Below my favorite design at that time. That's the one I intend to make. It is mechanically very simple and reliable. The motor is feed up via a Stepper motor card or Servo motor card(Not yet sure what would be better - see question to Mike Powell in the other thread about servo motors)getting FSUIPC variable of the trim. Green= motorRed= Motor axis and linkBlu= oil dampershttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/90793.jpgCheers,Roger

Roger,Just to be sure: it's not really my idea, I got it from another post, talking about a dolly. It's just my implementation of this idea!I like your plan. Some questions however:When moving the column, some force is needed. But once in place, the colum will stay there (I guess), unlike in real life, where we still would need some force. Perhaps this is overcome by using springs as well?I want the column also able to move "by hand" so I'm not sure what this would do with the connected stepper/servo.The question how this will stay in sync with the aircraft trim is still open (at least in my mind).Anyhow, enough food for thought this weekend.Kind regards,Stephan Haaswww.lemont.nl/b767flightdeckhttp://www.pic767flyingclub.com/images/sas544.jpg

Stephan,>>>When moving the column, some force is needed. But once in place, the colum will stay there (I guess), Not at all. The motor will always bring the column back to the trimmed position as it is in real life.If you do not trim the pitch for climb after take off, the column will be pulled back to its center ( usually the take-off position)The motor is linked to the trim output offsets via adapted software and card. Roger

Roger,OK, I guess now I get the point. The servo/stepper motor is commanded by the FSUIPC variable. I'm working with IO-cards, so that should be possible. One only has to make sure that the trim output is scaled to the movements of the column. That should not be a very big problem.What rests is the linkage between motor and column in such a way that the column can also move indepdently from the motor (but will return to the trimmed position when I let it loose).Kind regards,Stephan Haaswww.lemont.nl/b767flightdeckhttp://www.pic767flyingclub.com/images/sas544.jpg

Stephan,You get it. That's while the motor needs a very high torque able to counteract on the pressure issued by the pilot handling. Cheers,Roger

The dolly is easy to get sliding smoothly with a pair of rails for kitchen drawers. Those have ball bearings - should be good enough :)//Tuomas

I stumbled on this:http://www.spdhardware.com/gs6.htm"Self-centering gas dampers" ...//Tuomas

Interesting, indeed. Will go trough.Roger