Building a twin engine throttle quadrant

Hi all,

I've recently built a 6 lever throttle quadrant for use with twin engine general aviation. I was not able to find anything similar to what I required so I came up with my own design, and I thought I 'd post to help any prospective builders.

I wanted the ability to fly single and twin GA aircraft with the engine management controlled by levers in a similar manner to the real thing. The simulator I built last year used the Saitek X55 throttle, with prop and mixture controlled by pots but these felt like volume controls on my stereo with no immersion. I already had the Leo Bodnar bu0836x for the trim controls, so I just expanded on this. I wanted something fairly rugged so I used some heavy duty bearings to take the load. 100mm plastic water pipe was used for the "dust cover" and arcade joystick balltops for the knobs.

I have been quite happy with the final result, however, the bearings provide no friction. This was something I thought I would be able to solve during the build, but nothing came to mind and manufacturing got ahead of the design! I currently have wedged some foam I had lying around to "pack" the levers, but this is unsatisfactory and temporary.

The potentiometers are only moving through 90 degrees of their 300 degree travel, but after calibration hasn't presented an issue at this early stage of use.

Hi zestorer

Great build and description of your project!

My only suggestion for you and others is to allow for future repairs. Fortunately I did when I built my sim and I have benefited when pots or switches have failed.

Ed

Raceguy,

I agree allowance for repair/upgrades is essential. I have resisted against glues for virtually evetything and stuck to (pardon the pun) screws, nuts and bolts.

An example: I had originally planned on 2 part epoxy to fix the throttle quadrant knobs to their levers but instead bought a tap and die kit which worked well.

I looked at your P51 build, it looks fantastic!

Ant

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