Quick and dirty 360-degree wheel hack. (04/12/15: Pedal assembly is dead.)

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

In anticipation of, hopefully, several projects coming later this new year (including a move into a much larger apartment/house) I've been looking for small projects to fill the time and act as proof-of-concepts for later.

One of the things I'd like to have is a dedicated 360-degree wheel for Mame. I already have a TT2 from GGG, which is great, but I don't want to spend $50 on a plastic wheel add-on (no offense, Randy! Love your stuff!) and force my spinner into working double duty. So I've been looking around at the various grownup-Lego sites (Pololu, Servocity, etc.) and settled on attempting to build my own, based on a simple optical mouse hack.

Here's the go-kart steering wheel I bought: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005FMT2RA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And here's the parts list from ServoCity:

You have ordered the following:

Qty  Description                             Unit                Amount
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1     (635114) (17.02.02) 8 inch length x 1  $2.99               $2.99
         inch dia. Aluminum Tubing
       * Weight: 0.19 lbs. each

2     (545354) 1 inch Bore Clamping Hub B    $5.99               $11.98
         (thru-hole)
       * Weight: 0.03 lbs. each

1     (633116) 1 inch Shafting & Tubing      $1.69               $1.69
         Spacers (12 pk)
       * Weight: 0.01 lbs. each

2     (535178) 1 inch Bore Square Pillow     $9.99               $19.98
         Block
       * Weight: 0.04 lbs. each

8     (90272A143) 6-32x3/16 inch  Pan Head   $0.05               $0.40
         Phillips Machine Screws
         (Zinc-Plated)
       * Weight: 0.01 lbs. each

1     (585446) 6.00 inch Aluminum Channel    $5.99               $5.99
       * Weight: 0.16 lbs. each

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Total Shipment Weight: 0.58 lbs.   Subtotal:                $43.03
                                        Shipping & Handling:     $6.99
                                        Total:                   $50.02

The above, a spare mini-mouse I had lying around, some 1 1/4" and 3/4" screws, and a 1x8x2ft piece of pine board were all that was needed. I assembled my shaft unit, wrapped a portion of the shaft with gaffe tape, and taped the mouse into position over it to read the x-axis.

The pillow block bearings spin like a beautiful mofo, especially with the added weight of the steering wheel. My only concern now is that I hope they last a good long time. Pics below. If anybody is interested, I'll post more details. If not... uh, here's this thing I made today! 

[Generic Eric]

Awesome.  I for one would enjoy seeing some more pics! 

Which site did you buy those parts from?

Do you plan on integrating the mouse more?  I posted a thread about a wheel I bought years back.^{but the pics are gone}  Basically it was a box of plastic parts that accomplished the same thing, but didn't seem it would hold up for an extended duration of Ivan Stewart.   Your build seems much more sturdy. 

Lew would be proud.

How cool would it be to shift a lever and put it into a 270 deg or some other mode?

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

Servocity.com is where I got all the aluminum from.

I think I'll probably desolder and rewire the mouse buttons, just to break them out at some point. No rush though.

Funny you should post that site, I'm think I'm going to tackle the pedals at some point soon. Right now I'm just gimping along with a rewired Rock Band pedal, which isn't analog. I've never used pots before (and would need to buy an appropriate encoder to interface with) but that's part of why I'm doing these little projects first.

It's definitely sturdy, and super smooth right now - like I said, time will tell on these bearings. It wouldn't be too hard to come up with a way to limit/switch it to 270 (maybe even on a servo for automation?) Unfortunately, I don't have any need for that, as I already have a Logitech g27 for restricted rotation games.

[BadMouth]

lol. I've owned that wheel for two years, but never got around to making a 360 degree setup.
It's perfect for 360 degree games because there is no correct orientation for it.  Any direction can be centered.

If you widen out the mounting holes, it can bolt in place of an arcade wheel.

[Generic Eric]

I don't have any need for that, as I already have a Logitech g27 for restricted rotation games.

[Brian74]

I am very interested  I have been watching ebay in hopes of grabbing some 360 degree wheels, but no joy.

