Arkanoid to Tempest spinner hack?

[JayTea]

I recently acquired an arkanoid spinner.  Having never played "breakout" in the arcade, I mad an assumption that it was similar in feel to a tempest spinner.  It is not.  It has a few extra cogs and gear wheels that do not allow it to freewheel.

Before I re-invent the wheel, I was just wondering if anyone had tried to convert their arkanoid spinner to a "freewheel" spinner.  I do have the optic wheel, but no board, so I'll be doing some sort of usb mouse hack.

It looks like a simple matter of taking the underside apart and connecting the optic wheel to the spinner axis, but I wonder what kind of feel i'm going to get from that.  Anyhoo, if you've got a suggestion, please post it.  Thanks!

If not, maybe I'll do a little write-up on how I do mine.

[jerryjanis]

Firstly, I'm pretty sure that Breakout is controlled using a paddle (a paddle uses a pot, it works like an analog pc joystick, and has a limited range so it will not spin at all).  Arkanoid uses a spinner, but as you say it will not do a free spin like a tempest spinner.

My impression is that a Tempest-like spinner has some weight to it so it will carry momentum (and of course lacks the extra gears you mentioned that you have on the Arkanoid controller).

That's too bad that you're missing the optics.  You can get a possible replacement from Oscar's site:

http://www.oscarcontrols.com/cgi-bin/cart.pl?DT=1

Can you post any pictures of the spinner?

[JayTea]

Firstly, I'm pretty sure that Breakout is controlled using a paddle (a paddle uses a pot, it works like an analog pc joystick, and has a limited range so it will not spin at all).  Arkanoid uses a spinner, but as you say it will not do a free spin like a tempest spinner.

I know arkanoid is not technically breakout, but it is in my book  That's why I quoted it "breakout".


Thanks for the info, and I'll try to get some pics up.  It looks as though I can just remove one gear, extend the shaft and add a mouse optic board and get results.

I'll use one of the "make your own" links to see how to add some weight (washers?).  Hopefully I get a good feeling spinner when its all done.  I'm taking pics as I go.

[Brad Lee]

Firstly, I'm pretty sure that Breakout is controlled using a paddle (a paddle uses a pot, it works like an analog pc joystick, and has a limited range so it will not spin at all).  Arkanoid uses a spinner, but as you say it will not do a free spin like a tempest spinner.

I know arkanoid is not technically breakout, but it is in my book  That's why I quoted it "breakout".


Thanks for the info, and I'll try to get some pics up.  It looks as though I can just remove one gear, extend the shaft and add a mouse optic board and get results.

I'll use one of the "make your own" links to see how to add some weight (washers?).  Hopefully I get a good feeling spinner when its all done.  I'm taking pics as I go.

Im using the homebrew pro encoder wheel & optics from Oscar's. The center hole is 1/4" is the disk, so I got a couple big fat fender washers with 1/4"  holes. THe OD of em is about 1-1/2". I put 1 or 2 on each side of the disk(like an oreo cookie), tightened em down, and used a spot of tape to keep em frov spinning free of the disk

[JayTea]

You guys are going to crack up at this one...

After removing the entire gear assembly and casing...


I'm looking at the arkanoid spinner, which doesn't have any bearings for freewheel roll - just a rubber grommet that fits into the hole of the plate it is mounted to.  I got to thinking that the shaft of the spinner is very similar in diameter to....roller blade bearings!  I get a set of rollerblades from the garage (I have several pairs for some reason).  I take apart a wheel assembly and sure enough - LIKE A GLOVE!

SO I dry fitted the assembly to how I think it would work best and came up with a solution.  I needed 2 3/4 washeers with 1/2 holes to make this work, and I just happen to have a few laying around.

I JB welded the washer to one side of each rollerblade bearing.  This was necesary to keep the center free of friction from the mounting assembly.  After 5 hours of cure time, I JB welded one bearing to the bottom which was centered as close to perfect as possible.  There is some room for error, luckily.

I plan on welding the other one tonight when I get home (top side).  The results of a dry fit were a perfectly smooth rolling spinner.  The spacers created the EXACT space needed to insure no wiggles - The E-Clip fits as if the assembly was machined to fit.  Unbelievable stroke of luck.  There will be absolutely no wiggle or play in this spinner when it's all said and done.

I just need to add the exact weight and extend the shaft below the case so I can add the encoder wheel and optic board.  

I'm taking excessive pics, so I'll have a write up and pics when it's all said and done.

[Stingray]

Well done. Can't wait to hear about how it works.

-S