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DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear using

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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby SurferTim » Tue Nov 22, 2022 2:24 pm

Don't be intimidated by the Bodnar module. It's a "black box", preprogrammed.
Requires only basic electrical knowledge, a bit of wire, and a 10kohm potentiometer, the better quality, the better.
Connect each pot as in the picture on this pdf document, about halfway down. Easy.
http://www.leobodnar.com/products/BU0836A/BU0836A.pdf.
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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby Kugelfang » Tue Nov 22, 2022 3:02 pm

So... looking at the Leo Bodnar site it looks like this is all I need for Wheel 3.0? Anybody notice anything missing? I'd be giving up wireless connection but that's not a big deal.

1 x Rotary encoder CTS 288 $5.67
1 x Cable with 3 pin connector plug attached - 30cm ( 12in ) $2.84
1 x 3m USB A to B cable $5.52
1 x BU0836A 12-Bit Joystick Controller $38.99

Sub-Total: $53.01

Shipping options: (from GB)
Tracked Mail Service (Airmail Tracked): $0.00
2-3 Day Delivery after Dispatch: $32.34

Of course, I'd need to construct a box but I probably have enough sheet styrene around home for that.

Anybody aware of a US based source for these components? Not sure how long 'Tracked Mail Service' takes. Even so, paying $85.34 for the whole thing including fast shipping is not unreasonable to me.
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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby SurferTim » Tue Nov 22, 2022 3:08 pm

Why an encoder? This is a boat, right? The rudder and throttle have limits. So should your controls. The easy solution is a 10k pot on each.
Just my opinion.
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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby Kugelfang » Tue Nov 22, 2022 3:21 pm

The Kathryn has no throttle, no engine. It's a 100 year old sail boat. If I model other, powered ships I'm ok using the keyboard for the throttle. (Or, I can always add another knob/lever (engine telegraph!) to the controller.

Modern sailboat wheels do have limits and I believe it's around three revolutions and the rudders are generally limited to ~30 degrees. I'm not sure that holds true for old vessels of the age of sail. While I'm sure there was a limit on the wheel, I have no idea what it was. I suspect it was much more than three revolutions.
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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby SurferTim » Tue Nov 22, 2022 3:27 pm

Yes, I think it applies. The problem with the encoder is it gives you no start position. It just counts up or down.

My sailboat had a tiller, but the sailboat I sailed from California to Florida thru the Panama Canal had a wheel. The owner had a small rope pendant tied to the wheel at the spoke that was vertical when the rudder was centered. Made sail trim easy. Trim to the wheel pendant about 5 degrees downwind.

Edit: I found a couple 5-turn precision pots online at Amazon and Mouser. Those would connect directly to your wheel shaft and give 2 1/2 turns each way. Mark the "rudder centered" spoke. You need to know that when calibrating your joystick.
https://www.amazon.com/Fielect-Adjustab ... 280&sr=8-9

The Bodnar unit will show analog axis only if a pot is connected to the input. Even tho the unit has 8 analogs, only 2 show on my setup using jscal.
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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby Kugelfang » Tue Nov 29, 2022 8:41 pm

I found a US supplier for the Leo Bodnar joystick controller board. It will be a holiday gift from my wife.

Hmmm... would this do as well for a pot?

https://www.amazon.com/Taiss-Precision-Potentiometer-Adjustable-3590S-2-103L/dp/B07D7YH9N2/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=10KQKIQHM7ZAH&keywords=10+turn+potentiometer+10k&qid=1669749670&sprefix=potentiometer+10+turn+%2Caps%2C64&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzSUUxMVQ2NFVZVlZaJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUE2VU1YU0hHMzBYSkwmZW5jcnlwdGVkQWRJZD1BMDM3Mjg4ODI4T1hLTzBKWUIyUUQmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl
Also, would typical jumper wires with a female connector attach to the leads on these pots? I don't have a soldering iron and frankly only soldered an old Heathkit digital clock in 1980. Let's say my soldering skills are questionable!

After doing some research I'm thinking I'd like to have more than 2.5 turns each way. In 'The Construction and Fitting of the English Man of War, 1650-1850' author Peter Goodwin documents some of the Royal Navy's rudder mechanisms. He says that earlier ships had rudder play of about 60 degrees to either side. This was later (circa 1720) modified to 90 degrees. The limiting factor was the length of the attached tiller and the width of the hull. That limitation seems to have maxed out at approx. 60 degrees. The wheel (which appears around 1703) was attached to a drum which drove the lines via a pulley system to move the tiller. The diameter of the drum "was generally 1 ft 9in, and probably 1ft 6in on Sixth Rates" So the number of turns of the wheel is going to be a factor of the diameter of the drum and the width of the hull.

