landing gear lever

Another necessity when it comes to realistic cockpit design is an operational landing gear lever. I originally designed a lever based on commercial models for a 737, however for the PC12NG I decided on a much simpler approach. Just two pictures will explain all the details.

The front view of the newer and simpler version gear lever. (CDU is fake, sorry!)

It's cut out of scrap 6mm plastic used for the main panel and bolted to a backplate using a 6mm bolt and locking nut.

 

 

The rear view showing the mechanism and electronics. Simply two contact switches, one for UP and one for DOWN. No spring tensioning needed as the centre pivot bolt provides enough tension to keep the lever stiff and in place in either position. It is electrically connected to two of the switches on my CH yoke circuit board used for flight controls.

 

 

Here are the details of my previous lever for those interested:

This one was designed on factory built models with inspiration and instruction from this SITE. Very simple to build using parts around the garage. This one cost me $3.98 AUD which was for the castor wheel. The rest of the hardware was just hanging around. If you don't feel up to it you can purchase a factory produced version HERE for $199 EURO! (Do the sums and see what you think?)

I used some 5mm perspex for the main body (you could use MDF, Nylon or Aluminium - whatever you have lying around or can get cheap), some chrome towel rail tubing for the main lever body plus a bit of aluminium tubing from a screen door spline roller to house the white nylon castor wheel to be used as the main handle. Unlike the factory model which is designed to replicate a 737, I didn't include a centre detent as I wanted to use it across a wide range of aircraft which don't have the centre off position. For me the gear's just up or down!

 

To space the perspex apart I used the casing from a ball point pen cut to provide the required spacing (this will depend on the width of your tubing), and 5mm (3/16) bolts. I painstakingly routed out the channels in both sides using a drill bit and file (it'd be nice to own a router!). Tension was provided using a spring in the lower section of the handle as per the above website.

 

A couple of tactile switches for the electronics interfaced into the IOCard's joystick and configured via FSUIPC allowed this unit to talk to the sim. The perspex is angled to suit the rake of the lower part of my panel. A faceplate will cover all the mechanisms showing only the wheel and upper part of the lever (and hopefully it will look realistic??). I can tell you it works realistically though!

 

Here is a plan view showing the delicately manufactured Bic spacers! And the intricately detailed wheel attachment.

 

 

 

 

 

Although a bit blurry (it's very hard keeping a digital camera still at such close range) this shows the groove cut-out and the top and bottom locking slots which stop the lever accidentally moving while in flight. (Most often caused by turbulence and pilot error!)

 

 

Here is another photo explaining the internal mechanics.