Homemade Gear Lever
This is the commercial gear lever that the homemade version is modelled on. I saw it at a flightsim show but I considered it much too expensive and certainly not good value for money.
Step 1 - Draw the proposed shape of the cutout.
Step 2 - With the two sides of the housing clamped together cut out the shape - not 100% perfect but functional.
There are three gear position slots - UP, DOWN and Centred.
The assembled works behind the flightdeck monitors. I prefer this type of micro switch to the one used above.
The wires go to the I/O board connected to the Hagstrom Electronics KE-USB36 keyboard emulator.
The lever as shown is in the GEAR DOWN position. When raised to the UP position slot it impacts the lever on the micro switch which is pre-programmed to emulate the keyboard "G" key.
The guts - not pretty but it works. For Gear UP or DOWN pull the gear lever outwards against the force of the spring and then push it up or down into the gear position retaining slots. I was surprised at the strength of a spring this size.
The gear lever itself is made from an old snooker cue. It slides through a hollowed out piece of the cue that swivels up and down as required. The hollowed out piece is the black thingy just north of the spring - black insulating tape covers it.
Inside the flight deck the lever has a plastic handle around it which aids grip.