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The whole 8 way as a 4way joystick issue
rampy:
--- Quote from: Druin on May 07, 2003, 07:48:42 pm ---After hooking up some LEDs I noticed I kept getting stuck in the diagonals...if I am up, then go right, I almost always land in the diagonal, which is still ok, BUT when I try to go back Up, I may still be in the diagonal so no observable change is evident...
So almost immediately after discovering this...I started thinking about a way to make use of the free box of new solenoids I got at work...
So now I'm staring at the Oscar 4way restrictor plate setup and brainstorming....the fact that it's in 2 pieces with a mount hole on each piece....I see opportunity to put RESTRICTORS on the restrictor to help guide it when it's pulled/pushed by a solenoid attached to the mount hole on it....so a solenoid could attach to the mount hole and pull that half of the plate set away from the shaft on an angle, and the other non-mount-hole part of that plate would be restrained from going out of wack too much..then the solenoid pushes the plate back in place and the restrictor guides the restrictor (WHAT??) back into position.
Just a thought
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Druin,
Was my idea not feasible then? Even if you went in a totally different direction I'd still be interested in your opinion on it. (unless you discounted it because you don't have j-sticks/etc handy) Just wondering.
*shrug*
rampy
caykroyd:
What about cutting down the square actuator on the happ joysticks? This will reduce the amount of diagonal positions. Has anyone tried this. I'm really searching here because I don't want a third joystick on my CP. I'd almost rather have a rotating panel for 4way games. Call me stubborn.
Grasshopper:
I suggested in the following thread that maybe the Wico/Suzo inductive joystick could be hacked to be made 4/8 way switchable.
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=6294;start=0
Unfortunately I don't actually own one of these joysticks so I can't say whether this idea is plausible or a non-starter.
Druin:
--- Quote from: Tiger-Heli on May 08, 2003, 07:53:14 am ---
--- Quote from: Druin on May 07, 2003, 07:48:42 pm ---Just a thought
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And you have a USB connection from the PC to the solenoid, and a hack to the MAME source, so when you start a 4-way game in MAME it sends a signal over the USB interface to fire the solenoid to lock the restrictors in place and when you start a 8-way game it fires the solenoid to release the restrictors . . .
C'mon, how hard is it to drop some plates in and take them out ;)
But, I have to say, I still admire your ingenuity and inventiveness.
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thanks! Speaking of ingenuity, I don't think I mentioned my rotating LCD panel....I have a 17" LCD that I bought with the intent to use in my cab when it's made (for now it's my desktop monitor) and I bought it so I can easily rotate it without worrying about the weight, plus the fact that some CRT's can't safely be rotated...
I hooked up a DC motor to it alreayd and saw it spin easily...so what I'm going to do is launch mame.exe from a batch file that will detect the -rotate parameter, and based on if it's present or not, the batch file will branch to a section that runs a little utility to poke the parallel port or something that I can hook up to automatically rotate the monitor for me when the games need it, no human intervention necessary....sensors and physical safety restrictors will make sure the monitor starts and stops where it should....etc.....So when I play arkanoid, the monitor goes vertical...I quit and run Shinobi, the monitor spins 90degrees....
Druin:
--- Quote from: rampy on May 08, 2003, 11:05:09 am ---
--- Quote from: Druin on May 07, 2003, 07:48:42 pm ---
Druin,
Was my idea not feasible then? Even if you went in a totally different direction I'd still be interested in your opinion on it. (unless you discounted it because you don't have j-sticks/etc handy) Just wondering.
rampy
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That idea seems perfectly fine, I looked yesterday at the website and saw that the joystick is geared (I think) so that a motor could easily rotate that, but as was mentioned, people didn't want to have to fuss with gear ratios and other things...for me I would discount it for myself only because I don't have a stick like that to work with and I am more of an electronics than mechanical guy....so I don't have confidence that I could throw a motor on there and get it to spin adequately....I may be able to overdrive it and break it perhaps...
If I talk myself out of the restrictor plate solenoid concept...I will keep it in mind, and I encourage anyone else to try the J-stick motor thing
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