New product preview: Control column

[dnoize]

yes we will.

[Geremy Britton]

As much as would like one! (and i dont suppose i'm on my own)they will be way out of my price range so i will just be sticking with building my own

[ak49er]

Check out http://www.universalflight.com/ These guys have several different designs of yokes and columns. Additionally I believe they sell just the switches and/or yokes seperate from their dual control setups. My favorite part; if you scour every imaginable link in their website, one can find CAD drawings of most every part shown. Tis may be an option fro those of us just "slightly" under the pro level.

[Michael Carter]

I don't know if you could get any more 'professional' that having the real Boeing yoke perched on top of the control column.

All of the switches on mine do exactly as Boeing designed them. The artificial feel system may not be 'pro' but it's good enough for me.

Nice yokes and columns if you have the resources, but there are other things for me to blow my cash on.

[ralmav]

and check out : http://www.simparts.de/ i got my jokes from them. They sell jokes and trim switches seperately. The jokes are exact replicas of the real ones.

@Jan : i'll be at the Lelystad FS Weekend together with Jörg from Simparts.

best regards

Ralf

[Westozy]

I don't know if you could get any more 'professional' that having the real Boeing yoke perched on top of the control column.

All of the switches on mine do exactly as Boeing designed them. The artificial feel system may not be 'pro' but it's good enough for me.

Nice yokes and columns if you have the resources, but there are other things for me to blow my cash on.

I agree Mike, if a product is aimed at high end market, there will be limited sales to the wealthy elite pro builders no doubt. If making the yoke handles is part of the process anyway, why not sell them to the many amatuers who want them? It makes good business sense to me and I'm surprised Engravity are passing this up. Their products are such high quality it's a shame. I guess another vendor who can make yokes will pop up and fill the gap. Robert & Stef, please have a rethink!

I might have to have another look at yoke manufacture, I was thinking about this before as one of my best mates owns a third of a Taiwanese plastics factory. 'Aerosim Solutions' will investigate the possibilities. My first foray into pro sim part manufacture has seen me swamped with requests, there are so many cockpit builders frustrated with the lack of suppliers. It seems to me like all of the respected well established vendors are going "high end" and leaving the hobbyist behind to scratch in the dirt. NO OFFENCE Engravity! I own some of your parts and have promoted you in CP mag, love your work!

Gwyn

[Westozy]

and check out : http://www.simparts.de/ i got my jokes from them. They sell jokes and trim switches seperately. The jokes are exact replicas of the real ones.

@Jan : i'll be at the Lelystad FS Weekend together with Jörg from Simparts.

best regards

Ralf

Good link Ralf, the white Boeing yoke in raw form looks like a good possibility. I can make the trim hardware etc and save a heap.

Cheers, Gwyn

[dnoize]

No Offense taken Gwyn,

I understand what you are saying, but its not as simple as that.

Ofcourse we have thought of offering the Yoke horns seperately, but we simply cant do that at a competitive price !

There are others filling that gap. I know of at least 3 companies offering Yoke horns in the 200 $ range. 1 of them mentioned in this topic.

Jörg from simparts offers a great yoke in that price range for home builders.

Our costs of producing is many many times higher than that....and if you look at our close up pictures starting this topic, you (as an engineer) should understand why.

Most people see a bit of moulded plastic. But theres alot more to it. All parts are custom designed an manufactured, trim switchen, mic switches, memory device, etc. All of these are professionally produced, many outsourced. Engineers and production plants have to be paid, etc. Sure...i can make a resin mold tomorrow for all these parts. Would cut down the price, but will not meet our demand.

The control columns will be motorized and this involves high forces. Trust me, in some situations you will have to put some weight on the Yokes.
Any idea what would happen with a resin mold yoke ? You would end up with 2 fighter stick grips Even when reinforced with a tube...maybe the parts would stay together, but the resin would crack.

When you build a non force control column yourself that no big problem and the resin yokes are more than sufficient. Then go for Jörgs (simparts) yoke horns. I think they are a great deal.

But if your yokes are used 10 hours a day by pro's (and believe me...they will abuse the sim ) , then you just need something else.

I would love to offer our yokes for 200 $. But we cant...we simply cant...we would be out of business in no time.

So to earn back all develepment costs (and trust me, these are huge: our own input interface, the motors interface, gears, software for the forces, etc), we HAVE to aim this product at the high end market.

However this doesnt mean we turn our backs to the home builders. We never did in the past and will not in the future. If you go to our site you will see that we still offer many parts for the home builder. (in fact, most of our pro parts arent even mentioned on the site).

pfeww...had to get this off my chest

Stef

[Trevor Hale]

Stef,

Thanks for taking the time to respond. It clears things up and makes a lot of sense.


Trev

[Gsey]

Also have a look here. They sell nice products for many types of aircraft. http://www.routech.ro/

Gary