================================================================== FLIGHT SIMULATOR RUDDER PEDALS A LOW-TECH SOLUTION TO A HIGH-TECH PROBLEM by Rick Lee, Associate SysOp, CompuServe FSFORUM First published in PC-Pilot, Volume 1, Number 1 / Sept. 1989 ================================================================== Have you ever talked to licensed pilots about PC-based simulators? They always complain about the lack of realistic controls. They are right, of course. Keyboard control is terrible and one puny joystick isn't much better. It may be a great intellectual exercise, but it's far from a realistic flying experience. I flew Flight Simulator II on the Atari ST for years, mainly using the keyboard yoke but also the mouse when I needed analog control for complex procedures such as stunt flying. After Flight Simulator version 3.0 came out for IBM's I was jealous of the great analog joysticks available for it, not to mention the wheel-type Maxx Yoke. I wanted as much realism as I could get. But even after I got my IBM 286 clone with stunning VGA graphics and a super-smooth CH Flightstick, there was still a gaping hole in that hot-rod set-up..... rudder pedals. When I learned that version 3.0 supported dual joysticks (meaning analog control for the rudder also) it didn't take me long to start thinking of ways to make a pedal device which would simply transfer the up-down action of pedals to the side-to-side motion of a joystick. A more sophisticated hacker might have made a pedal device from scratch which contained the necessary potentiometers, but I like to keep things simple, so I just incorporated a regular joystick into the apparatus. Remember the favorite saying of mechanical engineers -- K.I.S.S. ... Keep It Simple, Stupid. After about an hour of browsing the local hardware store, a basic design formed in my head. The materials I took home were: 2 - 8" Stanley door hinges 2 - 4" Stanley "L" brackets 6 - 1.5" Stanley "L" brackets 1 - 12"x18" piece of 3/4" plywood 2 - springs, 1.5" closed/3.5" stretched 1 - roll nylon twine My plan started with a Suncom Tac-1 joystick mounted in the center of the plywood, secured by the small L-brackets. The large hinges made excellent pedals because they are heavy-duty and the human leg can exert considerable force. To stop that force from tearing the joystick handle off, I put wood screws into the wood under the pedals to act as stops (easily adjustable by screwing in or out). The large L-brackets served as guides for the nylon twine which connects the pedals to the joystick handle. The twine is tied to the existing holes in the toe-end of the hinges and attached to the joystick with a rubber band. The springs (the kind with a loop at each end) attached to the top of the large L-brackets and the toes of the pedals. I had to drill a small hole near the top of the L-bracket for attaching the spring. I intended to just attach it to the existing hole, but it rubbed against the twine in that configuation. It became obvious after working the mechanism a little that there would need to be some slack in the string to allow the joystick to center itself. It all seemed too easy... and so it was. I had not allowed for the fact that the dual joystick arrangement put the throttle control on the Y-axis (forward-backward) of the second joystick. I had planned on simply ignoring that throttle and using the keyboard throttle, but I couldn't ignore it for long. Whenever I moved the second joystick, the throttle on that stick automatically asserted itself, cancelling the keyboard input. After much experimentation, I discovered that if I just kept the stick pushed all the way forward, it would not interfere with the keybooard. I designed a new linkage so that the Y-axis would always be pushed forward. It wasn't difficult, I just opened the joystick case and removed the small spring which causes the stick to center itself on the Y-axis. But after I had already gone to the trouble of fixing the linkage, I realized that a better solution to the throttle problem was staring me in the face. The throttle wheel in the FlightStick was sitting there useless -- and it is exactly the same type of potentiometer that I was spending so much time trying to defeat. Why not use it? All I had to do was disconnect the wires to the Y-axis of joystick-B, extend the wires up to the FlightStick, and solder them to the throttle pot. And what do you know? It all works! I can't tell you how much more realistic the simulation is now. I've heard through the grapevine that commercially produced rudder pedals will be coming on the market someday soon. That's something to look forward to. But I have my pedals now -- and you can get yours too. They're only a hardware store away. