Retractable (Driving) controls?

[Silver]

I'm trying to come up with some convenient methods of installing a wheel and yoke onto a (unbuilt) CP. Without making it dedicated (ie it carries joystick/trackball etc... as well).

I've considered the Rotating approach and while it solves the issue I still think it would be tricky due to the size of the wheel/yoke? Also fairly complicated.

I was wondering if anyone had tried seen any form of retractable extension - I was thinking almost along the lines of a large angle-posied lamp, where the yoke/wheel is attached to the end of holder instead of a lightbulb. The other end could attach on the underside of the CP and just be extended from underneath when required... I am planning to have a seperate CP unit to the monitor unit  so there should be leg room etc...

I'd like to know if anyone has tried anything similar or has some improved suggestions....?

Cheers.

[Hoagie_one]

SPENDID IDEA

Love to see how it works out for you

[jdjuggler]

Great idea.  Although, I don't think you would have much physical support for the steering wheel.  It looks like the first person to lean on it a bit - may break it.
I have an idea to have a shaft that goes into the cabinet and has a quick disconnect so the steering wheel comes off when not in use.  Less working parts to break or design.
The quick disconnect could be located near the front face of the CP or under the CP.
Feel free to improve or steal this idea.
Enjoy,
JD

[Hoagie_one]

how about a combination of both where the wheel still swings out and then locks onto the CP front via a screw down, locking pin or quarter turn latch.

best of both worlds

[Silver]

Hmmm good thoughts - Support was my main concern, although I figured that if anyone did push/lean it would just move away from them so they would have to pull it back up.

With the shaft idea, I presume you mean this is a functional shaft - ie a spinning that the optical encoder is attached too. Would this not make turning heavy? I quite like the idea of the having a fold-away unit although I am trying to avoid anything completely removeable as I disklike the whole modular  approach to cp's as I think anything not on the main CP will just get ignored....

I was thinking of having a folding/rotating unit just below the main cp to hide/show driving controls only,  although will have to work height etc.. carefully....

Thanks for the feedback....

[jdjuggler]

If made carefully, I don't believe the turning would be heavy.
Just to let you know, I don't care much for the "modular" idea either.   Personally, with your design, I think the entire mechanism sitting below the CP would be obtrusive.  Also, while sitting at the cabinet, the steering wheel may be in the way-  (Although I'm 6'7").
I'm sure that your drawing wasn't to scale, but you may want to check the overhang of your control panel to see if the entire steering wheel and extension arm will actually fit below the CP.

An alternative to my design, would be to put the encoder with the steering wheel, but then you would have an to disconnect the wheel and the circuit for the encoder.
JD

[Silver]

Yes you've hit my concern number 2 - its not good having it out the way if its in the way of legs etc...etc...

The drawing is 100% not to any scale, I don't have a cab yet, and was a quick concept sketch.

I think it would only really work with a large overhang cp, or even a cp 'table' with a solid support/leg in the middle with players sitting either side like some showcase cabs I've seen.

I also think my basic idea would be rather ugly to look at it.

An alternative would be to have a flip-down wheel, coming out of the cp. Would be more fiddly as pic implies as all encoder wheel/backing would have to be in same flipping unit, forcing the whole cp too be bigger at least from underneath. Height of wheel would also mean its lower - maybe sitdown only for driving??

Danger here is people pushing down hard on the wheel snapping off the flip-part of the CP. Hmmm.

[Silver]

Thinking about things a bit more, a more realistic idea of my (theoretical) CP would be like the attached - I need the base clsoe to the feet so that the pedals can be easily reached when driving....

Unless of course you have to sit to drive, in which case having it further back is ok.

It also opens up idea of having a centre stand, where I thuoght the coin door could go, and use that to store the wheel - although the issue of how to retract still remains. Althuogh jdjuggler's idea could work here.....

[Dougmeister]

Sorry I don't have the URL, but I picked up one of those NASCAR Thrustmaster Steering Wheels on eBay for fairly cheap.  It is the kind that attaches to your desk with a screw clamp.

My thought was to have a 1" lip or so on my control panel then just clamp that sucker on when I want to play a driving game.

May have to angle it so that the lip is level if the control panel is angled downward, etc.

Thoughts?

[Silver]

It's a good workaround if you just have a pc wheel, which is fine for the 270 games. I want to avoid any kind of plugging if possible but maybe I am being unrealistic or need to go for some mammouth controller.

I have original arcade controls I plan to use - a 360 Sega Turbo wheel as well as a 270 yoke, so that kind of rules out the cheap pc option. Couldn't bear the thought of wasting them.....

Thanks for the idea though.

[sac01]

What about a telescoping shaft? One larger pipe fixed in place at an angle, going down through the front of the cp base and into the cabinet.  Then a smaller shaft with the wheel attached that pulls out from the front of the cp, up to a comfortable steering position (also whould allow for some adjustment for different height users)

you'd have to come up with something for the encoder wheel at the other end (inside the cab) so it moves with the shaft.)

just a thought.

sac

[lucindrea]

keyboard shelves on office cubicles , they are nice and strong , they hide under the table , and they lock in place ... i happen to have one on my computer desk ( acctully i got 2 spare cubicles from an old office i usted to work at , andyone want 600+ lbs of cubicle ? )  , i dont use it for my keyboard , but when i'm watching a dvd on the computer , it makes a nice pull out shelf for eating somthing.

best picture i could find
http://www.bettymills.com/store/images/product/OBSH1336.JPG

the shelf would need to be modified , but it should work.

[Silver]

Hmm yes would probably be more sturdy - and thinking about it I've seen such shelves that swing 'up' as well as out so that the wheels would be raised up to the same height as top panel.

The only issues would be clearance of the wheel, and then knee-banging underneath - could just mean lots of careful measurement.

Office furniture seems to keep cropping up - someone suggested a moveable monitor stand - which is basically a very strong version of angle-lamp idea anyway....

[Lilwolf]

Hotswappable control panels and be done with it.

But as for the first picture... don't have the angle change.  Drip it down to the ground... Then attach a full steering wheel at the end (don't put a shaft down that long... and you could get it to work... but I bet it would never be sturdy.

I'm typing on a cubicle keyboard banana board right now.... It would work and be able to twist out of the way... But they don't move that far up/down because they only care about a keyboard height...  But even then, they aren't firm.

I would say a better way would be a way to attack a removeable steering wheel.  Most have some form to latch it to a table... question is if you could get it to latch it to your control panel.

[Silver]

Hmmm yes I'm beginning to lean away from the retractable idea - the long shaft inside the cp panel would work, but may as well go removeable for that...

I'm still not keen on swappable, so may look into just having 2 cp's and making the cp flippable/rotate or something.

Thanks for all the feedback though...