Simviation Forum - Building a throttle quadrant/joystick

Sep 23^rd, 2004 at 3:12pm

109dreamer Offline
Colonel
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 14

I was wondering how difficult it is to build your own throttle quadrant...I know little about electronics however I do know how to solder and wire light fixtures(big deal I know).
ANyway I found a tutorial on how to do this and I went ahead and disassembled an old non working joystick I have...I found two pots in it and was wondering if all it is, is simply connecting a pot to a usb cable, plugging it in, and I have my very own throttle....or is it alot more complex than that?

thanks

109

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Reply #1 - Sep 23^rd, 2004 at 4:42pm

P-40_Warhawk Offline
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The Stig
Savona New York

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It depends. Look at the how-to section of flightsim.com. Some people just hook the pots up to USB and some use gears, or pistons.

Some say my pinky toe was replaced with a fountain pen, and that I love to ride on nuclear bombs with a saddle. All I know is.... I'm called THE STIG!!!!

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Reply #2 - Sep 23^rd, 2004 at 6:39pm

109dreamer Offline
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I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 14

geez P40, I found out how to do everything but build a rocket and fly it to the moon! Great site thanks a million

109

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Reply #3 - Sep 23^rd, 2004 at 7:33pm

JBaymore Offline
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hombuilt cockpit!

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Quote:

It depends. Look at the how-to section of flightsim.com. Some people just hook the pots up to USB and some use gears, or pistons.

Unfortunately you can't hook pots DIRECTLY up to USB... you need an interface circuit in there. But hooking up to gameports is easier and that CAN take straight pots.

Usually the "deal" with using an old joystick is to use the joystick's existing usb interface and hook the pots up via a new mechanical linkage to a homebuilt throttle quadrant. Then you assign the functions in the joysticks section of the setup part of the sim.

However... if you are running multiple throttles... you have a little problem possibly sneaking in there. At any given physical setting of the two or more throttle levers... the resistance of the pots may not match exactly. That will translate to eneven thrust. So you'll have to individually "tune" the levers when you are slying.

Real controls for throttle quadrants have some "smarts" built in that make the individual throttles assume the same setting if thay are set within a certain range of each other. It kind of "averages" the 2, 3, or 4 resistance values being produced.

There is more info here on this kind of stuff too.

best,

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

Intel i7 960 quad 3.2G LGA 1366, Asus P6X58D Premium, 750W Corsair, 6 gig 1600 DDR3, Spinpoint 1TB 7200 HD, Caviar 500G 7200 HD, GTX275 1280M, Logitec Z640, Win7 Pro 64b, CH Products yoke, pedals + throttle quad, simpit

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Reply #4 - Sep 23^rd, 2004 at 10:48pm

109dreamer Offline
Colonel
I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Posts: 14

Thanks John, now I understand why so many homebuilt throttles are using ports and THEN plugging them into a USB cable....I am going to go play around and see what happens..if I do not come back to this forum, it means I blew myself up Roll Eyes

109

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Reply #5 - Sep 24^th, 2004 at 6:15am

chuckcrc Offline
Colonel
Simpit builder
Australia

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Posts: 170

Hi 109
the easiest way to contruct the electronics for a throttle quadrant (I assume single enging here) is to buy a cheap USB type joystick and strip it down. If you look at the thread I have on this forum for Throttle quadrant I originally used a cheap (Aud $30) Thrustmaster USB joystick which I stripped down for the unit. This also gave me 4 buttons and a HAT switch. It was easy then to plug into the PC and CFS2 will allow up to 16 joysticks which can be assigned different commands in the Game control menu setup.

If you want more than this then you would need to look at buying a dedicated type of electronics.
I bought a Betainnovations Plasma USB Controller which gives me 16 axis, rotary encoder inputs , 64 button inputs and an add-on module unit that you can hook up four Hall Effect pots which will eliminate the effect of asymetrical thrust problems when using multiple throttle levers.

Would it help if I disassemble my Throttle quadrant so I can get some pics of the wiring inside for you.

John Baymore is there a way we can post some form of tutorial on this forum to get this info available to everyone.

cheers
chuckcrc

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Reply #6 - Sep 24^th, 2004 at 11:28am

P-40_Warhawk Offline
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The Stig
Savona New York

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Posts: 266

You said multiple pots may be diffrent. What if there brand new and from the same company?

Some say my pinky toe was replaced with a fountain pen, and that I love to ride on nuclear bombs with a saddle. All I know is.... I'm called THE STIG!!!!

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Reply #7 - Sep 24^th, 2004 at 1:52pm

oldhorse Offline
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Missouri

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Hi 109
I found this tutorial to be a good starting place

http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?DLID=&Name=&FileName=&Author=Roland+van+Roy...

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Reply #8 - Sep 24^th, 2004 at 8:57pm

JBaymore Offline
Global Moderator
Under the curse of the
hombuilt cockpit!

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Posts: 10261

Quote:

You said multiple pots may be diffrent. What if there brand new and from the same company?

Potentiometers come in various "grades" ....... which in addition to other thngs relates to how "accurate" the resistance values are for a given physical setting.

So on say a linear that has 2" of total "travel" and is set to being at 1" (centered) .... if you tested 100 pieces set the same way........ the resistance values would be slightly different. Basically there is a linear and direct relationship between the closeness of this figure.... and the COST of the pot Wink

.

Unless you buy VERY expensive ones... the tollerance of this kind of value is more than you likely will be able to accept for multiple throttles.

Check the Beta Inmnnovations site for a really nice option for a LOT of cockpit interfacing stuff.

Also... exciting news here...... GoFlight is coming out with a new interface unit for simpit builders that will combine the functions of a number of it's existing boards into one unit without the switches/displays. So you can remote the stuff onto your homebuilt panels.

best,

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

Intel i7 960 quad 3.2G LGA 1366, Asus P6X58D Premium, 750W Corsair, 6 gig 1600 DDR3, Spinpoint 1TB 7200 HD, Caviar 500G 7200 HD, GTX275 1280M, Logitec Z640, Win7 Pro 64b, CH Products yoke, pedals + throttle quad, simpit

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