Here are 2 cool 737 sites i found

http://opl.ecn.uiowa.edu/gallery/vie...umName=737-800

I dig the paper EFIS. :)

http://www.spaceagecontrol.com/s050s.htm

THEE best thing to use over pots but very expensive!

I thought about using linear transducers when building my throttle but it would have set the project back a year due to cost.

String transducers was anothe option and while a bit less costly, there were dimensional problems.

How do these tranducers work?

It's just an extremely precise potentiometer. Tolerances are usually less than .5 to 1% of travel. They are made of the highest quality material and to strict tolerances.

But, they are basically just a potentiometer and you are paying for precision and material.

How much are those babies??

The examples I was looking at were running in the neighborhood of $360 each.

I found a few for around 150ea but like most, didn't fit into the budget.

As price goes down, tolerances go up, and material quality suffers. $150 is about the bottom of the barrel for a linear transducer and those are usually extremely short-travel examples typically 5cm or less. Not enough travel for any sort of airliner throttle.

100mm or about 4" is a good travel length for common slide pots or linear transducers, but as in my above post, those are big bucks. But very precise with exacting repeatability.