~S~

I have finally got round to building my 'trim box' to supplement my CH set up with some rotary controllers for trim and prop pitch.

I used the circuit board and USB cable from an old MS Sidewinder Precision Pro with four new potentiometers (100k ohm logarithmic - about 50p a go), some knobs that fit the pot shaft (about 60p each) and a project box (I think £6).  All sourced from my local Maplin's in Banbury, UK.

Neither myself nor the chap in the shop could tell what kind of pots were in the original stick, but after I explained the purpose he came up with the logarithmic versions. They seem to work fine, too - I'm very pleased with the result, which now sits just nicely beneath my CH throttle.

My question is, though, would linear pots work as well, or better than logarithmic ones? Are joystick pots typically one or the other?

Like I said, it works fine, but I'd like to clarify this issue for future reference.

All the best,

Pads

John,

Thanks for this - I suspected that it might be the case. The response to the inputs is a little twitchy, though manageable (and in my current sim of choice it is easy to adjust for sensitivity, which mitigates this to some extent). Still, for someone of such little electronic knowledge as myself, I got a real buzz out of putting this thing together and getting it to work at all!

I will have to get hold of some linear pots and break out the soldering iron out again... they are pretty cheap anyway so it won't make for an expensive experiment and now that the box is ready with holes and what not drilled it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to fix. I'll post results when I've tried it.

Re the guy in the shop - he was busy and looked pretty hassled at the time and I think may have been working outside of his area of expertise.

To give Maplin's their due though, another fellow I had spoken to on a previous occasion was both (a) excited and enthusiastic about the project and (b) really did seem to know what he was talking about - he suggested bringing the original in but unfortunately wasn't around when I went back. Typical, eh?  

Cheers,

Pads

PS While I think about it - the loose wire you see in the box was attached to a metal plate in the original stick (I guess it has an earthing function) - at present it's hanging loose. Would you recommend trying to earth it out?

Thanks -  I will remember 'linear taper B' when I go to the shop next time...

If I knew how to wire a 6 x 6 matrix I might even have a go at this... I understand the principle involved - connecting row 1 to column 1 creates switch 1 when the circuit is closed, etc, but how on earth would you wire 32 separate switches to such a small component?

Am sure I'm showing my ignorance here...

Cheers,

Pads

Padser,

Congrats on getting the electrical work done....... you are now an official "soldering iron jockey".  

For controlling all sorts of switch inputs in the simpit.... see the link at the top sticky for the Hagstrom KE-72 keyboard emulator.  Handles 72 discrete inputs.  That is one unit I use in my simpit.  Easy to wire up, and the programmable non-matrix approach prevents ghosting (inadvertant incorrect keypresses).


The black wire should be a ground for the shielding on the case, I am guessing.   But it looks like your project box is plastic with no aluminized metallic spray coating.  So there is no sheilding to ground it to there.  Likely the pcb is not too sensitive to rf or emf  interference from the hardware near it.  You however won't have the ability to ground static charges easily.....so be careful in the winter touching the metal parts of the pots.


best,

..........john

Quote:


Just to confirm, the 10k linear pots are excellent and give a much smoother and more even range of inputs.

This has really become part of the way I fly now  very pleased with it. Am experimenting with Leo Bodnar's clever little joystick controller now to see about adding some switches to the equation.

Just what I needed, another obsession... 

BTW - anyone found a way of sourcing those little plastic connectors and plugs for connecting to circuit boards like this? Had really trouble finding some today - the best I found were Futaba Servo Plug Kits - any other suggestions?

All the best,

Pads

Tacitblue,

Of course we're interested.    It is part of this absurd hobby (simpits....not flight simming) that we are able to share our particular design solutions to fabrication / control problems.  It is all about "R+D"...................... "Rip off and Duplicate".  

Please start a new thread when you do.  Thanks.

best,

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

PS:  Thanks for downsizing the pix.