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Rotary adapter for Happ/Midway 49-way Joystick
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Kremmit:
You know, the Do-It-All stick is within reach.

You use a hollow-shaft-with-a-plunger-type topfire mechanism, so that twisting isn't a problem for the wires.  Then you use a geared setup to add a rotary switch off-axis, so that it doesn't get in the way of the topfire mechanism.  We'd need a custom 49-way shaft (Franco?), and a custom mounting bracket to hold everything on there.

Here's a pic that (hopefully) illustrates the concept.  The mounting brackets are left off for visual clarity (and becaue I could never draw them myself).  I am Photoshop-Challenged (which I think gets me a handicapped parking pass when I'm in Sillicon Valley), so my apologies if it's not clear.  And thanks to everybody whose images I ganked- I put this Frankenstein's Image together entirely from dead body parts images collected here on BYOAC and fl0yd's page.
fl0yd:
I agree that that would be possible, but pretty complicated.  I'll see if I can get a photoshop'd mock up of what it would look like with a rotary adapter.
fl0yd:
I was thinking of a balltop with a button.  The button would be attached to a plunger bar through a hollow shaft joystick.  At the bottom of the plunger would be an optical encoder wheel.  The wheel would need to be able to move enough within the encoder to trigger a switch to detect the plunged action.

In the picture, all parts in red are moving parts.  The encoder wheel and plunger switch will need to move in line with the joystick's shaft.  The parts listing is from Happ's optical rotary assembly.

Please forgive me, I have horrible photo editing skills.

conseit68:
Floyd...

Take a look at the (2) sticky threads in this forum...maybe we can get our mind together on this?...let me know
Kremmit:
When I was thinking about this, I considered going the optical route-  optical would be easier & cheaper to implement, I admit.  Instead of expensive gears and an expensive 12-switch- you just need an encoder wheel and a mouse hack. 

If you're going to go optical, why not attach your encoder wheel to the bottom of the shaft directly, and let the plunger push right throough the hole in the center of the encoder wheel?  That way you wouldn't have to worry about the encoder wheel moving up and down inside the optics, or moving the optic board, or any of that.

That said, I still prefer mechanical rotary over optical rotary- that's what 99% of the rotary games used.  Opticals just don't feel right.
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