Ok Smoke2much i found this & it mite be the cheapest way to do it..Home made rudder pedals for $15
When I started taking flight training my instructor said that if I was using Flight Simulator I should get rudder pedals to practise using my feet. I couldn't afford $200 for rudder pedals and it was soon after that I realized that I couldn't afford flight training either!
But I knew I wanted rudder pedals so I went about figuring a way to make my own. I can't claim this is an original idea. I saw a version of homebuilt pedals posted on the Web about a year ago. I couldn't find those plans again so I took the basic idea and redesigned it to suit my set up. They are simple to build, work well, and cost a fraction of commercial rudder pedals.
You'll need:
--An old joystick (I had an analog Wingman Attack that I don't use anymore. Even new it costs about $15)
--An open USB port
--A bit of lumber; I used a three-foot length of 1-inch by 6-inch pine for the base and two 8-inch pieces of 1 by 4 pine for the pedals
--Some strong cord. I used mason's string which is strong and won't stretch. I tried picture frame wire at first, but found it wasn't flexible enough to allow the pedals to move freely.
--Two small pulleys. They cost a couple of bucks at a hardware store
--A couple of 90-cent hinges to mount the rudders to the base, two small screw-type eyebolts and two snap fasteners.
I took the old joystick and removed the plastic handle, leaving just a nylon stump.
I mounted the Wingman joystick at the centre of the cross support of my computer hutch as shown in the jpeg, driving a couple of screws through areas where I was sure there were no wires or electronics.
Attach the pulleys at the sides of the hutch as shown, either with screws or small bolts.
The pedals themselves are just 1 by 4 by 8 inch pieces of pine, attached with a common type hinge to a base. I added 'non-skid' tape (the type you would put on stairs) to the pedals to keep my feet from slipping. Another strip of non skid tape is on the bottom of the base and keeps the pedals in place on the carpet. (You'll have to find your own solution to keep the pedals in place on an uncarpeted floor. They will slip.)
The pedals are a little bit wider apart than I would like, but I did it this way to keep the cord as close to vertical as possible in the run from the pulleys to the pedals.
The cord is about five-feet long and is secured in the centre to the joystick. Each end of the cord runs out through the pulleys and down to the pedals I tied simple snap fasteners to each end of the cord and clip these to small eyebolts screwed into the end of the pedals. That makes it easy to unclip the pedals and move them out of the way if you need to. You have to take care when attaching the string to make sure the pedals feel even and have the same amount of up and down movement.
Hook up the joystick to the open USB port and configure it through FS2002. I use an MS Force feedback as my main flight control so I had to delete the z-axis assignment to the rudders on it.
I deleted all the buttons and axis assignments on the Wingman Attack 2, then assigned the y-axis to the rudder. You'll have to calibrate the Wingman to your pedal setup.
For the first few days I had to recalibrate the rudders several times, but they have since settled down. It does add a touch of realism to the sim, however, as you should do a 'walk around' before each flight to ensure the rudder movement is free and correct.
There are more sophisticated homebuilt rudder pedals around. (Rob Barendregt's are notable, but were a little too involved for my skills. Search for rcbped.zip.) But this setup is very simple and effective. The only thing I had to buy were the hinges, the lumber and the snaps, so in all, I spent less than $15 dollars on it. The setup took less than an hour. I've been using them for a month without any trouble at all.
I hope you find they work for you.
Blair Crawford
Ottawa, Canada
crawood@sympatico.ca
hope this helps someone out there and it looks cheap and easy to make...(no wiring to do)
by PAGE » Thu Aug 07, 2003 4:55 pm 
....wish i had the money to make one, i have the time and the tools..and an understanding wife 
