3D Printed Custom Rudder Pedals for Flight Simulator

[@TheLukemcdaniel]

What I like about this is that you can make them as wide as you need. All the ones available, even the really expensive "premium" ones, look like they're made for a kid's legs.

[@schmiddy8433]

most aircraft rudder pedals are pretty narrow. You get used to it.

[@ArtyEffem]

Hall sensors are designed to measure the angle of the magnetic flux lines, while the output from your brake pedals is based on proximity, which cannot be expected to be linear. If you want linearity using only one magnet, design things so you can mount the magnet on the pedal axis, although I prefer the paired magnet system as it can be configured to output the full voltage swing for small arcs of rotation.

[@darknrgy]

I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing!

[@FalconsLedge]

CA absolutely loves flat surface to flat surface adhesion!

[@curtisjarrett7478]

Dan, this looks great! I would really like to build a set. Thanks for making them available.

[@douglashornick4388]

Great video. I have CH products too and recently opened my pedals to clean the potentiometer inside. I did manage to line up the long slot onto the peg and after that I discovered the round center on the base is a removable plug. It allows the assembler to see the slot and peg and then just cover up the hole once assembled. 😊

[@chittychad18]

Ill be eventually designing my pedals like how Cirrus aircraft has theirs. Each pedal is connected to a round bar (2 pedals per bar of course) and is connected in the middle to cables. Then I’ll use a fanatec dampener kit as a hydraulic feel for brakes.

[@mohddinie705]

Thanks a lot for the arduino code, I was scratching my head on how to actually center my rudder, the expo function really works, thanks a lot

[@chrisbowpiloto]

I was working on a set that I found on thingiverse, but I like your design better. Well done!

[@Dangerdad137]

Planning on making this soon for use in VTOL VR. I'm very excited to find a project like this with such detail! Thank you so much for making this available!

[@CaptainBobSim]

Wonderful design! Thank you for sharing your brainpower to the world, and also THANK YOU for making the STLs available, they look excellent!

[@tim1398]

I would generally recommend using using screws with either tapping or inserts vs glue, it also allows you to easily replace a piece if needed. CA is not great glue for PLA, but if sufficient area exists its OK. It is brittle though. The acrylic solvent glues like "Scigrip 16" work very well with PLA, forming a solvent welded joint with some gap filling from the dissolved acrylic, and is as strong as the PLA itself.

[@darknrgy]

Good points all around. I didn't know there was a welding solvent solution for PLA. I've used it on acrylic with great results. I'll have to check it out, thanks!

[@Kman31ca]

@@darknrgy You could also use a cheap 15$ soldering gun to plastic weld it on. One of the types that you can set the temp on. That's my ultimate way of permanently sticking things together. Just my 2 cents.

[@boardinrider]

You can tweak the tolerances on the slicer that you choose to get more accurate parts, Horizontal holes i usually use an oblong hole

[@dewaelemmanuel1338]

I feel a new project growing. Thx for sharing this.

[@doxielain2231]

Ok, I need to return to this...this is exactly what I'm looking for.

[@webdext]

Great work Dan! I'm definitely going to build a set.

[@hilo7729]

I love thease so mutch, I would kill for a design like this and you are giving it for free, I love you man

[@BenjaminJannedy]

I would be interested in the stls and software! Great project!

[@heinzpilot]

Great video! I'm building a nose wheel tiller handle for the Aerosoft CRJ. So I only need YAW. I 3D printed a to scale handle. I was trying to fugure out the electronics and software side. This video gives me a good place to start.

[@rodneyfox5566]

Instead of holofects try magnetic tapes like found on cnc dro's they work as counters in increaments with tolerance nasa would except. with the price of dro's know on amazon might be worth a secound look

[@cesarnogueira5105]

Great project!

[@danddietz]

Wow! I don’t have a flight simulator setup or anything, but I really want to build this.

[@crenatodf]

Congratulations on the project! I'm basing myself on it to make mine. Could you share the connection of HALL sensors in Ardoino? What pins did you use. A0, A1, A2??? If a schematic were possible, it would help a lot. Grateful.

[@davidhermosilla6942]

Excellent video!!! How has been your evaluation / improvements over these latest years?

