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How To: Remove centre detend from Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Paddles


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Glad you have it fixed and reported back.

 

Ok we are all good!

 

My biggest challange for the whole process was removing the spring, which to me felt that it was locked into position and not removable.

My tip for overcoming this is to use the notch of a key to stabilize it then apply alot of force to extend the spring, then pull her free. Here's a reference picture, feel free to include it in the original post if you like:

...why you didn't you used the pliers ?!

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Glad you have it fixed and reported back.

 

 

...why you didn't you used the pliers ?!

 

I tried pulling it off with the pliers but it slipped back each time. Maybe mine were of the wrong sort but they weren't stable enough to pull it far enough back.

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  • 1 month later...

Does anybody has experiences in removing the self-centering and/or adding dampers to the CH Pro Pedals?

 

I want to try that in the future, but want to be sure that this is relatively easy to achieve. I don't want to open that thing and don't get it to one piece again ;-)

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  • 4 months later...

Thanks for the write up PeterP :) One thing I noticed was when I removed the clip the center part fell out , so when I reassembled I rested the spring tensioner on a small plastic box which lifted the pedals clear of the workbench and made it easier reassembling the mechanism.

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  • 2 months later...

Thanks for the update on the gas struts - tried out with two 100nm found on ebay and it feels good, but I guess 50nm will be sufficient. I just hope that they wont rip the pedals apart before the weaker door hinges arrive ;-)

 

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  • 1 month later...

Finally got around to this today while servicing my pedals, very nice feel to them now and the lack of center detent is a great change.



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  • 2 months later...

It all looked so easy, lol.

 

I ended up having to prise the spring off with a screwdriver and I scraped half the skin off my finger in the process but I got there at last but man, so much grease everywhere, so slippery!

 

Putting it back together it was quite hard getting the metal bar back in and I had to take the plastic bar off a few times and readjust it until I could get it to push through.

 

I'm just left with this part now, which I think goes on top of the ring which the metal bar goes through but I'm not sure as I don't see it in any of the pictures, so perhaps it fell out from somewhere else! Hoping someone knows and can advise me so that I can put my pedals back together. Not looking forward to putting that spring back on though! I like the sound of doing the rubber band thing instead as I mostly fly helos but there don't seem to be any pictures showing what to do with the Saitek pedals, only for the CH stick.

 

IMG_20140714_180816.jpg

 

IMG_20140714_180042.jpg

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If you need to put the spring back on, hook one end to the plastic and use a pair of pliers to wrangle the other end. It's been a while since I took apart my pedals so I couldn't tell you for sure about where that goes but my advice is to play around with it and you can usually see where it goes :p.

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If you need to put the spring back on, hook one end to the plastic and use a pair of pliers to wrangle the other end. It's been a while since I took apart my pedals so I couldn't tell you for sure about where that goes but my advice is to play around with it and you can usually see where it goes :p.

 

Yeah, I might just put some rubber bands over the two parts that the spring was connecting to each other, I presume that will do the trick :)

 

Ah phew, found this picture, which does show that part sitting on top of the ring, so that's cool. No idea what purpose it serves though! http://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=8320&d=1395097402

 

I was quite astonished how flimsy the wires coming from the pedals and the crossbar are. The latter in particular seems to run worryingly close to the gears and looks like it might get caught in them quite easily. I would have thought they could have secured the wires from the pedals (which I assume are for the toebrakes) in a fixed place at the top of each side and then used a metal rail running along the slot to carry the electrical signal from the toebrake, wherever the pedal is, to those wires. What do I know though!

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Well I got them back together thankfully. I used a rubber band in place of the spring but I don't think I've done it right as I didn't really understand what I was meant to do from reading this http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=63870 and we don't have Sizes for rubber bands over here, just 150mmx3mm, 170mmx3mm, etc, so I just joined the two plastic parts with a not too tight rubber band but it feels a bit too loose.

 

Strangley, I still have a centre detent, albeit a lot less pronounced than it was before but it certainly has a notch there that I can feel, which I thought the part I removed was meant to eliminate completely. I'm not sure if the rubber band could be causing this but it seems unlikely as the spring is a lot stronger.

