3d Printed Boeing 737 Roll Channel Controls Are in Early Access!

Hello all, on this fine Friday morning here in Brunei. It's 0355 hrs, and I have been designing the new dual controls for over 14 hours. I have received 23 emails saying thank you for keeping the 3d printed roll channel and not ditching it for the new more expensive metal gear system. I appreciate that some of you have gone out and bought a 3d printer to create my designs.

This is a hobby for me, and I am very humbled with every comment. This website was set up to help those get the parts/semi-realistic parts or the best I can produce with my skill set. I am still learning in so many disciplines. CAD is a massive learning curve even when you think you have gone from Nobb to Novice, Novice to an Amateur.

In 3 months, 632 revisions, 11 rolls of PLA! I actually thought this design was going to beat me. I have gone from CNC wood cut parts to plastic parts and pure desperation at times. Nothing seemed to work. Then slowly, through sheer persistence, the roll channel came to life.

This was not helped with initially having one 3d printer with a 0.4mm nozzle producing parts the size of my hand at 100% infill. We all now know that a bigger nozzle for large parts is much better, I currently have one ender 3 with a 0.8mm nozzle and another with a 0.6mm nozzle. These produce a roll channel part on average every 2 hours. Prototyping has gone from days/weeks to literally hours. The quality really doesn't matter on the roll channel components, there under the floor and they are huge, but from 30 cm away they look fantastic.

Let me introduce you to my Boeing 737 Dual Yoke roll channel fully 3d printed system. It works, it's tested, and I love it!

I'll state right now, I have no idea how long these gears will last, but they are so strong due to there size. Smoother operation is achieved by using a finer nozzle. 0.4mm max at 100 % infill. This takes time and is a pain in the bum. Just remember if you fly for a few months constantly and they wear out, reprint. The tighter the gears, the less play in the system. This is critical, especially as the controls are designed for a hall sensor instead of a pot.

Here is a gallery of the files:

Each part can be 3d printed and edited to suit your needs. (less hardware which can be found/listed from the fusion Browser on the left - This includes nuts/bolts/bearing etc.) I have already issued the metal framework plans for free. These are designed around using 3mm thick, 38mm square stock steel. This design is in early access because I currently have not produced individual STL files. But as you saw in my last video, this system is now fully operational. I highly recommend you only download this file if you want cheap dual controls and can use fusion 360 to adapt the parts to your PVC pipes and shafts. I can help the odd person achieve their design, but I soon get overwhelmed with the sheer amount of requests. I don't want to put you off. But there is a much more detailed design coming for metal gears with automatic adjusting parts for different diameter pipes. I think I have taken this new design to a whole new level, but at the cost of expensive. If you are interested in catching up and using these plans, they are in the shop and can be found here:

https://www.737diysim.com/product-page/boeing-737-3d-printed-full-roll-channel-cad-design

This design is now on for £6.58. (Which works out at just over £2 a month in R&D) I really hope most of you can afford this if you need these parts. Dual controls are a must if you want to share that flight sim experience. I don't think anywhere else on the net has anything like this yet!

The Pitch controls are coming soon, and they look and operate very similar to the single yoke control setup.

Let me know your thoughts as always, Kind Regards Karl & Helen