Originally posted by Nuke
the x-36 i had had a single spring per axis. i found that by taking the springs ourt and replacing them with rubber bands loosented up the stick abit. what shocked me is that the thing used a pair of rehostats (microsoft sticks seem to use an optical sensor similar to the ones used in mice) that get run throu an adc and then the digital signal gets converted to a usb signal. its entirely possible to bypass the adc (analog->digital converter) and send the analog signal directly to the game port. because the game port only detects resistances of certain pins in the port. the wider the resistance range, the more sensitive the controll. anyone with some basic soldering skills and a woodshop could build their own analog stick to their personal preferances.
Yah, pretty much every stick uses a bunch of pots or a variable-resistor type-thing, even my brother's beloved Cougar!
We used to mod our old sticks with non-linear pots for fun, and we actually made our own set of three-axis rudder pedals out of a chunk of wood, some metal rods, 3 pots and a load of Mecano
Needed a bit of trial and error because there *is* a limit to the resistance game ports can handle, but it's a veeery wide range
I was surprised how few 'stick makers use optical tech - to my knowledge only Microsoft is the main user of them. I wish more would - not having to bugger about with calibration or worry about cleaning the carbon dust out of your pots ever 6 months is a joy!
Originally posted by Nuke
i dont like to see to many buttons on sticks, thats why i have a keyboard.
HOTAS!
