This is a set of Cessna-style engine controls for a home cockpit simulator. The three controls are carburetor heat, throttle, and mixture.

Update 2020-04-26: Second version. I replaced the 3-control hardware mount box with custom individual control mounts and also added new guides.

Update 2023-09-20: Updated rod-to-potentiometer coupler to allow rotation of the rod. See coupler2* files. The first version was prone to come off on rotation despite the set screw.

This design is a multi-remix of a few different things:

• Knobs by allanglen: Throttle Knob - Cessna 172 Flight Simulator, Mixture Knob - Cessna 172 Flight Simulator
• Knob by 4689rich: Cessna 172 Carb Heat Knob, which I remixed very slightly

The custom parts include

• Panel mounts - a different one for each of the controls
• Behind-the-panel holders for potentiometers
• Rod couplers for potentiometers

BOM:

• 3x linear slide potentiometers
• Round metal rod(s). I used three different diameters: 1/8 in, 3/16 in, 1/4 in. I guess it is not terribly important - just use what you have.
• Tempera paint (black, red, silver)
• Misc: 2.5mm screws, zip ties, wire, solder, JST connectors

Assembly instructions

Print 3x behind-the-panel potentiometer "boxes" (more like a holder).

Drill 3 holes in your panel.

Attach the potentiometers to the holders (solder wires beforehand if needed).

Print the three guides and three nuts. This may be a little tricky given that there are both threads and parts needing support. I had to hack gcode to remove supports from threads. The nuts are very snug but I managed to screw them on. Maybe scaling them up a little would help - people reported success printing them at 105% scale.

Insert the guides into the panel and into the holes of the potentiometers holders, fix with the nuts.

Print the three knobs (supports may be needed), drill out if needed to fit your rods.

Print the three rod-to-potentiometer couplings (I recommend printing without supports.) Make sure to use the version(s) that match your rod sizes. Optionally, use OpenSCAD customizer to generate couplers v1 for different rod sizes. CadQuery to customize coupler2. Attach the couplers v2 to the potentiometers levers first.

Insert the rods through the panel holes into the guides.

Cut the rods to size.

Fix the couplers v1 with screws.

Fit the rods into the couplers v2, apply a strip of electrical tape around each rod in the gap area of the coupler to prevent the rod from coming back out.

Paint the knobs.

Glue the knobs to the rods.

Simulator connection

I use this with SimVim and X-Plane 11.

This particular page deals with analog inputs: https://simvim.com/svc_axis.html

SimVim is a fantastic project - well worth supporting - all you need is an Arduino and an X-Plane plugin (Linux, Mac, Windows), but that's it. Highly recommended.