Now where was I? Oh yes, bespoke throttles. Now I’ve finished my degrees and Tiny Shida is at school, I find finishing my throttle has jumped up my todo list from the thousands to somewhere into the low hundred zone. Actually I want to finish my custom joystick so finishing the throttle first makes a sort of weird sense.
This plate:
...actually had a purpose. Because I used a ballraced-core, I never wanted to use a friction device. The obvious alternative being a counterbalance. Further not wanting to use lead or depleted Uranium, I bought some Bismuth off eBay, which is an interesting material. I made a pattern out of slices of plastic card, and then made a mould of that out of Milliput, which is an epoxy modelling putty from Wales, isn’t it. Lovely. The melting point of Bismuth was way above the temperature the manufacturers said Milliput could take, but the kevlar and German helmet with the spike on top wasn’t needed in the end (always good to have though). I melted it in a Mrs. Shida's favourite saucepan with a blow lamp and poured it in.
Here’s where it sits in the throttle:
I had painted it gold at one point. I wanted to make a joke to Pervert that I’d cast it out of Nazi gold, but he got PNGed and the paint tarnished so never mind.
Next the ball from the ‘balls-to-the-wall’ fame. It isn’t a full-size Pool ball, it was a keyring. But it’s still heavy, too heavy for the counterbalance. I’d also considered fitting a momentary switch up there for a trigger or blip switch perhaps. I’ve got a Dremel now, so decided to remove some dead weight:-
Unfortunately it still doesn’t quite balance and I dare not remove any more material. It’s just about as hollow as the Klingon moon Praxis and I don’t want to risk an interstellar incident. I was sure the Bismuth would be enough but such is the leverage advantage. Right now I can see some light through the wall so it looks like I’ll have to rebuild the left side cover (again) to accommodate some more weight. Perhaps some bolt-on steel plates this time because then I can trim the balance.
This was the cover I made for the counterbalance:
Which I sawed off the outer half of the right cover figuring one additional analogue control was enough. AH doesn’t do mixture anyway. Those cylinders are actually the turret bases off the Tamiya 1:35th scale M42 Duster models and I've bought two so far. Buggered if I'll buy a third! Have to find some way to extend it with some more basic raw materials. I should imagine some heat, cunning and imaginative application of kitchen implements will be required. Usually is.
