Aeroplane - joystick
with thanks to Richard Pearse, Waitohi, New Zealand, March 31, 1902
The joystick is based on the design found via the mechanics page at "LEGO
On My Mind". My version is basically a miniaturized version of this design, and I doubt if it
can be simplified much further, but I'd love to hear of any design that does.
The trick with the joystick is
to decouple to forward/backward motion from the sideways motion. I messed
around for ages trying to this, such simple problems can quickly turn into
frustrating nightmares!! Whilst
the instructions for my version are available here, I suggest you have a
look at this original design as it shows more clearly the concepts used.
The key is to make sure that the overall gear ratios on each side are 1:1,
and that one side has an even number of turns, and the other side an odd
number of turns, it's then a simple matter to decouple the motions using a
differential gear. The joystick is towards the centre-right of the picture of the cockpit, the rudder
pedals can be seen towards the top.
There is a LDRAW CAD for the joystick and step-by-step instructions on how o build it.
