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Makers and Making: Making a USB collective control for Flight Sim helicopter
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hhietala
Oct 25th 2009
Hi gurus

my 13 yr old son flies the FSX a lot. We got to discuss how to make a collective control. It's a lever, by lifting which you control the blade angle of attack, and by turning which you control throttle.

As I see it, it'd be a simple 2 potentiometer system, where one pot is at the lever's hinge, and the other at the lever's handle for rotation.

I am a n00b if there ever was one, but I would just like to hear whether this is feasible at all?

Many thanks

hhietala
 Stokes
Oct 25th 2009
Sure, this sounds doable. What sort of USB control device do you currently use? A friend of mine has a helicopter RC transmitter with a serial port (in a 'headphone jack' form factor) that he connects to his computer via USB. If you've got something like that, an Arduino could be programmed to send the serial data generated by the transmitter; attaching potentiometers to it is a piece of cake. You'll have to figure out the controller's protocol, though.

If you are using a standard USB gamepad controller or something similar, I'd say buy a cheap one (you can get dual analog stick USB game controllers for less than $15) and take it apart. Replace one of the sticks (which is functionally two potentiometers) with a regular rotational potentiometer and a linear (slide) one.

I think Make magazine had an article about hacking a USB game pad to build custom input devices a while back.
hhietala
Oct 26th 2009
Many thanks! I am not very handy, but I have a friend who is, and he may take this up with your advice.
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