Has anyone mounted their Alpha & Bravo on an L shaped desk?
I recently bought a really nice corner desk. I run 4 monitors (triple + 1 up) and my thinking was since the center monitor is at the center of the desk corner my yoke would sit great right in the center of the L inside corner. I was right. But then I bought a Bravo (before you can’t get them anymore) and now I have a problem.
I saw an amazing set up where the guy has his like me, however, when he wants to fly the entire monitor cluster slides on a curved track to the long side of the L where he has his flight sim gear set up. Very very cool. But not currently an option for me. And my L shaped desk is the same length on both sides. So more of a > but open more, obviously.
I am at a loss as to how to proceed. Has anyone else done something on this type of set-up? What did you do if you did and can anyone else think of a way to make it work if not?
I only fly in VR so this probably won’t be too helpful in your case but…
I actually have the Alpha and Bravo mounted on the short part of the “L” and everything else – keyboard, monitors, printer, etc. – on the long part (which means those things are to my left while flying).
Maybe useful for someone contemplating a VR setup but with limited space (like my room).
I don’t have an L-shaped desk but the monstrous clamps of the Honeycomb and the mounting plates were not what I wanted. So I left them out and used double sided adhesive tape to fix the devices where they belong. May be that is an option worth considering for you.
Maybe attach a triangular piece of plywood to the bottom of the inside corner of the ‘L’ so that you have space to mount the Alpha/Bravo side-by-side underneath. Make the plywood wide enough for your keyboard on top.
The only downside might be that it pushes you back too far from the rest of your peripherals. Here’s a pic of what they look like mounted under my straight desk.
I left space between them for a future cyclic purchase. You could certainly mount them closer together.
I’ve had these mounts for 10 months, and (aside from an occasional need to tighten the mount with the included thumbscrews) they’re holding up well. The design is such that the Alpha/Bravo are easily removable. The LED option, while not perfect, is a must, IMHO.
I was thinking along those same lines. But the same issue hit me…it would push me back making the nice triple monitor set up much less immersive. Dumping the brackets does make some sense in this case…as I can mount them a bit off where they (the yoke) should be and while I really would prefer under the desk on top wouldn’t be the end of the world. I can have the monitors up higher if I needed…but I don’t think I would need them higher than they are..
I built little platforms for the Alpha and Bravo, then screwed the suction plate to the top of the platform and mount the peripherals that way. Now they sit on top of the desk with clearance for the yoke and trim wheel. Now I can put them anywhere on my desk which is a small L-Shape desk. I did have to make a bracket that goes over the back of the desk to hold the yoke in place when pulling it (it wanted to tip and slide) but there may be a more elegant solution to that. One of my self imposed rules was to not permanently attach anything to the desk.
The Alpha and Bravo mount plates are fastened to a board (a melamine shelf), which is then clamped to the desk, bridging the L. The Bravo plate is elevated with some dowels so the trim wheel will clear the desk.
The height was a little awkward at first but I got used to it.
Once I find more recent pics I’ll update this post.
EDIT: Easier to take a fresh picture. Not the best photo but shows what my set up currently looks like
I simply used a 1.5in dowel (I think it was leftovers from an Ikea curtain rod) and cut it into 4 sections, each approx 2.5in tall. These were then drilled and screwed onto the base (a 36 x 10 x 0.5in shelf board) matching the Bravo’s base plate pattern. Base plate gets attached to the stand offs, and the Bravo gets mounted to the base plate as per usual.
When sitting on my desk (as pictured in my previous posts) there’s roughly a finger’s width between the Bravo trim wheel and the desk surface.
Im thinking Alpha and Bravo setup similar to yours and get one of thise hot swap mounts on etsy for the Winwing AP panels and put the Radio on top of the Bravo and get one of those slide out streamdeck mounts for the XL and put on the side…
Our basic setups are somewhat different because while you’re sitting at the “corner” of the L, I’m sitting facing the “short side” of the L.
But I could imagine mounting an Alpha + Bravo on a board and having it sit across your desk roughly in the same angle as the keyboard in your pic, biased to the Alpha being central.
Your other stuff you’ll have to play around and figure out what fits where, etc. Ditto for your Airbus stick and quadrant. If you’re looking to keep those devices, you might try to create some sort of removable self that they could sit on, and remove the Alpha’s wheel when not using it.
That’s what I do when go from an aircraft that uses a yoke to one that has a stick: I remove the Alpha’s control wheel and place my joystick on a lower shelf that I built. This allows me to still use all my other devices (and any of the switches on the Alpha’s main body) and still have room.
Here’s a quick (and dirty!) pic of what I’m talking about. The shelf is on a hinge on the right, undoing two nuts on the left will allow it to swing out of the way. This shelf will also act as a keyboard tray as I type things like this post on the forums.
For me, part of the fun of this hobby is figuring out practical solutions to problems like these. I try to find a balance between REALISM!! and something that’s flexible and reasonable for someone like myself who can’t quite gather the resources to make a full dedicated cockpit
I am looking at getting something inexpensive from Ikea to put the airbus stick on by my knee just like in the real bus
My goal is to make the keyboard drawer for the keyboard and mouse again..
Definitely keeping the PUCDU Overhead switch panel may go up for sale.. still undecided on that. Airbus throttle will go up for sale
Biggest debate Im having is buy the genuine honey throttle flap and speed brake handles or get something from prodesksim or blackbird as long as it doesnt take weeks to ship…
@rottenbk Im playing around with Configurations, I have the Alpha lite on the desk planning on using the sticky and I had an old piece of wood so I cut some 3 inch blocks and have the back of the bravo propped up on that with mounting plate screwed the blocks with nano sticky dots on the bottomto secure the Bravo.. Still Searching for spots for a couple smaller items and IF i fly the bus I could just use the USB hub behing my keyboard when I fly the bus.. Got any other thoughts
It’s hard to tell from the picture but I’d run the Alpha through a control check (“free, clear, and in the correct sense”). IE - push the yoke all the way forward and make sure it doesn’t hit anything when you rotate it from full left to full right.
I tested at normal position left and right but not anything else, thanks Ill have to check when I get Home.. i dont want to traise the alpha lite too much as I dont want to make it uncomfortable.. The blocks i made for bravo arent very even(my saw sucks).. thinking about stopping at Michaels on the way home they have 3x3 wood cubes and they have 2x2 wood cubes as well might give them a try.. just gotta make sure the trim wheel clears..
also considering selling the Logitech radio panel for an Octavi, or SD +
