Thrust reveres

[Guest Erups]

It's a lot of time i'm struggling on this problem: how to make realistic and working thrust reversers.In the actual aircrafts (BOEING that is) it's like this:the rev lever is blocked if the thrust lever is moved anything forward (or is blocked beyond a certain point but i don't believe it is so), if you're at idle, you can pull the rev lever, which engages the reversing nacelles, and then you have a limited forward range to move the throttles to produce power.Now how can you produce such a thing at home?I can think of various mechanical ways of implementing the hard limits for the movements, vut i can't think of an easy way (and non EPIC) of implementing the thrust reversing.I'd like some hints and tips from you.Especially if anyone has been able to make a decent duplicate of an actual throttle lever.Thanks

[Guest PoRrEkE]

It's quite simple really.http://users.skynet.be/plipke/throttle.jpgIn this render I made in a few minutes, here is how it works.The blue part is your throttle lever (obviously)The purple is the reverse leverThe black U-shaped thing is fitted on your lever below the panel.The red block with the cilinder on it slides in this "rail" up and down.The pink part is fixed inside your quad and thus doesn't move with the lever.So the pink part will prevent the red part from going up (or down) IF the power lever is not in the idle position. Because the red part can't go up, the reverse lever won't be able to move.

[Guest PoRrEkE]

Ah ow, sorry I read your last part wrong.It's the other side of this system you need to work out.Let me make you an other drawing.

[Guest PoRrEkE]

Ok here's the update.Everything still the same only now the pink part stops the power levers from going as far as normal when they are in "reverse-mode"To save you space above the axis from the power levers I took the slidepots below. The 2 blue things are slidepots. They have a U-shaped pin which you can easely make. Depending on wheather you select reverse or not a different pot will be changed. On the idle position of the power levers you'll be able to switch from one to the other.http://users.skynet.be/plipke/throttle2.jpghope this helps and that you manage to make something like this.cheers

[Guest Erups]

>hope this helps and that you manage to make something like>this.Well, HP or IBM was studying a new printer which creates 3d pieces by using wax and a particular plastic...I wish i had it now :)That's surely a very nice and surely working idea, and it has the pro of haveing 2 pots, thus using fsuipc is ok...I have to check if such a setup is accepted: one pot for normal, one for reverse thrust...HmmmYou can also wire them in series, with the reverse "always on" so that you can count both of them as one pot, and calibrate them that way.Well there is enough space for this.I only wonder how can i ever make those pieces :(In order to let the levers move smoothly they have to be very precise...But hey mate: thank you!It's a very bright idea!Now i have to see if i am up to this challenge :)

[Guest PoRrEkE]

Glad I could help :)I have been fiddeling around with these kind of mechanics myself for my own PowerLeverQuad (according to Emile RealLifeF50Pilot: never call F50 PowerLevers throttles :( ... no really they are named PowerLevers in the books so doesn't matter).Either way after my own struggle I am starting to really like this mechanic part of the cockpit.At the moment I study MCT (multimedia & communication technology) but I will change to IPO (industrial product designing) and hope to have more of these kind of chalanges in the future and build them then as well.There should be a way to make this thing work with only 1 pot as well I think. I'll see what I can figure out.Either way I'm quite sure that you can calibrate 2 pots in FS and FSUIPC. One for power, one for reverse. You check if I'm right or not ;)If you stick to this build, things are quite easy to find. Just use PVC if you can. Otherwise try wood and alluminium rails. For the U-shaped mount you'll have to make for the slidepots .. that's tricky. They will need to be shaped such that they don't both U-things don't touch eachother + they have to be big enough to keep the cilinder which moves them inside the U (slidepot goos linear, cilinder makes cirkle around the lever-axis). You could try to make them out of wood or some sort of plastic and just glue them on the slide-pot-lever.But let me make some drawings on paper to come up with a 1 pot design.

[Guest Erups]

>But let me make some drawings on paper to come up with a 1 pot>design.White paper for you :-hah

[tigert 0]

You can always connect the pots in series: idle + reverse = axis fully "back", full throttle + reverse forward as well = full throttle.I guess something like 80k + 20k = 100k pots might work? There's a lot about this on the archives, do a search - I remember some useful drawings and even construction photos.//Tuomas

[Guest PoRrEkE]

Ok here's the new version.This one however works with rotating potentiometer but is fairly easy to make.The green part in the botom is a rotating potentiometer with a fixed position. It has either a rotary fitted on it or a cilinder with a rubber coat.If you move the power lever, it will rotate the pot clockwise. On the inside of the big red thing you either make rotary-/////-things or you stick rubber anty-slip-tape.If you pull the power lever, the rotary pot will be turned by the botom part of the red .. thing and will turn counter clockwise.http://users.skynet.be/plipke/throttle4.jpgVery easy to build this one, though you'll have to use a rotating potentiometer which most people don't like that much. On the other hand this will work with 1 pot.BTW, just heard from a friend that you can assign 1 pot for power, 1 for reverse .. so both systems will work.Building one with 1 slidepot will be VERY complex, though possible if you make a system of rotarys and a wire (pulled back by a spring).It is easy with rotarys to make 1 rotary turn clockwise or counterclockwise depending on which rotary touches the system.

[Guest PoRrEkE]

lets countin idle position:80K pot gives 0 ohm, 20K pot gives 20K ohm.in reverse position 20K pot is moved0 ohm + 0 ohmin full power position 80K ohm + 20K ohmindeed this should work :)sorry had to write this down :(however, if you connect this to a gameport you might have more unstable readouts. I use 1 pot for each power lever and even with shielded cable I get unstable readouts. (mucb better with shielded cable than without shielded though).It's your choise now :)Slide pots or rotary pots.

[Guest Erups]

>80K pot gives 0 ohm, 20K pot gives 20K ohm.>in reverse position 20K pot is moved>0 ohm + 0 ohm>in full power position 80K ohm + 20K ohm80k and 20k are not commercial available values, but fsuipc does a nice work of calibration.>It's your choise now :)>Slide pots or rotary pots.Hey, are you my new designer? :-hahIf you are liking this, and willing to do some drawing, then i'd appreciate both designes:rotary pots are cheap but slide are higher quality (of course there are also rotary of high quality, but they are harder to find then hi qu slide)Again white paper :)

[Guest PoRrEkE]

eum .. both are already here dude ;)give me an other part to draw for ya :(

[Guest Erups]

>eum .. both are already here dude ;)Sorry i didn't see :(

[Guest Erups]

I think this has a lot more problems:the pot has a fixed value for given angular position and it has a limited physical range (220

[Guest Erups]

You're using these u-shaped extrusions...But since they are u-shaped how does the sliding part hold inside????