Materials

The materials for the pedals are mostly odds and ends I found in the garage. It's a good thing I don't clean very often.

If you, on the other hand, are fastidious and neat, all you'll have to buy is a pair of door hinges, several 1/4 inch bolts and nuts, a small amount of 3/4 inch wood and some 1/8" nylon cord.

CAVEAT: I am nowhere near done with this part of SimpleSim. What you see here are pictures of a proof of concept prototype. There will certainly be changes and I may re-work the whole thing from the ground up.

Basic Concept

The pedals individually pivot on a door hinge. They are linked by nylon cord that wraps around a pulley. The pulley is hidden by the rectangular block of wood at the edge of the Simple Sim base. The lower edges of the pedals are cut on a circular arc so the cord sees a constant mechanical advantage as the pedal pivots, and so the cable stays centered in the pulley groove. 

The pulley is made of wood scrap, a pair of hole centers that result from using a "fly hole cutter" in a drill press. The hole cutter leaves a beveled edge on the center scrap. I glued two pieces together to form a groove on the edge. I'll probably replace it on the next version because it SQUEAKS.

The nylon cord on the outer sides of each pedal connect to a small bungee cord, (the red cord). This provides a small amount of centered force for the pedals. It's mostly of value for keeping tension on the center cord so it doesn't fall out of the pulley groove.

Here's a shot of one of the pedals. The bar at the top has to be taken off so the pedal assembly can be removed from the sim base.

What's Next?

The biggest piece that's missing is the linkage to the control electronics. I'll probably continue with the cable activated rotary pot idea. We'll see.

It's possible that I'm not as smart as I think I am. (Occasionally, I have moments when I know this to be true. Fortunately the feeling passes quickly.) Although I have tried to make this information as accurate as I can, it is not only possible, but also quite likely, that errors lurk within. I cannot and do not warrant these pages to be error free and correct. Further I accept no liability for the use of this information (or misinformation). If, after reading this, you are still interested, please be aware that the contents of this site are protected by copyright (copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 by John M. Powell). Nonetheless, you may copy this material subject to these three conditions: (1) the copyright notice is copied and presented along with the material, (2) the copy is used for non-commercial purposes, and (3) the source of the material is properly credited. And of course, you may link to this page.