New Product: Gyramite Arcade Spinner (Maybe...)

[whammoed]

what is your timetable for making these available to the public?

Not quite sure.  I'm working on couple other things too, and am still getting quotes.  It takes a big investment to do a run of these without making the price totally outrageous. 

I am also listening to all the suggestions about being able to vary the resistance to mimmick the feel of the arkanoid gears.  That would be something all right.  I can think of a ton of ways to do this, quickly even, but it would require access to the body of the spinner under the panel.  Doing it on the fly is the tricky part.

[juggle50]

Gotcha Whammoed,

I knew I didn't know enough about the working of a spinner.  I guess I thought the reader was part of the encoder.  Anyway, nice work man and I may still purchase one in the future.

[whammoed]

Cool design, congratulations!!!

Neat how the wood base also moves around as you spin it (in the video) - j/k 

Seriously - what is the below panel depth?

Sorry, missed the question when I first read this.  The below panel depth is 2.5 inches not including the shaft.  How far the shaft extends depends on your panel thickness.  Of course if depth is a concern, the shaft can be cut to exactly the right length.

[Arcades R Fun]

Very nice design! There sure has been a flurry of new spinners on the market recently! The more the merrier!
But..... I'm still waiting for someone to come out with a nice spinner for say, like $49? Now that would be cool! 

[screaming]

Q: What kind of spinner is the Gyramite?  Is there resistance or is it real "spinny"?
A:  This spinner is free spinning.  Think Energizer Bunny, it keeps going and going.  This does not enhance game play in any way, its just fun.

  Is there some way to make it NOT spin rediculously?  Was that a design goal or something just sorta happened?

-Steve.

[whammoed]

Q: What kind of spinner is the Gyramite?  Is there resistance or is it real "spinny"?
A:  This spinner is free spinning.  Think Energizer Bunny, it keeps going and going.  This does not enhance game play in any way, its just fun.

  Is there some way to make it NOT spin rediculously?  Was that a design goal or something just sorta happened?

-Steve.

I do like that it can spin freely, but it is somewhat secondary to the design.  When I first started playing around with designs I experimented a bit with how long I could get the spin times for fun.  But in the end I needed things to track smooth for the optics which required two high quality bearings.  I prefer the feeling of a spinner with weight to it, hence the shaft weight.  You put these two things together and spinny is what you get without trying.

**You can reduce the spin times by placing pressure on the bearings before tightening the second set screw.  You won't be able to get the kind of resistance an arkanoid spinner had doing this, but you can get a *slightly* different feel for games like tempest.  I can likely come up with an easy way to increase the resistance for those that want a  dedicated spinner for games like arkanoid if there is a demand for it.  I'm still spinning ideas around in my head for changing resistance on the fly. 

[Zakk]

What about 2 versions?  Release one that is a normal spinner that will satisfy 99% of us, and then release the variable friction version for those people that just can't play arkanoid without it. 

I'd say a roller bearing on a set screw arrangement would increase tension without wearing out the shaft, although I suppose with time the shaft might fall out of true.

[whammoed]

What about 2 versions?  Release one that is a normal spinner that will satisfy 99% of us, and then release the variable friction version for those people that just can't play arkanoid without it. 

I'd say a roller bearing on a set screw arrangement would increase tension without wearing out the shaft, although I suppose with time the shaft might fall out of true.

Variable resistance will definitely be an add on feature.  It will surely increase the cost by some amount, and there will be those that just don't want it.

[farmecologist]

If you could get variable resistance in there I think you would have a winner.   You really need the physical resistance for the Arkanoid games/clones.  

No you don't.  Arkanoid's resistance only came from the fact that it was geared.  What we need is a geared spinner
http://arcadeshop.com/pics/arkanoid-controller.jpg

I know.  However, a physical resistance setting that would 'approximate' the geared feel ( if possible ) would be better than nothing..

[shmokes]

I hope the addon is expensive, because I want it to be controllable through software so the resistence is automatically applied when Arkanoid is loaded up.  If I have to get inside my CP to change resistence forget about it.  After the novelty wears off in a week I'll just leave it on one setting and it will stay there forever.

[quarterback]

I hope the addon is expensive, because I want it to be controllable through software so the resistence is automatically applied when Arkanoid is loaded up.  If I have to get inside my CP to change resistence forget about it.  After the novelty wears off in a week I'll just leave it on one setting and it will stay there forever.

If the resistance is due to physical pressure being put onto the spinner, it seems like it could be switchable from the top of your CP without a ton of difficulty.

[whammoed]

OK.  Here is the good news: 
The Gyramite works well with both the optiwiz and optipac.  (thanks to RandyT and help from tech support at the optical encoder manufacturer.)  I even gave it a go in Linux on the Z axis of the optiwiz.  On tempest at 9% sensitivity (which gave the 1 revolution per ~3 turns) I could produce no backspin no matter how hard I tried.  What does that mean?  Well, nothing important really, as the backspin that could be produced on the X axis didn't affect game play.  I just found it interesting.  Leads me to believe that backspin is a product of software interpretation and not a product of the spinner or interface, at least with the test subjects at hand.  In my opinion the optipac and the optiwiz are the two biggies as far as mouse input goes.  If I have the opportunity I will test other input devices.  Kudos to RandyT for the optiwiz.  Great design and its modular.  (wish it had an option for terminal blocks, but I see the reason for the design choice.)
Other test news.  At 100% sensitivity I achieved the correct movement ratio for arkanoid.  I was hoping this would be the case since the arkanoid spinner had an effective 486CPR and the Gyramite comes real close at 500CPR.  Of course there was no way of knowing till it was tried since this is emulation using mouse input.
Here is the Bad/Good? news:
I will be going back to the drawing board for a while on this product to investigate the feasibility of adjusting the resistance on the fly.  Yes, if I do it, it will have the ability to be software controlled.  I personally don't do any kind of manual switching to change controls so my preference is to create a spinner that follows that philosophy.

So, if you need a spinner in the next few months, please look into one of the other spinners available.  The Gyramite won't be ready for sale in the short term.

Thanks for the feedback and ideas.  Keep your eyes open, I will be announcing another new product hopefully within a couple weeks. 

[GGKoul]

Does it come with a Push/Pull option?

[whammoed]

Does it come with a Push/Pull option?

That is something I would look into later.  It is not something that will have to delay first run manufacture.  So, no, at least not at first.

[farmecologist]

Wow, thanks for putting all of the time and effort into researching this, whammoed!