Slider Potentiometers

[nosecone]

Hi All
I'm looking at using a couple of slider pots on my helicopter simpit. They would attach to two horizontal rods that control the cyclic and have a movement of 70mm forward and back. Has anyone used slider pots for this type of setup and if so what type of slider pots would be recommended some I have
seen have a short cycle life about 15,000

Cheers

Rhys

[Xpendable]

I used some 100mm long ones for engine controls on a custom RC transmitter I built for a WWII Destroyer ship model. Something to watch out for... They come in logarithmic or linear scales. Make sure you get linear. It is more common to use rotary pots with gears than to use sliders when the user controls have arcs to their movements. Not saying you can't or shouldn't try, but be aware that your motion profile will be slightly skewed by translation of the rotary motion to linear motion. I think. I am not an engineer. Wouldn't be enough of a concern so I say go for it.

[SimSupervisor]

There are other things that can be tried. Not fully related, but look at that for ideas :http://www.simprojects.nl/throttle_and_mixture.htm

[Flying_Fox]

I use this one: http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?category=37&product_id=1112_1
However, it has 60 mm of travel.

Nick


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My sim build blog: http://elephantair737.blogspot.ca/ NOTE: Due to CB forum glitch none of my messages here posted before October 2015 are currently available. http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif

[nosecone]

Hi guys
Thanks for the tips. Ordered a slider pot which should arrive soon. looking at different options to see which one works best,rotary pots hall effect sensors.

Cheers

Rhys

[xplanematt]

Halls are (generally) more precise and last longer. They are, however, sensitive to strong magnetic fields. You can get "barebones" Halls that are designed as drop-in replacements for pots, or you can get something fancy like the AS5040/AS5045 that has 4 sensors on a tiny chip and all sorts of filtering....plus serial output (among others) for very high-level communications to your interface controller of choice.