Low Cost DIY Collectives

  • As I became a helicopter addict I had to build a collective. This is the material I used:

    - a bike seat post (5$)

    - a bike grip (3$)

    - Logitech Throttle Quadrant (new about 60$)

    - incidentals (buckles, one buckle with a M8 screw thread, screws, total 5$)

    Total: about 73$

    The construction is very simple but effective. I could attach the collective to my seat (old Fiat Chroma leather seat) where the fastener of the seat belt was attached. The remaining levers from the throttle quadranrt can be used for additional functions in the R22. There are also 6 buttons. For the cyclic I use a Logitech Extreme 3D. I also have a CH Yoke and one additional throttle quadrant on the other side of the seat for all the other aircrafts.

    Regards,

    Thomas

    i7-14700KF @ 5.6 GHz, Geforce RTX 4090, 32MB RAM, 1TB SSD M.2, 1TB SSD M.2, 2TB SSD M.2, 32" Monitor 4K, Pimax Crystal

    Edited once, last by TomB (December 14, 2018 at 5:14 PM).

  • Snap!

    I just finished my collective (twist throttle to come later and a bit of tidying up of wires). I wanted something more robust but it has a lot in common with yours.

    • Bike post & grip - same sort of price
    • Pair of 3:1 steel gears £12 ebay (small gear 6mm bore, large gear 8mm)
    • 10k potentiometer £2 ebay
    • Piece of scrap steel/ wood would do
    • M8 bolt £1
    • Tube grip/hinge - £3.55 ebay
    • Leo bodnar joystick board - £24 - Leo Bodnar
    • Jumper wire £1 amazon 0.1" 3 pin

    About £50. Nice and rugged, and as I said I have an add on worked out in my head to make the grip into a twist throttle for about another £10.

  • Inspired, now I feel like I must channel my inner Da Vinci and give it a try.

    i just added more links to the exact parts if you fancied trying my version. You'll also need to be able to solder and drill steel to open out the hole in the hinge bracket, but there's no need for anyone to be daunted by the electronics side of it. Its virtually lego.

  • TomB December 15, 2018 at 1:44 PM

    Changed the title of the thread from “Low Cost Collective for 73$” to “Low Cost DIY Collectives”.
  • Inspiring work Thomas and Phil. How do you prevent the arm from dropping? Do you use friction, a counterweight, springs/bungee cord or other means?

    As an alternative to using the boat fitting tube grip for the centre of the rotating hinge, a fire door hinge might work. They have a smooth ball bearing motion and the screw hole fittings would make fitting an arm to a base quite simple, a gap separated pair of them would be very resistant to lateral wobble not that it would be very important.

  • Inspiring work Thomas and Phil. How do you prevent the arm from dropping? Do you use friction, a counterweight, springs/bungee cord or other means?

    As an alternative to using the boat fitting tube grip for the centre of the rotating hinge, a fire door hinge might work. They have a smooth ball bearing motion and the screw hole fittings would make fitting an arm to a base quite simple, a gap separated pair of them would be very resistant to lateral wobble not that it would be very important.

    Friction does the job of keeping the arm where you want it. Tighten or loosen the nut to get the resistance you want. No lateral wobble to speak of. It feels very rugged and robust. Yes, this does look interesting but placement of the potentiometer would be trickier.

  • Devons rig

    Intel Core i5-13600K - Core i5 13th Gen 14-Core (6P+8E) @ 5.5Ghz / G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB Series 32GB RAM DDR5 6000 / GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070Ti GAMING OC 12G / Sound Blaster Z / Oculus Quest 2 VR Headset / Klipsch® Promedia 2.1 Computer Speakers / ASUS ROG SWIFT PG279Q ‑ 27" IPS LED Monitor ‑ QHD / 6x Samsung SSD/NVME's various sizes / Windows 11 Pro 64-bit / GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS ELITE AX LGA 1700 ATX Motherboard DDR5

  • Regarding friction: I have attached the collective to the leverage of the seat belt fastener. This can be rotated and has a good friction.

    Regards,

    Thomas

    i7-14700KF @ 5.6 GHz, Geforce RTX 4090, 32MB RAM, 1TB SSD M.2, 1TB SSD M.2, 2TB SSD M.2, 32" Monitor 4K, Pimax Crystal