[@robertvirden1595]

I would be very interested in building the rudder pedals and playing with the hall sensors. It would take a bit to learn about the Arduino, it'll be fun. I hope that you are still willing to email the parts lists and the programming. I'll have to look into a 3D printer. Great video!!!!

[@bwhaskell]

WABJ is one of my favorite approaches in MSFS right now. Love flying around Papua New Guinea. Great work! I'd be interested in the stl and files!

[@darknrgy]

Yeah! It's really tough staying low enough. The files are all added now, cheers.

[@TheBod76]

Thanks very much for the project files! :)

[@davidstumpf7811]

I know I'm late but I just saw those great video. Thanks for showing us this cool project! It's inspired me to make my own space-sim foot controller since they're is nothing close on the market to what I want. Also is there anything you would changed in retrospect?

[@darknrgy]

Thanks for the comment! The whole thing should be made physically stronger by adding material. The springs should be stronger and the brakes really requires a redesign to accommodate larger springs. I would have also liked to spend more time on magnetic sensing - a more appropriate IC, different physical mechanism, etc to get a more linear and precise input. If I started the project again, I would know to think about these individual systems as optimized independent designs integrated together. The spring mechanisms and electronic inputs were done last, almost as an afterthought, and it led to constraints that were difficult to work with. I could iterate on this forever though! It has stood up to regular MSFS and Elite Dangerous play time and overall I am very pleased with it.

[@dimitristselios7167]

They work perfect! Thanks for sharing!!

[@whogavehimafork]

I'm looking to build my own pedals but this got me focusing on the methods of position sensing. I wonder what the challenges/difficulties and benefits would be of a strain gauge - spring system. I'm familiar with LVDT linear transducers in an industrial setting, and diy strain gauges and wheatstone bridge circuits, so I think it would be interesting to try those methods as well and see what method is most advantageous in terms of difficulty as well as accuracy/consistency.

[@darknrgy]

I missed this when you first posted this but I'm also interested in using strain gauges. I saw some video long ago about the development program around one of the US fighters; an early version of the flight stick had no deflection at all, it only worked on pressure. The test pilots' feedback was that it didn't feel natural so they added in some deflection. I think you could accomplish this by using a progressive spring and then capturing the force on the spring with a strain gauge. Like with the hall effect sensor, it shouldn't wear out. Unless you count the metal fatigue in the strain gauge itself? I don't know if those things wear out but I've never heard of a digital scale going bad.

[@JeronimoStilton14]

@@darknrgy strain gauges fail pretty quick, and are a nightmare to install. Do you mean a load cell? An axial load cell that you mount a spring too could measure the load on it, but you probably dont want to try to glue a strain gauge onto a spring. Unless you just mean that you want to build a load cell on the cheap. Not sure why I didn't assume that from the beginning. In that case, you can expect a pretty long lifetime, although you will need to be able to tare and recalibrate it easily, as you will find they tend to drift, especially if you overload them forcewise.

[@colinarch468]

Hi Dan, Very Impressed with your design. As a mere novice and no 3d printer. Do you, can you offer a kit of parts? Regards Colin

[@thijsdenhartog7580]

I would like to build this, where can I find all the STL files and code?

[@szkarlatny_pumpernikiel]

hey, look at, in the description this movie ;)

[@kman1238]

Great Video! I'm looking to build a 3d printed flight setup and these look perfect!

[@HypnoticAbyss]

well i have no idea how to code, ive got everything but more details of step by step programming would be nice

[@HypnoticAbyss]

got the parts printing, im a little worried about getting the hall sensors to work though. hopefully i figure it out.

[@patrickrobinson317]

Excellent Work !!!

[@joeypicinich4943]

Thanks Dan. That was a great video. I am new to 3d printing. Can you suggest the slicer settings for the parts. I am not to sure of wall thickness and infill settings or is that already in the stl. You can tell I am new to it.

[@FalconsLedge]

very similar to how the Logitech pro pedals work, and its HORRIBLE. Thats not even addressing that the CH products pedals are SO NARROW and uncomfortable.

[@jlr3636]

Thanks, you put in lots of time and effort, question on the pivot point on the brakes, do you find it uncomfortable with the pivot axis under the arch so your heal has to move up as your toes go down or do you think it would be more comfortable if the pivot axis was under the heal so it stays more or less stationary.

