Hi Bill thanks for letting me know. Glad everything is ok with it, how are you finding the use of it? Any particular aircraft that were good or any problems you have noticed?

Regarding the grease, this is a spray grease that is used on the rack and pitch sensor gear and nothing to do with the bearings as they are sealed. It sprays on in liquid form and solidifies. It can simply be wiped off and there should not be any more coming out as there isn't much anyway. You shouldn't need to lube them more. Because of this messyness we are switching from the spray grease to a traditional grease for future ones.

Regarding the shaft, it runs through a teflon collar so shouldn't need dry lube although it was wiped with some silicon aerosol during assembly. The main carriage slides on bearings which also do not need lubricant. If you did want to lube it then silicone spray and a cloth is best. Hopefully it is smooth enough anyway.

Contact me for any questions or issues via here or [email protected] if you don't want it public.

Chris

Just a heads up that the downloads on the web site are still not working.

On 10/22/2020 at 10:19 PM, SergeyPe said:

Well, Saitek/ Logitech are "famous" for using crappy pots. On the other hand, we have a Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2 joystick, where CTS pots with 1 million rated cycles are used, and while these joysticks are being heavily used by many happy owners for about 20 years now, I haven't seen too many complaints about the pots wearing out.

I have a MS FFB2

The rubber on the grip gets sticky if you shelve it for a bit but after a day of use it feels fine again.

Several of the BUTTONS have become erratic over time.

The FFB and pots though are fine.

I am still going to buy a fulcrum though it looks amazing and cost is relative 😄

20 minutes ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

I am still going to buy a fulcrum though it looks amazing and cost is relative 😄

Absolutely😄

The first thing I'm going to do with my Fulcrum is to fly a circuit and check how it is singlehandedly. I think a small Cessna will do nicely for this. My current yoke has so much friction that it takes a large chunk of the fun out of it.

I have high hopes the Fulcrum will not fail in that regard, and landing will be as much pleasurable as the other thing (drinking a glass of real good malt whisky), and feel as smooth.

1 hour ago, orchestra_nl said:

I have high hopes the Fulcrum will not fail in that regard, and landing will be as much pleasurable as the other thing (drinking a glass of real good malt whisky), and feel as smooth.

Judging by the first partial under-the-hood picture that Chris has published, the pitch- axis bearings will ensure the absolutely smooth yoke travel. I can't wait to try it myself😀.

@SergeyPe, it’s very smooth in the full travel. You’ll build up your muscles too as there’s significantly more effort required near the extremes of travel compared to the Saitek.

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

You’ll build up your muscles too as there’s significantly more effort required near the extremes of travel compared to the Saitek.

Thanks Ray, of course it should be like that. Not sure about GA planes, but as far as I remember, the real B737 yoke pitch force is about 4.5 KG at the extremes. The springs in my current DIY yoke provide 2.5 KG and it's certainly less than I remember from the experience in an airline full-motion 737 simulator.

As for the pitch smoothness- this is the most tricky point in designing the yoke mechanism. The popular linear 3D-pinter-type ball bearings as used in some of the designs (including Honeycomb) are not completely smooth- you feel some "graininess" along the way. It looks like Chris used the single-rail bearings with side rollers- these are the only ones ensuring the smooth travel; but it's just my educated guess so far...

@SergeyPe, I can’t really comment on the design. I imagine it’s as you describe.

I’m still getting used to rotation and flaring. I’m using the Xtreme Prototype Lear25 and it requires a lot of rotation to get it airborne. Probably about 3/4 of the rearward travel. Pull and keep pulling! 😁

On flaring it’s all about getting the elevator trim right so you don’t need to pull back too far. My last landing analysis reported 132 feet per sec which doesn’t sound too bad.

I probably should be practicing on something less powerful like a Cessna but as I’ll also be flying Concorde the jets are probably best. Whatever you fly you’ll love it.

4 hours ago, SergeyPe said:

Thanks Ray, of course it should be like that. Not sure about GA planes, but as far as I remember, the real B737 yoke pitch force is about 4.5 KG at the extremes. The springs in my current DIY yoke provide 2.5 KG and it's certainly less than I remember from the experience in an airline full-motion 737 simulator.

As for the pitch smoothness- this is the most tricky point in designing the yoke mechanism. The popular linear 3D-pinter-type ball bearings as used in some of the designs (including Honeycomb) are not completely smooth- you feel some "graininess" along the way. It looks like Chris used the single-rail bearings with side rollers- these are the only ones ensuring the smooth travel; but it's just my educated guess so far...

I read somewhere the 109 was mechanically designed to handle stick forces up to 85kg though apparently needing more than 10 to 20kg even at very high speed was unusual.

No flight stick or yoke is going to emulate all possible aircraft types.

How about a 'meter' on the website? You login and the meter says "You are number 5673 in the queue" . You then login the next day and it says "You are number 5653 in the queue"

etc. 😏

Hello, do not wanto to disturb, but I'd like to know if all is proceding well; I made my preorder on day one but still no request for payment....

1 hour ago, P_R_S said:

Hello, do not wanto to disturb, but I'd like to know if all is proceding well; I made my preorder on day one but still no request for payment....

Things are progressing from our side all be it much slower than we would like. The second lockdown has impacted some of our suppliers but we are still getting stuff in, just slowly. Hang in there you have not been forgotten.

Did you know that there is a massive shortage of cardboard boxes due to the huge increase in online shopping? Amazon have bough up nearly all the paper stock!

Thank you to everyone who is waiting, I know it is frustrating.

Chris

17 minutes ago, tutmeister said:

Things are progressing from our side all be it much slower than we would like. The second lockdown has impacted some of our suppliers but we are still getting stuff in, just slowly. Hang in there you have not been forgotten.

Did you know that there is a massive shortage of cardboard boxes due to the huge increase in online shopping? Amazon have bough up nearly all the paper stock!

Thank you to everyone who is waiting, I know it is frustrating.

Chris

🙂 thank you for yor fast reply, I feel much better now!!

I didn't know about the boxes shortage 🙂 it is amazing how this pandemic have completely changed our world and how fast we are adapting...

2 hours ago, P_R_S said:

and how fast we are adapting

That's just what they want. Comply, comply.