Electronics/software needed to build a yoke?

[Marcel]

Hello all. I'm trying to build a yoke. Has anyone done this with success, and what hardware/software did you purchase to accomplish this?

[nax228]

To build the yoke you need tools, to hhok it up to your computer you need electronics.
I made a yoke a few years back and made a post about it: http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php/14648-Making-a-yoke-737-ish?highlight=
(http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php/14648-Making-a-yoke-737-ish?highlight=)
I resently made another yoke setup, and you can see that build following the link in my sigature.

I have now connected it to FSX via a card called BU0836x by Leo Bodenar. I have calibrated te yokes in FSUIPC but you can also do it in Windows/FS.
Good luck!

[Marcel]

Are you using pots or encoders for your yoke, and what is the part number? I previously tried to make a yoke with pots, but I got a lot on noise in the operation of it. Do you have any suggestions to prevent this?

Thanks,

Marcel

[nax228]

I use pots of medum high quality. One is a slider and the other is a 10-turn, both 10kOhm.
Make sure your pots are linear and unused. The ones you rip out of an old radio etc. just might not be suitable for our use, and they have a few thousand turns down already. The pots should cost you about 15-20$ a piece.
I have only used a stripped CAT5 networkcable to hook them up, but there is no high voltage cables nearby, this, besides poor quality or plain wrong pots, could cause the noise you mention.

[Marcel]

Thanks!

Is there a proper technique for soldering the pots, or do you use another method for the connection to the pots?

[fordgt40]

Marcel

You might find this article by Ian Sissons helpful as well

http://www.737ng.co.uk/Boeing_B737_Control_Column.pdf

David