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RS15 Front Pod / Condor 2 Simulator build

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Joined
Jan 27, 2012
Messages
1,508
Location
Glendale, CA
Hello All,

Well 2023 has greeted my wife son and I with Covid so since I am stuck in Quarantine I decided to work on a soaring simulator these last few days. Anyhow a few years ago VB and I attended the VSA/ESA meet in Tehachapi and Boku brought an RS15 front pod that VB ending up dragging back to KWHP. Its been there a while now and I figured now is the time to do something with it. Also our EAA chapter is deep in the build of the CH750 Cruzer and I figured that the kids could get some stick time in the simulator as well once its done.

IMG_1402.jpg

I spent much of the last few weeks trying to decide if I will go with Arduino interfaces or simplified cockpit builders boards designed to work as a USB input natively. These native boards are made by Leo Bodnar in England. Arduino is by far the cheapest option and in many ways more capable, but since I don't have the programming background decided to go the route of the Leo Bodnar boards instead. If I knew my way around Arduino programming I would have gone that route.

For the Pitch and Roll axis I decided to go the easy route and buy a Flight sim gimbal from Virpil. These are designed to have stick extensions and I should be able to burry it in the fuselage with a hatch where the current stick hole already exists.

IMG_1400.jpg

For rudder pedals, there really is nothing commercially available that emulate sailplane rudder pedals. I did find one, but it was about 4" too wide to fit within the fuselage. I reached out to Boku for some images of what his HP24 pedals look like and he sent me enough info to go on my own way design wise. Also since this will be used by myself at 6'4" tall and likely an 11 year old kid, I wanted to make sure the pedals were easily adjustable. Also since I am very comfortable working with the 8020 type extrusion, I decided to make that the basis of the design. In the image below, I have a rudder pedal assembly that is mounted on a piece of extrusion that will be mounted in the fuselage. This way, I can loosen a few Kip Handles and then slide the pedal assembly to fit multiple sized pilots.

Rudder Iso - 1.JPGRudder Iso - 2.JPG

Under the blue bell crank are 2 neodymium magnets and a Hall Effect sensor which is connected to a Leo Bodnar board for the USB connection. I also have a motorcycle steering damper so that the pedals can be tuned to not spring back to center so rapidly and have some adjustable damping.

This is as far as I am right now and I plan to get the boards and all the hardware for the Pedal assembly on order. My plan is to get the pedals and the joystick working then try it out in Condor 2. Then begin to work on the design for the Gear, Flaps, Trim, Tow Release and other bitts then incorporate it in the design in stages.

There will not be a monitor and this will output to a Oculus Quest 2 VR headset so that the pilot can look around and feel more immersed. Also no monitor makes it more portable if we wanted to drag it to the KWHP Open house or a Mall for fundraising.


Marc
 
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