After replacing my Warthog, I disassembled the old one for repair and lubrication in order to keep it as a back-up. The Throttle was fine except for a worn out friction pad, but the Joystick controller had some significant wear worth sharing. I didn't think to take pictures of the damage before packing it away, but using a borrowed photo, I can describe it.
Joystick presssure plate.jpg
This is the Joystick pressure plate from a Warthog Joystick. It is mounted over four posts with springs for centering the stick. The white cover "washer" shown here is set on the black plastic base and can be removed with the eight small screws shown. When I did this, I saw significant stress cracks at each "through hole" in the black plastic base. I surmise that these cracks were the reason for the "sloppy" feel of this Joystick's axes.
In trying to figure out why this part was so badly damaged, it occurred to me that stress must be coming from the stick being pushed/pulled to the limits with excessive force. Well, I may be a "Ham-fisted" pilot, but am I really this bad? My excuse (and I'm sticking with it) is that I use a four inch (about a 100mm) extension on the stick to improve the feel. What I failed to consider is the added leverage provided when I reach the limits of travel.
There are several maneuvers that exert maximum force that come to mind, the simplest of which is taxiiing the Spitfire. The RAF Pilots' notes direct full aft stick when "taxying", and that's an easy place to unconsciously pull back "Hard". Another is spin recovery and evasive combat maneuvers... I often go to the limits in these situations. Different piloting skills/techniques may vary but I think we all hit the stops occaisionally.
The upshot of all this is that we should consider avoiding aggressive full control stick deflection when using the Warthog to avoid "loosening up" the controller over time. This is especially true when using the very popular stick extenders.
This is easier said than done... but at least it has now been said!
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