Yea, the centering thing is what I need to try in practice too. It sort of is a "poor mans trimming" to just pull the yoke to a position, although it would naturally be best if the thing centered, and one could adjust the centering point with the trim. But it doesnt sound trivial to do. But we'll think about that for the aviation club sim anyway - lets see if there is a solution we come up with. For now it will be non-centering though.
The dampeners are both-ways. The fitness stepper thing I also have does indeed have those one-way ones. They are also big.
But get the smallest (and cheapest) one you can find from the car parts shop. Also you might check if motorbikes or scooters have smaller ones.. Those likely work both ways.
Speaking of cars, car rear brakes have springs too if one needs them, and there usually are "spring and fastener kits" available if you need to change the brake pads, and those are not expensive. Just need to see if any of those are suitable. Usually there are maybe four springs - two of each the same size.
And since we touched the subject of springs, another good spring source might be music instrument shops - electric guitars have the "bender" that holds the strings in tune with a few strong springs, those might be useful for something like a yoke too. And they are not very expensive, I saw a set of 5 springs for 7 euros somewhere.
Tuomas
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