By Anonymous on Sunday, February 5, 2006 - 05:33 am:

The alcohol fix worked for my rudder twist problem.
When re assembling try using some putty or tape to hold the buttons and trigger in place. Re assembly is a little easier if you just leave out the little black "c" shaped thing that is used to lock the twist action. (obviously if youve pulled your joystick apart to fix the twist pot you dont want to lock the twist function.)

By Anonymous on Tuesday, August 16, 2005 - 01:47 pm:

just bought a second hand force 3d from a shop for a 15$ca; great deal, but I can confirm too that the rudder twist is glitching by going full to the left (on raw input values) with the slightest movement in the x or y axis. I had no idea it was a common problem. ah well, 15 bucks is 15 bucks.

- Oisin G.

By Anonymous on Monday, May 30, 2005 - 06:49 pm:

All these companies selling this joystick stuff use cheap pots. That's Logitech, Microsoft, Saitek...etc... Open them and you'll see :(

By Anonymous on Monday, May 30, 2005 - 02:14 pm:

Very cheaply designed pots were incorporated in this design, I too have a glitchy rudder twist, it came that way right out of the box. I managed to fix it but am very unhappy with having to do so. I'm all for designed in obsolescense, but something this badly thought out doesn't deserve a second chance.
I should have spent the extra 20 dollars for a Microsoft stick.

By Pit on Tuesday, April 19, 2005 - 03:22 am:

It is completely impossible to control aircraft in Il2 Sturmovik and FS2K4! It is not only mine problem. Every user knows this. Has anyone found a fix for these problems? IMHO all Wingman Force 3d should be replaced!!! Have no clue why customers should thinking 'how to fix problems' caused by bad design of this joystick! I'm really disapointed, as i lost lot of time to setup this crap! :( Please help; if u can!
Pit

By Anonymous on Thursday, October 28, 2004 - 04:55 am:

This is a commen problim with the product. I am on No. 4 now. Fortunatly all whave been replaced under warrenty.
www.virtualpilot.co.za

By Rudashell on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 07:42 am:

After trawling the net for ages i find this site, where at least i dont feel im the only one with this problem! looks like shoddy build quality to me :( - i may risk ripping it apart and having a play as the only thing i use it for i need the rudder!! good luck all!

By Anonymous on Wednesday, April 28, 2004 - 05:07 am:

I fixed mine (temporarily I suppose!) by opening the poentiometer case (cutting the heat sealed nibs off), giving it a good clean with switch cleaner and then as that didn't do the trick, bending the three contacts by about their own width so they run on an un-worn part of the carbon tracking.
I guess the problems are due to use of cheap components...

While I'm at it, has anyone found a way to reduce the 'dead zone' of FF effect around the centre point, where position input is still given, but no FF is active?

By Anonymous on Tuesday, April 6, 2004 - 09:35 pm:

I have had the same erratic/fluttering rudder problem on my Wingman Force 3D since 2 months after purchase. I tried cleaning the potentiometer but it eventually reverted back to unusable. Next time I'll have to try the rubbing alcohol!

Logitech should be at least acknowledging a problem that so many are reporting.

This is helpful if you're brave enough to disassemble it. It can be very tricky to re-assemble. (Be Warned!)
http://www.wings-of-valor.net/files/documents/2003-10-17_stickfix.pdf

Anyone out there manage to fix their Z-axis for good?

By milmares on Sunday, March 7, 2004 - 09:27 pm:

I have the same problem, after searching the web for an answer without any success; and trying several options like calibrating and playing around with the dead zones, I opened the stick (voiding the warranty obviously, but Im an electrical engeenier, so, no big deal) and finding that this is a hardware issue. The problem isnt the power supply (Good conclusion but isnt the right one if we expect a good power DC supply). Inside the yoke, as the rudder "sensor", is used a trimmer (3 terminal var. electrical resistance.).The problem consist in a mechanical over stress of the terminals/cables caused by the presure upon them by a plastic part of the yoke + the constant movements (A poor design!!), also we can consider poor quality components. What I did it was, to find a new path for the terminals and cables, for a better movement avoiding the over pressure/twist. Finally the problem was solved. Dont try this at home, unless you have the knowledge and the appropriate equipment.

By Anonymous on Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 08:53 am:

it sounds like the pot might have an intermittent problem, or can be loose and moving around.

By zimmer on Monday, July 21, 2003 - 01:30 pm:

This joystick is connected through a USB hub and is powered separately from the PC power. The gliching that I noted is on the control panel test page. (with the meters of each axis) My only beef, yes i said beef, is that it works for the first calibration, but seems to come back either during the next calibration or during the game that I play. This makes me believe that it is a software issue, although I will test it on another pc to be sure. Thanks for your suggesstions...

By Anonymous on Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 11:29 am:

seems like a HW problem with the joystick ? from the help FAQ http://www.wingmanteam.com/faq.htm

To verify the axis performance of a device there are some things to consider :-

Examine the movement in the control panel test page. The on-screen axis display should move smoothly in response to actual movement of the axis on the device. It is important to verify the functionality of the axis in the game controllers test page. It can be very hard to judge the operation of an axis in a game as games may do variety of game-specific processing/filtering/averaging on the data from the joystick.

Do you see "jitter" in the movement of the axis? This could indicate noise in the power supply of the host PC. For USB devices you may be able to make the device immune to the host PC power supply by connecting the device through a powered USB hub.

If the on-screen axis display does not move smoothly in response to actual movement of the axis on the device then it is possible there is hardware problem. If you suspect a HW problem with the device it is recommended to check the performance of the device on another system to confirm if a hardware problem does indeed exist. You should also refer to the "Customer Support" area of www.logitech.com for details on product return/exchange.

By zimmer on Sunday, July 20, 2003 - 01:52 am:

The first few times I used this joystick (wingman force 3d) the rudder worked fine. But after a few more calibrations the rudder started "gliching" or tweaking fully to the left every time I moved it the slightest. But, as I continued to twist the joystick the tweak went back to it's normal position in the sensitivity. Even after clearing the calibration it still seems to "glich" and want to pull to the left with the slightest movement. Product updates haven't helped either. I'm currently running windows xp.

Help would be very much appreciated since I've not had any answers yet.

-zimmer-