steering wheel "knob" (for a spinner)???

[alphasqorner]

Sup all!  Is there such a thing as a spinner knob in the form of a steering wheel?  I have a slikstik tornado spinner that works awesome, but playing sprint with the spinner knob doesnt feel right.  A replacement steering wheel knob would feel a bit bitter, but I'm sure it won't be the same as a real steering wheel.

[Kremmit]

This comes up every so often, and gets discussed both ways:  "Can one mount a steering wheel on a spinner shaft?"; and "Can one mount a spinner knob on a steering wheel shaft?"

The problem is that spinners have a short, thin metal shaft, and steering wheels have a longer, thicker shaft. 

If you try to mount a steering wheel on your spinner shaft, a) the shaft may not even be long enough for the wheel to grab it; and b) the weight of the wheel will likely bend your spinner shaft, especially when you're yanking & pounding on it during gameplay.

If you try to mount a spinner knob on a steering wheel shaft, a) the shaft may stick out of the panel so far that your spinner knob will float far above the panel; and b) the amount of force needed to turn the large, heavy shaft may make gameplay akward.

It's been suggested that some kind of gear or belt-driven setup could be used, but as far as I know, nobody's ever done anything with that idea.

There is this thing, though:



That's a mini cab MinerAl did, he used a little mini-wheel- you could do something like that on a spinner shaft.
Link to MinerAl's site [urlhttp://lethargy.net/minicabpix/]here.[/url]

[Heffaklumpen]

I have a small steering wheel (4" diameter) mounted on a steering mechanism. This is actually an original setup from an old wall-mounted cabinet I used to own.
The optical board is the same as Atari used in their early games like Sprint and Sprint2.

I'll try to dig up some picture of it later today.

[Lilwolf]

Isn't the tornadoes bases made with aluminum? 

When you put a steering wheel on a spinner, you can EASILY put a lot of torque on the shaft.  This will bend the base unless its VERY strong.

I think you will just end up destroying your spinner.  And I would guess that you would do it pretty quick, even when trying to be careful.

btw, I bought my pole position steering wheels for 10 bucks on ebay.  You can find them very cheap.

[Goz]

Check out MAME Spinner.com

They sell a kit.

-Goz

[alphasqorner]

Hey thanks guys with the replies. 

BTW, I wasn't going to put a lot of force while using a steering wheel, rather I wasn't planning to, because I assume the slikstik spinner wasn't made that tough, but I vaguely remember seeing someone on ebay selling spinners with a  option for a steering wheel knob (it looked like a  tiny wheel, prolly half the diameter of a pole position wheel).

Gozur- Thanks!!!  I think this is pretty much what I'm looking for. 

This community is the best!

[Minwah]

Oscar used to sell mini steering wheel attachments IIRC.

IMHO there is no satisfactory way to mod a spinner to a wheel (or vice versa).  Get a real wheel & shifter and make a new control panel! 

[RayB]

BTW, I wasn't going to put a lot of force while using a steering wheel,

You can't play a game quite properly if you can't just "give it your all". Know what I mean? That said, even if you plan to be careful and keep a "light touch" on it, what happens the second you let someone else play? (especially kids or that hot-head friend)

[u_rebelscum]

BTW, I wasn't going to put a lot of force while using a steering wheel,

You can't play a game quite properly if you can't just "give it your all". Know what I mean? That said, even if you plan to be careful and keep a "light touch" on it, what happens the second you let someone else play? (especially kids or that hot-head friend)

Especially when your 4-8 year old child (niece/nephew/friend's kid/brother/sister/cousin) does chin ups on it.      Heck even accidently bumping it can put a lot of torque, way more than normal usage.