VKB-SIM

Hi,

Is the stick extension easily removed if it isn't wanted? For flying fighters (F-16) it would feel better ot use the "desktop" configuration to make the stick very short throw, and for helicopters it would be yseful be be able to use the longer stick for more fine, precise movements.

How strong are the springs with the long extension? Are they strong enough to deal with the weight at such a great offset and still center adequately?

Thank you!

It's not hard to remove or install. I'd advise against doing this repeatedly as I'm thinking that might damage the connection pins quickly. I have one for the same reason of increased precision and finer control. Why wouldn't you just keep it that way? Yes, I know the F-16 is a side stick layout.

The springs don't come with the extension, they come with the base. I'm using a 40 and 30 on each with a little clutch dialed in. You can put stronger springs on it but I'm concerned about the increased wear and tear that puts on the gimbal and bearings. YMMV.

Not so sure about that - plus I'd be more worried about the pad than about the pins. Unless you do it like I did initially, applying too much weight/downward pressure on the grip while tightening things down, you should be good. My 100mm extension's pad only shows three little indentations - it basically looks like new. I got the extension a few months after the stick, when I was was a little wiser and thus more careful .. My GF's pad is a little more "scarred" because I initially applied a little too much downward pressure while putting the grip on and because, I guess, I was having some trouble with a loosening fastener that would come undone at least once per flying session.

Extension pad after lots of grip-swaps:


Gimbal's pad after many more swaps plus grip fastener issues:

^ I've since cleaned that up with isopropyl alcohol, but it does look way messier than the extension's pad... still works flawlessly though, ever since VKB sent me a pair of new fasteners and I bought a proper hex-key to lock things down.

Drano wrote:The springs don't come with the extension, they come with the base.

Nope... the #50A springs do come with the extension and are not included in the basic stick package. Extension-less GFs come with #10A, #20A, #30A and #40A springs.

dotPhi wrote:How strong are the springs with the long extension? Are they strong enough to deal with the weight at such a great offset and still center adequately?

Maximum recommended strength per axis is #50A + #40A IIRC and that's what I'm using on Y with the 100m extension ... X-Axis is #40A + #30A for me. Without the extension I was running #40A + #20A on Y and #20A + #20A on X. Which was on the stiff side with just the MCP Pro installed but felt downright wimpy to me once I plopped on the extension. Even 100mm make a *huge* difference.

Both the 40s and 50s are damn strong springs - with 50 + 40 installed it's very hard to move the gimbal's "rod" with no grip attached. While I got away with not taking the gimbal off the UCM baseplate for a spring swap involving 20s or 30, I wouldn't recommend doing so with 40s or 50s. It is doable, but especially on Y it's a bit of a tricky and fiddly operation because there's not much room to work and those springs are so strong.

I did re-grease my clutches with a Nyogel 767A equivalent from my Gladiator Evo (at least I think it's about as strong as 767A) and I set my clutches as hard as I can get them without making the axes sticky. In that config and with the MCG Pro and 100mm extension installed, the springs have no problem precisely and reliably centering the stick on either axis. I should probably also add that I'm using Space S cams on both axes. Haven't tried any of the other cams with the extension yet.

I'd say the springs are strong enough for the job - at least if we're talking about the 100mm extension with an MCG Pro. Can't comment on the 200mm and/or the heavier Ultimate MCG, since I never used either of those.


S.

Great replies! Thank you!

What is the significance of the extension pads?

Those are contact points between 2 elements - grip and base or grip and extension or extension and base. One end has contact pins, the other contact pads.

Yup... that's why you see those indentations on the pads.. those marks are from the three pins that are in the "male" part of this type of connection (grip and lower end of extension) pushing into the pads. The pins are spring-loaded, but if you do what I did and push down (way) too hard while fastening the grip to the base, those indentations will get a bit deeper. If you fly with an improperly fastened grip, things might "twist" around a bit and you'll end up leaving "grooves" in the pad. Neither of those two scenarios are what you want or how the connection is supposed to work.


Just to illustrate and this is an unrelated pic snatched off reddit, so ignore the annotation ... you can see those three pins down inside the grip:



Same type of connection between the extension and the gimbal - so with an extension installed and going from top to bottom it's

1. Grip: "male", three pins
2. Extension top connector: "female", contact pad.
3. Extension lower connector: "male", three pins.
4. Gimbal: "female", contact pad.

Note: It's not *really" a male/female type of connection I think, but that's the best I could come up with to describe the system..

S.