Hard Drivin' brake pedal

[Shrapnel]

Hi everyone! =)
I'm working on an original Hard Drivin' upright cabinet, but I found the brake pedal to be 'empty'. =(
In other words, there's nothing apart from the pedal itself and, from what I understood, there's a 'load cell' missing that should handle the analogue braking.

Since I haven't found any spare parts around, I was wondering if thins thingie:
http://www.robot-italy.com/it/force-sensing-resistor-0-2-circle.html
could do, but I'm not sure at all and I'd like further opinions. It's an Italian website (I'm from Italy, so...), but the item description is in English. =)

Can anybody help, please?
Thanks in advance!

[baritonomarchetto]

Hard drivin' upright (compact) brake is a simple microswitch, not a resistor. Take a look at the online manual. The sitdown (cockpit) version is different and uses a potentiometer. The piece you linked is likely to work on a Atari badlands cab.
If i remember well when you press the pedal the switch goes open (it's more than a year that i fixed mine).

Post a picture of the back side of your brake pedal.

[Xiaou2]

Hard drivin' upright (compact) brake is a simple microswitch, not a resistor. Take a look at the online manual. The sitdown (cockpit) version is different and uses a potentiometer. The piece you linked is likely to work on a Atari badlands cab.
If i remember well when you press the pedal the switch goes open (it's more than a year that i fixed mine).

Post a picture of the back side of your brake pedal.

 Im not sure about the standup...  however, the sitdown isnt a pot.  It has an actual pressure sensor on it.  I believe the brake sensor has far greater a range and accuracy, that a pot has.

 The gas is a pot.. and I think the Clutch is also a pot.

[Howard_Casto]

Well if that's true it's even more of an indication that the designers of the game had a screw loose.  If you want one pedal to have greater accuracy than the others, you want that to be the gas pedal.  It wouldn't surprise me at all though, because the Drivin' games are weird. 

[Xiaou2]

Well if that's true it's even more of an indication that the designers of the game had a screw loose.  If you want one pedal to have greater accuracy than the others, you want that to be the gas pedal.  It wouldn't surprise me at all though, because the Drivin' games are weird.

 Not really.

 Gas is fairly relative to the way that the engine limits acceleration.   This is why a lot of games can use digital gas, and get away with it.


 The brake however, is a completely different story.   The brake isnt limited by anything... so theres no delayed responses.
Much like the brake on your bicycle... you can press it a hair, giving a tiny amount of friction,  or really crunch it, for max stopping power.    Mechanically with cars.. you can press the pedal nearly to the floor.. and keep pressing really hard to exert massive amounts of hydraulic pressure.

 In many racing games that were in the arcade.. you barely ever used the brake.   The reason for this, was due to the games design.. which allowed for near full speed on turns... and low level of traffic.  Often an unrealistic drop in speed when simply letting off the gas.. with no real momentum factored in.

 In RD, you have to consider not only the g-forces, but also the weight and vector of that weight.   Even if you let off the gas... going 150 mph,  your not going to slow down like 50 mph in a seconds timeframe.. unlike a game like Outrun.

 Race Drivin uses a microswitch and a Strain Gauge.   The strain gauge is specially bonded to the pedal itself.
I believe it used the microswitch to start the process of checking the strain gauge.  Keeping any issues of de-calibration from accidentally slowing down your car... by ignoring any sensor readings until the pedal is pressed past the microswitch engagement.

see here:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/archive/index.php/t-235876.html
 

 - Furthermore... its hard to take your sharp words as nothing more than a troll..  or simply pure arrogant ignorance.
I dont believe you can hold a candle to developer  Jed Margolin’s  intellectual abilities, and actual accomplishments... let alone the others involved in HDs creation.

http://www.jmargolin.com/

[SavannahLion]

Bonded!? That must be a repair nightmare if it goes South.

[Howard_Casto]

Made the comment just to see X2 somehow defend using the more sensitive input device for the brake.  I wasn't disappointed.  Thanks for the smile. 

Really loved the bit where he calls me a troll and then insults my personal character and accomplishments out of the blue. 

