DIY 3D Printed Rudder Pedals
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For the last few weeks I was looking to get a set of 2nd Hand Rudder pedals, either Saitek Combat or CH Pro Rudders. For none of them if was able to find one at all for sale or price went way above the 100€ which was my upper limit I was willing to spend.
As I own a 3D Printer I started to look around for already existing projects as constructing everything from scratch will be quite time consuming. On my Favorite 3D Project platform I came across a superb project.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3475445Best is that the Original creator of the Project not only supplies the 3D printing files, but the full Fusion 360 CAD File as well, which allows me to very easily make some adjustment (i.e make padels itself: more like the Saitek Combat).
I just placed the orders for the parts I didn’t have already laying around. So far I spend- Aluminium Extrusions 2020 I-Type Nut 5 6,86 €
- 3 x Hallsensor SS 495 A 4,68 €
- 20 x 608 ZZ Ball Bearing 3,58 €
- 2x RC Schock Absorber 21,99 €
- Arduino Pro Micro 7,99 €
Overall 45,10 €.
The Rest of the needed Parts such as Screws, Nuts, Washers, Cables is stuff I have on hand. If purchased seperatly might add up to another 40 €.Currently I rework the design to use only M5 Screws and Nuts instead of M4 in the original in order to build the base mechanism. Once that’s finished will rework the toebrake pedals.
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This sounds very interesting! I wonder if the 3D printed pedals will be structurally sound enough for the weight of legs, and the pushing motion against the springs for movement. Sub’d
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This sounds very interesting! I wonder if the 3D printed pedals will be structurally sound enough for the weight of legs, and the pushing motion against the springs for movement. Sub’d
As I have already built tools with 3D parts that have to handle spring loads that won’t be a problem. For the pedals I currently redesign those to keep the heels on the floor.
All needed parts should be printed or delivered until tomorrow so I will keep the thread updated as soon as assembly starts -
Hello oakdesign,
That sounds very interesting.
Keep us posted.
Greetz from Munich,
Tweety -
Hello oakdesign,
That sounds very interesting.
Keep us posted.
Greetz from Munich,
TweetyPrinter is currently running at high speed. But I have to rework every part that gets connected to the Aluminium Extrusion as they were originally designed to use M4 Screws and T-Nuts.
But from my 3D printer builds I have packages of M5 Screws and Square Nuts laying around. So I have to modify all the holes. Thanks to the provided Fusion 360 project that is the easiest part of all.Greetz from Ingolstadt
P.S As I see you have a pair of Saitek Combat Rudders. From time to time I do project work in Munich, maybe there’s a chance to compare both once I finished building
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Interested…
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Short update:
All of the parts needed for assembling the base frame have been printed.
Always a bit of a gamble when printing someone else’s design, due to tolerances, different printer calibration and settings etc. But no need to reprint any part everything fits snug so far.Still waiting for some 608 zz Ball bearings to be delivered, as I only had 8 laying around but 13 are needed. Should be in the mail tomorrow.
For the moment I might go with the original designed foot rest pedals and redesign them for keeping the heels on the ground once I have it completed and setup.
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Elegant design. The 3D printing saves a lot of machine work. I built mine the harder way with quite a bit of time on the Bridgeport and the lathe with a smattering of parts from a scrapped packaging machine .:D
Dave -
Elegant design. The 3D printing saves a lot of machine work. I built mine the harder way with quite a bit of time on the Bridgeport and the lathe with a smattering of parts from a scrapped packaging machine .:D
DaveThat’s why I like additive design and manufacturing and prototyping, it’s fast and quite cheap. Therefore I added my first 3D printer already a few years ago to my workshop.
Project update:
Bad News: Didn’t pay attention while ordering the needed ball bearings. Prime long distance from China, expected delivery date Jan 15.Good News:
Wife gets a new pair of Rollerskates for X-mas. So salvaged 3 tyres from the old ones to get the missing 6 bearings -
Finished the assembly of the mechanical part. The last part for left foot rest is still printing.
Everything feels quite sturdy. The only comparison to a commercial product I have on hand are some foot pedals from a Sppedlink Drift O.Z Racing wheel. Compared to those fels much more ridgid and precise.
For the toebreak springs I had no spring steel in the workshop, Therefore used 2mm steel TIG welding rod, which aparantly does the job.
The second pair of pedals for keeping the heels on the ground is still WIP.
