Rcnut51 said:
I'm not sure you understand, this is like a electric car but an airplane, it stays grounded just driving it around the driveway,
Ah. Didnt' sound that way from the first post.
so I need 2 controllers but 1 throttle wired into both controllers? Or 1 throttle per 1 controller then just mount both throttles next to each other to operate simultaneously?
That depends on what you want it to do, and how complex you are willing to go in building it, for the most simplistic operation by the "pilot'.
Presumably the hubmotors are one per wheel, on each side of the "wing landing gear"? And this won't be able to go fast enough to allow a rudder to steer via airflow?
If so, then if you want to be able to steer it, you either need to be able to pivot the centerline gear (tail or nose) via the mechanical controls (possibly mechanically complex), or you need to be able to separately control the speed of each wheel motor.
One throttle can do that, if you also have an offset control built into the steering control. For instance, a potentiometer wired so it's center pin receives the throttle signal from the single throttle (which would be the "speed control"), and then one outer pin goes to the throttle input of one controller, and the other outer pin goes to the other controller's throttle input. That should cause a lower voltage to the one with more resistance, whichever one the potentiometer is turned "away" from. Depending on the controller design it might take more parts than this, but if there is sufficient change in the (tiny) current flow because of the resistance in the throttle signal, it could be enough to cause turning. Easy enough to test. Probably a 10kohm or 20kohm potentiometer (pot) would work; experimentation might be required.
(if a more complex circuit is needed, it may be easier to just use independent throttles).
Independent throttles for each motor would allow steering easily, and if you wish you could create a mechanical steering control like a pilot's steering column that when pushed forward just moves both throttles the same, and when the "steering wheel" is turned it changes the amount each throttle is moved. Mechanically, that might be complex; I've no quick ideas on how to design that.
Would be easier to design just using two separate throttle controls as if they were on an actual plane, but that would be harder to use to steer with.
The easiest to use would be to have the steering column push forward to increase speed, by simply having it pull a cable-operated throttle's cable; you can control the amount of cable pull by where the cable attaches to the column above the pivot, so that it gives the right ratio of pull to throttle movement.
Then that single throttle output would go to that potentiometer voltage divider as previously described, which would be physically controled by turning the "wheel" at the top of the column. (or using the rudder pedals, if you have those). That can be a simple direct control, literally mounting the wheel as a giant "knob" on the pot shaft.
Alternately, if using the cable operated throttle, you might use two of them, one for each controller. The cables would be fixed to the ends of a pivoting bar, with the pivot attached to the base of the control column, at whatever point gives half the total amount of cable pull when steering is centered and column is pushed all the way forward.
That pivoting bar is then connected (via cables? rods?) to the steering wheel at the top of the column so that as the wheel is turned, it pulls one of the throttles more than the other, causing steering.
Experimentation would probably be needed to get the right ratios of steering to speed to cable travel, etc.
A trimpot can be installed on each controller's throttle input as a voltage divider to "tune" each one's response to be even, if necessary, and also so you can limit the total system speed by turning them down if needed. It would be wired so the center pin goes to the controllers' throttle input, one outside pin to ground, and the other outside pin to the throttle signal coming from your control system.