How To Make Rudder Pedals

By Bill Spencer

Crossbar Dimensions In Millimeters

140 pivot point to pedal attachment point, if fitted to outside edge.
18 length of slotted hole (can be longer).
80 width of crossbar. (shape to your taste)
30 length of slotted hole to actuate lever arm should tie in with lever arm length exercise on previous page.
4 width of slot for lever arm peg (black LEGOTechnic connector peg)
Slotted holes for pedal attachment to suit fastener you use

Assembling The Pedals

Sand the whole thing down and either varnish the whole thing or just varnish the rubbing surfaces, baseboard runners, underside of pedal bases and edges of guides until they are really smooth, then spray with furniture polish and if required a dusting of talc. Attach the two pedals to the crossbar, then place this assembly onto the baseboard. If you are using a machine bolt, (one with a plain shank), fit it with the shank in the crossbar, this will give a better surface for the crossbar to rub against and help reduce wear. Fit a nut and washer in that order to the bolt, and put the bolt through the baseboard. Fit a washer and nut underneath and tighten it up. Because a nut will be underneath the baseboard, a couple of batons will need to be fixed underneath to keep the nut off the ground (it would spin about like a childs top otherwise). The reason I suggest fitting the bolt this way is, apart from the plain shank rubbing on the crossbar bit, having a nut either side of the baseboard will clamp the bolt tight to the baseboard and stop it wobbling around.

Check that everything works properly, i.e., the pedals move backwards and forwards freely. A small block a the end of each channel will act as a stop for the pedals. The electrical bit is to solder two wires (different colors, makes life easier) to two of the connections on the pot, the middle one and one of the others. Now fit your pot to your mounting bracket and make sure your pot is in the middle of its travel. This will ensure that the pot does not reach its limits before the pedals reach theirs.

Place the pedals into neutral and fit the lever arm to the pot, put the pot lever arm peg into the slot on the crossbar. Move the pot until the peg is nearly at the back of the crossbar slot as this is the closest the lever arm and crossbar get to each other. A couple of screws to hold it in place and we are nearly there. If your lever arm peg falls out of the crossbar slot move the pedal stops until in stays in. At the other end of your wires you need to attach a 15 pin D type plug. This needs to be connected to pins 9 and 11 on the plug. It doesn't really matter which wire goes to which pin, if you get it wrong all that will happen is your pedals will work back to front, i.e. left will go right and vice versa. You will need a Y cable so you can connect your joystick and pedals into the same gameport, or you can get a 15 pin D socket and solder it back to back with the 15 pin D plug, it does just the same job.

Installing Under Windows 95

Installation of these pedals is no more complicated than installing a new joystick. If you have a normal joystick i.e. no force feedback, then it is pobably even easier. Navigate your way to Control Panel, click on Gaming options and select the Add option. Select the joystick you are using from the list, below this list box click the has rudder pedals option. Click OK, then click properties to calibrate your joystick and pedals.

When you start FS98 for the first time you will need to go the the Custom Controls option from the drop down menus, and under assignments scroll to the bottom of the list and where it says rudders assign these to axis 4 on the game controller. FS98 will now allow you to use the pedals as flight controls. If you have a Logitech Wingman Serial Force Feedback then I can do no better than to direct you to rudder pedals designed by Rob Barendregt and in his plans is a section on how to get rudder pedals working with Logitech force feed sticks. I can vouch for this method as I used it myself to get the prototypes working. I would have had them working about a year ago was it not for the force feed stick.

Modifications / Improvements

Presently there is one improvement that I have made and that is the installation of a self centering system. This system consists of compression springs and springy wire, more commonly known as curtain wire (you know that stuff that you put across the window and no matter how tight you get it, it still sags in the middle when you put the curtain on it). This acts as a guide for the compression springs. You can buy the curtain wire in long lengths from hardware shops, or may have some left from the last window, or even the window before that, where you kept cutting bits off to get it to fit tight, then found it was too short. The wire is mounted on a block at the front of the baseboard and runs back under the pedals through a small block attached to the underside, the springs fit over the wire and butt up against the blocks on the baseboard and the pedals. You need four lengths of this to reach from the front block to about the back of the pedals. The true length you need is enough so that it does not fall out of the guide when the pedal is fully back.

You will of course need springs, the number you require is dependent on the distance from the front block to the pedal block, and the length of your springs. One possible supply which I used is skirt hangers, no I haven't gone funny the wife had loads in my wardrobe. Skirt hangers are a bit like bullworkers that haven't grown up yet. These are sprung loaded outwards and you may have four springs inside them or two long ones. If you find that the spring is just a bit too short pull it to lengthen it but only a bit or it will end up compressing back to is original size. If the spring is too long then cut it down a bit. I found that two rows of springs on either pedal gave the best return force, without being so strong that you could not move them. Now I just need to make chocks for my chairs castors.

A modification that occured to me while I was typing this up was to modify the pedals to have hinges at the back and springs at the front with micro switches underneath to active toe brakes, I was going to type this up as a late braking idea, but my wife intervened. This has not been carried out to the prototype set as it is that new an idea. If you do make these pedals and modify the pedals for toe brakes may I point you in the direction of http://www.777project.cjb.net/. This is the site of the 777 project and Robert Prather has some info there. Lots of useful info in fact if you want to build your own simulator, and a really good bit on making your own keyboard sort of thing. Basically you take a keyboard apart and then put switches in place of the keys. I have started doing this for another project I am working on at the moment (a flight yoke for a light aircraft) and it is dead easy to do, Robert's instructions are simple, clear and dead easy to understand.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all the people who have made rudder pedals and published the plans for all to see and so thereby giving me the courage to publish mine. I would mention you all by name but I lost a lot of files recently and with them all the peoples' names, and can find I find those sites again!

A special thank must go to Rob Barengret, for without his help on setting up pedals with a force feed stick I never would have got mine to work.

I really must thank my neighbour for taking the digital pics for me, saved me a lot of money in film processing.

Disclaimer

It seems everybody is doing this so I don't want to buck the trend. I don't think common sense means anything anymore.

If you cut your fingers while doing this project it's not my fault, if you don't know how to use sharp things safely then you shouldn't be doing this and should stick to crayons.

If you blow your computer up, wreck your car, etc. it's not my fault. If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it. Ask someone who does.

If the wife/girlfriend slaps you around the head for nicking her talcum powder it's not my fault, you should have asked her first. If your mates try cracking on to you, you didn't warn them did you.

Honestly though I don't want you hurting yourself or anybody else for matter, if you don't know how, or are unsure of how to do something ask someone who does. It's much safer and more enjoyable. As far as I know no-one has died from an overdose of common sense, just a lack of it.

These documents are for you to do with as is your will except money from it, unless you give some/lots to me. You can change them in any way you wish but I still retain the copyright to them. I would ask that if you do change something and publish that you at least credit me as the source of your inspiration.

If you have any questions or comments, good or bad about these pedals then you can mail me at bill516@ntlworld.com

LEGO and LEGO Technic are the copyright of LEGO A/S

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