Yoke dampening device...

[ak49er]

I was in the process of insulating my garage, while moving around some boxes I looked inside one and saw a device I had not thought of in a long time. I came across a surplus "automatic" door closer, you know, the type that does not let a door slam shut, but at the end of the stroke pulls it closed tightly. I started to play around with it, it has three different "screw-valves" controlling three different ranges, opening force, closing force, and "pull-in" (to latch the door.) With the included linkage I believe one could have a hydraulically dampened yoke, this could work on both column mounted yokes, and "slide" yokes, single and dual-linked. Just an inspiration I thought I'd share, much easier than the hydraulic cylinders in a tube design I emulated earlier last year.

[NicD]

We've used these, and I think Westozy did too. They work reasonably well, although getting a balance of force is difficult if you have them opposing each other.

[ak49er]

Just playing around with the one I have I do not see why you would need to oppose it, what am I missing?

[Michael Carter]

Because you would have to balance the closing force of each cylinder to maintain the yoke in a neutral position.

It's nice having the adjustment though. You can set the push/pull force to your liking or whatever requirement you need. As long as both are the same force.

[NicD]

That's right. And the problem with opposing force is they tend to cancel each other out a fair bit.