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

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/item/LTP-100/470/100_OHM_POT,_LINEAR_TAPER...

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

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

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

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

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

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?

my tutorial says 200Kohm


hmm, ill do a right and left engine, be suitable for a 737 or other prop. i just need a good design, i dont want anything goofy looking lol

the landing gear would be a button wouldnt it? its either on or off, you cant as such leave the gear half up or down can you?  so, this is probably to JBaymore... how could i make a landing gear go on this thing? i am going to make it so that 3 seconds after flipping the gear, the lights change. how did you make your gear? how could it fit into a single button switch?



current things it will have:

1x magneto key switch
2x toggle (stick) switch- 1 for lights, unsure about the other
1x landing gear (consulting how it would work)- 3 lights for it
2x throttles, for left and right. if im not using the trim or the L.G is a switch, i will have 4 throttles.


so, thats the Alpha release of how the thing will function. ive only got 4 pots and 4 switches to use remember


any ideas? please say

i looked at section 19 (the bit about constructing the gear) and some later ones (you have 2 lots of part 24 in the master thread too) but i couldnt find anything on how the actual componant functions. the lights should be quite easy i think. i can take power from another 5v in from the MIDI, and then im sure i can figure out how to construct a PCB or something to change the power to the the red/green LEDs respectively. if i cant, ill either ask for help on on here/another forum, or ask my grandad who is an ex-electrician

my birthday is in february, unfortunately.

but thanks, that does answer those questions yes. i just spent the last half hour drawing a basic diagram for how the wiring could go for the button and lighting rig too

ill look into it. i wanted to keep this project as close to £0 as possible, im at about £15 ($30) already and had expected this to double atleast for the finished thing. however, most of the real throttle quadrants are about £120 or more, and mine already has much more functionality

ill have a look into the programs, im sure i can find a way to fit them in. if i cant get the componants and the permission to tear open our computer tower  then it will be a definate possibility. if not, then i guess i could integrate a dial on the side that you can change, or just leave it for a couple of seconds as an average thing.

it wasnt primarily designed to be accurate, i just wanted something cheap to do the job. but hey, im at this stage already. i guess there isnt much harm in giving a little realism

thanks John, youve been a great help so far (you and the rest of SimV be begging for mercy when i try to put the thing together  )




edit: any reccomendations on this sort of interface card so i know what im buying?

aah, i thought it was more of a PCI type thing. thanks, but that is really getting too expensive for this project. i cant go spending £55 on things quite yet.

i might not bother with the lights, it was either that interface card or to make a circuit for it... one is too expensive and the other im too in-experienced to design

thanks still, ill remember it for when i do make my full sim in a couple of years

machineman,

Lookin' good.  You might want to add a sixth lever on the left of the throttles which is set up to act as one for the speedbrake/spoilers.  Even if you don't connect it now... you likely will later.

Mini Tutorial: As a thought, you can do some amazing stuff with "physical logic" using standard real switches and point to point wiring and some LEDs.  The following is just as EXAMPLE.

Let's say that you want your APU to start only if the APU fuel pump is already set to "on" and the APU gen to only be "on" if the APU is already running.  Well, you could use a double pole double throw (DPDT) switch for the APU fuel pump, the APU start/run, and the APU Gen on.  You'll use the LEFT set of contacts on those switches for any interface you might want directly into the sim....... involving an unfortunately "expensive" interface card....... which we'll leave to a later date here given your prior comments.

(WARNING.... do not get any voltage from an external source mentioned here on any contacts that might get hooked up directly with computer components...... unless you want to destroy a computer!   )

But on the RIGHT side of each switch there are ALSO three more contacts that have nothing to do with the LEFT hand side (that's what the "double pole" means).  There is the center pole which you can think of as "common", and the top on and the bottom ones.  When the switch is in the "up" position the top contact is connected to the center common contact... thereby completing a circuit between the two.  When it is in the down position, the center connects to the bottom contact and disconnects from the top contact.

