I'd like to share what I've done in making my own rudder pedals, having made the mistake of buying what I considered to be a "cheap" pair of Thrustmaster Elite pedals.

I modified the Elites as far as I could - gave them toe brakes, greased and freed up the mechanisms, re-fitted all the supports with bolts and spacers but the centring system on all plastic pedals looks awful to me - the centre detent and overall complexity of the systems on all plastic pedals made me long for the smooth response the much more expensive custom made pedals.

So I decided I'd try my hand at making my own metal pedals using materials I can easily get off ebay and local hardware shops and online.

Having bought all the parts in several different places, the total cost is a bit of a grey area, especially as I had one part refunded on ebay for damage, even though I was still able to use it and didn't need to return it. Anyhow, total cost is around £150 for the mechanical parts. This could be a lot less depending on prices for some parts on ebay - I could see some of the most expensive bits on sale in the US for just a couple of dollars but with lots of shipping, and the bearings I used could be purchased from China very cheaply.

I used Sketchup as a kind of virtual lego/mecano to piece this together. I'm no CAD or mechanical design expert, so the .skp file I have is a bit of a mess - more like a sketchbook of the design, with few bolts placed - but the main structure and dimensions are all correct.

I decided to use Unistrut as the frame because parts are really cheap, and they're easy to model in sketchup with a lot of parts already downloadable from 3dwarehouse. Another main component of the design is four CBR600 motorbike steering dampers. I got these off ebay for ~£15 each, but as mentioned, in the US they're *really* cheap. I scanned these in 3D using Autodesk 123D Catch, then imported them into Sketchup to help with working out the dimensions required.

I toyed with the idea of a cam based centring system but I couldn't come up with an easy way of making the cam myself so I tried a different method using a spring extended between the two arms of the steering dampers which move away from each other when the pedals are moved. This works to an extent - there's not much force in the middle, so there's no distinct centre. But there is a very smooth response of the spring at the ends of the movement, and I feel this will work well for aircraft control.

I think pictures will explain a lot more than I can in words, so here's a couple:





Still to do - connecting up the electronics and hall sensors. I'll be using a BU0836X (or one of the joystick boards I have lying around), and the sensors will be based on LocNar's excellent looking Bic pen hall sensor pots

If anyone wants more pics or explanations of particular parts, feel free to ask and I'll take more pics.

e: oh yeah, the bottom struts are asymmetrical - for some reason the company cut me 550mm lengths in stead of 500mm. No bigge.

THAT is about the coolest thing I've ever seen done with Unistrut. Very nice!

Did you decide against using the plastic foot pedals from the Thrustmaster rudder to keep them intact (perhaps to sell them to someone), or do you like the aesthetic of the metal better, or???

Hi guys, thanks for the compliments

I'll try and do a video of the movement/mechanics tonight and possibly a few more pics. I'm thinking of doing a complete rebuild so I can put some threadlock on everything to keep it a bit more solid in the long run.

Not sure what I'll do for the pedals - I'm torn between using the thrustmaster footrests like you mentioned, but at the same time I kinda like the steel ones (which I just put together out of leftover parts). I'm definitely not going to sell the old pedals - they've been modified too far for me to feel like they're worth selling in a way, and I'd already gutted the electronics and replaced them with a BU0836X (which won't be being sold on, owing to it's value).

I'm a little worried about the long term effects of the weight of the steel pedals along with my feet resting on them and how the steering damper axles will cope - we'll just have to see what happens there.

Just looking at the pictures, without knowing how it feels, I was thinking that something more comfortable and supportive of the feet could be an improvement. (The angle bracket heel support, and the bolt heads under your soles would seem to potentially be uncomfortable). If you did switch over to the Thrustmaster footrests, or something similar, it would probably be less wear and tear on your shoes, and could cut down on the weight of the current steel plate arrangement. Heck, leave your Thrustmaster stuff intact, and fashion some other footrests from some other material. MDF is fairly easy to work with if you have some basic woodworking tools available.

However you go, it's already quite slick!

Yeah, the plastic footrests would probably be better for shoes - I somehow enjoy the feel of cold steel on my soles, not entirely sure how I'd fare after a few hours flying though :P

The thrustmaster footrests are certainly solid enough, but I'd still probably need two or three bolts through the face of the footrest, although I could probably set the bolts a bit deeper into the plastic. "coach bolts" would be nice with their domed caps, we'll see.

I still have to play around a bit with where the axis sits on the pedal - I feel like it'd be better for me further down towards the heel, with the way I sit and chair I have (I have a bucket seat/office chair set up, with a modified X55/MS FFB2 between my legs and X55 throttle to my left).

Please excuse the poor camera work (and the messy carpet :P)



You can easily see in the vid what I mean by lack of centring force in the middle, and you can also see that the right hand pedal has a resting point that's a few degrees off the other pedal.

I have some various springs to test out which might make for better centring but like I said - I kinda like the feel of them as they are.

Here's the most recent incarnation:

BU0836X hastily strapped to the back
Thrustmaster footrests reappropriated
Better footrest angles and stopping mechanism

Nice!

Those big honkin' bolt heads under your feet don't bother you, eh?

With no shoes on the bolts are right under the arch so they're not in the way - anything with a flat sole (Converse etc) is awkward, but the trainers I generally use around the house are fine

...and weighing in at 800lbs, you don't have to bolt it down!

Nice job!

g.

Hi SquidgyB,

your peddals are great
I am planning to build some by my own and yours are really inspiring!

Is it possible to get some more details how you've done them?
Some pictures from every side?
Maybe a list of materials?
And also the scetchup file?
May it be possible for you to make another movie, that shows the movements of the moving parts to be able to understand the whole thing?

That would be really nice.

Greets
Andy