My Saitek FFB yoke. a WIP

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It’s great to hear that — thank you!

I actually built my yoke based on your idea and largely thanks to this thread. I started with a rather stiff, non-force-feedback Saitek Pro Flight Cessna Yoke System and combined it with the mechanism and electronics from a Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback 2.

Your idea is genuinely excellent, so a special thank-you for documenting your build in detail and making the materials publicly available. Without this thread, I probably would never have started a project like this.

I cannot afford flight controls costing around $2,000 either. That is exactly why I first started modifying the yoke myself and later began developing YokeForge.

I tried several existing applications, including XPForce and AirPlayer, but none of them provided the behavior I wanted from my DIY yoke. Most of them offered only a limited selection of effects, but my biggest problem was their interaction with the autopilot—or, more precisely, the lack of actual physical yoke movement following the simulator’s autopilot. Perhaps it works differently with other hardware, but I could not get it working on my system.

AirPlayer has also been abandoned for a long time, while XPForce requires payment, and I was unable to contact its developer or receive any support.

The idea of adding force feedback to Saitek pedals has also been in the back of my mind for quite a while. If you publish your new project and allow others to use your design, I would be very interested in trying to build it for my own pedals.

After I finish the main features currently planned for YokeForge, I may try adding support for FFB rudder pedals as well. However, I do not want to promise anything yet—there are plenty of ideas, but as usual, not enough free time. The pedals would also most likely require their own effect logic, calibration process, and safety protections.

I also wanted to ask you, as the author of this thread: would you mind if I occasionally posted information here about major YokeForge updates? I would not post every minor fix—only substantial updates that could be genuinely useful to owners of similar DIY FFB yokes based on the SideWinder FFB2.

Once again, thank you for your original design and for sharing it with the community.

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I wouldn’t mind at all, and I’m glad you found the build helpful. I did actually convert my Saitek Combat pedals to FFB. I didn’t use FFB hardware, just a XD-60GA775 motor, an Uno, and a 12v power brick. Then used Mobiflight and selected airflow info for the forces. Then did a test with 50MPH crosswinds. What a ride. It would also follow the AP because of the airflow data moving them. The only issue was that the little DC motor was loud. I’m not using the Saitek pedals for this new build but it can be converted over pretty easily. This build will be using the OpenFFBoard control hardware so it will support DirectInput. Then you’re software should be able to support it with minimal effort. The goal is to have a high level, easy to make DIY solution that can be built for under $500.

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Thank you — that sounds like a very interesting project, and I will definitely follow your build.

Using OpenFFBoard with DirectInput should make integration with YokeForge much more realistic. However, I would still need to see how the finished device exposes its axes, supported force-feedback effects, calibration ranges, and safety limits before I could estimate how much software work would be required.

I may not be able to reproduce the complete hardware build exactly, because the availability and cost of some controllers, motors, drivers, and mechanical parts can vary significantly. Once you publish the drawings and bill of materials, I will study them and see whether I can build the same design or use suitable alternatives.

Even if I cannot reproduce the exact hardware, software compatibility may still be possible with your help through device information, logs, test results, and experimental YokeForge builds.

I am genuinely interested in the idea, but I do not want to promise pedal support or a schedule yet. I still have several planned YokeForge features to finish, and FFB pedals will probably require their own effect logic, calibration, travel protection, and safety testing.

A practical DIY DirectInput solution for under $500 would be very valuable, so I am looking forward to seeing how your project develops.

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Thank you again for allowing me to post YokeForge updates here.

To avoid cluttering this thread with software updates, I decided to create a separate YokeForge thread and keep this one focused on the original DIY FFB yoke project.

YokeForge has now reached version 0.1.7.

Further updates and discussion will be here:

And once again, thank you for sharing your original yoke project — it was a major inspiration for my build and for YokeForge.