Hi Alan,
http://home.nc.rr.com/alan69/FlightGear/
Uploaded a few more pics. Rudder01 to 04 are current pics. The bellcrank board is a section from one of my old heli rotor blades, and just fishing line to screws at the rear of the guide plates. No real need for rods, your feet keep them back when in use so not a problem. 04 does show both pedals full forward though. Plenty of rail left to cut off, wasn't worried about that yet and didn't want them too short if I wanted to change the arrangement. The crank is just in test postion, it'll end up back a bit further and hidden beyond the rear travel of the plates.
But having this to play with I've revised the plans. Rudder2.gif has the new one on the right. No bellcrank, just a $1 shower door wheel from ACE and cord to connect the pedals. If it's 3" diameter or larger, that'll be around 9.5" around. So when in neutral position, the cord can be fixed to the far center of the pulley. With +-2" travel, it won't go beyond 90 degrees either side so won't be pulled away from the wheel. I've got several design arrangements with no strain on the pot, but if a good pot can take the occasional 20 or 30 lbs on the shaft bearing then the easiest thing would be to use it as the pulley hub/bearing. In normal use your feet won't put that much force on it, but just there as a footrest it's likely to see much more strain than when flying.
Since the rails are free to move forward, it will need one of two things to keep the cord on the pulley. Either pins around the nearer edge of the pully to trap the cord from coming out when there's slack, or some light rubber bands in the direction indicated to keep some tension back against the cord. You could make those stronger, and just have the right band resist when you're pressing the left pedal etc. But having the forces that out of line is likely to torque the entire assembly and need better feet to keep it from moving. I think just a light band on each side to keep them back, then bungees working in the opposite direction for control opposition when pressing would work better. Still the pins or dowels would be solid and never wear out, may be the better choice and not really any harder than setting up the reverse rubber bands. Won't matter if there's slack in the rest of the line when relaxed as long as it's trapped on the pulley.
Lifting the inner edge of the guide plates up and out, I can put more than a bit of rotating strain on the rails. With the rudder pedals up and your feet knocking them sideways once in a while it will need something to take that strain. But just a washer on the shaft over the guide plates should be enough to keep them down, there's plenty of leverage from that point to the rails and it shouldn't experience it that often.
A few things left to look at and do and then polish it up a bit, but just with my feet on the guide plates they already have a good feel. Can't wait to get it finished off.
Alan
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