Gunfighter mk.II - MCG Pro grip - X axis twitching problem

[Rlaxoxo]

Hi guys.

Long time user of the stick here got it maybe 2 years ago, pretty happy with my stick not gonna lie but ...

I've made a post about this before and figured out it was one of the cables that get "loose" while still attached to the connector...
From time to time X-Axis starts twitching uncontrollably even with the slightest movements of the stick, this varies from severity from time to time.

I'm talking about this connector here:


Is there a way to permanently fix this?

I'm tired of unscrewing my stick from my mount every 1-2 weeks to just re-plug the connector...

Maybe glue or something, but that sounds dumb to do so idk, anyone had a similar problem to this on their end and managed to fix it?

[Rlaxoxo]

Uhm ... Anyone?

[rtrski]

Is this a first gen GF Mk II base from ~Dec 2017?

You can tell from the circuit boards...should be labeled v2 I believe.

I make no promises but my X used to act up too. I chased poor grip attach and cables a few times. Recalibrated. If I watched VKBjoytest curves after a login while actuating I could see the freak out... And a min or two of circles either way would work it out for a while. Strangest thing.

When I did the GF Mk III upgrades I found a little metal milling debris between the X sensor circuit board and the magnet face. After cleaning that off and the upgrade it has not repeated.

So....maybe look there, behind the X board?? I know you don't want to keep disassembling, but there's a chance your case is similar.

I posted more about it here: https://redd.it/eglzq4

[Rlaxoxo]

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipM ... QyUV9ZMlFR

Here are some photos I took a few days ago when I was trying to see if there is something I could clean up.

In my case, this cable that is on the top and connects into the external part of the base as shown in the picture in the original post is very very loose.
When I leave it for a while the X-axis spikes all over the place and when I replug it and push the wires in with some force it lasts for few weeks until I have to do it again.

The problem usually doesn't resolve itself by moving the stick around.

I think I need a new cable or try some crazy DYI solution that will make the cables more firm.

[rtrski]

Definitely the V2 boards. It's your call if it is worth removing two screws to remove the X board just to look...

Mine had a silver sticker over the magnet so the debris being black should be pretty obvious if it is there.

[Rlaxoxo]

Okay, I saw the issue popping up today so I decided to have another round of disassembly and try your suggestion.

Here are the pictures: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipO ... x4cTc4dGdR

Dunno if that's dirty or not but I did clean it up and put the board back into place and assembled it back now and everything works fine so far, we'll see how long it will last.

Btw I noticed like a small "Crack" on the Y sensor structure, should I be worried about that?
It doesn't look to be wobbly or anything.

[CARTOK]

I have the exact same issue; X-axis is acting up randomly. Re-clibrating and fiddling a bit, then it works fine for a couple of hours, then issues again. Seeing similar symptoms on y-axis, but not even close to the same frequency and amount of issues.

Definitely some "spikyness" in the graphs every now and then.

I'll try do dissemble again and clean up. Would make sense that a small piece of metal debris could mess up, ever so slightly, the axis readings. From what I see from your photos, and my previous experience, being careful there should be no issue taking things apart and reassemble it again.

I'll keep you update on my progress.

[CARTOK]

Quick update on my own cleaning; could see a small piece of debris stuck between the sensor and the magnet on the x-axis. Used my Super Blower (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0046UJFAG?ta ... th=1&psc=1) to dislodge it. This unfortunately meant I didn't get any photos of the debris. Still removed the sensor circuit board to clean the surfaces and double check the x-axis.

I guess the use of magnets makes this is issue a general possibility - a little metal chip is bound to dislodge from somewhere eventually. On a good note; the solid and easy to disassemble/assemble build makes it easy to fix.

So far so good following the cleaning, seems that metal debris was indeed the issue. Will update if any further issues occur.

[rtrski]

please do reply if things crop up again. I'm pretty convinced the cleaning fixed me, but don't want to spread this as a suggestion if it turns out not to be real.

On the other hand if it is real then I hope I'm helping and we can inform VKB also that this might be one of the suggestions to attempt in these cases.

[Rlaxoxo]

Well, so far so good, it's been couple of days since I cleaned that little smudge on the magnet thingy and haven't seen it spazz out yet.

[Rlaxoxo]

Okay, time for an update:

I've noticed a twitching problem tonight (March 13) and I've done the cleaning (March 05) so maybe like 8 or so days without any issues.
I've quickly plugged it in/out of the black box before trying to dismantle it and that fixed it this time, Not sure how long will it last.

: /

Looks like I need a new cable = (

[Rlaxoxo]

One month later and my X-Axis starts to twitch.

Every week I have to dismantle the stick and replug the damn cable for it to work for a week.
It's very annoying.

Can someone tell me who do I need to contact to try and get a replacement cable?
I live in Croatia.

[Nova1395]

Well, this sucks. I started looking this issue up tonight because I've been having a twitching X axis, thought I might be an outlier. I'm curious if the Mk. III's have the issue.. Might be worth the $50 to upgrade. I was about to try to record the stick inputs, but just for fun I shook the stick around madly (within reason) and tried it again. Probably should have done that /after/ I recorded it, because now my input is fine, but I've noticed this for a couple months now, after having this stick for about 8 months or so. It's not really too bad, it's only on the left side of the axis that it has slight problems.

Throwing the stick to full left roll, the raw data should be 0, but would be in the 4k range instead. A sizable margin when the inputs in all 4 directions are what, 32k? So full left roll would sometimes only input as around 78% roll. Additionally, a slow left roll from center to full left would "twitch" as you've said - jumping around at around the same input levels up to 12% off. Makes it difficult in DCS when you have curves set up for roll, and your aircraft starts behaving wildly when rolling, or when you don't get the full roll range and is multiplied even more by user's input curves.

Yadda yadda yadda, I shook my stick for the hell of it trying to see if I could get off whatever debris may have been on the magnet, and ended up accidentally fixing mine. Lucky, but I wanted a reason to spend money.

[CARTOK]

Same issue here. I've cleaned the insides of the base, loaded every new firmware as they are released. But the issue remains. It's normally only/mostly observed as I first start the computer for the day. After a couple of full joystick deflections it gets better, often not noticed again until the next day (next computer reboot proper). I've fiddled with filters inside vkbdevcfg without much luck, beyond the usual - the problem reduces/disappears after a couple of full deflections.

Attached some screenshots of jitter. Those are far from the worst cases of random issues. And it's only on the x-axis - I've noticed it on the Y-axis once.

[CARTOK]

And another screenshot immediately after my previous post, where I thought the issue had gone away (these are all full X deflections left and right, note that it doesn't even reach max on one occasion).