Our Link Trainer (recreation) project..

[John Hill]

I have just managed to build a rudder pedal mechanism for our Link Trainer (recreation) project. It looks quite a mess here but it does work and is much better than any previous arrangement we have tried.

The horizontal bar carries two pedals, one is welded to the bar and the other is loose to pivot on it. The two short bars at the left of the picture are connected to respective pedals, one is directly welded to the loose pedal and the other is welded to the central bar. These two bars are connected to the lower bar, that is the bar with extra holes in it and pivoting and a bolt fixed to the structure.

Pressing one pedal (the left pedal actually) will force the pivoting bar down which will pull the lever attached to the other pedal down which will cause the second pedal to rise. Likewise when the right pedal is pressed but operating in opposite sense.

[vtsteam]

Very cool, John!

A long time ago I made some electronic rudder pedals for my old computer running flight simulator. It was Just hinged plywood pedals and linked potentiometers on a wooden box base. The pedals were connected by braided line through a pulley attached to a short post in front of, and between the pedals.

It was not so different in mechanical components than the Heath Parasol replica I was building, which used aircraft cable and pulleys to the rudder. And the feel was the same.