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A DIY push-pull spinner

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Mysterioii:
Jeez, pay 50 cents for one and experiment.  For one thing, the pivot point isn't where actuation of the switch actually takes place, there will be a little nub under the lever arm (approximately where you drew your blue line) just like the nub on the regular switches in buttons and joysticks... the lever pivots at the corner but presses down on the nub.  All the ones I've ever encountered are usually adjusted so the lever is already resting on the nub... you barely have to press them at all to get them to actuate.

When you bend it, you can bend it to the left of the nub (left and right being ambiguous, but I'm speaking in reference to the drawing)...  adjust is such that there is already pressure on the nub, just on the threshold of actuating.  Then you'll barely have to depress the roller regardless of how long the arm is.

Xiaou2:
The original design is far better...   but its also not so easy to produce.

 Try this:  A simple 4" diameter cylinder, connected to the main shaft.   Maybe some toy wheel or roller, which has a perfectly centered hole already on it.

 Use a laser mouse to read both X and Y values, by placing it close to the side of the cylinder (not the top or bottom)  de-cased if possible.  A decent one, which can read a few mm even when lifted off of a flat surface.  Logitec versions can adjust DPI sensitivity pretty easily.  Im pretty sure mame allows mouse input for the vertical axis on DOT. 

 If not, you can just use the X axis for the mouse, and add switches for the Y.  However, Id recommend Leaf switches, as they can be adjusted to react far easier and quicker, are far more durable (wont wear like a plastic micro-switch actuator... and even the smaller roller switches are not that smooth, nor long lasting)  ,and you do not have to overcome that click-pressure threshold before activation.

 In Aiming levels, aiming should be quick and smooth/fluid.  Its hard enough with the real controller, which has almost no frictional changes when pull / pushed + spinning.

 The alternative, could be to use a regular spinner... but use a foot-pedal setup to control height changes.

pinballjim:
Yeah, Xiaou's got a good point there.  If you use an optical mouse you can get X and Y inputs.  I did it myself with some washers, nuts, and a carriage bolt.  Spinning the bolt got you X by rotating the washers in front of the sensor.  Lifting it up and down got you a Y.

PL1:
Mysterioii -- I'm not crapping on your idea, just mentioning that arm length can change the travel distance, since they are available in different lengths.

One like this is what I was thinking about.




Scott

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