Next is wiring up the hall sensors and programming the Arduino and setting up with BMS
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Nice ! but i coule not deal with that toe brake pivot point that does not look comfortable.
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Nice ! but i coule not deal with that toe brake pivot point that does not look comfortable.
The original design has 3 pivot points. The one used in the vid shows the steepest setting. For the beginning might use one further down which results into the pedals at a 45 degree angle .
The ones I’m currently redesigning for having the heels on the ground will be adjustable as well
Gesendet von meinem SM-G930F mit Tapatalk
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Finally the Pedals are working in the sim. Still some minor adjustments. But Basically for the money spend this project was totally worth doing it. Will write a more decent review once I have tested them a bit.
But from the first glance: With some basic tinkering skills in combination with the excellent BOM and Build instruction given by the designer of those pedals, could really recommend it.
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That looks totally awesome! Saw these on thingiverse a few months ago and totally want to build them. I look forward to your complete review.
Cheers!
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As promised: After the 4.34.1 dance and the X-mas “eat the big one” I had some time to fly a few campaign mission and test the DIY Rudder pedals.
Here is my hopefully objective summary:
I’m still missing a direct comparsion to the manufactured competitors such as CH Pro, Saitek Pro or Thrustmaster TFRP. I haven’t checked stores in my area to find one that sells rudder pedals of the shelf.
So if anyone is in the area of Munich, Nuernberg, Ingolstadt and is willing to invite me for a visitBack to the review:
Overall: I have used the pedals for a week now and the do what they are intended for. The pivot mechanism around the 2 109mm RC schock absorbers creates a decent feeling and the recentering works fine within 1% deviation.
In order to compensate the small devation I have set up Medium Deadzone in BMS Contoller setup.
The main reason to build the project was to get the Rudder axis off my X52 stick and reoarder the X52 Axis in registry to get the ministick as axis for Cursor X and Corsor Y.Changes I did or might do in the future differnet to the original design, build instructions, BOM
1. First and foremost the foot pedals itself.
Even so the original ones provide 3 different pivot points I couldn’t find a position that felt comfortable. With the fedal postion on to of the side arm my feet where way to high so my knees even didn’t fit unter the desk anymore.
Setting the foot pedals so that they are sitting in front resulted in a way to steep angle and even with removing the heel rest (No 1) it was still uncomfortable.
In the end I designed my own pair that
a) looks a bit more “viperish”
b) allow to rest my heels on the ground and
c) Allow to use the breaks with just tapping the ball of the foot. The new pedal is a 2 part print and therefore still adjustable.
d) WIP I’ll rework the pedal holder block to move the pedal more to the front. For now it fits and I tried to change as less as possible from the original. So iterative design.2. Centering
Instead of adjusting the center position or better to say the fine adjustment in the initial calibration with the CAM(2) I would redesing the magnet holder (3) in order to make it slidable just by a few mm.3. Material
Apart from the original BOM I replaced all M4x10 with M5x10 Screws and instead of Slot or T-Nuts I use square nuts. They might be a bit fiddely as the might wobble a bit until the Screw bites into it.
On the pivot points M8 lock nuts come in handy as noraml ones might lossen with intensive use.4. Misc
Instead of using only countersunk M4/M5 Screws to fasten the rudder to the base plate I would repalce the 2 M8x70 with M8x90 and countersuink the with the base plate as well (4)5. Electronics
the cables to the break hall sensor should be extened to 400mm.
Even so the firmware provided works perfect on the arduino micro pro flashing over usb might get a bit tricky. As the micro uses the the same onboard controller for usb and serial connection it only stays for 8 seconds in bootloader mode. So one has either to find the “sweet spot” to hit the uplaod button or as I do use either another arduino or serial programmer.
Inital calibration is done by putting a jumper onto pin 2 and 3 of the arduino and then hitting all 3 axes from min to max. Has to be done only once as the min max values are persited to the arduino permanently.
None of my Micro USB cables fitted throught the printed arduino case, so instead of changing the CAD and reprinting I just cut and sanded itConclusion: For the money spend (~50€) it couldn’t get any better.
On to the next project 3D Printed ICP -
oakdesign this is one of the most impressive DIY projects and threads I’ve seen yet on the forums and speaks to me in that pedals in general are a sticky point in my deciding on what to buy, I really applaud your creativeness outside the box here and will look forward to that ICP build