Forum Navigation
Please or Register to create posts and topics.

Mark L's TQ Module

Hey guys,

Somehow I accidentally deleted Mark's original thread and according to the the Asgaros forum developer, there is no way to restore unless I had it backed up.  Fortunately I do have the photos saved but not the text.

Here are some of his early photos during development.  Mark used gears attached to all his pots. (I think he was showing off his cnc skills!)

Test fitting in the TQ Pedestal.

A closer look at the inside.  Mark used gears in conjunction with the throttle lever pots and compression springs.

A closer look at the the flaps hardware! Pretty cool design.

Mark nicknamed his TQ "The Duck" if you remember.

A closer look at what is inside the levers.  Awesome design.  I can see where he is able to work the reverser pots into the levers.

 

The finished TQ Module!

All parts laid out.  Almost too many to count.

MFD Joystick!

Finished TQ cover panel.

TQ cover panel lit up!

A look at the TQ with cover removed.

Thank goodness I had these photos backed up.  They say a photo is worth a thousand words so if my math is correct, this is about 21,000 words worth.

Do we know if the thrust reversers are variable or not?  Mark L's throttle levers are equipped with a potentiometer for the reverse thruster.

 

Dugald said, "The Lear TR's are variable and will unlock after the weight on wheels signal is received.  63% N1 rings a bell for maximum reverse and the TR's cannot be operated below 40 knots indicated airspeed above idle thrust.  That is a limitation to protect engines from ingesting FOD"

The question is should I keep the pots in the design or replace them with micro switches?

Hey Terry,

If I were you, I would leave the reverser pots in the design Mark has created.  Worse case, you will have to take a couple extra steps to program the pots in FSUIPC to act as an ON/OFF switch.  Best case, you are ahead of the curve and the rest of us are trying to catch up.

I reached out to my real world pilot friend Eddie and this is what he said,

"The Thrust reversers are variable.  The airplane has to know it’s on the ground by way of squat switches, the throttles have to be at idle, that gives you REV, in white, over the N1 gauge, then pull up on the piggy backs, to deploy.  The sequence is the white labeled REV, turns to amber UNL “unlocked”, then to a green DEP, “deployed.”  The engine is at idle TR deployed at that point. If you continue to pull on the TR piggyback levers you spool up the engine and add power to the TR.  You need to be at idle again by 40 KIAS."

It sounds like Dugald and Eddie are tracking together on this one, which they should after all.  The thrust reversers and operation is very important.

For me personally, before I do anything to try to work variable reverse thrust into the TQ module, we have to first find out if this is an option in P3D or the new FS2020.

Eddie did say something that I think is very helpful and might be the best solution for everyone equipped with micro switches rather than pots, "If you continue to pull on the TR piggyback levers you spool up the engine and add power to the TR"

I do believe that when the reversers are selected, (via a micro switch), the reverser clam doors deploy and the engines automatically spool up via the flight sim software.  So if I am not mistaken, we have already successfully modeled the thrust reversers to a satisfactory level of operation.

With that said, I would still be interested if it is possible to achieve true variable thrust reverse using pots.

FSUIPC provides TR axis so we can simulate variable reversers as long as the pot is installed. What we do now is use FSUIPC offsets to continuously reduce the throttles into the reverser zone while the micro switches are active.  It works just fine and I can’t think of scenarios where we would need anything less than full reversers.

Jason Hite FlightDeckSoft

Sure Jason, other than reducing reverse thrust progressively as you approach 40 knots airspeed.

Thanks Jason,

It has been a minute since I have looked into how we were able to get it to work.  It sounds like you might have taken your TR simulation a step further than what I remember.  I could be wrong, but I recall when the TRs are selected, the engines spool up and stay at a certain rpm until they are deselected.  It sounds like you have yours modeled so that they spool up and continuously reduce while selected.  Pretty cool!

I also asked Eddie if there was any other time that the TRs were used and the answer is never, other than during touchdowns.  As we know, there is a small window that they are allowed to work.  They are locked out in flight and you can only use them on the ground above 40 KIAS.

On the hardware side of the fence, I have looked into adding them to the TQ modules with real parts and can't find a viable solution because the reverser linkage points moves in a very odd way. (elliptical and ends up close to where they started)   And my TQ replica modules (like what you have Jason) would require a complete redesign in the levers, something along the lines of what Mark L. did back in the day.

Bottom line is I agree, what we have works very well and I can not imagine a scenario that I wished we had variable thrust reverse.  Even if I had it available, I could not imagine using it.  After all, the goal after landing is to slow the plane down as quickly as possible and get off the runway.

Terry, your situation is different being that you already have the TR pots installed.  You have them, you might as well use them.  No matter the case, we all need two Leo Bodnar cards (or similar cards with 8 axis each) to operate all the pots.  Eleven pots for most of us without the TR reverse pots, thirteen for guys like you with Mark L's TQ modules.  So no extra expense on pot cards.

As Jason mentioned, FSUIPC provides TR axis so we can simulate variable reversers if you have the pots.  The other thing worth mentioning is there is no reason why you could not make this work in your build because assigning the pots to the Leo Bodnar cards is one of the only setup task that will be handled by the end user.  Pots assignments and set up for the Leo Bodnar cards (or similar) is not something that will be built into the Jet45 software.  So there is no reason why you can't make this work in your sim!