Steering wheel hack questions...

[hatrick]

Here's the details:
I have a Chase HQ wheel that is an optical wheel, but limited to 270 degrees of motion. I have removed the optical doodads and am planning to place a pot on it to make it an analog wheel.
So here's my question: Can the pot be attached directly to the shaft of the wheel? It's a 300 degree pot, and the wheel is limited to 270 degrees, so I shouldn't ever hit the endpoints and damage the pot. 
That leads to another question, why are all of the pots on arcade wheels gear driven rather than connected directly to the shaft?

Anyone ever done this mod before?

Thanks.

[hatrick]

Wow...lots of activity on the board today. My topic is sinking like the Titanic. 
One of you arcade geniuses HAS to know the answer to my question...

[Rocky]

I made a pot based wheel and mounted the pot directly to the end of the shaft. I didn't want to try and mount the gears.

Just make sure that you mount it so the wheel hits the end points before the pot gets to the end of its range.

Good luck,
Rocky

[hatrick]

Thanks for the reply, Rocky.
That's exactly what I wanted to hear 

[Xiaou2]

I have a Chase HQ wheel that is an optical wheel, but limited to 270 degrees of motion. I have removed the optical doodads and am planning to place a pot on it to make it an analog wheel.

  Might be better to use as optical,  as most games that steer can accept mouse (optical)  input to control them.   However, you can not play a classic like pole position with an analog, because the wheel will not spin all the way arround.

So here's my question: Can the pot be attached directly to the shaft of the wheel? It's a 300 degree pot, and the wheel is limited to 270 degrees, so I shouldn't ever hit the endpoints and damage the pot.

  I do not think there is a 300 degree pot that will work with the pc.  And how will you stop the wheel?   Youd have to mount a special heavy duty stopping system so the wheel dosnt spin all the way arround.
 
That leads to another question, why are all of the pots on arcade wheels gear driven rather than connected directly to the shaft?

  To increase resolution.   You get more turn of the pot, so more degrees of control.   Its like a 300dpi   mouse -vs- a  600dpi mouse.
 
  A direct shaft mount can cause trouble.  Not just because the controll will stink (low res), but because if the pot dosnt turn far enough,  windows will not calibrate it correctly. (i tried it before)

[hatrick]

Thanks for the reply Xiaou2.

I want to have a control panel that will accomodate both 360 and 270 wheels.

I have an optical 360 wheel already from a World Rally cab that I have.

I also have a Chase HQ wheel that is an optical wheel, but it has stops and springs built into it like a 270 wheel. It's like a weird cross-breed of a 360 and 270 wheel. I have taken the optics off and planned to replace them with a pot. It will then for all intents and purposes be a 270 degree analog wheel, complete with stops and centering springs.

Thanks for the info on the pot resolution...I wasn't aware of that. If I do convert the Chase HQ wheel, I'll try and use the gearing to improve the performance.

[Rocky]

The issue with the stops is not hard to do, especially if you use an existing arcade device with the stops already built in.

On my custom built controller (modeled after Spy Hunter), I have a little more than 180 degrees of turn for the wheel.

[Level42]

I am also interested in this thread. I've got a Double Axle cab (also Taito, and somewhat later released then Chase HQ). This has a 360 optical with no stops.

I might be building a PC wit Mame and race games in it in future and would be interested if a optical/pot combination could be made.

Otherwise, there must be a possibility to do an electronic conversion from optical to a resistance value....there are chips that are electronc pots, for instance for replacing a volume control pot....that would be interesting....not sure if they would be "fast" enough though...