A while back, I found myself thinking I would like a more realistic flight simulation experience. I have no clue what brought this about (aside from that more realistic is better), but it seemed it must be easy enough to put in a few potentiometers and servos and turn old airplane instruments and controls into new flight simulator instruments and controls (and I think finding some old radios on eBay while looking for a handheld Nav/Com helped), and thus the idea was born.
Last night I took the three instruments I so far have and my radio to the Badger Aviators ground school last night. Disassembling the altimeter with the various students there was fun, but I remained unable to get the VSI or RoTI apart. After putting the altimeter back together I took them to the auto shop in ECB with a friend of mine (Ethan) and we drilled out the screws I was unable to unscrew. The VSI took a long time to get apart (I suspect something got distorted while I/Ethan was trying to dismantle it) and I accidentally broke the diaphragm while messing with the guts. We got the face off the RoTI, but stopped there. I've been promising pictures, but they're still not here. They'll be here eventually. They're all date-stamped, so the right ones will still go to the right places.
I spent some time with the altimeter earlier this week. I am able to get everything off until the hands (which prevent the face of it from coming off so I can get at the guts). I have no idea how they're held on; the closest thing I have to a manual states I need some sort of 'Pointer replacement tool,' but I have no idea what that might be, and the Internet it seems knows no better. It's also definitely completely broken; I reset the hands to 900' at a reasonable pressure setting (again, I didn't look up what it actually was) and it's read the same all week.
I haven't spent any more time with the radio; I plan to take it to my dad's this weekend where hopefully I'll be able to get the setscrews off the knobs and the DME switch, which should allow me to take the face off and get better access to the rotation shafts that drive it.
The VSI and Inclinometer I ordered finally showed up yesterday, despite the tracking information saying I should expect them Monday. The inclinometer is a bit gross, with a few bug (well, Entomology 201 has taught me they're not true bugs [which belong to the order Hemiptera, of the insects]) carcasses in it, but the VSI is clean aside from what looks like dust. Those should be fun to tear apart, and rather easy to make work. Not sure how I'll deal with the ball; I'm thinking of mounting the instrument such that it can rotate slightly. I also ordered a VOR/ILS indicator. It was listed on eBay for Buy it Now $49.95 from Flying Fish, but I offered $30 and they accepted! That should be lots of fun when it gets here. I might not even need to put any servos in it!
A while back I bought an old radio (claims to be from an MD80) on eBay for around $30. The Com and Nav sides are backwards (Com is on the right), but it's in good shape and the frequencies don't overlap so I don't care. Last weekend I took the case apart and started tearing wires out--I was hoping to end up with a functional radio being my sim radio, but the wires get in the way way too much. Given that all the shafts are concentric all the way back, it looks like putting pots in this thing will be more complicated than I had thought, but I'll still be able to do it. Last Wednesday I managed to buy a Vertical Speed indicator and a Rate of Turn Indicator/Turn Coordinator on eBay (which I expect to show up today!) for a combined $39, including shipping. Sadly, the seller didn't offer to combine shipping. Yesterday on a flyout to a pig roast in HXF, I scored an almost completely broken altimeter from a friend of mine for $10. The 1000' and 10000' hands spin freely, but the 100' hand still responds to the pressure setting knob (and, I think, pressure changes), though in my apartment this morning set to 29.92 (the correct setting was 29.85) it read 405'.