F/A-18 Throttle
As much as I was impressed with the quality of Thrustmasters Hotas Warthog stick and throttle, they didn't feel like real flight controls. So an improvement was due!
Taking the Warthog Throttle apart. Everything is rather easily accessible. 
Connectors are reinforced with glue, which comes off easily too. 
The levers guidance could be reused with just the boards if needed. 
Cutting off the Warthog grip - a step to be considered carefully. Then some rewiring. 
Making the new throttle extensions levers. Thick aluminium for sturdiness. 
Mounting them to the Warthog grips. Added realistic finger-lifts for the cutoff position. 
Guide rails on the new throttle mount. 
And some dampers left over from the stick project (they are originally used in washing machines). 
Mounting and adjusting of the levers on the guides. 
Adding the hall-effect position sensors. 
Done! 
The new throttle installed in the simulator. 
Dan
posted on 15.12.2022 at 0:16
Do you have a drawing of the guide?
Michael
posted on 20.2.2021 at 21:35
i am wondering what kind of hall sensor is that. with 5 wires? how do you even connect this to lets say an arduino?
Bergison
I have no idea Michael. One might be for the cut-off switch? There are all kinds of hall sensors, even some with 6 wires. I just used the electronics board from the original Warthog.
When building own control position pickups with arduinos or USB HID boards, I use regular 3-wire hall sensors.
popcio2015
posted on 19.5.2019 at 0:37
Fantastic work! Can you tell how did you make cutoff position (microswitch or just position readed by hall sensor)?
Bergison
Hi popcio2015 and sorry for the late reply! I just saw your post here (there must have been something wrong with the email notification for new posts...).
No, there is no additional switch for the cutoff! The original warthog hardware just senses the low range of the hall sensors as button input.
Zombiescu
posted on 12.3.2019 at 1:39
Hi Bergison, i was just curious about removing the throttles from the original base and how much of a safe margin is there? Looking to put only the throttles in my pit as the rest interferes with panel placement. I only have one hotas warthog throttle and not the most computer electrical knowledge besides wiring and soldering switches to leo bodnar boards, any advice would be much appreciated. Cheers!
Bergison
Hi Zombiescu, thanks for your question! I added some pictures to the top of this page showing the warthog base disassembly. I was surprised how easy that was. Everything inside the base is well accessible. You can remove the switches boards and still have an operative throttle. I actually utilized the switches input on the main board to connect some switches of adjacent panels in my cockpit. So I think you could give it a try - just be careful not to break anything!
Zombiescu
Hi Bergison, thank you very much for those additional photos helped me very much in understanding the insides of the throttle, i just had a few more questions looking at those photos. 1) so all that is really needed is the main board under the throttles, the rest are just for switches?2) if i were to make a new case for reusing the throttles would i need to ground the board, making the case out of metal? or can i just attach both to a wood base and have the throttles sticking up above my left console board?Thank you for the help and if you can answer these would be much appreciated, anytime and no rush, cheers!
Bergison
ad 1) yes, you only need the main board. All the switches of the Warthogs base are soldered to separate boards. You could use these input terminals for other switches of your pit if needed. Both throttles and the hall sensors of the levers also connect to the main board.
ad 2) grounding is never a bad idea, but if you want to build a wooden encasement, I guess you could go without one...