£3 Dual Rotary Encoder

[colaboy]

Hi everyone.
Just made my first dual rotary encoder for £3.
Works perfectly with my BU0386X.
This might not mean much to most but, on a tight budget, this is a bit like winning the lottery!
One down, seven to go.

Thanks.
Colaboy.

[NigelD]

Hi Colaboy,
Well done on the dual encoder. I've been watching some of your threads with great interest as we seem to betackling similar problems at the same time.

I cannot get a SINGLE encoder sorted as yet! Went out today after I got home from Ireland and raided Maplin for a soldering iron and a few bits. It's rubbish. Won't even melt solder on direct contact with the tip, never mind solder anything TO anything else. I'm a bit depressed about it as I will have to wait until 20JAN before I can get a better one and have another crack at the encoders.

Oh well, 2009 is in with a predictable start!

Nigel.

[fordgt40]

Colaboy

A neat practical solution, presumably using a cut off from an aluminium box section - I wish I had seen this earlier!! I made mine using plasticard and stand off pillars, however, your solution takes some beating

Well done and I know how you feel when it all works out

Regards

David

[Hessel Oosten]

As an addendum on the remark about using a short part of an (aluminium) profile.
See pic's. This profile is 3 cm. Look also to the cuts in the aluminium to let the second "rotary" inside, (otherwise it will not fit).

Hessel

[colaboy]

Hi guys, thanks for the comments.

Nigel.
Tough luck mate, frustrating isn't it.
I strugled with soldering for three years or more, just because I was doing it wrong.
Keep checking the Maplin website for this part number N78AR Looks expensive at the moment but every couple of months or so, they sell it for £9.99. If your soldering skills are a bit short of the mark as mine are, it's a very flexible unit.

David.
Thanks for that.
I was looking for a cheap source of ali box section and I suddenly had a brain wave.
A spirit level from a pound shop!!!
Just cut 25mm pieces of the ends with a hack saw. Doesn't get much simpler than that does it?
I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

Hessel.
I'm using encoders rather than switches, so not a problem for me.
Good advice none the less though.
Thanks man.

Again, thanks to everybody for the comments and feedback.

Cheers.
Colaboy.

[NigelD]

Hi Colaboy (and friends),
Well, after more than a few attempts and a bit more research (why do I always do the research last?!?) I managed to do a spot of soldering. I don't know why it's working intermittently for me - guess the technique still needs a lot of refinement!

But I have made a working encoder and connected it to my BU0836X card. This for me is a BIG step forward! Need to work on the soldering a bit now, but the trepidation I have felt so far has faded a little.

Small victories, people!

Nigel.

[colaboy]

Hi Nigel.
Nice work my friend.
Small victories they may be, but they all add up.
I'm going to crack on with my radio panel next, then a replica 737NG throttle quad.
It's going to take for ever but it'll be worth it when it's finished.

Cheers.
Colaboy.

[raster74]

Hi everyone.
Just made my first dual rotary encoder for £3.
Works perfectly with my BU0386X.
This might not mean much to most but, on a tight budget, this is a bit like winning the lottery!
One down, seven to go.

Thanks.
Colaboy.

Was that £3 the costs just to convert two single encoders into dual or the total cost including the two single encoders? If it's the total costs could you tell us where you got hold of the encoders for so cheap.

Cheers
Darryl

[colaboy]

Hi Darryl.
That was including the encoders.
I got them from ebay.
Here is the item number 180330342489
Hope that works.
They work out at £1 each.
They work really well with the Leo Bodnar BU0836X.
I use them for my MCP and EFIS as well.
They take a couple of weeks to get here from china but they are well worth the wait at that price.

Thanks.
Paul.

[raster74]

Hi Darryl.
That was including the encoders.
I got them from ebay.
Here is the item number 180330342489
Hope that works.
They work out at £1 each.
They work really well with the Leo Bodnar BU0836X.
I use them for my MCP and EFIS as well.
They take a couple of weeks to get here from china but they are well worth the wait at that price.

Thanks.
Paul.

Thanks Paul for getting back to me. These encoders are amazingly good price, at first I thought it was one for 9.99 and then it clicked it was for multiple.
I'll definately be looking at ordering some of these and attempting to get them working with my Atmel STK500 kit.

I'm new to the use of encoders but understand they're used for setting the heading bug, whole number/decimal frequency adjustments for nav/com/adf etc.
I know there are all diferent types such as mechanical absolute, incremental etc. I believe the ones for sale on this website are mechanical absolute and provide
a set number of detents/pulses per revolution (usually something such as 10, 30, 60, 100 etc). So if there are 30 detents/pulses per revolution that means each detent is 12deg.
However as you know the heading bug is an angle and that will be from 0-360deg. So don't we need an encoder that has 360 detents/pulses per revolution or am I missing something here?
Do we overcome this by writing code in a microprocessor that monitors the encoder and depending on the RPM that it is turned at increments the associated variable at a faster speed (eg. instead of 1deg it changes at 10deg).
Or am I missing something here?

Also what do you do for the heading dials on an MCP such as that on a 737 where it has a selector switch for bank angle, encoder for direction and I believe a push button to set (not 100% on the button)? Most threads that I've seen so far look at making dual encoders and not an encoder + selector switch.

Something I was looking at making was something similar to the new Saitek Instrument Panels that are coming out. OLED displays are quite cheap to purchase and these encoders would be great to use with them.

Regards
Darryl