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Need Paddle Control

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Vigo:
To be honest, your standard cheapo PC racing wheel is just a pot that returns to center. Generally they turn less than a full circle as well.

I would say either modify a $20 racing wheel with to have a dial or whatever you need, or replicate the principles used in a racing wheel to make your pot return to center.

The way the standard racing wheel makes it return to center (as i have seen) is just a bungee cord through the shaft of the wheel, and a hunk of plastic holding the bungee in place. you turn the wheel, it stretches the bungee cord and makes it bounce back to center when you let go.

RandyT:
The cheap PC steering wheel is a good thought.  But anything other than a setup using a very high quality pot, probably isn't going to last very long in a public setting. 

A DIY solution with a tried and tested long life potentiometer will probably be the ultimate solution here.  The earlier mentioned single eyelet (screw eye extending from the shaft, etc.) with a properly selected spring or heavy-duty rubber band, seems like a great approach.

SavannahLion:

--- Quote from: Vigo on September 13, 2012, 01:09:36 pm ---To be honest, your standard cheapo PC racing wheel is just a pot that returns to center. Generally they turn less than a full circle as well.

--- End quote ---

Yeah, those were some of the first ones I looked at. Every brand I looked at at the hobby store in the el-cheapo price range weren't true pots or, if they used pots, weren't true independent RTC pots. The shell of the controller is what housed the RTC mechanism, not making it worthwhile to disassemble since one would put in the same amount of work to make one from scratch. The true RTC pots I found started with the $60ish and up controllers. I suppose I could've ordered some online but I had no interest it buying a dozen cheap controller just to find out.


--- Quote from: PL1 on September 13, 2012, 12:59:22 pm ---jgsing - How many degrees of turn are you going for?

When I think of a spring loaded potentiometer, I think about the Star Wars yoke.  The x-axis turns a little over 90 degrees (45 degrees left and right) and the y-axis turns around 45 degrees.  The spring mechanism is visible on pages 51 and 52 of the manual here.

If you need more degrees of turn, you might want to adapt a mechanism similar to the one in this build.

I'm thinking about two springs like this.



Scott

--- End quote ---

Yeah, that's the design I was thinking about, though I think X just used one spring? I can't recall but his name is mentioned on that link you provided.

To the OP, there is some additional improvements to that design if you go with it if you want something long term and ease of repair.

RandyT:

--- Quote from: SavannahLion on September 13, 2012, 02:51:30 pm ---Yeah, that's the design I was thinking about, though I think X just used one spring?

--- End quote ---

Something else the OP may want to consider:

1 spring approach:  Very easy to implement.  Center will always be pretty reliable.  The disadvantage will be that the further the knob is turned, the more resistance there will be.

2 spring approach:  More parts.  Center will require some tweaking and may move when the springs start to wear.  A means of tweaking the center point might be a good idea for maintenance.  The main advantage is that, depending on how the springs are arranged, a more even resistance is possible.

PL1:
Along the lines of spring arrangement, this is a modification of the other design. (Not drawn to scale.)

The springs wrap around the yellow shaft, requiring less stretch percentagewise.

The gray and purple form a mechanical stop that allows just shy of one full turn.


Scott

EDIT: Edited the diagram to correct the spring placement in the end view.

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