The cutest mouse "hack" you ever did see

[Generic Eric]

I saw this on ebay and bought it.  I thought it was pretty cool. It doesn't have force feed back though.  Its very simple setup that requires a "ball" mouse to work. 

Here is the box.

Here are the basic components


The table mount bracket.






The steering "column"

Well, I lost the pic, but imagine a piece of 1 inch  pvc pipe about 10 or 12 inches long

The steering wheel


The base




With the "gear box"


All together.



It will also function as a yoke for flight controllers.   About this unit:  The specs of the mount and the part that holds the "steering column" weren't matched well so there is a little more play than I'd like to see.

I thought I would provide this to show that a person can get a working prototype unit for a small investment of random basic components. 

[Corbo]

Is that a ball mouse or a laser mouse?

[Generic Eric]

Is that a ball mouse or a laser mouse?

Ball.  missed that.  Thanks

If anyone has anymore questions, feel free to ask.

[Donkbaca]

You sponsored by diet coke or something 

[lilshawn]

hilarious!

i would think an optical mouse would work as well.

[BadMouth]

i would think an optical mouse would work as well.

I experimented with an optical mouse on the backside of the steering wheel hub and it seemed to work fine. 
(only played for a couple minutes)
Never thought of it working on two axis!

Someone could build a cheap flight yoke out of pvc or use one of those wii steering wheels that they sell at dollar tree for $1.

[migraineman]

How about the Trojan Attack Mouse? 

http://pentest.snosoft.com/2011/06/24/netragards-hacker-interface-device-hid/

An elegant attack vector, definitely a hack, and "cute" for certain definitions of the term.  You can't trust nuthin' anymore.  If your new USB mouse mounts as a mouse, a keyboard, and a mass-storage device, you should be concerned.

[Thenasty]

the old MS-Mouse that had used POT inside instead of the standard WHEEL/Optical type mouse would probably work very good.

[lilshawn]

Pot?

 Must have been designed in the 60's... Man.

[Generic Eric]

the old MS-Mouse that had used POT inside instead of the standard WHEEL/Optical type mouse would probably work very good.

I'll keep an eye out, I'll have to get another mouse.  The mice I have already have purpose and can't be sacrificed.

There are some cool designs out there.  Lew has a good design.


  I found another well done design used by someone into flight simulators
http://buggies.builtforfun.co.uk/Sim/FFB-yoke-1.php