Homemade Joystick

[Flying Buckeye]

I don't think I will be attempting to build one any time soon, but I was wondering if it is possible to homebuild a joystick for flight simulator. It would be cool to attach a few springs to the stick to simulate the pressure which is needed to be  applied to the stick under high g-forces.

[Fozzer]

[quote]I don't think I will be attempting to build one any time soon, but I was wondering if it is possible to homebuild a joystick for flight simulator. It would be cool to attach a few springs to the stick to simulate the pressure which is needed to be

[expat]

If you want to add "stuff"; buy a cheap low end joystick and then us it's guts in your own design.

Matt

[BSW727]

Certainly it's possible. I did just what expat said. I used my CH products yoke and wired up a Boeing 727 control wheel and yoke assembly.

[tspcrowther]

I`m considering rebuilding an old failed joystick with my own full metal gimbal design, throttle and rudder pedals and some high quality pots... Only problem so far is finding a 3 pin 50K linear Pot with only 60 degrees of electrical contact like the originals so I can simply wire them to the interface ... Anyone know where I might get some? I`ve tried google but it`s sooo tedious.   Or could I use 2x normal 360 degree 300k pots back to back to get the 50K over 60 degrees?   

  A multimeter would answer this, but I dont have one     

[EVVFCX]

Hi there,

You could certainly dual -gang 2 pots but the angle will still remain the same, with 300K's dual ganged you'll roughly get 150K over their normal turning range - but I can guarentee you would have problem due to them not being identical, unless your willing to pay loads for a matched pair of pots,  for example: you might use them for rudder, kick in some left rudder, want a bit more and find you'll get less left rudder than you had.

And: You won't get a full 360 deg of movement on the pot - it's not possible, you might have something around 300-320 deg, only thing I can suggest is buy a bigger pot, check what range your 50K actually used and limit the movement of the 'larger' pot.
Think of 'dual rate' in modern radio control sets and you'd get the idea what I mean.

regards

Steve

[tspcrowther]

Thanks for the advice EVVFCX.  I went to Maplin to ask about it and nobody in there had a clue, even the manager said he dosent know much about electronics!!
But they had cheap multimeters, so I got one and some cheapo pots...
  With a bit of messing about I`ve managed to mok up a working throttle.  The original throttle pot was a 50K over 110 deggrees...  Maplins have a 100K pot over approx 300 dg.  I dual ganged 2 of these with an offset approx 180 dg. Wired it up to the interface and it works well..  I have slightly more angle of control than the original which is more than fine for the throttle, but I may need to get my calculations spot on for the other axis. At least I know this method works.  I`ll let you all know how I get on       

[JBaymore]

Also maybe drop down into the Homebuilt Cockpits forum section for threads that relate to this kind of thing.  This is what pit building is all about.  (You'll have to look around a bit.)

best,

................john

[Fozzer]

Two different types of Rotary Potentiometers (or Sliders)...

Linear.
Logarithmic.

Identified as either : Lin or Log.

Linear Pots change their value linearly as the control is rotated...(The type you require).

Logarithmic Pots change their value logarithmically eg: Audio Volume Controls.

Paul...ex Sparks... 8-)...!

http://www.simkits.com/index.php

[tspcrowther]

Two different types of Rotary Potentiometers (or Sliders)...

Linear.
Logarithmic.

Identified as either : Lin or Log.

Linear Pots change their value linearly as the control is rotated...(The type you require).

Logarithmic Pots change their value logarithmically eg: Audio Volume Controls.

Paul...ex Sparks... 8-)...!

http://www.simkits.com/index.php

Yeah Paul mate, I figured that out early on.