Saitek X-52 mod: the X-55 Boogaloo

[TP_Andy]

I own Logitech X-52 Pro HOTAS system. I upgraded to it some time ago from my venerable Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS X as I was searching for a new HOTAS that would step up the game a bit but would still be on the cheaper side as I could not afford to invest into advanced systems like VKB or Warthog at that time. In hindsight I should have waited and spare some more for exactly one of those so I would be good for many years to come. But alas, This one should do for some time too, especially when I finally upgraded it more to my likings.

Nevertheless, the X-52 is not a completely bad HOTAS. I like the amount of buttons and their layout and as I occasionally play Elite:Dangerous too, it's quite nice to have the exact same joystick as the avatar uses ingame, especially when flying VR. It has hall sensors for main joystick axes, which is sweet at this pricepoint. But it suffers from poor quallity control (it was formerly produced by Saitek which got eaten by Logitech and the QA went south since then) and the fact it is still more of a gaming rather than simming tool. The biggest issue I had (and AFAIK not only me but it seems it is an inherent product fault, at least of some batches) is an irreducible deadzone around the stick's center position. Although the stick uses two springs seated in each other to center itself, there is about 1cm of free movement in each direction before you actually start pushing against the springs. This totally degrades the precise movements you should be able to make with hall sensors and is generally unpleasant, especially when aiming and firing. Plus, since the joystick features something like oversized trigger guard, it constantly leans forward due to gravity, which makes for a very hard time when attempting trimming a plane to climb.

To get rid of this nuissance, I tried several things. I found a tutorial on youtube which increases the sensors sensitivity by adding additional magnets near the sensors. The mod itself works well but as the issue above is of mechanical nature, it does not help at all. Secondly, I tried to underlay the outter spring with zipties to press it more against the base and bottom of the stick but with no improvement in deadzone. I was also considering getting a stiffer spring but as the ziptie test didn't yield any positive results, I ditched the idea entirely.

Later I found quite a nice mod for Saitek X-55 HOTAS (https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/53 ... pring-mod/) which looked like it could solve my problems and could actually be (with a bit of effort) applicable to the X-52. Basically, a ring is atached to the bottom of the stick and from all four corners of the base, strings or rubber bands are attached to it. That way the stick is perfectly centered and when force is applied, the stick runs smoothly and returns to center nicely. All you need is several 3D printed parts and rubber bands or springs. There are three versions of this mod for X-55:
- Rubber band version https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2969655
- version for springs with hooks on the ends https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2993877
- version for springs with loops on the ends https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4217593/files

Now how to mod this mod (tee-hee) to work on the X-52:
1) you will have to remove the original springs. In order to do this, you will need to remove the stick's "trigger guard" and dismantle the left and right side of the stick. Luckilly you do not have to cut and resolder wiring or removing the stick from the base; once you have the left and right halves apart, you should be able to roll out the springs. Fair warning, the disassembly is PITA and removing the springs is even bigger PITA than the disasembly. I would cut the springs with pliers if they weren't from anodized steel. But once you are past this, everything else is quite simple and easy. To help me with the disassembly, I reffered to this video:

2) the X-55's bottom part of the stick is far wider than the X-52s. Therefore, you either have to change dimensions of the ring before printing or you have to reduce the ring's inner diameter once it is printed. Since a friend printed the rings for me, I opted for the second option as I did not want to bother him again. several layers of strips of cardboard glued to the inner part of the ring worked just fine. Once you have that, you can attach the ring to the bottom of the stick. I preferred to use the version for the springs with loops as the ring is divided into halves so you can atach the ring without dismantling the whole stick entirely.

As for the springs, I used some from an assorted set (YATO YT-06875) of various springs I bought in my local hobbymarket. I suggest finding visually similar and buying several variants so you can decide what stiffness suits you the best.

3) Contrary to the X-55, the X-52's base has only two holes in two corners of the base so I had to drill the rest. Remember to check for even position of the holes and their distace from the stick's center. Pay close attention when drilling the hole on the left-hand side of the base as you will be drilling very close to the 2-way switches and their wiring inside the base! As the 3D printed sticks with swivels are made for X-55 base's holes, they won't fit into the X-52s, so I use standard screws for the original holes and pointy woodscrews for those drilled by me instead to attach the springs ends to the base. Lest thing I had to do was to remove a bit of the plastic material from the tubes that surrond the two pre-drilled holes inside of the base so that I could secure the spring screw with a nut.

Optional step: you can affix the centering cone to the bottom of the stick/ring so that the stick is truly centered only by the four springs and nothing else. I left the cone as it was for now and will test if it makes any difference later.

Photogallery here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/uJrgKG4QYQd5qe6p6 (click on picture info to get description)

Hope this helps someone.

 

EDIT: Due to its weight, the stick still tilts a bit forward, however I find it much better than it was beforehand (i. e. the plane is trimmable). The most important thing is the deadzone is gone.

[messsucher]

Interesting read, think I will just have to wait VKB sticks to be in stock.

[RAAF492SQNOz_Steve]

Hi Messucher

Depending on what stick you want ( and where you are located ) some VKB sticks are in stock in VKB Europe store.

 

https://flightsimcontrols.com/product/gunfighter-mk-iii/

[messsucher]

3 hours ago, RAAF492SQNOz_Steve said:

Hi Messucher

Depending on what stick you want ( and where you are located ) some VKB sticks are in stock in VKB Europe store.

 

https://flightsimcontrols.com/product/gunfighter-mk-iii/

 

Yeah, but that NXT is not in stock. Also I am undecided which stick to buy since VR requires a lot of buttons. So thinking if should go with Gunfighter Mk. III and Cosmonaja. But the price is killing me... On the other hand if it would last next 10 years it would be cheap. If buy NXT would need button panel, which would cost 100 - 200 euro.

 

Tough choices.