Entropy Reduction

Personal log of yet another digital native.

Project maintained by andre-abadi Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

Purpose

Mount a VKB GNX Front Switchboard Module – General Aviation (FSM-GA) on the throttle quadrant of a TCA Captain Pack Airbus Edition
Not buy a VKB GNX-MFH (Multi-Functional Holder) because it would look janky sitting next to but not integrated into my setup
Try using heat-set nuts in a design
Make a design that could potentially incorporate a desk clamp at some point

Started by modelling the screw hole fixtures
Quickly realised that the plugs next to the screw holes were not particularly needed, not sure why Thrustmaster included them in their designs
Adjusted for slight outward tilt of chassis
Adjusted for chamfered corners
Achieved good fitment of both screw holes and mounting fillets
Created a frame socket at the top to eventually mount the rest of the frame

Adjusted so that the whole rail would sit flush to the desk
This was so that there was less room for it to bend, in theory because it was effectively at desk level
Many prototypes of front section to get heights right
Added a chamfer for screw to sit inside design rather than protrude

Most shed screws were either too long or too narrow
Settled on some standard computer case screws
These were slightly too wide for the TCA quadrant but bit in well and offered good purchase
Pulled out packet of M3 heat-sets to attempt incorporating

Happy with
- Mounting fillet distances
- Mounting fillet fits
- Frame socket design
- Overall size of design
Continued feathering fillet height so it was flush, taking into account rubber feet of throttle quadrant
Slightly adjusted chamfer offset to maintain flush fit to side of throttle quadrant chassis
More prototypes, done by exporting from TinkerCAD and then cutting design down to front mounting fillet and contour around throttle quadrant chassis
Some trouble with the chamfter and fit of the screw holes
- Eventually settled on a cone slightly wider and much taller than the hole itself
- This fitted the 7mm head of the case screw

Sits 0.25-0.5mm off the table so that the squish of the throttle quadrant’s soft rubber feet causes it to bottom out but still allow rubber feet to provide grip
Frame socket design is open ended to enable easy prototyping of the latter part of the holder
Heat-sets will make it easy (hopefully) to add a desk clamp in future
Overhanging inset holes (smaller hole above a bigger hole) print very badly
To remedy the above, a chamfer of less than 45° prints easily but needs some tweaking to give the right diameter at the right height
3D printing means iterating this design from haphazard to a closely fitting piece was very enjoyable and had a very encouraging rate of progress
At such high print speeds (Dragon HF PLA ~ 20mms³) some underextrusion was apparent on corners of rail, increasing temp to 225°C helped and a profile adjustment might be needed
- Would only be needed when hitting full print speeds, so perhaps on a needs-basis and not to the profile itself

tca-accessory-rail-1 tca-accessory-rail-2