Quadrant building. -design stage-

[machineman9]

Alright. its my summer holiday and i feel like building a throttle quadrant... so this is the start of my official thread series (soon ill be up there building my own sim-pit... but i guess you gotta start low with something like this  :) )

anyway,

the design will follow the tutorial here: http://www.simpits.org/articles/throttl ... tquad.html

i plan to make the frame out of wood, and so will the rest no doubt. i may find a nice design to do by, but its something basic and isnt hugely needed to look nice. any images would be nice, just to start.

the quadrant will be default work through a gameport connection, but i plan to buy a

[JSpahn]

Very nice and very cheap alternative, I cant wait to see how things come together! just one suggestion dont glue the pot to the throttle handle . slot the handle, drill a hole and compress the handle onto the pot using a screw. It may take you more time to complete but you will not have any problems with the handle sliding in the future. Also if the pot goes bad replacement will be easy.

Thats just my 2 cents!

Good Luck,
John

[machineman9]

thanks.. just one question, i keep on hearing the phrase 'pot' like you said. what does this actually refer to?

[JSpahn]

That would be the variable resistor or potentiometer that is used for the actual controls. Here is a good example:

http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/i ... APER_.html

[JSpahn]

Although watch what you buy for this project, he suggests a 200K ohm linear taper. lets see if I can find one:

There is one on this page

http://www.surplussales.com/Potentiomet ... ted-9.html

[machineman9]

aah thanks. i just normally call them 'one of those twisty things'  ;D

ill get to work when i draw up some details, get the costing sorted and have a helping hand from my dad available

[JSpahn]

Cool I can not wait, looks like I might build my own using that link! Thanks for the info

[machineman9]

no probs....

hmm, will be interesting to get this thing to work. the only problem is, im still using cursor keys to fly lol. hmm, maybe my Saitek VIII will work when i get some of these gameport->USB converters

[JBaymore]

machineman,

Good to see you taking on a project like this.

[machineman9]

i think i will do rotary (one in that picture right?)

is the logrythmic one a bit like acceleration? bits at the start may happen more or less quickly than later on?

bad example, but i think i know what you mean by it.. its not fluid.


and thanks. im spending some time soon doing some layouts, 3D models and more to get it right

[Akula.]

You know, I might join the club and start a simple simpit of my own.

I've been watching Rotty's and John's pits growing for some time now, and although I understand that at my age and with my skills it just isnt possible for me to build something of that calibre, I might be able to get somewhere.

I have the great asset of going to a school where we have four DT workshops, tens of thousands of pounds worth of equipment, vaccuum formers, laser cutters, etc, and I have nothing to do in my lunch hours.

I might start work on a throttle quadrant myself; I already have a few gameport to usb adapters lying around and a few peices of wood.

I'll keep you all posted, so if you hear nothing within a few weeks you'll know that this has turned into another of those countless projects that goes nowhere  ;)

[machineman9]

sounds good! we have a vac former at school... so i might try and use it when i go back to school

we also have a laser cutter which might be quite good too

[JBaymore]

Akula_dude,

Join the club!

USE those resources you have at school!!!!!!

[machineman9]

hmm, one question. the tutorial/guide im working from uses 2 throttles. if i added 4, would it still work right? hmm, im not sure. the diagram seems to show each pot being independantly connected with 1 power and 1 axis each

there isnt enough room to make 4 throttles work is there?

[Akula.]

hmm, one question. the tutorial/guide im working from uses 2 throttles. if i added 4, would it still work right? hmm, im not sure. the diagram seems to show each pot being independantly connected with 1 power and 1 axis each

there isnt enough room to make 4 throttles work is there?

I suppose it depends on what pot's you get. I'm only looking to build 1 throttle, as I mostly fly combat sims in fighter aircraft, but if I build this throttle successfuly I will definitely build a 4-engine quadrant for bombers.

Speaking of which, I went through the maplins catalogue today, and there were several types of pots. Does it really matter what kind I get? And what values should I be looking for, I've read in tutorials that 100Kohm is about right?