 

I've also found the tension wheel won't turn at all now either. I'm not sure if that is because it adjusted the spring, which I've removed, or if I've done something wrong but trying to turn it just turns the whole center wheel, which is connected to and moves the pedals in turn.

 

The left pedal feels like it's scraping a bit on something at certain points as well, although it might have been like that before and I just didn't notice due to the tension from the spring.

 

EDIT: I don't know if this is different as I never looked at this screen before but if I go to Properties - Deadzones for the pedals, there's quite a bit of jitter at certain points, actually it seems pretty much half of the range between each mark shows this jitter whilst the rest is stable. Maybe it's not read that precisely in DCS though and it doesn't matter? I'd appreciate if others could check whether they see this.


Edited by doveman

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bump. Can someone else who's also done this mod comment on the issues I've noticed after doing it please?

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I'll do this tonight or tomorrow. Center detend has started annoying for me too.

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bump. Can someone else who's also done this mod comment on the issues I've noticed after doing it please?

 

I missed your earlier comment, Doveman. Glad you got it put back together. The small bump at the center is because of the "knocking" you get when one of the spring arms goes back to the center and stops against the plastic bit, so the other arm can get going.

 

The tensioning wheel should be fine as well. All it does is put a little more pressure on the gel in between the center plates when you ratchet it. Try turning it a bit harder one way, and if it doesn't give, turn it a bit harder the other way. :P My Combat Rudder Pedals (same internals) came with the wheel stuck like you're describing. Turns out it was too far counterclockwise. I had to really twist it to get it free. Annoying because I thought my new pedals were broken or I might break them even more trying to fix it. :mad: Try holding the bottom part of the circle and twisting the top to give you some extra leverage.

 

The scraping might be a little crumb or something that got in between the plastic plates, not a big deal as long as the pedals feel like they're moving freely.

 

As for the jitter, how big is it? As long as it's not jumping a grid or something, mine and everyone else's seems to do the same. It's probably a fluctuation less than 1% but the line in the panel only shows the next value up so it looks like it's bigger than it really is. I haven't noticed it in practice flying the Huey. I was a bit bothered by it too, at first, but in the scheme of things, unless you've got a full-size cyclic, the little movements in your hands will probably have more of an effect on your flying then the jitter on the pedals, especially if you're flying helicopters.

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I missed your earlier comment, Doveman. Glad you got it put back together. The small bump at the center is because of the "knocking" you get when one of the spring arms goes back to the center and stops against the plastic bit, so the other arm can get going.

 

The tensioning wheel should be fine as well. All it does is put a little more pressure on the gel in between the center plates when you ratchet it. Try turning it a bit harder one way, and if it doesn't give, turn it a bit harder the other way. :P My Combat Rudder Pedals (same internals) came with the wheel stuck like you're describing. Turns out it was too far counterclockwise. I had to really twist it to get it free. Annoying because I thought my new pedals were broken or I might break them even more trying to fix it. :mad: Try holding the bottom part of the circle and twisting the top to give you some extra leverage.

 

The scraping might be a little crumb or something that got in between the plastic plates, not a big deal as long as the pedals feel like they're moving freely.

 

As for the jitter, how big is it? As long as it's not jumping a grid or something, mine and everyone else's seems to do the same. It's probably a fluctuation less than 1% but the line in the panel only shows the next value up so it looks like it's bigger than it really is. I haven't noticed it in practice flying the Huey. I was a bit bothered by it too, at first, but in the scheme of things, unless you've got a full-size cyclic, the little movements in your hands will probably have more of an effect on your flying then the jitter on the pedals, especially if you're flying helicopters.

 

Thanks aeliusg. Yeah, the jitter's not that bad, I just wanted to check it wasn't just me that had it. If it's normal, I can live with it and it's probably not having any effect on my flying as you say :)

 

I think I'll open them up and see if I can see what's causing the scraping on the left pedal, as it feels a bit annoying and might also be wearing stuff unnecessarily. It might be I just need to put some decent lubricant in there.

