New lease of life for Cougar throttle

[malpaso]

@aelfewulf said in New lease of life for Cougar throttle:

My love for the F16 style throttle continues…

… and this time it’s the ancient, all plastic TM TQS!

I’ve upgraded the main throttle axis to hall sensor, using 3D printed parts, Allegro 1324 hall sensor and N52 magnet.
Powered by Leo Bodnar BU836A + matrix board. All 32 digital inputs, 4 POV and 8 analog axis are fully utilised.
Acrylic panels are laser cut/marked. The fonts are not perfectly white, but serve the purpose well.
I especially love the F-ACK and MASTER CAUTION industrial switches… long smooth firm actuation, loud CLICK. I find myself mashing them just for the heck of it LOL

This is WIP…but it’s 95% done. Just need to shorten the bottom row of 4 screws so they don’t stick out.
Not shown in the above pics are 2 additional push buttons + 3-way pinkie switch on the throttle grip, and a PSP ministick replacement for the red “eraserhead” cursor slew. The ministick performs well in testing, but needs a large dead zone.

In my design, switches like the LASER ARM/MASTER ARM and autopilot switches are excluded because I feel they are best located as a separate MISC PANEL button box.

I feel this modded TQS looks much cooler than my Cougar mod…what do u guys think?

Will update with more pics soon!

This is everyone’s father, that’s when it all started!
I have one of these, it’s all dismantled!

[aelfewulf]

@repvez said in New lease of life for Cougar throttle:

@aelfewulf

Hi,
I have a same TQS, but my biggest problem is that I don’t know, how I can replace and fit the ministick into the eraser head place.
I have PSP style ministick and I have a Cougar version too but none of them fit properly inside the trottle.
Can you give me some advice for it?

Hi, the PSP1000 ministick doesn’t fit into the square hole of the TQS. To make the hole bigger, simply use a sharp blade. Slice away thin layers of 4 sides of the square, keep test-fitting as u go along to avoid cutting too much.

Then superglue it in place. Hope this helps!

[aelfewulf]

@fish44 said in New lease of life for Cougar throttle:

@aelfewulf said in New lease of life for Cougar throttle:

… My solution to this problem: digital detents programmed via Joystick Gremlin.
…Cons: unrealistic, needs some work to setup via Joystick Gremlin/game controller setup, and AB stages are not simulated…

Additional Con:
AB in the F16 is a not a ‘fixed fuel flow’, but a range. It is very useful to have this ‘granularity’ of flow, and can be adjusted according to the nozzle position also.

I have removed the idle detent ring (mine is the cougar) as it was too easy to fall over it on throttle back, and cut-off the engine!. With that out of the way and hall sensor on the movement, i get lots of range split between full MIL and AB (probably 85/15% ranges).

Yes! That’s how I setup my Cougar too.
No idle detent, yes afterburner detent

[TheSilkMan]

@aelfewulf wow, this looks like what the Cougar should have been years ago! Great job!

[TheSilkMan]

@aelfewulf great job!

[coyotte]

@aelfewulf
Hello
Nice job on your Throttle TQS, I have the same and want to convert to Hall sensor as yours, where can I found these parts.
Thanks
Coyotte

[aelfewulf]

@coyotte

Hi,
All the parts for the Cougar TQS can be bought from a guy called rel4y on the DCS forums. He is based in EU but ships pretty much anywhere.
Thread title is “ TM Cougar & CH magnetoresistive/ hall sensor kits”

[coyotte]

@aelfewulf
Thank you for the answer, I am going to see rel4y as I live en France.
Hope I can find the mods.
Have good flights
Coyotte

[lcriscola]

@coyotte I just received the antena and range pots from thuestramster. The may have all the other parts too

[JUmpstart5179]

@lcriscola Interesting. Which I approached them last year on replacement pots they told me they were out. I do need to find a replacement microstick cable