Was all set to make my throttle based on the plans using K'NEX gears and such. BUT, I've seen a few plans based on slider pots, that look way easy. Other than the availability of rotary pots at Radio Shack (can't find any slider pots around Little Rock, AR) what are the advantages and disadvantages of using either. I read on Mike's Flight Sim Deck that the rotary pots are easier to keep dust-free, but hopefully the slider pots will be semi-sealed in their throttle quadrant.Thanks for the help!

My experience:Rotary pots: + Linear. Means that the movement of the lever gives a corresponding input to the pot over the whole movement. - Harder to make the mechanics. If you have a good source of a wide array of gears, this isn't a big problem... But I had to search for gears from old Xerox machine wrecks, and those were hard to use because of the small gear-teeth. Requires 0.1mm drilling precision to work well.Linear pots:+ Mechanics. Real easy to make the linkage through heave arms- Non-linear. Without some wheel-thing on the lever to make the linkage distance from the center of rotation on the lever, the pot output will be reduced at the ends of the lever movement.Hope you get what I mean.Cheers / Olle

I used some slide pots for a set of Cessna like throttles. I purchased them through Mouser. However, I am sure other catalog outlests ike Digikey will have them.John

>I used some slide pots for a set of Cessna like throttles. I>purchased them through Mouser. However, I am sure other>catalog outlests ike Digikey will have them.Heh, and to prove the case, I did the same using a rotary pot :)http://tigert.gimp.org/vatsim/cockpit-stuff/throttle3.jpgI guess it's a lot about what you can find. Both work just fine. The bicycle brake cable does the linkage, and the flexible cable adjusts to the rotating lever's non-straight motion fine. The thing is hooked to a plastic "arm" that is glued to the pot shaft. The connector is a model aircraft servo linkage thingy.Oh, and since someone is going to ask about the knob and shaft, it's 6mm round steel rod that goes through a big bolt that has a hole drilled through itself. The knob is made of wine bottle cork and a coke bottle cap glued on top. Works great, has lasted for a year now..Tuomas

Never thought of using a bicycle cable to attach the pots. I was only thinking of using gears.