So...........  first you get yourself a source of something between 5 V DC and 12 V DC so you have a power source that you can use to light up some LEDs (and do other things too).  You COULD use a battery...... but something like an old CB radio base power supply that hooks to 110V AC would be a GREAT source.  Or an old computer power supply (watch out on that one... it is not as easy as you think).

Now depending on the voltage you are using you will ALSO need what is called a "current limiting resistor" to be placed into the positive lead of EACH LED to keep too much current form flowing thru it and burning it out.  The exact value of this resistor will depend on the exact voltage that you decide to use.  Some LEDs come with an integrated resistor, particularly those for use with 12 V DC.  Talk to your electronics store to get the right value.  Luckily low wattage resistors are dirt cheap.

To the center pole of the RIGHT hand side of your APU Fuel Pump DPDT switch you connect the +12VDC connection.  To the up position (on) RIGHT hand side contact you run a wire that connects to the CENTER common RIGHT hand side contact of the DPDT switch that is to be the APU Start/Run switch.  You also connect a second wire to this same "on" contact (on sw#1) and run it to the positive connection side of a LED (with the resistor) that will be the indicator that the APU fuel pump is "on".

So now if the APU Fuel Pump run switch is in the "on" position, there will be +12 on the center contact of the APU Start switch and there will be 12V on the positive lead of the LED.  When we get finished with all the connections... in this case the green "APU FUEL PUMP" indicator LED will then light up.

You could also add a wire to the "off" bottom contact of the APU Fuel Pump switch and run it to an amber or red LED.  Then when this switch is in the "off" position, that LED will be lit...and tell you that the APU pump is not currently "on".

So now 12V is routed thru the first Fuel Pump switch when it is on and reaches the APU Start/Run switch.  You now connect this switches top "on" contact to the center contact of the APU Generator switch.  Then when THIS switch is set to the "on" position, the 12V will reach the whateever you have connected to the top contact position of the APU Generator switch.  Again you ALSO connect to the green "APU START/RUN" indicator LED.

You can also add the "not on" indicator LEDs to every switch described here if you like.

So when the APU Fuel Pump switch is changed from "off" to "on", the indicator goes from amber to green AND the APU Start indicator, which has been completely off up until now,  lights up to amber.  Then when you flip the APU Start switch to "on", the run indicator goes from amber to green AND the APU Gen indicator goes to amber.  Only when all the switches are in the "on" position do you get all green lights on the "system".

AND importantly... if you flip any of the other switches to the on position before the switch "ahead" of it in the "chacklist sequence" is turned on... nothing happens to the LEDs.  The only exception is if eventually they are ALL in the "on" position.  But it is close enough  .

You also now have to connect the negative side of the LED power connections to make a complete circuit for electricity to flow.  That gets wired directly to each LED.


You have to understand the limitation of this type of approach.  There is no real connection to the sim.  So if the APU in the sim does some sort of "fault"...... this will NOT be reflected back on the physical panel.  So this approach is only good for systems that you do not expect to ever do something unexpected in the sim itself.

Without some interface into the sim itself, this is pretty much all "eye candy".  This is where an interface card comes in

alot of long and short words there john, but still, very useful stuff to refer to if i get stuck or need ideas for the thing to work.


i would add a sixth lever, but if the landing gear is to be a button (i looked at your landing gear) i will make it so that at half way, a spring or something pushes into toggle switch... so then this toggle switch will be recognised to adjust the landing gear and make it go up/down depending on how it needs to go (hopefully down will send the gear down, though yesterday not even my keyboard could get the gear to go down)

so, im pretty much out of space on my MIDI connection (unless i added a second cable to it) but i think ive used the space for what i use most



again, thanks muchly, youve been a great help. im just checking the prices up again, and checking the final compatibilites of the hardware ill be using

cheers

the console test fit pic looks good

i thought that X52 thing was a throttle in itself though