Button Box for Thrustmaster Warthog Throttle

thingiverse

Shortly after finishing my previous project to add a button box to the Saitek X52, I took the plunge on a Thrustmaster Warthog throttle. This is a minor adaptation of that design to add a single, smaller button box on the left side of the throttle unit. Since I play in an Obutto R3volution simpit, the throttle needs to mount on a small throttle plate rather than sitting on a table, so the button box must be secured to the bottom of the throttle unit itself. Originally, I was planning to use the mounting holes in the throttle base but had to modify the design to fit my print bed. The flat bottom sections of warthog_box_main go between the two metal baseplates supplied with the throttle, and is clamped in place with the throttle's baseplate holding screws (see picture #3). The safety cover for the emergency button is mounted with a couple of 2.5mm screws. All the rest is pretty straightforward. The button box has mounting holes for the following controls: + Three momentary pushbuttons, one of which press-fits into the bottom of the printed emergency button. I use two side buttons for recentering VR view and zooming VR view, and the emergency button for eject. + Two rotary encoders. I use these for mission briefing / kneeboard functions. + Four small ON-OFF-ON momentary switches. These have different functions for every plane/game. + One large ON-OFF-ON momentary switch. I use this for landing gear up/down + A 3mm LED in one of these LED mounts, or you could stick another small toggle switch here if you wanted. I use this as a power indicator. I used a Leo Bodnar BBI-31 Button Box Interface as the brains of the thing. Don't forget a cable tie for strain relief on the USB cord - there's a hole in the box right above the cable port for it. Update 05/25/2020: On request, I added a stand-alone version of the box without the base.