Hi all,

I'm going to attempt building my own yoke. I'll be using various pieces of hardware and the enclosure will be made of wood. I know - it would probably be cheaper and certainly faster to buy a real yoke but it wouldn't be as fun would it? I have a love for tools and wood in general and I'm convinced (at least for now) I can build a very good yoke.

My inspiration for the yoke comes from the Yoko yoke/Yoko Plus yoke found here:
Yoko Yoke Plus: https://www.virtual-fly.com/en/shop/controls/flight-sim-yoke-yoko-the-yoke-plus
Yoko Plus internals: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ztmwtk5cui45e2q/Yoko plus internals.jpg?dl=0

I'll be using various tools and build the yoke in my workshop:
Drill press: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ci90l4yt2l7rnhk/0F90CE3F-7693-4F22-BA09-32E8EC110180_1_105_c.jpeg?dl=0
Mitre saw:https://www.dropbox.com/s/d14mw7ato4nvcyf/14A65869-5193-4346-AD7A-9A5471DFD054_1_105_c.jpeg?dl=0
CNC: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mwml5sa9orso9rk/181086FC-B938-4092-A69A-FA4B5CF4E08B_1_105_c.jpeg?dl=0

I used to have a small wooden cockpit I could bolt on top of my Saitek yoke 10 yeas ago so I've a pretty good amount of various switches, controllers and sensors:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fk0ylxjofm44tal/61B6060F-323D-409E-9C29-2B61C3F3FDCD_1_105_c.jpeg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3mp49expht6vhof/5F12D1EC-3BD7-44D1-BA68-A5F7E9997934_1_105_c.jpeg?dl=0

I'm going with hall effect sensors for the pitch and roll axis. Board from Leobodnar will be used as controller. I've got a bunch of hardware coming in over the next few weeks so it should be an interesting build. I'll update the post as the project comes along.

Have a great day!

Nice one. Good luck. Post pics of it.

Thanks. Will do 😀

The magnets where delivered today. I ordered a few different sizes (3, 4 and 5mm diameter) as I'm not entirely sure what size I should use. These are neodymium magnets so they are extremely strong. I've done a small test with an 8mm diameter magnet and the magnet has to be very close to the sensor in order to get a good calibration.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sn2q57g5kixmgdq/Magneter.jpeg?dl=0

There's probably some mathematic formula that describes the magnetic field in relation to the hall effect sensor but I'm not an engineer so it's going to be trial and error. Also I've only tested with one magnet close to the sensor. It seems that this sensor has a maximum effective range of 180 degree which is perfect for the roll axis. For the pitch axis I'm definitely going to need some gears of some sort in order to stay within the 180 degree working radius.

I would strongly recommend AS5600 magnetic sensors as opposed to a single Hall element. They are specifically designed to measure the angle of magnetic field rotation and are practically immune to any stray magnetic fields. The maximum rotation angle is 360 degrees, but can be easily calibrated to provide a full supply voltage swing for the angle range from 18 to 360 degrees. AS5600's are easily available from eBay or AliExpress.

7 minutes ago, SergeyPe said:

I would strongly recommend AS5600 magnetic sensors as opposed to a single Hall element. They are specifically designed to measure the angle of magnetic field rotation and are practically immune to any stray magnetic fields. The maximum rotation angle is 360 degrees, but can be easily calibrated to provide a full supply voltage swing for the angle range from 18 to 360 degrees. AS5600's are easily available from eBay or AliExpress.

Thanks for the tip and explanation of this sensor 👍. I didn't know about this so I'll definitely be looking into this!

You are welcome; good luck with your journey! BTW, the easy way to transform the pitch axis movement to magnet rotation is to use a belt/pulley system as shown in the picture of my yoke: https://yadi.sk/i/3eP0zV6UlWZhNw . Here the AS5600 360 degrees' angle is quite handy as you won't need an extra large pulley (in my case it's about 70 mm diameter for the pitch travel of 140 mm). 

7 minutes ago, SergeyPe said:

You are welcome; good luck with your journey! BTW, the easy way to transform the pitch axis movement to magnet rotation is to use a belt/pulley system as shown in the picture of my yoke: https://yadi.sk/i/3eP0zV6UlWZhNw . Here the AS5600 360 degrees' angle is quite handy as you won't need an extra large pulley (in my case it's about 70 mm diameter for the pitch travel of 140 mm). 

Wow, thanks for sharing! If my yoke end up looking half as good as yours I'll be happy 😉. Your design looks a bit like what I have in mind with the dual rods (I ordered the rods yesterday - I swear).

😀😀😀 If you need extra pictures- please inform; I was documenting the build/ modifcation process quite extensively. The absolute majority of the parts are the standard ones used mostly in 3D-printers. One more bit of advice- if you are planning to use the dual rods/ standard linear bearings try to make sure that the yoke shaft is in the same plane (height) as the rods; otherwise you'll most probably get the additional friction due to the bearings' skew. The rails used in Yoko are less prone to this problem; however the proper quality ones are way more expensive.

Thanks for these tips - really appreciated 👍.. Regarding the additional pictures I'll let you know if I'm stuck 😉.

I've ordered a bunch of the AS5600 sensors but it will take a while before they get here. I'm probably going to experiment with the Hall sensors until then and do a swap later.

I believe the rail system used for the Yoko is this: https://www.boschrexroth.com/en/xc/products/product-groups/linear-motion-technology/linear-guides
These rails alone are around 160$.

19 minutes ago, CarstenLP said:

I believe the rail system used for the Yoko is this: https://www.boschrexroth.com/en/xc/products/product-groups/linear-motion-technology/linear-guides

Yes, that's right. There is also a huge number of Chinese clones of various quality- not sure if Virtual Fly are using the originals.

Here is another photo of Yoko Plus internals (found in the web): https://yadi.sk/i/48-IWkmQsgI-5Q

Wow!  And I thought I was being clever putting rubber bands inside my Saitek Cessna yoke to improve its operation lol.

Great work guys 😀

Pete

 

 

6 minutes ago, SergeyPe said:

Yes, that's right. There is also a huge number of Chinese clones of various quality- not sure if Virtual Fly are using the originals.

Here is another photo of Yoko Plus internals (found in the web): https://yadi.sk/i/48-IWkmQsgI-5Q

Thanks for the link to this image. Haven't seen that.

https://vrflightsim.wixsite.com/mysite

 

I have built it. Working very good.

 

Mark

11 minutes ago, MaSi said:

https://vrflightsim.wixsite.com/mysite

 

I have built it. Working very good.

 

Mark

Wow, very nice indeed 👍. Thanks for sharing!

And you're using the same Yoke handle as I'm probably getting 😉.

Edited August 11, 20205 yr by CarstenLP