Rudder Pedals Dimensions

[RogerH]

Hi all,

I have finally got to the stage where I'm building rudder pedals.

I've found lots of information online about 737 pedals, but not one drawing of 747 pedals with any kind of meaningful dimensions.

So, 2 questions:

1) Does anyone know if the 747 uses the same pedals as the 737? They look very similar, so I'm hopeful.

2) I still need 2 dimensions:

a) The vertical distance from the footplate (where your heels slide) to the pedal.

b) The angle of the pedal at rest. Not the arm, but the actual pedal - I can see from photos that it's angled forwards, but I'm guessing the angle was designed, not just a "that looks about right" decision - so I'd kinda like to get it right.

Cheers all,

Roger.

[GodAtum]

Hi Roger, I'll got some FDS 747 rudder pedals I can measure for you.

[RogerH]

Thanks :-)

Edit: Further research is suggesting they are indeed the same, including this eBay listing

https://www.ebay.com/itm/223953209567

This would put the dimension from the floor plate to the bottom of the pedals at 135mm according to the only drawing I've found with this dimension.

Also still need the at-rest angle of the actual pedal itself from vertical.

I'm hoping Godatum, or any other kindly cockpit-builder out there can check this for me - the height seems kinda low?

Cheers,

Roger.

[GodAtum]

Hi Roger,

The angle is 60 degress.

And 9cm from the bottom of the pedal to the floorplate.

Some pics: https://imgur.com/a/GuBUlPn

[RogerH]

Thanks a lot Godatum!

[RogerH]

Just in case anyone also building is reading this, and to illiutrate the builder's dilemma - here is a drawing I found yesterday:



I loaded it into my favourite cad software, sized it properly and checked all the given measurements against each other to ensure the drawing wasn't stretched or distorted and then used the 'dimension' function of the cad to measure other stuff.

The angle of the pedal is just 10* from vertical (or 80* in Godatum's measurement fashion) and the bottom of the pedal is about 135mm from the footplate - significantly more than 9cm.

The pedal looks too 'vertical' to me, from browsing hundreds of photos of 737/747 pedals online, but the 135mm looks more like it.

Yours,

Confused of Pevensey Bay!

P.S. no offence Godatum - I'm very grateful for the information you sent - just frustrated because I was hoping it would confirm the measurements I'd tentatively decided to 'go with', Lol!!


Edit: Thanks again to Hoppie for providing a method to attach images and files to our posts!

[cavaricooper]

I loaded it into my favourite cad software, sized it properly and checked all the given measurements against each other to ensure the drawing wasn't stretched or distorted and then used the 'dimension' function of the cad to measure other stuff.

Roger-

Sorry for the small segway, but that looks suspiciously like SketchUp... is it?  I use it all the time and am amazed at how capable it is.

C

[RogerH]

Hiya cavaricooper - no, the drawing was just something I got off the internet, so I'm not sure how it was produced.

My CAD program is a very old one called ModelCAD 3000. It was originally produced for RC modellers to draw designs and has some useful features for that like calculating areas, C of G etc. But I don't know how to use those bits!

I started using it because it was free, of course :-) But now I'm so used to it that I can't get used to anything else and it still does exactly what I want it to. it will output DesignDCAd files so can be used for plotters/routers etc. Unfortunately it doesn't work in Windows 10, but I have a Win7 system anyway (yes I know I should upgrade, really must get around to it...)

I used Sketchup for a while but found it was too much for me and I didn't need everything it does. I guess I'm a 2d thinker...  :-)

Cheers,

Roger.