Aluminum Round Straight Tubing 16 Gauge 1-3/8" OD
Attachments:
HelicopterCollective_Resources.zip
image
DIY Arduino Helicopter Collective Joystick Control

element14 presents  |  About Kaleb |  Project Videos

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  • in reply to benaim

    Pictures coming, better later than never image

     

    So I used on SS495a, and to have one big range of value for "only" 45° of move, I done one adapter with 2 magnets.

    With this I have near 0 to 5 Volts on SS495a with 45° image

     

    For controller, I used one Pro Micro 5V/16Mhz, you can find it in Sparkfun shop but à 17$95 image But you can find it on Aliexpress for less than 5$ image( https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/32768308647.html )

    With the SS495a you save many inputs, IO, because you need only one Analog Input instead of eight image

    So with Pro Micro, you have enough inputs for this project image , you save many space, all come in a very small box, and can be placed just below the axis image

     

    imageimage

    imageimage

     

    @Kaleb Many Thanks, I never thought I would ever embark on this kind of project image

    NB: With 3D printer all is possible image

  • in reply to benaim

    Hello Philippe MousKito, could you pass us the modified files and the PCB of your project to be able to adapt it, it looks great, something else, where did you get the components from? buttons etc ... could you give us the list?

     

     

    Thank you very much the project looks very nice ..

  • in reply to benaim

    Hello Philippe MousKito, could you pass us the modified files and the PCB of your project to be able to adapt it, it looks great, something else, where did you get the components from? buttons etc ... could you give us the list?

     

     

    Thank you very much the project looks very nice .. I would like to be in contact with you if possible ... Thank you very much ..

  • in reply to fcaballerog

    I said before image , if you want finish this project, it's better to have one 3D Printer, and have notions in prog ( Arduino or other, Arduino it's the best, for me, way to connect your project like a joystick )

     

    Thinking, take SLT files, print by one Co, and be able to finish this project, no way... because you need to adapt to you config...

     

    Hardware:( The hardest part )

    For example, the aluminum tube, I never find one ( in France ) in 35 mm so I Ordered one in carbon, but I never received :-(

    So I took one PVC Tube and I make adapter between the base ans head image with mine 3D printer ( Again image )

     

    Software: ( The hardest part for other persons image )

    Of course, I started with @Kaleb sources, but I changed something to adapt to my needs image

    - Clicks / Double Clicks / Rotation range for the Rotary Encoder.

    - Reactions with buttons.

     

    I done this project for fly with X-Plane.

     

    But If you haven't any ideas of software ( Or  / And  ) Is not for you, sorry image

     

    So, if you want really, and really sur, I can send, some STL files for do  something, but say me where ....

  • in reply to benaim

    Buenas tardes Philippe MousKitos, tengo una impresora 3D y una fresadora CNC, por esa parte no hay problema, también tengo conocimientos de programación y conozco el arduino, pero si ya has hecho pruebas y lo estás haciendo bien, sería bueno si no tiene problemas para renunciar a los archivos ... pasando sus archivos STL y el correo electrónico que utilizó ... para que podamos ver su diseño y adaptarlo con respecto al original ...

    Muchas gracias..

  • in reply to fcaballerog

    OK, I will send you some files tomorrow, include my firmware

    You can delete your email, to prevent any spam... I wrote your email in my contacts 

  • in reply to benaim

    can you share detial about your implementation as I'm in belgium, I'm pretty interrested to knwo how you done it and which all materials and code needed.

  • in reply to benaim

    Philippe, I am very interested on seen tour code an electrical schematics, mostly for educational purposes, I am learning myself and i got the idea on kaleb code. What I want to see mostly is how you mangaged the correlation of the analog imput from the hall sensor and the magnets mounting. Thanks to kaleb and you for an amazing project. I hope some day I will be up to the task.

  • in reply to dnl40

    I am in holidays now  

    See you next week