Spinner problems...

[Hammerbot]

I built a spinner from a hacked Memorex mouse.
I have messed with the analog sensitivity and key/joy setting. I have also changed the mouse sensitivity in the control panel.

The problem is that I can't get the spinner to be sensitive enough to be useful.

It takes at least 3 full revolutions to cross the screen in Arkanoid.

Short of re-building with a 6" encoder wheel, does anyone have a suggestion for increasing the sensitivity?

[Zeitgeist]

Have you set the sensitivity in the game configuration menu?
If not try this:
While in Arkanoid, hit your TAB key, select "Analog Controls" then "Dial Sensitivity" & increase the setting to about 70 or so & it should work fine after that.
Differrent sensitivity settings work better for different games.
Other than that, the only thing that would help is more spokes on your encoder & that would mean a much larger diameter as you have already deduced.
AAMOF I have to do this with mine to make these games playable & as you can see below the encoder wheel is much larger.
Gooluck!
z

BTW, nice bit of machine work there.
Mine are not quite so high tech.

[Hammerbot]

Yeah, I messed with all those settings.

I cranked the sensitivity up to 255% which I believe is the max.

Any other thoughts?

[Lilwolf]

Whats your windows settings?  You might want to pump them up there.

Also, you can order an encoder wheel from Oscar.  That will probably solve all your problems there.  

But you have the opposite problem as most mouse hacks (right??).  I hear of more skipping problems and rollbacks.  I've never heard anyone who couldn't get the sensitivity up enought.

[Zeitgeist]

Sorry, guess I didn't read your post that well.  
A larger diameter wheel with more spokes would be your answer then.
I agree with Lilwolf that the Oscar encoder wheels are a good choice.
His are 3.7" dia with 66 spokes if I'm not mistaken.
You could also build your own as I did since you apparantly have access to some nice equipment.
Trying to keep as small a footprint as possible, I built mine to 3" dia with 64 spokes & at a sensitivity of 70 in Arkanoid it takes one full revolution of the spinner to cross the playfield wall to wall.
you could also devise some kind of differential to go between your shaft & the mouse encoder wheel shaft.
Perhaps move the mouse back a bit & add a rubber wheel to the metal shaft that would spin the encoder wheel shaft.  
Sort of like your mouse ball did against the shaft before you hacked it...
Hope this helps.

[Hammerbot]

I will probably build the bigger encoder wheel.

I might try a different mouse if i can find an extra or cheap one around.

I was just hoping that I was missing something obvious.

Thanks.

[Zeitgeist]

Might I suggest a Kensington VaulMouse USB.
The are very hackable & don't take up much room at all.
I use them for Trackball interfaces as well as for spinners.
For trackballs, I remove the optics from the mouse & use the trackball's optics.
For the spinners I use the original mouse optics but I relocate them using a small breadboard & 5 leads.
You can find them e-tail for about 8$ each shipped.
I picked up 5 for $14.99 on Ebay a while back.
Pic available.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2752082721&category=23156

[Hammerbot]

Can you post me a picture of your setup?

If those mice work well I think I'll give them a try.

Let me ask you this, I was going to put a switch to run a relay to isolate the spinner and the trackball. So only one inputs at a time so I don't bump one while using the other.

I figured it wouldn't be a problem with PS/2 interface. I would just run the 4 wires into a 2 position 4 pole relay and snap it back and fourth.

 With USB is it going to "Identify new hardware" everytime I switch it over?

What triggers the usb to identify the new hardware?

So many questions, so few hours at work to sluff off...

[Zeitgeist]

Here are some pics of the USB Trackball interface but you can also check out my full tutorial at:
http://www.arcadecontrols.com/files/Miscellaneous/Mouse_to_Trackball_Instructions.pdf

I used a PS2 mouse in the tutorial, but it works the same.
+5v Ground, Optical signals, etc...

I'll have to put something together for the spinner as I only have the pic that I already posted at this time.

As far as the switching of devices goes, I would use a switch to interup the +5v to the optics on the device you do not wish to use.
However, if the controls are not close to one another I would not bother.
Still if you choose to do so, it would be a simple trick similar to the one Oscar used on his interface switching idea.
This would stop the potential re-recognizing issue if you were using two seperate interfaces (one for the trackball & one for the spinner).
It would even be possible to have both the spinner & the trackball use the same interface - alas, a new project!
Clear as mud?
Let me know if you need any tips or a better explination.
Now where did I put my trusty 3DBB???

[Hammerbot]

  I screwed around with this some more and realized I hacked the wrong axis.

It was picking up some movement from the wrong axis somehow.

Looks like I need a re-build.

Thanks for the help...

[Lilwolf]

change the axis... you shouldn't have any problems doing that.

Your hack looks great... if it's working don't mess with it... change the configuration!