Steering wheel/pedal options?

[TroyO]

OK, I have determined that I am going to have a 270/360 combo wheel for my cab. I've figured out the mechanical components, at least in part. I'm trying to figure out what way I want to go for the last bit, however.

The basic concept is using hardware store parts to make the equivalent of a 1/2" shaft spinner that stays in place. At the bottom of the whole mechanism have a limited 270 degree shaft and pot that is mounted on a movable base that can be lifted to engage with the main steering wheel. That provides the POT input, shaft spin limiter and centering springs. In practice, spin away until you need 270 input and then center the wheel and flip a mechanical lever.(Actually using a 6 sided socket... any spacing of 60 degrees will engage.) Anyway, the spinner portion is pretty well figured out (And easy.. I may write that up sooner as it's really is super cheap and EZ.)

These are the options, as I see them and the pro's and con's thereof.

1) A-Pac my own 270 steering controls.
    (Pro)
I can make the wheel and pedals whatever/however I want. Will probably hit the junkyard to find a real wheel that looks cool and is easy to adapt.

Inexpensive, I can probably use a lot of scraps and make it pretty cheap. The A-pac and the steering wheel itself only real expenses.

   (Con)
Most people probably can't replicate it... I plan to write it up and make it available to everyone but a lot of how I do it may be over the heads of folks without many woodworking tools.

I'm not sure how good the "feel" of it will be... especially the pedals.

(2) Get PC USB wheel and hack it

   (Pro)
Limiter function and wheel centering built in.. pretty much adapt the shaft to a socket and mount it to engage the cabinet wheel and it's done.

Uses existing/tested pedals so the feel will be more likely to be "right".

Easier overall, I think.

Probably more accessable to folks who aren't tool junkies like me. ;-)

   (Con)
More expensive.... seems USB wheels with decent pedals run ~$100

The limiter and centering functions may be weak and more likely to break.

(3) Dual strike hack it
    (Pro)
Much like option 1, but even cheaper.

    (Con)
Much like option 1 but even more work.

Now on to the questions... are there options I am missing? Has someone done this before and I'm just reinventing the wheel?

If I hack an existing wheel... any recommendations with durability and pedal feel as primary concerns?

[Silver]

Nice idea...

I'd go for what suits you on the encoder front. Personally I would go for Dual strikes ($$$) but the A-pac is fine.

Even if PC-wheels are easier to do and easier to copy, frankly they are different to arcade wheels (all plastic-y and lightweight). I'd go for an Arcade wheel/Junkyard wheel - ditto with pedals.

[Luigi]

Hi.

I've been in that too a few months ago.

First I got two pedals (with pots, from a wrecked Chase HQ machine) with a steering wheel from Taito (270

[TroyO]

Ya know, that's the extra option I was looking for... I had never really considered using real arcade parts. There's a 270 wheel I may be able to get a hold of and that will do the limiter/pot/centering functions and supply a hackable wheel. It's not terribly repeatable by others but maybe the info will be of use anyway.

The mechanism that engages couldn't be simpler... it's a 3/4", 1/2 drive socket. Put the socket on a 1/2" bolt backwards (IE, thread the 1/2" square drive hole over the bolt) and you have a nice solid hex socket on a shaft that can engage a standard 3/4" bolt head on the other side. Solid, repeatable and cheap. :-)



Now to find arcade pedals.. LOL.

[NightGod]

Just so you know, you can upload pics to the boards here, click on the Additonal Options... link on the bottom of the posting page and you can get in-line pics rather than having to post off-site. Invaluable if you are planning on documenting the build process for posterity

[cw]

i have a few wheels and pedals taking up room... 360 is from a great 1000 mike ralley conversion (that was in a pole2)  its solid and just needs a mouse hack for it...    i have two types of pedals  micro switch and pot based..  pot based are easy to hack into a joystick... and i would be happy to help..