Hello everyone,Im sure anyone who has made their own throttle quads came across the delema of wanting "realistic resistence" when throttling upand backing off.Well, I have been looking for a way of creating just that when I built mine.I have tried most of every way possible with out spending alot.Some sites suggested using "dampeners" from automotive hatchbacks as one way but they were a bit pricey and they were to long with spring/gas loaded pressure.I put together some pieces from my local hardware store and assembled 2 ea for my throttle system.It works fantastic!and the pressure is fully adjustable by tightening or loosening the nuts that squeeze the rubber grommets.Using brass tubing,threaded rod,nuts,washers,and rubber grommets,it creates pressure/resistence as if it was airtight!You can make it to fit any length you need for full travel,or make one for each end of your throttle.Of course the slight draw back is..you have to hide it the best you can so they are not visible.But that depends on the individuals preference.Well, here are a couple of pics to show you how its assembled and used on mine.I am still trying to figure how to hide them a little better.But I must say....they do feel SO REALISTIC..I hope this idea helps anyone who is looking for that "feel"Feel free to e-mail [email protected] James

James,That is a very nice solution! It's functional. It's inexpensive. And it's readily available at the local hardware store. That's a hard combination to beat.Your pictures nicely show how to do it. Thanks for posting.Mikewww.mikesflightdeck.comInfo for simpit builders.

James,Thats pretty impressive. Thought I'd pass this onto you in case your looking for alternatives. You can accomplish exactly what your ding there with a whole lot less. Drive gears are what we used and they can be contained within the throttle housing. With gears, we can tighten that doggone thing to the point you cant even move the throttles. LOLWe used them on our speed brake and flaps as well. This way, you eliminate all of that extra space your using that will possibly impede on your fuel flow switches and other devices located in front of the thrust levers. I think we spent, oh lets see, about $12.00 on all the hardware. Broke our back. :)If you need a good schematic at gears, let me know and I'll send you one.Michael

Hi MikeIf you could i would appreciate those schematics!!Mabe list what gears you used for what controller?Where did you find them?Thanksalways searching for a better [email protected]

James,Here is the diagram I used to design mine. As for the gears, I found them at a local Hobbytown here in the Cincinnati area. But you can get them anywhere. Try a serach on Google for small gears. You could probably even go to Walmart and find them in childrens toys. There commonly used for a variety of things.

>Using brass tubing,threaded >rod,nuts,washers,and rubber grommets,it creates >pressure/resistence as if it was air >tight!Pretty nice idea indeed. It's good to have all these in your "trick sack" when you are about to build something, no need to re-invent the wheel every time. That's why I like these forums, lots of smart people with clever ideas..>Of course the >slight draw back is..you have to hide it the best you can so >they are not visible. Why not hide them *inside* the center pedestal? You could make holes to the center pedestal top board, and extend the throttle levers downward, so that the pivot point is about in the center. Then you can attach those "suspension" things *under* the center pedestal top board, exactly like on your photo, but upside down. That way they wont take space from the switches on the top. Isnt the inside of the center pedestal mostly empty anyway?Hm, I hope I made myself clear.. non-native english and explanations like this usually dont mix too well, but we'll see.. :-)Tuomas

Throttle resistence: Another way.I used a 1/4 " threaded rod to mount all leavers. Nylon washers on each side of each leaver with selflocking nuts to supply the desired resistence. The pots are connected with linkage to the leavers. This sys has been in use for about 3 mo. with no adjustments yet. If one wants more tension, just tighten the selflocking nut. Works great.

Nice setup, fox!Could you take/post a close-up of the lever mounts, linkage, etc.? Looks nice and simple...exactly what my nice and simple brain is looking for. Any details of construction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!Bradley Dykes

James,Looks cool!I went another way, with (what I call) friction plates. Wasn't too sure about threaded rod and nuts. It needs some work, perhaps a less bending material. This version tends to have strong friction at both ends, less in the middle.Website with more pictures will follow in a few weeks time.Kind regards,Stephan Haas

Yes I could but I don't want to take up space on James post. I could start my own post or e-mail you info if you like. [email protected] Let me know...FOX

Hey Fox,Feel free to post what what you want or need to show! Your idea looks great!I also would like to see.RegardsJames

Very kind of you James: I fly the R4D/C-47 type AC so the dual P/T/M is the setup I needed. You fly the big iron and it looks to me that your sys is pretty much to scale. Good job. I built my first yoke/rudders/throttle from scratch so I know where you are coming from. I used the pots from two CH yokes to make the dual sys. Both yokes a active within FS2k2. Its by no means scale but meets my needs. One more pic to show my cockpit. I know,, the key boards are a bummer...Hay I use this thing to do what I'm doing right now....OK here goes with the pic....

James: This sys would also work with your setup. It just would be a reverse application. I made a simple mock/up before actual building to test the tension etc. Very easy to do. To picture this, draw a 2" sq box on a piece of paper. The lower Lt corner is (the 1/4" threaded rod.) Lower Rt corner, ( center of pots) Upper Lt. corner ( Hole in new leaver) Upper Rt.corner ( hole in existing leaver) The 2" sq could be smaller as long as things don't hit each other when moving the leavers. The linkage to connect the top two pionts is made using Radio Control aircraft push rod (called a ball joint and threaded rod). On the mockup you could use a piece of wood, anything that could pivot. To apply the tension you need a nylon washer on each side of 1/8x1/2" flat iron ( or alum) with two self locking nuts. The tighter the nuts the more the tension. Hope this is not to confuseing.. anyway, this might be a more compact way to your tension problem.....FOX

James: Maybe this will make more sense....The linkage between the two leavers can be made from anything that will pivot on both leavers. In my case, I needed to be able to adjust the linkage to control pot movement. In this case we are only supplying friction so don't need the adjustment with the linkage. FOX