 

My tensioning wheel is totally fused to the bottom of the wheel now though it seems. It worked normally before I took them apart, so I can only guess I misaligned it wrongly when I put it back on and as a result, some part is joining them together like this. If it was normal to stop working after removing the spring I wouldn't worry about it but it obviously isn't, so I ought to get it sorted out.

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Thanks aeliusg. Yeah, the jitter's not that bad, I just wanted to check it wasn't just me that had it. If it's normal, I can live with it and it's probably not having any effect on my flying as you say :)

 

I think I'll open them up and see if I can see what's causing the scraping on the left pedal, as it feels a bit annoying and might also be wearing stuff unnecessarily. It might be I just need to put some decent lubricant in there.

 

My tensioning wheel is totally fused to the bottom of the wheel now though it seems. It worked normally before I took them apart, so I can only guess I misaligned it wrongly when I put it back on and as a result, some part is joining them together like this. If it was normal to stop working after removing the spring I wouldn't worry about it but it obviously isn't, so I ought to get it sorted out.

 

Let me know if you run into any more problems.

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  • 1 month later...

I was about to do the mod today, but I checked the Saitek control panel first. It seems like around the detent, the control of yaw is already very precise.

 

There definitely is the bump to get over, but if you're very careful, going over it, you can maintain good control.

 

Is there really that much benefit? I don't get it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Did this mod tonight with help of this amazingly detailed guide and have to say everything worked perfectly fine. Didn't take me longer than 15min to do it (5min alone to get that nasty spring back in place though, so be aware to utilize some nerves and patience before attempting it!).

 

My pedals have been in use for 2 years already and though I still liked them, they showed significant aging/usage (most important the pressure adjustment wheel wasn't working anymore - it was free twistable without any effect).

 

After the mod the later became even more significant as the pressure wheel is completely stuck now and can't be rotated. Furthermore, while using my previously adjusted medium to high pedal force before the mod, I'm now stuck with relatively light pedal force, which might be quite a downpoint.

 

That said everything else worked out fine. The difference is quite noticably around the 1-3% motion area, where I no longer have to overcome the center forces, only the spring itself.

 

As said by others though there are slight precentages of left or right rudder input applied after centering back to neutral, so deadzones are going to be your best friends after applying this mod.

 

Personally I had no warranty to lose, "damaged" pedals and a replacement in mind for it in case sth went wrong.

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  • 6 months later...

A bit OT, but I guess it will improve the experience with the Saitek Pro Combat pedals.

 

Have anyone successfully increased the tension of the toe brakes? they're feather like, I'd like to have a stronger feedback on my feet.

 

Many thanks

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Please can anyone explain me what this center detent thing is? I didn't understand the original post at all... Thanks.

 

The mechanism is construced in a way that you can not smootly move from one deflection to the other without feeling a certain spike in centering force in the center position. Usually, both springs hold the pedals in the center position, but as soon as you deflect only one of the springs forces the pedals back to center - the other spring is held back. This way, you always feel a sort of "bump" when going through center. On the other hand, center detent makes sure that there is a defined center postion.

 

Center center center center.... Might have missed some centers there.

 

As you might guess, this makes slight deflections harder to do. The only way to get a clear, defiend center position AND having no detend is using a cam mechanism, like the Crosswind pedals have.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hello guys,

 

I spend many hours with my Huey "cargos missions" but as you with my copter the Saitek rudder is not really accurate so this night I've remove this horrible piece of plastic and now everything is perfect.

WOW now I can breath again this mod is perfect and I would like all the community for this tips.

PS: Guys do you have any news from PeterP ?

A ask you this question because PeterP is very important for our community but since many months no news from him...

 

Thanks again, Skull.

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  • 3 months later...

hey guys, do you know if new models like the one you buy today or tomorrow are still built with this detent?

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hey guys, do you know if new models like the one you buy today or tomorrow are still built with this detent?

Yes I have one old and one new model and these two versions are this detent, but you know it's really easy to remove this piece...

 

Bye, Skull.

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