I think I'm done sticking up for you... you just lost your last ally. 

[baritonomarchetto]

Well, strain gauge or not in the cockpit version, if the cab is a compact the brake is a simple microswitch, so the product he linked will have no use in his cabinet.

[Shrapnel]

Well, strain gauge or not in the cockpit version, if the cab is a compact the brake is a simple microswitch, so the product he linked will have no use in his cabinet.

This is curious, I checked on the manual that came with the machine and it talks about a strain gauge and not a microswitch. =P
Other than that, I talked to 2 guys who owned the machine before it came in my hands and they're both sure there wasn't a microswitch, but a "strange contraption, kind of a plastic tab" (their words, lol!).
Still, you're probably right, but I'll have to dig deeper into this. =P

[baritonomarchetto]

I have the machine too. It's a microswitch.

[Malenko]

I think I'm done sticking up for you... you just lost your last ally.

You are such a narcissist! JK welcome to the dark side, we have cookies.  I dont even acknowledge him in any thread involving hard drivin/race drivin /etc  helps me keep my sanity.

[Howard_Casto]

Anyone that can't admit that a machine cobbled together from old car parts and stuff lying around a junk pile welded together when it's supposed to go into mass production doesn't fit the definition of "weird" ...well.... I just don't know about them. 

It'd be one thing if I was talking about his mom or something, but it's just an inanimate object.  I'd send a pot of decaf if I thought it would help.

[Xiaou2]

Made the comment just to see X2 somehow defend using the more sensitive input device for the brake.  I wasn't disappointed.  Thanks for the smile. 

Really loved the bit where he calls me a troll and then insults my personal character and accomplishments out of the blue. 

I think I'm done sticking up for you... you just lost your last ally.

 You cant handle being wrong.   Face the facts.   Your post attitude is most always black and white, and abrasive.

 As for needing you to stick up for me... thanks for the chuckle.

 Its funny how these few people think that the world revolves around them.   

 There are many people whom do not post, whom have been kind, and appreciative of my posts, help, and designs.  Have sent me emails and PMs.   As well as many outside of this little box of BYOAC.

 Get off your high horse.

Anyone that can't admit that a machine cobbled together from old car parts and stuff lying around a junk pile welded together when it's supposed to go into mass production doesn't fit the definition of "weird" ...well.... I just don't know about them. 

It'd be one thing if I was talking about his mom or something, but it's just an inanimate object.  I'd send a pot of decaf if I thought it would help.

 Weird because they decided to use Nearly indestructible Customize parts, that better simulated the driving experience?  Rather than cheap-o generic crap that Happs made,  which looked & felt horrible, had reliability issues, and didnt offer as much control?  Yeah... thats weird alright!

 ...Especially in this age... where low standards, generic copy-cat production,  and under-achievement,  is the norm.

Bonded!? That must be a repair nightmare if it goes South.

 It would seem so.   However, I do not think Ive ever seen or heard of one actually going bad.  Id guess its something with Military specs.
I can tell you for certain, it far outlasts the pots.   Ive replaced plenty of pots on them.  (normal wear and tear stuff..  and they do last many years typically, in that machine)

[Shrapnel]

Post a picture of the back side of your brake pedal.

Here it is.

[baritonomarchetto]

Looks like you are missing the switch and mounting bracket on the right side of the pic. Unfortunately i have not by hand a pic of mine. If noone will pop up before me, I will take a look at home to see if i snapped some pic while refurbishing mine

[offset]

Just picked up a Hard Drivin Compact / Upright, no microswitch on brake, it does have the strain gauge though.  You can clearly see the strain gauge that looks glued (or is it embedded in the medal, but covered in glue? ) in some way to the metal brake, I'm guessing it picks up the microchanges in pressure when braking and adjusts the resistance accordingly.  Resistance was 349-350 ohms with no pressure applied.

Red/Black goes to strain gauge resistor
Ground wire goes to metal brake pedal frame.

[baritonomarchetto]

Curious: there are differences between euro and US versions then