Hey everyone, I was thinking about using an Arduino Uno or Arduino Mega to create a custom Kerbal Space Program or Elite Dangerous control board, maybe I could make it work for both :D.
My first step is trying to figure out what kind of hardware there is out there and what I can use specifically for the throttle control. I was hoping to create something like this, but for a whole lot cheaper, and I would only need a single throttle control instead of multiple as shown here. I already have the Arduino units so I wouldn't have to include that in the price. I would probably add a other switches and buttons for various things like staging and custom action groups. And I would plan on running a separate joystick for flying.
Any suggestions for hardware or pointers in general would be greatly appreciated.
Hi,
Welcome to the forum.
Please read the first post in any forum entitled how to use this forum.
http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php/topic,148850.0.html then look down to item #7 about how to post your code.
Please post links to what you refering to, you have to assume that forum members do not necessarily know what hardware or software you are talking about.
Thanks.. Tom... 
Your controller probably needs to be a USB HID (human interface device) to work. There is a way to make an Uno into one, documented on the Arduino site but I've never done it. It involves reprogramming the Uno USB chip.
I have USB/AVR chip Arduinos (mine are Arduino compatible Teensy's) that my sketches can change the USB mode on the fly without modding. Arduino Leonardo and Arduino Micro both use USB/AVR chips and can do the same. The Micro can be had pretty cheap, is small and has pins just right for sticking in breadboards or sliding female jumper wire ends on.
The throttle lever can turn a potentiometer or a magnet with linear Hall effect sensor over the center (Saitek sticks use that, they don't get dirted up like cheap pots over time). I've got 60mm linear sliders as well, another kind of pot, but forget where.
Buttons are a subject in themselves as are ways to run many off one controller.
You should probably break the project down to parts first and learn what it takes to make each work.