[@Sonnerick2k]

A 3D Printer is perfect for 0.01mm if set up correctly! The problem with holes is because you are not drawing a perfect circle, you are drawing a circle from few segments, and there will be 2 radii: one outside and one inside! If you want to draw a "perfect" circle, use as many segments as possible... Use "Hole horizontal expansion", "Horizontal expansion" and similar settings for the printer, and always print test models to check size.😁

[@darknrgy]

That actually makes a lot of sense. I will have to try that out, thanks!

[@wayneparker1235]

Awesome, thanks Dan! Looking forward to building this. Were you using PLA or PETG to print your parts. I see when you removed the electronics cover, the part snapped so it looks like PLA. Thanks again

[@darknrgy]

PLA. The snap you heard was one of the risers dropping :).

[@ignacioherrero9374]

Hi..Dan. Great Project congrats,...then let me know how did U solve the pedals returns, seams you placed springs, but what kind of those hardware and how you placed there, regards from Spain. Yes Im just see completely the video, a how you placed the springs!!!, apologize. Ball bearings are 608ZZ modell?,...I have not the spreadsheet to compare with!!!!

[@aymericstm5009]

Very good project ! Does its possible to get the Fusion files ? Not the stl in the description

[@dougkehoe3758]

Wow...that was great. YES...if u could make available! A 1-2-3 punch...1(3-D)2(parts)3(& library thingy). So Cool!

[@edmarpmc]

Beautiful project! Can you do it with Arduino Leonardo??

[@kristapsberzins3867]

hello. This project looks great! Do you have an idea if someone sells the correct Shaft, Collar, Main Spring in amazon? I want to make sure that I get the correct ones, so I just do not was a kg of PLA. Thanks.

[@keyanwb]

An excellent video with detailed information. Got all the parts you mentioned. Im trying to print the stl files but confused with the scaling. Can you please help ?

[@waelbadr4724]

the code is not compiling, it gives a an error about the name Joystick_ at the second line

[@AtomicVippe]

only thing i would say is to print it with petg to make it more durblie

[@MrFrenchy24]

Do you have the step files available also?

[@ukrainianfalcons19]

THAAAAAAAANK YOUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!

[@Michael_G980]

do you have the STEP or cad files available? Those are much easier to modify and iterate on than the stl files.

[@oligone9epic33]

Does this work with Rapserry pi? im looking over all of these rudder pedals and they all seem tot be using arduino, is there any way to emulate this?

[@DelicAlmin]

Really nice job there... Building material is ABS or PLA?

[@squartochi]

PLA

[@Pingo21]

This might be a dumb question, but; Why does neither design use a single spring with a half circle connector. Just seems like a much simpler design, that would also make centering a piece of cake 🤔 ps: absolutely not an engineer

[@imellor711]

Very impressive, how long did your rudder pedals take to print? And what was the total cost of the parts (excluding the 3d printer)?

[@bennyshimon]

nice work!!

[@andre241811]

How to make Windows and Flight simulator 2020 recognize the Pedal ? How to differentiate from a printer or mouse usb .

[@darknrgy]

I don't know exactly, but that is handled by ArduinoJoystickLibrary and some of the core arduino libraries it uses. It's part of the USB protocol to announce yourself as a device, which includes what type of device it is and a number of other details. For my project I only needed to include ArduinoJoystickLibrary and use the design patterns it prescribes. From then on, Windows sees it as a controller and it is available in any game that uses controllers.

[@moschidreamer]

Is there a metric varation of this thing? With mm shafts and mm DIN bearings? Where can I get the Fusion datas?

[@keldsor]

Really nice project and a very detailed instructional video - thx for sharing ! I've downloaded your code and studied it a little and I have a Q to ask you: Your values for the yaw is strange I think - I see yaw as the rudder managed via the pedals - then I think it's a little misleading to use: int yaw() { float top = 860; float bottom = 300; float center = 525; . . . Shouldn't it be something like int rudder() // maybe this is better too float rudderLeft =860; float rudderRight = 300; float rudderCenter = 525; . . Or do I mis something here big time ?

[@darknrgy]

Good suggestion! Yes, you understand it correctly. It is worth noting that the direction can be reversed on any of these axis, depending on the orientation of the sensors, and the "top" and "bottom" refers to the ADC output, not a physical representation of the controls.

