Pico Throttle
By Rob Zwetsloot. Posted
Leo emailed us early in April to show off his throttle lever that he’d made out of Easter egg boxes (and a lot of hot glue). It’s an ingeniously simple construction – a Raspberry Pi Pico measures a potentiometer, which is attached to a cardboard handle on a little rod so it can turn. Using HID code with CircuitPython, he can then send an analogue signal to his PC as a control axis – perfect for flight sims or Elite Dangerous. It also features a digital button on the back of the throttle to set maximum reverse thrust for when you move the lever beyond the idle position.
Advertisement
Get started with Raspberry Pi – everything you need to know to start your journey!
“I’ve often had the occasional flight on my grandad’s copy of Flight Simulator X when I visit him, but I purchased X-Plane 12 after Christmas, so I’ve been using it regularly for about three months.” Leo tells us about what inspired him. “[The throttle is] reasonably rigid. There’s some flex in the lever side-to-side, so the plate that pushes the reverser button has to be a bit wider, but the box and paper-tube pivot is solid enough. It is, however, very light and likes to move around the desk.”
Rob is amazing. He’s also the Features Editor of Raspberry Pi Official Magazine, a hobbyist maker, cosplayer, comic book writer, and extremely modest.
Subscribe to Raspberry Pi Official Magazine
Save up to 37% off the cover price and get a FREE Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W with a subscription to Raspberry Pi Official Magazine.
More articles
Get started with Raspberry Pi in Raspberry Pi Official Magazine 161
There’s loads going on in this issue: first of all, how about using a capacitive touch board and Raspberry Pi 5 to turn a quilt into an input device? Nicola King shows you how. If you’re more into sawing and drilling than needlework, Jo Hinchliffe has built an underwater rover out of plastic piping and […]
Read more →
Win one of three DreamHAT+ radars!
That’s right, an actual working radar for your Raspberry Pi. We reviewed it a few months ago and have since been amazed at some of the projects that have used it, like last month’s motion sensor from the movie Aliens. Sound good? Well we have a few to give away, and you can enter below. […]
Read more →
RP2350 Pico W5 review
It’s Raspberry Pi Pico 2, but with a lot more memory
Read more →