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ADDENDUM 6/12/92 -- Here are some improvements suggested by Craig Allen in the CompuServe Flight Simulations Forum (GO FSFORUM). -------------------------- Sb: AOTP Rudder Pedals Fm: Craig Allen 71151,1640 To: Rick L./Assoc SysOp 76702,1707 Rick, A looonng time ago I subscribed to a magazine/journal called "PC Pilot". The bad news is that the publisher went out of business and I never got my money back. 8-( The good news is that while perusing through the few issues I did get (and can't bring myself to throw away!), I ran across an article by "Rick Lee" in the SimClinic section, which described how to build rudder pedals for Flight Simulator. Did you write that article? If so, THANKS! I have heard that Maxx rudder pedals aren't very resilient, so I went to Home Depot this weekend and purchased the hardware necessary to build my own by following the instructions in the article. They work great! Hope it was you and if so, thanks again! 8-) Best wishes, Craig -------------------------------------- To: Craig Allen 71151,1640 (X) Fm: Rick L./Assoc SysOp 76702,1707 Hehehe... far out! Yeah... that was me. That same article is available here in Lib13/Hardware in PEDAL2.ARC. I ditched mine in favor of Maxx Pedals though. The old ones worked ok but I like the Maxx Pedals a little bit better. The home built ones required a little too much regular maintainance ... but I *DID* have rudder pedals before almost anyone in the country outside of Wagner Microflight users. The Maxx Pedals only LOOK flimsy. You can actually stand on them without damaging them. The main problem with them is that the pedals are too close together and the travel of the pedals is too limited. I hear that Scott Edmunds showed plans for some really cool home-built sliding pedals at the Ithaca conference. I'm anxious to check out his plans... I hope we can get them uploaded here. I will probably build a new set off of his plans. >>> Rick Lee <<< Associate SysOp -------------------------------------- Fm: Craig Allen 71151,1640 To: Rick L./Assoc SysOp 76702,1707 (X) Rick, It's a small world! I've improved on your design slightly by using steel leader line (from a local bait shop) between the joystick and the door hinges, two additional springs (located between the joystick and the left and right L-brackets), and two 1" sections of a sipping straw, split lengthwise to protect the line which is threaded through the eyelet of the 4" L-bracket (hopefully reducing maintenance downtime from line snagging and breaking!) 8-) I've been stomping on them all day and they seem to be holding up quite well. The rudder pedal plans which Scott Edmund shared with everyone at the Ithaca conference sound very interesting...I'll keep my eye out for more information! Best wishes, Craig -------------------------------------- Fm: Rick L./Assoc SysOp 76702,1707 To: Craig Allen 71151,1640 Interesting... I don't really know what "steel leader line" is like. I initially tried using the lightest aircraft cable that the hardware store had but it was still way too coarse to use in my pedal design. >>> Rick Lee <<< Associate SysOp -------------------------------------- Fm: Craig Allen 71151,1640 To: Rick L./Assoc SysOp 76702,1707 Rick, Steel leader line is nylon-coated braided steel wire which comes in various diameters on a spool. I used the stuff years ago to make up my own rigs for blue fishing off a concrete pier at the Patuxent Naval Air Station in Maryland. I also used cylindrical steel "sleeves" to crimp the lines together, which is easier than tying a lot of knots. My rudder pedals are holding up very well, and I'm glad I held onto my old issues of PC Pilot! Best wishes, Craig -------------------------------------- Fm: Rick L./Assoc SysOp 76702,1707 To: Craig Allen 71151,1640 So how much did your home-built pedals cost? >>> Rick Lee <<< Associate SysOp --------------------------------------- Fm: Craig Allen 71151,1640 To: Rick L./Assoc SysOp 76702,1707 (X) Rick, Total cost (exluding the joystick and wood screws) was about $21. Here's a complete rundown: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Four springs, 1 1/2" compressed............$2.84 Two 5" Corner brackets.....................$3.50 Six 2" L-brackets..........................$1.74 Two 8" Hinges..............................$6.14 One 3/4"x12"x24" Board.....................$1.99 One 30 ft. roll of 20 lb. Steelon/Nylon....$1.97 One pack of no. 4 sleeves..................$2.10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TOTAL COST: $20.28 + tax ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The springs are attached as suggested by your article, but I added two extra springs (one each on the left and right side between the js and the corner brackets). These springs don't hinder normal movement, but if you happen to stomp both pedals down simultaneously, they stretch to take the punishment... looks something like this: spring \/ ---\\\\\--|---/////--- | JS-> | | corner bracket | |---| | --- | | --- Best wishes...Craig