Anyone using a RoadBlasters yoke with your cab?

[Ninten-doh]

I have a MAME cab built from an old Frogger, so the CP area is kinda small.  I was thinking that for driving games I could install a Roadblasters yoke so that I could use the thumb & trigger buttons as shifters/pedals.  Not nearly as much fun as having dedicated shifters and pedals, but it would make for an easy swappable CP if it works for games like Outrun and Spy Hunter.  If anyone is doing this, would appreciate your thoughts and how you have it wired up.  Thanks!

[cw]

mouse hack would be an easy cheap way...

[PoDunkMoFo]

Remember that the Roadblaster yoke is not full rotational and is optical.  This might not be the best for an overall driving controll.  Great for Roadblasters though.

[Ninten-doh]

Thanks for the replies guys.  I'm getting the yoke for free so I'm just trying to figure out if it's worth it to do anything with it.  If I understand correctly, I might be able to remove the restrictors that keep it from being fully rotational, but I'm not sure.

[Kremmit]

You might consider removing the optics and attaching a potentiometer back there to make it into a more standard 270degree driving controller.

[Ninten-doh]

Kremmit, I just tried a search on "convert" and "potentiometer" and came up empty.  Is there a write-up somewhere on how to do the optical <-> potentiometer conversion?  I really like your idea.

[lloydcom]

Can you not just get a Sidewinder Dual Strike and hack that? 

I got mine on ebay and it cost 5 pounds/dollars/rupies/etc

Since they hack Dual Strikes for Starwars, I couldn't see a difference when you calibrate it.

[Ninten-doh]

Lloydcom, I thought the Dual Strike hack only worked with analog arcade controls like the Star Wars yoke?  If the Dual Strike would work as a replacement for the optics on my Roadblaster yoke, I would LOVE to know how that works!   

[PoDunkMoFo]

I don't remember seeing anyone do this so there probably won't be a write-up......... Until you do one 

You might need to head to the hobby store and pick up some gears and a potentiometer.

Check this site out http://www.student.oulu.fi/~heinanen/wheel.html and search for other build your own racing wheel.  That should give you a good start.  Remember you have the hard part done for you (wheel built).  If you don't want to go thru the good ol' game port you will need to pick up an A-Pac or do a joystick hack like the dual strike.

Good luck and have fun.

[Kremmit]

Ninten-Doh-

As you thought, you can't use a Dual Strike hack as it sits because the Dual Strike is for analog, potentiometer-based devices.  The Roadblasters wheel is optical, like a spinner.  If you were to convert it with a pot, then you could use a Dual-Strike, A-Pac, or AKI to hook it up.

As for the conversion, nope, I've never seen anybody acutally do it, but it doesn't seem like it should be too awfully hard.  Mine is packed away in the parts closet right now, but if I remember correctly, the wheel already has a big gear that mates to a smaller one that turns the optical encoder wheel.  I think what you would need to do is to measure how many degrees the small gear turns when the wheel is moved through it's full range of travel.  Then hit the electronics catalogs looking for a pot that turns a little bit farther than that- that way, when you mount it up, the pot can't be turned too far and get damaged.  Figure out a way to mount the pot to the small gear (epoxy?) once you've got it, and you're off and running.

[Ninten-doh]

Kremmit, I just grabbed the manual off of KLOV and you're right.  There is a small gear which I've highlighted in yellow in the diagram here.

Too bad I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to anything electrical or this would sound like a fun project...

[u_rebelscum]

Remember that the Roadblaster yoke is not full rotational and is optical.  This might not be the best for an overall driving controll.  Great for Roadblasters though.

I'll work good (to okay to bad) with 270 degree games if you leave the restrictor in.  It depends if the optical "skips" never (or sometimes or often, respectively).  "Skips" could be in the hardware or software.  Enable mice in mame, and make sure you start the game with the yoke centered.  You also might need to turn off pointer enhancement in windows (to turn off intentional software skipping), and adjust mame's sensitivity.  (Hmm, okay, not as easy as I thought, but it can work without physical changes.)

If you remove the restrictor, be very careful about the wires for the thumb/trigger buttons.

[Ninten-doh]

Okay, so I got the Road Blasters yoke/wheel, and I've decided to convert it to a 270 wheel.  Playing 360 wheel games with my spinner is decent, and Out Run is one of my favorites.  Plus,. I figure I could play some PC driving games with a 270 as well.  I'll use a Dual Strike as the interface.

Anyway, I took a look at the wheel and thought it would be a piece of cake UNTIL I noticed how small the second gear is.  You can barely see it in this pic from Quarterarcade.com, where it's behind the wire harness and in front of the encoder wheel:



For one turn to the left or right, the small gear turns more than 360 by the time it hits the restrictor.  Now, some of you may be saying, "Well of course you idiot, it was an optical wheel!", but keep in mind that gears, potentiometers, etc are all new to me.  At least I'm trying!   

What's my next course of action?  Do I need to replace both gears or just get a larger second gear?  Ideally I would like to stick the potentiometer into the current setup, but I'm assuming that's not an option.

[Havok]

I would suggest you mount a potentiometer with a gear that meshes with the large gear in the back. Since this has easy access, it would be simple to attach to the frame somewhere, and you can run the pot output to the dual strike hack, leaving all the electronics\setup there so you could easily remove your hack and still put it back to original quick and easy?

[PoDunkMoFo]

Just what I was about to say.  Possibly mount a metal l bracket off to one side.  I know zero about gearing so maybe someone else can help you figure out what size gear & toothcount to use.  By mounting a bracket on the open side you could just leave all the optical stuff in place.

[Ninten-doh]

Hmmm...
If I left the optical stuff in place, and added a gear/potentiometer on the other side, could I somehow make this into a dual 270/360 wheel?  Probably not because the restrictors keep it from being a true 360 wheel, and I need the restrictors for the 270..

I REALLY must learn to stay focused.   

[Kremmit]

Maybe you can skip a 2nd gear completely and mount a pot in the center of that hole the wires come out of.  A little gob of JB-Stik epoxy putty or similar should do it- then you just need to make a metal bracket to hold the other side of the pot still.

[Ninten-doh]

Okay, I'm finally going to give a go at making this Roadblasters yoke a 270 wheel.  It's got the same 60 tooth gear that the Star Wars yoke has.  Any ideas on how I figure out/calculate which gear I need to buy to "mate" with it for the potentiometer?  Any suggestions on where to look online for gears?  Thanks much!   

[PoDunkMoFo]

If it has the same tooth on the large gear as Starwars then you should be able to use the same  size gear for the small one.

[Ninten-doh]

PoDunk, so if I found a small gear like the small gear on the Star Wars yoke, that should do the trick for a 270 pot?

[Kremmit]

Dave from RAM controls claims he'll have replacement small gears in the not-too-distant future.  Also, I believe there are some posts you can search up about a suitable replacement small gear available from McMaster-Carr.