Flightstick

An original Airbus picture


Difficulty

PU material

PU235 is a Polyurethan type with a good elongation and with a minimum of shrinking in the molding process. 
You need an accelerator for this PU. 
30% of glass ball powder reduces the weight of the grip. 

Molding

I built silicon tools out of one original Flightstick. I got this original flightstick from Matthias Wohlrab in Mainz. Thanks Matthias again. 
Here you see the silicon tool ready for the molding process. 
Use a precise controlled volume of PU. 
Add the accelerator. A scale is mandatory. 
Fill 30% glass ball powder in the material 
Fill the material in the silicon tool. You have to wait 24 hours for removing the tool. 
And that is the result. 

Stick finishing

At first you have to file and to grinde the surface. The quality must be first class otherwise you will see anything on the painted surface. 
Mill the opening for the push to talk button. Drill 5 holes in the stick as you can see in the picture.  

Stick assembly

You need 2 cables. 1 button for AP disconnect. Second button is the push to talk button.  
Push to talk button assembled. AP disconnect is missing.  
You see a small spring and the button.  
Painted stick, ready for the final assembly.  

Bellows

I got 2 bellows from Horst Maron. These parts are in a fantastic quality. 
Other view 
For fixing the bellow on the surface of the side panel I use adhesive strips. 

Saitek USB Joystick

The SAITEK ST290 USB Joystick is an ideal joystick for an Airbus Flightstick. There are 4 analog inputs, used in my Airbus for Flightstick, Tiller and Pedal. This stick has a very precise 0 point. A central spring can be easily adapted to the higher weight of the molded Airbus Stick.  
This is the mechanic with the spring. 
The disassembly of the ST290 begins on the top. Click out the buttons left and right. 
There is a srew in the horizontal axis of these buttons. Please release the screw and pull the axis.  
Release the screws on the side of the stick and you can split both sides. 
Pull the cable beam out of the grips. Only the potentiometer in the center axis is used. The rest of the cable and buttons can be cut. 
That should be the final status after disassembling the upper part of the joystick. 
Open the lower part by releasing 6 screws. For the opening you have to use a screwdriver. Cut the lower part to release the USB cable. 
Open the Throttle lever with a screwdriver. Release 2 screws. Disassemble the unit from the plastic part. Release the Jumper on the PCB.  
Release the PCB. It is later assembled again on a different location. 
Here you can see, how the plastic part is cut. Cut with a saw along the strips. 
The final dimension. Now the PCB is mounted direct below the remaining stick unit. 
Usage of M3x25mm distance bolts for mounting the PCB under the Stick. 
These are the mounting parts for the new grip. You can download the CAD file for the mounting parts : mountingpartsflightstick180606.cad [9 KB]  
The washer does load the spring. The bushing fixes the fastening bolt for the grip and the spring. 
Final step is fixing an assembly plate with a large hole on the stick. Now you can easily assemble this unit from the bottom into the side panel. 

Flightstick assembly

The assembled flightstick on the side panel 
top view 
view from the lower side panel to the mounted flightstick. 
Again a view from in the side panel. 
And now compare original on the left and my flightstick on the right.  The copy! By the way: The stick is connected via USB. The software for the fly-by-wire functionality is FS communicator.