Now, most of this probably doesn't apply to the Kathryn. But I wouldn't mind modeling a frigate in the future.
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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby S&J » Tue Nov 29, 2022 9:31 pm

Kugelfang wrote in Tue Nov 29, 2022 8:41 pm:
Now, most of this probably doesn't apply to the Kathryn. But I wouldn't mind modeling a frigate in the future.


Music to my ears

You'll need a better physics model than the one you've got mind.
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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby SurferTim » Tue Nov 29, 2022 11:29 pm

I hope you have as much fun with yours as I have with mine. I used my Bodnar unit several hours today. It's the elevator and aileron on my Logitech yoke. Got rid of that pesky dead zone.
Fly low. Fly slow. Land on a dime. Twin Otter. https://github.com/SurferTim/dhc6p
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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby Kugelfang » Tue Dec 13, 2022 6:41 pm

Pictures of Wheel 3.0:

Image
Image
Image

It works! I'm somewhat surprised! My projects are never this easy. Especially considering I'm an electronics idiot.

I'm also surprised at how economical this little project was considering I started with next to nothing:

Wheel: $12 USD
Potentiometer: $12 USD (for two)
Leo Bodnar controller: $40 USD
Jumper wires: $7.00
Soldering Iron, etc.: $17 USD
Screws $7.00

My soldering certainly isn't pretty but it works. The box was built out of some 3mm chipboard and plastic I had laying around. I also had a spare usb printer cable in my computer equipment bits box.

The Leo Bodnar controller is recognized by both my Linux system and FGFS. But it's not quite configured as I'd like. Namely, there's a large dead zone in the center. Any suggestions as to a Linux application to configure joysticks?

I've installed jstest-gtk. Using that I can configure the joystick so that the dead zone disappears but the setting doesn't persist when disconnecting the usb cable. (I presume a restart will also reset the joystick configuration.) Now if I could just save the configuration I'd be a happy sailor!

--jeff
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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby wkitty42 » Tue Dec 13, 2022 8:00 pm

Kugelfang wrote in Tue Dec 13, 2022 6:41 pm:The Leo Bodnar controller is recognized by both my Linux system and FGFS. But it's not quite configured as I'd like. Namely, there's a large dead zone in the center. Any suggestions as to a Linux application to configure joysticks?

my Kubuntu system has one by default in the System Settings area... i don't know what linux or window manager you are using so can't offer much more...
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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby SurferTim » Tue Dec 13, 2022 8:06 pm

Looks great!
My Bodnar unit doesn't have a dead zone. Did you run the Linux joystick calibration program? I believe I used jscal in Ubuntu.
Fly low. Fly slow. Land on a dime. Twin Otter. https://github.com/SurferTim/dhc6p
My other aircraft is a Citation-X https://github.com/SurferTim/CitationX
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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby Kugelfang » Tue Dec 13, 2022 8:14 pm

Linux Mint with Cinnamon window manager--which I believe is a gtk off-shoot.

Can't find any settings referring to joysticks outside of the jstest-gtk program I installed. Again, I can configure the joystick with jstest. But there doesn't seem to be a way to save the configuration.

--jeff
We were set in our ways. We believed in a good God, a bad Devil and a hot Hell, and more than anything else we believed that the same good God did not intend man should ever fly.
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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby SurferTim » Tue Dec 13, 2022 8:20 pm

My bad. It was jstest-gtk I used.
Did you runt he calibration function on the bottom right?
As I recall, it will ask you to move the axis from stop to stop, then center and press a key.
Fly low. Fly slow. Land on a dime. Twin Otter. https://github.com/SurferTim/dhc6p
My other aircraft is a Citation-X https://github.com/SurferTim/CitationX
PirateAir videos at https://www.youtube.com/user/SurferTim850
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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby Kugelfang » Tue Dec 13, 2022 8:44 pm

Yeah, I did. Even ran jscal from cli as root thinking there might be a rights issue saving a config file. Still no good, though. Disconnecting the usb cable or rebooting the computer forces me to recalibrate the controller to get rid of the dead zone.
We were set in our ways. We believed in a good God, a bad Devil and a hot Hell, and more than anything else we believed that the same good God did not intend man should ever fly.
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Re: DIY building a ship's wheel controller for FlightGear us

Postby SurferTim » Tue Dec 13, 2022 8:49 pm

I don't understand that one. I haven't had to recalibrate mine since I installed it. Just the once. No dead zone.

Edit: I found this that was a link posted on a Linux Mint community page. It shows how to save the calibration. About halfway down the page under "UPDATE"
https://askubuntu.com/questions/421822/ ... ng-profile
Fly low. Fly slow. Land on a dime. Twin Otter. https://github.com/SurferTim/dhc6p
My other aircraft is a Citation-X https://github.com/SurferTim/CitationX
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