I’ve taken a new approach for the yoke. A chance sale came available via a fellow cockpit builder in Brisbane who was offloading a PFC Jetliner USB column yoke. I realised I wasn’t going to easily find the time nor the mechanics to put together my own yoke so when this one came available I took the opportunity to purchase and save myself a lot of work, I also knew the PFC units are very sturdy and reliable. Purchased and shipped from Brisbane to Perth without hassle and received in very good order. This thing is built like a tank and has a smooth and solid feel along with a cast aluminium yoke which feels great in your hands however it did require a little modification.
Due to its age the USB axis controller was basically an old style gameport controller with a USB adaptor integrated. This meant the pot movement wasn’t too accurate and as well the buttons were jittery and eratic. I therefore replaced the old controller with a Bodner BU0836X USB card which would give me plenty of buttons and would also cater for adding the rudder pedal axis as well. While rewiring I also took the opportunity to add another 2 yoke buttons as there were two unused positions at the back of the left and right sides of the yoke handle, this gave me a total of 12 buttons, plenty enough for most sim functions. I also had to remove the lower casing in order to get my rudder pedal footplates to fit close enough. This exposed the yoke column mechanism but that’s no problem, it won’t be seen and better to have functionality in this case than aesthetics.
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