Spinner: Encoder wheel spoke size?

[NoBonus]

How do I know how many spokes to put on a 4 3/4 inch encoder wheel?  I do not want it THAT slow, but not so fast the mouse will not pick it up.  Any ideas?  I am using the encoder wheel printer, but can find no documentation nor the author's website.

NoBonus

[Lilwolf]

Oscar is probably the best to answer this...

but I thought slow was best...because you can always speed it up without loose.  But you cant slow down a too fast spinner without loosing 'resolution'

I have always used premade ones and I bought some off of Oscar (they are worth it!  MUCH better then what I could do... and was cheaper then I could make it (time included))

[RandyT]

but I thought slow was best...because you can always speed it up without loose.  But you cant slow down a too fast spinner without loosing 'resolution'

Actually it's just the opposite.

You want it to be as fast as possible, without overpowering the electronics as to avoid the backspin problem.

You can always downsample a lot more accurately than you can upsample.  Compare it to re-sizing a digital image.  Which resulting image looks better, a 1024x768 image converted to 150x120  (downsample) or a 150x120 image converted to 1024x768 (upsample)?

The blocky image resulting from upsampling relates very closely to the coarse or "blocky" movement you will get when attempting to boost the speed of a "slow" encoder wheel.

RandyT

[bigmoe]

but I thought slow was best...because you can always speed it up without loose.  But you cant slow down a too fast spinner without loosing 'resolution'

Actually it's just the opposite.

You want it to be as fast as possible, without overpowering the electronics as to avoid the backspin problem.

You can always downsample a lot more accurately than you can upsample.  Compare it to re-sizing a digital image.  Which resulting image looks better, a 1024x768 image converted to 150x120  (downsample) or a 150x120 image converted to 1024x768 (upsample)?

The blocky image resulting from upsampling relates very closely to the coarse or "blocky" movement you will get when attempting to boost the speed of a "slow" encoder wheel.

RandyT

Sorry for my density here...but this means you want a large wheel with lots of spokes, right?

[RandyT]

Sorry for my density here...but this means you want a large wheel with lots of spokes, right?

Not necessarily.  A large wheel with 30 apertures (spokes) may be just as poor as a small wheel with 16.  It's the density that's important.  Larger diameters give you the advantage of passing more apertures past the optics with a smaller range of motion at the knob.  But you can get the same effect on a small wheel with a higher aperture count.  It's all relative.

RandyT

[bigmoe]

Sorry for my density here...but this means you want a large wheel with lots of spokes, right?

Not necessarily.  A large wheel with 30 apertures (spokes) may be just as poor as a small wheel with 16.  It's the density that's important.  Larger diameters give you the advantage of passing more apertures past the optics with a smaller range of motion at the knob.  But you can get the same effect on a small wheel with a higher aperture count.  It's all relative.

RandyT

Aha.  Thanks!

[NoBonus]

So what is the best size for the spokes? I see I do not want them too small, but what size? Should they be the same size as on the mouse I am hacking?

[NoBonus]

So... does anyone have any idea how wide the spokes should be?

[NoBonus]

Or, does anyone have any kind of FAQ on the encoder wheel printer? The homepage of the author is defunct.

[hyiu]

I remember oscar did something like this....
maybe he even have it for sale....

a encoder wheel of certain size with like a specific number of teeth..... (like 72 teeth or something like that ??...)

(sorry.... it is not clear... because I never think I would need to do that... so, did not pay much attention....)

there is also a tutorial of how to make one somewhere....
I did a search... but don't see it.....

anyone else can give a hand ??....

ps: I'm not 100% sure if its oscar....

also... I remember someone comparing encoder wheels...
how the teeth are shaped..... perfect squares... or arc shaped...

maybe you can do more search... see if you can hit the right thread.....

but in general... I think either 36 or 72 teeth should be good for an encoder wheel.....
(ok... take this with at your own risk.... I know next to nothing about spinners.... I simply bought one from slikstick... and it spins very well....)  

[NoBonus]

Thanks for the help... Now if I could just find that info...

[bigmoe]

Ok, so I have a mouse hack spinner.  It has a small encoder wheel.

In some games (like Arkanoid) I have to turn the sensitivity up real high (like 180% or something) to get a good response.  I could be imagining it, but that seems to make the controls seem to be jittery.

Is this an example of the dangers of upsampling?  Would I have better results if I rigged it with a larger wheel that had a higher angular density of spokes?

Thanks!

b