MAKING THE THROTTLES

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These are simple to build throttles that are used with the sound card or game port. They are of the Type C as described for the Tillorp's system. They each have a single potentiometer, and one push button. The potentiometer sets the speed. The button is used to select direction and controls the F1 - F5 functions for lights, and sound. The function of the button is dependant upon the speed setting. When speed is zero the button selects direction. When speed is greater than zero, the button selects function. This is determined by the TNT software.





The project boxes are 1"x2"x3" boxes from Radio Shack for about $2.80 each. The Cable is a straight through standard circular 5 pin DIN. The preferred potentiometer is a Linear 100 K Ohm and the trigger button is any normally open push button.
Locate the positions for the holes, drill them, mount the components and solder the connections as indicated in the photo and schematic drawing. The hardest part will be drilling the holes. I use small bits first and then work my way up to larger bits to avoid cracking the plastic. A rat tail file can also be useful for this. Take into consideration the physical size of the components before you drill the holes so you have adequate clearance for each part. I added rubber feet to help keep them from sliding off the table and to prevent scratching of the table top.

Here are some links which will provide the neccessary information to wire these throttles to the gameport on your computer or sound card.
allpinouts.org gameport
raji.com joysticks
wikipedia.org game port

I use 5 pin DIN cables and connectors because they are secure and don't fall out, they maintain the proper orientation and are easy to solder together. I use a game cable to bring the 15 pin cable to a box with a DIN connector on it. Inside the box I wire the wires to corresponding DIN plugs. Some trial and error usually results, but by following the information on the above links will get you straightened out. I only have two of these types of throttles. A single gameport will support four. I find that the keyboard, one or two throttles and the IR TV remote are quite adequate for my needs.