{"id":219,"date":"2022-08-31T19:21:41","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T17:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cessna172sim.nl\/?page_id=219"},"modified":"2024-02-03T09:49:20","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T08:49:20","slug":"engine-controls","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.c172sim.com\/index.php\/engine-controls\/","title":{"rendered":"Engine Controls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As most of you will probably know, a Cessna 172 has a throttle and a mixture control, some 172’s have a pitch\/prop control too if the aircraft is fitted with a variable pitch propeller that can be adjusted in the air. Although I am building a C172 simulator I elected to add a mixture control too so that I would also be able to fly a 182 from time to time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although there are some really good freeware and ‘payware’ designs out there, I decided that I wanted to get the real deal and one again I turned to E-bay ,yes, this is starting to form a pattern and believe me, you will find out that I often turn to Ebay for solutions. Within a few weeks I sourced a throttle, a mixture and a pitch control. Real genuine products that had once flown in C172’s and C182’s . <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
My Throttle, Prop and Mixture controls, the latter two being original vernier controls. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Again, the necessary customs (import and VAT) charges had to be paid but, taadaaa, I now had real, original and ‘used’ controls. The next mission was to convert these controls to connect to an analogue potentiometer for use in the sim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In hindsight I did cut the control cables a little on the short side, but never mind, they will function properly for me. If I were to make them again, I would make the control range a little longer to be able to utilise the total length of the 100K linear potmeters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I set about using Fusion 360 to design cradles for the potmeters. These were an easy print and after printing a prototype, I finally printed three different ones, one for each of the engine control levers. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The prop and mixture lever. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

You can purchase the STL files for these levers here!<\/a> Your purchase will contribute to the upkeep of this website and the sim! Thank you in advance \ud83d\ude42 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The levers are connected to to 100k linear potentiometers placed into a 3D printed bracket. The stl’s for the brackets are available in the webstore. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

If you would like to add real aircraft controls like I have done but have difficulty in finding the parts, please send me a message using the contact form elsewhere on this site. I can source the parts and convert them for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will then receive a complete package including the 3D printed parts, converted throttle\/mixture\/pitch, potentiometer and wiring which is ready to be placed in your panel and connected to your choice of input card. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As most of you will probably know, a Cessna 172 has a throttle and a mixture control, some 172’s have a pitch\/prop control too if the aircraft is fitted with a variable pitch propeller that can be adjusted in the air. Although I am building a C172 simulator I elected to add a mixture control […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-219","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.c172sim.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.c172sim.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.c172sim.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.c172sim.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.c172sim.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.c172sim.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":310,"href":"https:\/\/www.c172sim.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/219\/revisions\/310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.c172sim.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}