Home build flight yoke for flight simulation

These drawings show the construction of a flight yoke for light aircraft. The yoke pitch and roll movement are roughly equal to the movements of Cessna Cardinal yoke (I got those from a friend in the States who owns one).

The tension adjustment for roll and pitch may take some experimenting with different types of springs (or bungee cord)

This flight yoke has been built into a wooden case, that is mounted like a drawer under the computer table. The wooden case can also house other control items like throttle, flaps and gear lever and various switches, to form a complete flight control console.

The interface for roll and pitch control to PC can be done via standard joystick port, using the X and Y coordinate of joystick A input.

I would suggest with starting with the wooden case, and then gradually continue with the metal parts. The drawing shows which dimensions are setting the pitch movement, so you can modify if needed.

The front tube that fits over the threaded 15mm rod must leave some room to pass the electric wiring from yoke handle to the case. How many wires you need, depends on the amount of switches. I used 40 wires (40 x 0.2mm f transformer wire stuck between tape) for the Hat and 17 switches.

The bearings for the control column should not be too tight as deformation in the wooden box would then hamper the column movement.

PCB (printed circuit board) plate is very strong material for all kinds of mounting plate uses. The PCB I used are the glass fiber reinforced type (CEM4). You can leave the copper layer on.

All yoke components

Detail of T-piece and roll centering

Detail of roll axis potmeter linkage

Front of controls case

Elevator linkage

Aileron movement linkage

Force Feedback can be added to this construction, see Adding Force Feedback