360degree Optic Steering wheel to 270 degree

[matt]

I am building a MAME driving cabinet, I am contimplating using a 360 optical steering wheel similar to most of the original coin-op games, I know some of the newer cpu games use 270 potentiometer wheels, First off does anyone no how many coin-op MAME games used 270 degree pot wheels, if any? Can I use a 360 optic wheel on those games, by setting them up as a spinner or mouse? How about building a steering wheel (I have plans OSCAR let me use on his, using the OSCAR optic boards etc..) with removable mechanical stops to make it a limited optical wheel that only turns 270 degrees, could this be adjusted through most games setup? Any help would be appreciated, sorry if a post has already been done on this as I searched but couldn't find this particular question. Thanks Matt

[grafixmonkey]

I believe Mame will use a 360-wheel in 260-wheel games just fine, the only problem is it will not center itself properly.  There was an elaborate and diabolical (and therefore extremely cool) plan to make a steering wheel that could switch between 360 and 270 by pulling a pin and shifting the steering shaft in or out a few inches.  It's probably severely buried in months and months of posts by now.  Maybe the guy who made it will see us and jump in.

I do know you won't have luck just forcing the wheel to auto-center while keeping the rotary interface.  The wheel / software / whatever will skip a beat occasionally, especially if you turn it fast in one direction and not another, and you'll end up centering to the wrong value like your wheels are not aligned.

[eightbit]

As far as I know you can use a 360' wheel in every game that supported a 270' wheel. Though a optical 270' has several issues as mentioned above. 2 wheels or a swappable wheel would be a lot easier and probably work much better than a single wheel that did both.

[u_rebelscum]

Here's an old page (0.62) on num 360 vs num 270.  A few more 270 game have been added since then, not sure about 360.

In general:
older top or 3/4 view full-track-on-screen = 270, and
newer, "behind the wheel" = 360.

Of course there are exceptions; one such example: pole position is a "behind the wheel" game with 360s.

[Xiaou2]

 A somewhat crewd example design of 360 + 270...




 im pretty sure that something like this can be accomplished and shouldnt be too hard to produce.

[Generic Eric]

Ok...I am right on track with what you are showing in the drawing.  What is the best way to mount the springs considering that you want the limit bar to return to center, not just bounce off the bar.

Ok, well I thought about it.  I grabbed a skoal can and taped a pencil to the back and came up with some ideas.  Nothing solid enough to generate a drawing though.  

But now that I have thought about it, if there is a pot at the end, should there be any reason to return to the center?

[Generic Eric]

Check out this link for some info on building a wheel.

What I want to know is if anyone is ballsy enough to crack open there favorite console wheel to try to intergrate its cuts?  

[Xiaou2]

 well, the pot dosnt limit the motion and would be destroyed if you turned it too far.

 If anyone dosnt get the drawing (details are pretty poorly drawn)..  the 360 degree optical wheel is always connected.. youd need to disable the optic via a switch or software wise (dont enable optic control).

 The pot section is mounted to a seperate sliding platform.  The platform slides to link up with the main drive shaft for pot operation... or away from it so to free-spin.
 
 Youd need to devise a slide and lock mechanism... so that you can slide it from the outside into place.  Shouldnt be too hard.  

  As for the spring return.. you sould drill a few holes in the limitbar, and stick the spring thru it.. then mount the spring to the base.   Tho... i think there might be better ways to build the limiting system.

 Spyhunter uses an interesting metal plate with two metal post attached to it which have rubber surrounds on them.  THey hit a metal stopper bump thats in the center.  The 2 springs are mounted to the upper corners of the metal place.

 As for hacking a comercial wheel... I actually opened a microsoft feedback wheel! : o   Unbelieveable... i actually got it back together - but it took a lot of time and effort, and almost couldnt do it.   It wasnt hack friendly - so I do Not recomend this one for hacking.  It used a special optical centering sensor if memory serves me right - and wouldnt be easy to recreate the mountings for all of it - as well as all the other mounting mods that would be needed.

 Other wheels are probably much more hackable.

 The other idea for this design would be an additional sliding platform the moves both platfoms via a motor - for outrun wheel shake.

[matt]

 After checking the page with all the MAME games that can use a 270 degree pot wheel and the amount that use a free spinning optical wheel its apparent I will need both, I want my cabinet to look great as well, I liked the great idea of a wheel that does both in your sketch but was worried about engaging the coupler and holding the two units together without getting inside the cabinet, I could have used a Lovejoy spider coupler like they use on motors to pumps but after thinking about that great sketch I came up with another idea variation, like building 1 shaft for optical and another under it for the 270 degree pot wheel, simply use a racecars real removable steering wheel hub that you simply pull a small knob on the adapter the wheel fastens too and snap it on the other shaft. Speedway racing sells the hub with adapter shaft for about 18 bucks and another shaft for 12 bucks, they can use most any wheel with them (they shaft gets welded to the steering shaft end) they also have 13 1/2" diameter wheels starting at 29 bucks as well. I am going to use the setup similar to the one at http://www.monmouth.com/~lw4750/index.html
for the 270 degree wheel and the other off the plans I got from OSCAR. They will only be about 1 5/8" apart from center to center, one being on top the other. The OSCAR plans use a standard 1 5/8" electrical handy box to support the bearing assembly and it could be used on the 270 degree wheel as well placing them at only 1 5/8" apart. Maybe I can have the best of both worlds and be rugged and professional looking, Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

[Generic Eric]

Any updates?

Thanks

[matt]

I am waiting for a new computer to go in the cabinet I built, which is the end of this week, other than that its all done and I will have pics to post then. So far everything has worked out well. Catch you soon