MFG 3d printed combat pedals

Alright tanks.

I just took a look at the model, there is actually space for 3-5 more holes for way less spring force, I just didn't go there because my spring got too weak. I already have the new adjusters printing and I'll send them to you first thing Monday morning!

Could you take a picture from the side? So I can see how much space you have BEFORE and AFT of the adjusters, those bolt nuts can get in the way depending on the angle. So set them at the angle you use with the new foot rests and take a side pic if you can.

Current pedal angle i'm trying, this is quite OK for now, just had one quick test tough.

Q: Does the travel of the pedals stays the same?

Yes travel always stays the same regardless of angle or spring position.

New spring adjusters can go way beyond those first two holes, basically to 0 force if need be. So stiff spring shouldn't be an issue anymore:

One or 2 extra holes beyond the one i use now would be nice.

Done!

Measured on the middle of the combat foot rests, braking forces are as following:

Original spring adjusters minimum force: 20 kg (40 lbs)

v1.0 adjusters you received minimum force : 8 kg (16 lbs)

v1.5 adjusters I just made minimum force : 2 kg (4 lbs)

So that's a 90% decrease in braking force for those who don't have the luxury of bolting down their MFG's to the floor, and their pedals either slide, or move the office chair. Or those of you who have low desks and cannot easily raise your feet to place them on top of the foot rests for braking. They don't interfere with brake range or movement.

So that's a 90% decrease in braking force for those who don't have the luxury of bolting down their MFG's to the floor, and their pedals either slide, or move the office chair. Or those of you who have low desks and cannot easily raise your feet to place them on top of the foot rests for braking. They don't interfere with brake range or movement.

:thumbup:

Received my pedals today - I don't have an issue with the spring force on the weakest of the standard holes in the MFG set so have not yet installed your system (I ran them on the second strongest with the MFG footplates). I initially tried with the same spring force and then adjusted it down

My pedals are S/N 6461.

In terms of vertical adjustment I currently have them 1 setting more vertical than Lang_666 and am running them on the upper set of holes in the plates (so they are closer to the ground). I tend to lift my heels slightly when using the rudder, but I think that is just a question of adjusting my muscle memory (I used to run with flatter pedals when they were whole foot). I am also sat at a desk but fortunately have a gaming chair that allows me to get low enough to avoid bashing my knees on the desk.

It might also be worth seeing if the mounting holes can be moved horizontally towards the centre of the plate a bit (probably only 0.25 to 1cm), or adjust the top hole to allow a bit of angle adjustment - with the holes as they are at the moment it places my feed slightly wider apart than the standard MFG pedals and I used to have those angled out slightly.

I would possibly like the pedal plates to sit slightly lower to the floor (i.e. have the holes a fraction closer to the toe), but haven't had the opportunity to play with them enough to be sure. I am sure some of it is they just feel different to what I have become very used to.

Initial try was with my normal house footwear on. Am about to run a test wearing just socks with a WW2 bird to see how they feel and will feed back more after that.

Having said all the above, these feel sturdy and I certainly didn't feel like I had less control over the plane while taxiing, taking off or landing. Good job:thumbup:

EDIT: Have just tried the P-47 and had a nightmare on landing, but that was 100% due to my poor airmanship - the pedals felt great:D

I like the way you can put the ball of your feet (when barefooted or with socks) on the lower part of these pedals. It kinda locks your feet on the pedals. Real nice feel compared to the original.

You might have already spun-out the nuts in the spring adjusters if you installed them. I mistakenly left the original type hole, which is fine for the hard composite that the original adjusters are made from, but will VERY easily spin out the nut if you apply anything more than very light force on the hex key.

The entire spring adjuster has already been changed for extra spring hole placement anyway (and a mounting hole for hydraulic brake cylinder, more on that later) so you will be getting new ones regardless, just a heads up:

New nut holes are far better imo.

Have now spent a reasonable amount of time taxiing, flying and landing WW2 warbirds and I feel like I have a great degree of control with the pedals and there is no feeling of flex that I can detect.

I have settled on aligning them one hole back from the most vertical (which hurts my ankles).

The holes in the pedals (I am trying the F-18 ones) feel fine with socks only (I don't fly barefoot but cannot see it would make that much difference) and braking has a nice feel to it.

These sound great - sure why Milan of MSG hasn’t had the chance to do so in the last couple of years.

Any chance you’ll make some some for us chopper guys - the Huey ones should be fairly straight forward I’d think. Cheers

Hi, when will these be available to buy?

there is no feeling of flex that I can detect.

Thanks for the feedback. There are some that might brake apart at the bolts. Dark grey and silver materials are most suspicious to me so if they brake I'll increase the settings for more rigidity, and test them again. If they fail again, those materials are out. Black and green should be no problem, but even with those I am at maybe 40% possible rigidity. I left plenty of room for increase in strength if needed.

These sound great - sure why Milan of MSG hasn’t had the chance to do so in the last couple of years.

 

Any chance you’ll make some some for us chopper guys - the Huey ones should be fairly straight forward I’d think. Cheers

Busy with manufacturing and life, but he is always working on something.

Regarding chopper pedals, yeah sure. I'll give that a go right away.

Hi, when will these be available to buy?