[Fursphere]

What are you doing for the pedal setup?    that's the one that that screws me up every time I want to make a 360 wheel control panel for my cabinet..  the damn pedals...

[mcseforsale]

Since I'm having a hard time coming up with a good light gun solution, I might try this on a cab instead.  Getting a 25" 3:4 CRT TV tomorrow from a dude a work and this might be a cool project.

Can anyone tell me, besides Pole Position(s) and Ivan Stewart, what good games there are for MAME/360 wheels?  I can't remember very many.

This is a VERY cool addition to the BYOACycolpedia IMO.

Thanks for sharing.

AJ

[PL1]

Can anyone tell me, besides Pole Position(s) and Ivan Stewart, what good games there are for MAME/360 wheels?

There's a list here.

I've only sorted the list of optical and potentiometer racing games through the R's so far.


Scott

[BadMouth]

Also a list in the driving cab info thread: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,105961.msg1122792.html#msg1122792

It will also work ok in MAME for 270 degree wheel games, but not having stops can throw you off a bit.
Geecab did some source code changes to make a 360 degree wheel feel a lot better on the 360 degree games:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130956.msg1341609.html#msg1341609

[BadMouth]

I've only sorted the list of optical and potentiometer racing games through the R's so far.

Pot based games here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,140494.0.html
IIRC, I only included "good" and "imperfect" emulation status.

They're all sorted from this spreadsheet I did back at v.142
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pJLy8JgRF7dL1X3CcDyDLKOLSIJs4gYZY4DLI0pmnmE/edit?pli=1#gid=0

[PL1]

To clarify, I'm working through a list of spinner/potentiometer/270 wheel/360 wheel games compiled from lists in 4 or 5 threads.


Scott

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

Hey folks, sorry to come back so late. I've got a couple of days off coming up, so I'll try to post more detailed (read: not cell phone) pics and assembly instructions.

That is, after I try to mount my 21" LCD onto this same shaft unit. I think it'll be sturdy enough to hold it. These pillow blocks are so smooth, I'm wondering just how much/little torque I would need to rotate a monitor 90 degrees...

Anybody else here have experience with Actobotics kit? This stuff is cool.

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

Okay, a couple of more-detailed pics:



From left to right on the 1" aluminum tube:
clamping hub #1
1 plastic spacer
pillow bearing #1 (in the channel)
gaffe tape for the mouse to read
pillow bearing #2
4 more spacers (to clear the wood screw heads)
clamping hub #2, screwed into
3/4" pine board square, approximately 2.5"/side

And here's a closer look at the wheel mount itself:



Basically, I cut a 2.5" square and found it's rough center by drawing 2 lines from the corners. Then I drilled a small pilot hole to act as a guide. From the pilot hole I then drilled about 1/4" into the wood with a 1" Forstner bit, to both give the tube something to sit in, and to center the pilot hole on the tube.

I then expanded the pilot hole out to 1/4" so that I could get a 1/4-20 bolt through. It just so happened that I had washers small enough to fit in the inside diameter of the tube, so I used those.

Once I had the holes aligned with the tube, mounting the steering wheel was easy enough, though a little fiddly because the center bore on the wheel is slightly larger than the 1/4-20 bolt I have. You can see in the video I didn't get it on there 100% perfectly centered this time, but I can always go back and lock in when this goes in a real project. Also, if you listen closely, you can just barely hear the smooth roll of the bearings under the, um... soothing music I forgot I had playing in the background when I recorded the video (don't judge.  ):



I also want to note that I did in fact mount my monitor to this same unit, and aside from looking a little silly, it handled much in the same way. Definitely sturdy enough, and rotation was smooth and quiet - the monitor itself is heavier on one side, however.

Ultimately, Actobotics was perfect for this project (and I'm thinking about a homemade Star Wars YOKE now) but I don't think I'll use it to make a automated monitor mount mostly because it's just not cost effective.  I've been looking at linear actuators on ebay that will be overkill for that and they only cost $50-60. More on that to come soon, hopefully!

