d_stilgar's example for Novint Falcon Grip Mod Challenge!

[d_stilgar]

Hey I thought I would get in on the action and do a Falcon grip mod myself. I can't win, so no worries. If I were competing you guys would have to be worried. I'm almost done!

Before we get going, here's a little video if you have a grip and haven't started yet. (I know who you are!) Here's how to take it apart.



Here's another video showing you the falcon and how the grips connect and some of the limitations of the grips. This should help with your design.



I really love the pistol grip, so I decided that I would go with a similar design, but address the issue of ground clearance. I started off with a NES era joystick.

The basic plan is to take the finished grip, add two more buttons, wire the buttons onto the existing PCB and make the thing solid and look good. I took the base of the joystick apart and removed the grip portion. I started to unscrew the grip, but the thing shattered. I guess this whole thing will have to be held together with glue.

My camera died so I couldn't take pictures while the battery was charging, but that doesn't mean I wasn't going to work on the thing!

I needed to add two buttons to the existing joystick grip. Because I've done some NES cases I have about a million NES controllers lying around. I got the buttons out of them and stole a power and reset switch from a computer case I have lying around and got the buttons working with the same satisfying click the NES joystick buttons have.

I soldered up all the buttons on the Falcon board. There's no need to remove the stock falcon buttons, you can just add your own right on top. Remember, if you solder the leads diagonally you will always get a complete circuit when you press your button.

I then cut all the extra crap off the old grip. I don't want it to look like it was ever there when I'm done, so I want it to be about as thin as the new grip. I'll add some styrene plastic around the whole mod to dress it up and then I'll paint it and maybe do some gunmetal stuff or something. (I don't know I'll cross that bridge when I get there!)

With everything wired in in the grip portion it was time to run the wires up to the part of the grip that connects to the falcon itself. I decided to go with PVC because I know it isn't going to fall apart when I'm using it. The Falcon can pack a punch so the grip needs to be strong.

I then soldered the wires and glued the mangled remains of the original grip to the PVC.

It's not done, but it works. I did some play testing and it was obvious some things weren't aligned properly. I've mostly got it fixed now. Tomorrow I'll build a styrene shroud and get it prepped for paint. I'll be finishing my GlaDos speakers too. Those have been waiting for far too long. I also have to make a video for that CoolIt contest. I really want an ECO cooler. Oh so busy!

Finally, here's a really quick video of me playing with the grip before I fixed the alignment issue.

[Mach]

Nice job! That's very cool! How did you glue the PVC to the original grip? How heavy is your final grip? Does the Falcon still give the same feedback? I'm impressed!

[d_stilgar]

I used super glue to glue the PVC together. The PVC cement was years old and hardened. There's a lot of super glue on there. The final grip (so far) is pretty light. About the same as the pistol grip that you can buy. Maybe a little heavier, but not by much. I don't think adding the finishing touches will add that much weight either. The feedback is more or less the same, and since the feedback can be adjusted any difference can be fixed in the falcon settings.

[x88x]

Looks good. I think you're the only one so far who will be able to actually test theirs. Though, for the current version of mine, that might not be a bad thing...it turns out the clay I'm using dries rather more brittle than I was expecting...