You can PM me, I have left overs from the first test batch, and will be preparing a second round as I added features to mount hydraulic brake cylinders for a more realistic braking feel.

Thanks for the feedback. There are some that might brake apart at the bolts. Dark grey and silver materials are most suspicious to me so if they brake I'll increase the settings for more rigidity, and test them again. If they fail again, those materials are out. Black and green should be no problem, but even with those I am at maybe 40% possible rigidity. I left plenty of room for increase in strength if needed.

Will make sure I give them a good hammering over the next few days for you and then take them off and take photos so you can see how they are standing up. I will also try more with footwear on as I know I push harder with a solid sole under my feet. Testing yesterday was largely focussed on braking to taxi my taildraggers without locked tail wheels. Will try some more aerobatics / aggressive airborne maneouvres to stress them as rudder pedals as well

Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

Probably not the right thread to ask but if you're doing pedal mods, I see you're also trying out the damper (in the picture anyways) - how's that working out? And finally, any chance of a mod that makes the toe brakes act more realistic ie firmer the more you press.

Cheers

Gazelle pedals are also cool!!

I see you're also trying out the damper (in the picture anyways) - how's that working out? And finally, any chance of a mod that makes the toe brakes act more realistic ie firmer the more you press.

Cheers

Damper mod takes it to another level, I would never fly without it again. I will send a bunch for trying out next month, nothing to test there, just waiting on some components to arrive.

I'm also waiting on hydraulic shocks, that should firm up the brakes. And on top of that I'll try load cells, but since braking is not really a part of flight, unlike with cars, I think load cell's are overkill, and the hydraulic shocks will be sufficient.

Had some extra rudder time today.

Test update:

Played with the angles on the toebrakes a bit more, but the way they are sitting as on the photo below is the most comfortable (for me):

- Pedals is most lower position, toebrake springs (heavy variant) in the most soft position. A position lower would be nice i guess, can't add another hole above the topmost since there's already a hole in the pedal.

- No bending of the pedals whatsoever at this spring settings.

- Overall very nice feel to it. Way better then the original "feet".

- Very good overall control too.

- I just wonder about the material used for the pedal spring adjusters, the original ones seem to be made of a more sturdier material.

- More secure nut holder (as shown in the drawing above) will be a good upgrade i think.

Personally, i could use a spring adjuster with 2 extra holes.

Damper mod takes it to another level, I would never fly without it again. I will send a bunch for trying out next month, nothing to test there, just waiting on some components to arrive.

 

I'm also waiting on hydraulic shocks, that should firm up the brakes. And on top of that I'll try load cells, but since braking is not really a part of flight, unlike with cars, I think load cell's are overkill, and the hydraulic shocks will be sufficient.

Cool stuff, looking forward to it. Remember though that we do have Combined Arms!! We can drive too. :smilewink:

I have just taken my Huey for a spin and can confirm that these pedals gave me a great feel in rotary wing as well

Huey foot rests. As I haven't flown chopper until now, my personal feedback is pretty pointless, so I need chopper pilots to try these out if anyone is interested.

Combined with the hydraulic damper, and disengaged or totally weakened spring, it could be pretty close to the "trim release" system on the real thing.

Huey foot rests. As I haven't flown chopper until now, my personal feedback is pretty pointless, so I need chopper pilots to try these out if anyone is interested.

 

Combined with the hydraulic damper, and disengaged or totally weakened spring, it could be pretty close to the "trim release" system on the real thing.

 

I am also happy to try these:thumbup:

Mine arrived today, but was only able to do a quick test (two right pedals)

Fitting of new spring adjusters was easy enough (but the nut can slip inside the recess! - and take care not to over tighten)

I used the lightest spring setting for braking force

Pedal fitting was pretty easy and did not take a long time to do, worked well on the lowest settting (comfort wise) little bit of creaking when braking forces applied.

Think the pedals need to be a little bit thicker to improve strength and the amount of grip depth (where the pedals are bolted onto the mount plate - specifically how much depth the bolt attaches against might need to be made thicker)

little bit of creaking when baking forces applied.

Think the pedals need to be a little bit thicker to improve strength and the amount of grip depth (where the pedals are bolted onto the mount plate - specifically how much depth the bolt attaches against might need to be made thicker)

As soon as you hear creaking, that means they are braking apart. I made every few units with different settings and different internal structure. So you just report the ones that brake apart. I have an excel spreadsheet with your names and type of pedals sent. So I can mark the settings that didn't work, and only be left with the ones that do. I will then additionally strengthen only the settings that survived and re-send those to everyone. Kind of a "survival of the fittest", process of elimination.

Also there is a fail-safe backup in place. A model where the bottom 3mm are completely solid, and those are impossible to brake apart, but also take 30% longer to print. Not a problem at all, but I would like to see first if there is a setting among the 30 units I sent out, that works without that overkill, solid bottom part. If there isn't, and they all show signs of weakness (very possible), then we go straight to the fail-safe and use the solid bottom design.

The recess, that holds the nut that secures the brake tension "arm" .. it is easy to tighten the bolt and see tha nut end rotate and damage the recess

I tried out the second lightest setting in this picture

Are these prototypes being 3D printed and the final product will be produced in a different manner ?