[nitrogen_widget]

I just started looking at pillow blocks for a diy spinner build using an optical mouse.
I'll be building almost the same thing, except a whole lot smaller.

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

I just started looking at pillow blocks for a diy spinner build using an optical mouse.
I'll be building almost the same thing, except a whole lot smaller.

Now that it's done, I think this would probably still be very sturdy (as a steering wheel) with half the length of tube/channel, as long as the base it's mounted to is solid.  The money savings would be minimal, however (maybe 2-3 dollars?), so I'm not complaining.

I'm sure a spinner of similar design (1/4" shaft rather than tubing, bearings, maybe a weight on the bottom like the TT2?) would likely last a long, long time - even under heavy use - since there's so much less potential for angular force on the shaft. Get some good springs, you might even be able to make a decent facsimile of a push/pull spinner! Hell, maybe I should do that too! 

[nitrogen_widget]

I just started looking at pillow blocks for a diy spinner build using an optical mouse.
I'll be building almost the same thing, except a whole lot smaller.

Now that it's done, I think this would probably still be very sturdy (as a steering wheel) with half the length of tube/channel, as long as the base it's mounted to is solid.  The money savings would be minimal, however (maybe 2-3 dollars?), so I'm not complaining.

I'm sure a spinner of similar design (1/4" shaft rather than tubing, bearings, maybe a weight on the bottom like the TT2?) would likely last a long, long time - even under heavy use - since there's so much less potential for angular force on the shaft. Get some good springs, you might even be able to make a decent facsimile of a push/pull spinner! Hell, maybe I should do that too! 

I originally pulled apart a few dead hard drives and was playing around with the spindles on them.
I had the spindle and platter left mounted in the HD case and it spun nicely plus felt like it had enough weight to it but in the end I decided it just wouldn't hold up so started looking at heavier options.

edit: What a great place servo city is. I was planing to just buy parts off ebay but considering the difference in price isn't all that much i'll check these guys out.

[mcseforsale]

Thanks BadMouth!  I browsed the spreadsheet and indeed it looks like a dedicated 360 cab would be worth it!  I'm wondering how much a single-wheel would suck on something like Ironman Ivan Stewart's Super Off Road.  hmmm.

AJ

I've only sorted the list of optical and potentiometer racing games through the R's so far.

Pot based games here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,140494.0.html
IIRC, I only included "good" and "imperfect" emulation status.

They're all sorted from this spreadsheet I did back at v.142
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pJLy8JgRF7dL1X3CcDyDLKOLSIJs4gYZY4DLI0pmnmE/edit?pli=1#gid=0

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

Bought a couple of 10k pots from Radio Shack. They didn't have a terribly large (read: any) selection so I ended up with these long shafted jobs. I fiddled with pressure fitting them to some things, but they slip too easily.

So I went to my local hardware store and bought a 1/4-20 die, and used it to thread the shafts of the pots. I'll use the threading to trap a patch plate between 2 nuts (as in the pic below) to use as a lever for the pedals.

Basically I'm copying the design Lew has on his site. More to come once I've cut some wood and Divemaster gets off his butt and ships me my new A-Pac (and my TRON stick!) 

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

I abandoned attempting to build my own analog pedal unit. This was due to the fact that I decided, rather than building a completely separate 360-wheel setup, I would just incorporate this wheel into my (re-designed, but not yet extant) new sit-down racer setup.  Occam's Racer 2.0, if you will... 

There will be two steering wheels (the g27, and this) that will alternate at the driver's position, but just the one set of (g27) pedals. I see no reason to reinvent that particular wheel, so to speak.

For posterity, I should add that the APAC does work wonderfully with the pots I had procured. In my mock-up, I wasn't using the whole range of the pot, so finding "center" for calibration in Windows was a little tricky... but I had both gas and brake working with nice sensitivity. Of course, Lew's design is totally viable as well. I just made a design change.

Now once my girl and I get this move out of the way (next month?), I can actually move on with all these projects...