[@rva1945]

Can I print it in a 20x20 bed?

[@cptairwolf]

Those look amazing man, for a second there I thought it was an apple product lol. I've got a pair of Saitek Combat Rudder pedals that for some reason are no longer detected in windows (happened about the same time they were bought out by mad catz so I suspect their drivers were discontinued?) I've tried everything to fix this but nothing seems to work. Would it be possible to force them into outputting raw data so that I could use an arduino controller to bypass the drivers?

[@darknrgy]

It should be possible to interface with the existing sensors but the difficulty will depend on the details of those sensors. Potentiometers would be the easiest - almost always you will see negative on one side, positive on the other, and the center being fed directly to an analog input on the microcontroller. Beyond that you could be looking at more difficult engineering work. If I liked the mechanical properties of the pedals I had before, I would have taken this route.

[@illes.gergely002]

Hi, It looks really great. The files would be available somewhere? Free or paid version would be possible to share?

[@JarppaGuru]

5:38 yes this is quality. cheap build but not cheap cost lol

[@Felix_proulx]

How project cost?

[@Eduardog1975]

AMAZING!!!!

[@JarppaGuru]

1:56 we allready had msfsx xplane and flight sim world and dcs so everyone allready had change buy those bfore covid lol

[@amirhosseinmahdioun6450]

How can i find the codes that i should upload on my board?

[@helicopterovirtual-msfs6254]

Sensacional.

[@squartochi]

Hi I have a question on calibration. I am having an issue with the rudder calibration just going from 100% at center then 0 in both directions.

[@darknrgy]

Hmm, my first thought is that the orientation of the magnets and/or sensors are opposite of how I set mine up. You might want to try switching that up. I used trial and error with the magnets and sensors. It's helpful to look at the raw value (print to serial and watch in arduino serial monitor). You might also see if you can change the code so that it does what you want but I would definitely look into orientation first!

[@darknrgy]

In case it is not obvious, the magnets are spatially symmetrical but have distinct poles, north and south. Just by looking at it you can't tell which way it's facing, so you have to use the sensor and test it. iirc I had done this as a separate task and marked north on the magnets with a sharpie. I hope you get it cleared up!

[@rstandi]

Great work. What 3d printer did you get?

[@darknrgy]

Anycubic Chiron. Probably wasn't ideal for an absolute beginner, but I had some support from friends.

[@johnhawes2182]

@@darknrgy hi Dan i would like to make one of your pedals i live in the uk if you can send me the details for the build i belong to a flight sim club with 40 members and thy may be interested [e-mail]

[@ryandconan]

hi, how I can contact you to ask anything?

[@ludvikalkhoury3675]

Great work! Does it work with X plane 11?

[@darknrgy]

Yep! It shows up like any other joystick and you can map the axes how you want.

[@joseluisandradepereira8388]

Que buen trabajo te felicito que tan sencibles son saludos

[@godmanpicoli]

please share the step file?

[@Izack]

Dan, anyway you could share the STL files? Wanting to build this for a star citizen setup im working on

[@Izack]

Checking in again

[@TheBod76]

@@Izack Check video description ;)

[@szkarlatny_pumpernikiel]

Hey, Dan can you share this code to arduino for that hall sensor?

[@darknrgy]

The github link for the project is now in the description. The arduino source is here: github.com/darknrgy/rudderpedals/blob/main/src/driver.ino

[@pamibi2]

Siiiiiii quiero construir unooooo !!!!!!!!

[@leonardoruiz7522]

Uauuu como que voy a estrenar pedales en mi fsx me los voy hacer empezaré a sacar los planos siiiiiii

[@yurycz8933]

👍

[@KorevaarAnne]

Does this work on a Xbox?

[@darknrgy]

I couldn't find a definitive answer if ArduinoJoystickLibrary will work with an x-box. I think you'd just have to do a simple test to find out. But I did find this writeup on using a different library called XInput: www.partsnotincluded.com/how-to-emulate-an-xbox-controller-with-arduino-xinput/. The overall strategy is the same.

[@nickgennady]

Damn I know how to code with Arduino but I do not have a 3D printer :(

[@franktola1008]

Dan please make me a set I will buy.

[@КотнаглыйЦукер]

Броты крут

[@cramalho123]

Great project!