Before I begin, this is a simple and relatively crude way to get some rudder pedals onto your PC. I warn any purists or faint of heart to look away. For those of you on a tight budget but with access to a screwdriver, drill and wire cutter here's how.

The plan is to obtain a simple joystick with self centering axes and heavily modify this for use as a rudder. A Saitek Megagrip III MX-230 was used in this example, but the principle can be applied to many others. The left/right action will provide the rudder movement by placing a wooden bar across this axis and pivoting it up and down with your feet.

Firstly, remove the grip handle containing the two fire buttons. Cut back and insulate the wires used for the switches. Note their connections for future reference, these may be useful later.

This leaves a short stubby shaft. This is important because the pedal bar fixes to this.

Remove any suction feet if you want, this is going to be put on the floor and these are of no use on carpet.

Obtain a piece of wood. This will be the bar on which your feet rest. In my case this is 450 x 45 x 30 mm. Drill a hole in the middle carefully. This is to be a push fit for the stub of the joystick, although it can be glued for extra resilience, the tighter the fit the better. I angled the hole slightly as I drilled it so that the top face of the bar was at a slight angle for my feet to rest on. Push it on carefully and leave it at the top of the shaft. This gives the clearance for the pivot left and right without bottoming out on the body of the joystick or the floor. I also place a second block of wood in front of the pedals to raise my heels and thus level my feet.

That's it. All you need now is a simple joystick "Y" cable from your local PC supplier and away you go. Your original analog joystick will only have two axes enabled but both buttons will work.

Select a three axis four button joystick with rudder enabled, for initial calibration.

You may have noticed a connector on the left hand side of my first picture. This allows me to bring out the unused forward/back axis wiring and the two buttons disconnected from the lever. I bring these up to a small box by the keyboard. The slider is used for the throttle and I have programmed the two buttons as aileron trim, however these can be re-assigned in the normal way.

I hope this gives some food for thought and although it was a temporary implementation three years ago, I have only just started developing a replacement.

Importantly, inspect the joystick before purchase. The important thing is that a clean shaft is left after removing the fire buttons so that the wooden bar can be attached. Obviously you will void any warranty on the stick once you have started work.

All the usual disclaimers apply: Needless to say, I do not accept any responsibility if it doesn't work or if my description messes up something in your PC or FS200x configuration. If you don't know how to use sharp things safely then you shouldn't be doing this. If you blow your computer up, it's not my fault. If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it. Ask someone who does. 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. These documents are for you to do with as is your will except money from it. 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 but please don't send attachments, they won't get past the firewall.

Bob Thorsden
thorsden@talk21.com

Thanks to all the contributors who have had great ideas for creating rudder pedals and wonderful disclaimers, especially Rob Barendregt and Bill Spencer.

Just one final note: digital sticks using the analog port won't work with this proejct, only plain basic analog sticks. It should work alongside sticks plugged into the USB port though.