[simpits-tech] Position sensing, F-18 dims and TV suckage

[KD]

The string pot idea is pretty good. Maybe make your own with a wind-up 
spring, a spool to take up the string and a, well, string. The problem 
with transferring the rotary motion of a stick or throttle to linear 
motion is the lack of linearity at the ends of the rotary travel. If 
your software can compensate for that, then bob's your uncle. We use 
gears at work. They usually come from PIC Design or WMBerg and aren't 
terribly expensive, most of them. Some of the metal ones can get pricey, 
but the plastic ones frequently are less.
Another way would be the way I have seen it done on an Immersion stick. 
I'll try to explain it, but we'll see how I do. There is a large toothed 
belt pulley on the stick, and it has a pin in it. The pot is mounted 
parallel to the pulley shaft. The pin on the pulley goes through a lever 
attached to the pot. The pot lever has a slot in it to allow the pin to 
slide back and forth as it goes around rotating the pot. If that isn't 
clear, I'll dig the immersion Impulse stick I have under the bench out, 
and take a picture. Yu could also use toothed belts, or even small 
V-belts. I don't think the V belts would slip, pots don't take much 
force to turn.

I have the F-18 book out on my desk, but haven't had the time to see how 
the E/F compares to the A/B/C/D. I'll try to get that together this 
week. I don't remember what the size increase percentage is, I've been 
working on other aircraft types lately, so I haven't thought about 
fighter jets.

In the UK, TVs cost more because they are trying to tax you guys out of 
existence, whereas here, they are trying to simply numb our minds so 
badly that we give in to whatever the gov't wants. So, they make TVs 
cheap, and show mind numbing garbage on them 24 hours a day. Seems to be 
working fairly well. The movie Idiocracy is a documentary made by time 
travelers, not a bit of satire. :D

K


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