Saitek X-55/56 Cyclic mod

thingiverse

Update: Community member iffofi has confirmed this is also compatible with the X56. -Work in progress- Version 1 I am attempting to reverse engineer the two couplers for the Saitek X-55 Rhino Flight stick to allow a length of pvc pipe between them. This will hopefully replicate some of the feeling of a Heli Cyclic control. 23/9 - The current files uploaded work but still require some tweaking. Some of my design decisions need to be reviewed as it is quite tricky to assemble and the pins don't sit as well as i'd like. The current version is designed around a PVC pipe with an ID of 38mm. This is what I had on hand but will probably change the design to fit a smaller ID. With the 38mm pipe I had issues with heating and bending, it wanted to crease and crack with the sharper bends (As you can see in the photo I didn't even bother painting it). The use of 90 or 45deg fittings will work but adds bulk. The pins i used for both ends OnShape files Post-Printing Thoughts The 40mm PVC was hard to bend neatly. It wanted to crack and fold. I've had better success with 20-25mm PVC. This could have been done with 90deg fittings but didn't have any on hand. Rough and ready test of concept Placing the pins into their respective slots. Longer lengths allow easier fitting. Take note of the colours and their respective position. I used a transparent piece of plastic to write these down, then it's just a matter of flipping it over to get the order of the pins for the other end. A completed fitting. Completed fitting. This still requires some glue to hold the orange piece in place. The PVC Pipe I measured and tested with. 10 core cable. I pre-soldered all the cores and the pins. I had a little hole in the bench and did each pin this way. Some test pieces.