Starwars YOKE controller on a budget

[evilfred]

A little experimentation on what's possible to create on a super thin budget and a lot of imagination

Using an old wingman steeringweel = 5$
http://images.bidorbuy.co.za/user_images/063/2534063/2534063_140425071220_1301070400_180970405_1-Fotos-de--Vendo-Joystick-Timon-con-pedales-Wingman-formula-gp-LOGITECH.jpg

Using the foot controller sensors gas/break. to steer up/down as the original "yoke"

firebutton conected too one of the wheelbuttons.

thanx to http://arcadecontrols.com/hosted/yoke/
exelent blueprints, the woodwork was easy. Switching the steeringwheel to my own creation.

Plastic cogwheels from a discarded toyset (lego cogwheels would do exelent) 

Steelrod from discarded lamp. Spring from discarded wingman pedals

Aluminum plate bent over the midpart with a local photostore printed "Atari Starwars yoke texture" found on some arcade site and photoshopped by me.  = 10$

End resault after a lot of tweaking in the Mame64 analog steringweel sesitivity =  100% AWESOM Starwars arcade gaming! 

[Xiaou2]

Good job.

 One thing,  drill a hole through the pipe,   and put in a bolt that sticks out.    Place rubber bumpers on the ends,  or glue bumpers to stopping blocks.    Screw stopping blocks in place,   preferably made out of hardwood, cutting board material.. or something dense and strong.  (or maybe just use two bolts for the stopping blocks, with rubber bumpers surrounding them)

 You want stop blocks,  so that the pots do not get turned too far... and break.   Someone is libel to do it, even if you yourself are careful.
The stopping blocks will also help define your controller feel and range...  not to mention, allow for accurate calibration.

 If you had placed the gears more towards the center,  it would have been easy to place the stoppers on the side of the yoke.

 Not sure the kind of pipe you used.. but it should be like 2mm thick,  to handle the torqued impact stop.

 You probably want to remake the thing out of a more solid wood, or thick cutting board material for strength.   Again, due to bumper force and solid mounting...  so that the whole assembly wont tear apart.

 Edit: If you cut the trigger spring in half,  you should have room to place the top buttons in place.   It would also be good to anchor the mini micros with some tiny screws, or metal pins that are glued in place.   Impact stress might eventually move /break the hot glue.

 Also, you might opt for leaf switches instead.  They will last longer, feel and react better.. for the triggers.
They also may eliminate the need for any return spring.. as they are in fact springs themselves.   Not sure about the depth..  so double check it.. but it should work fine when split in half.

[evilfred]

Hey! that's a really good idea. something i thought was missing but couldn't quite get my finger on it!..."stop blocks". no problem fitting them in!
thanks for the tips 

Actually the wood is strong enough and heavy enough to get the right feel, mimicking the actual steel construction on the real thing, helping the thing stand still without any locking support. and with a heavy coat of black plastic paint, its as close i get not using real metal

[Xiaou2]

 I meant,  that if you institute stopping blocks.. the impact forces upon them can be quite powerful.   The power will seek out the weakest link (breakage)..  and that could very well be the choice of using particle board  -vs-  solid board.    Also,  the joints will also be stressed too...  so if the construction isnt really strong.. a whole side might break off the bottom plate, for example.

 (My initial device was a mere small machine screw that bumped into a rubber padded wood block set that Id glued in place.   The forces eventually broke the block off.   Hence, my advice to use something like a metal bolt set with bumpers - that goes through the actual shell)

 Rubber bumpers will help,  but even then a person can generate quite a bit of force in a quick-twitch flick of the wrists, in the heat of battle.

 Re-enforce all the corners with blocks, much like the ones you have in the rear.

 Additionally,  it seems you simply glued the handles to the metal tube.   This may also stress-break at end of travel.   To prevent this,  I had made two donut shaped collars that were cut at the correct handle angles.   I screwed glued and screwed them to the inner side walls of the handles, using small screws.    Then,  the tube was inserted into the collars...  and I put a long thin bolt through the collar top,  and into the steel tube.   This locked the tube to the handle quite well..  yet could be taken apart if needed.

 Another option,  is to cut the ends of the tube a bit,  and make it so that you can bend two flaps 90 degrees, and screw them in place.

 Yet another 'not so great' but dooable option, could be to tap threads into the tube ends, and lock it down with an internal & external nut.  I dont recommend the typical use of threaded rod, as the threads anywhere else would shred stuff.. such as the bushings / etc.

 The spring return could use some tweaking too.   A quick helper may be to mount each spring end to opposite diagonals... to give more distance.   They should be stretched out a little to create tension.   It looks like if you turn one direction, the other spring will sort of bind up currently.

 Wood is fine for a decent yoke.  Just have to make sure its well built to take the abuses.

[evilfred]

oh yea...that's right.... hm i will have to rethink the design if i install stop blocks then. because the handles are infact glued in place with construction Adhesives. thanx for the tipp! i will surely look into that.

[tigernut]

I love stuff like this, nice job. It's satisfying to be able to build something that isn't able to be bought easily or at all.

[Aceldamor]

I meant,  that if you institute stopping blocks.. the impact forces upon them can be quite powerful.   The power will seek out the weakest link (breakage)..  and that could very well be the choice of using particle board  -vs-  solid board.    Also,  the joints will also be stressed too...  so if the construction isnt really strong.. a whole side might break off the bottom plate, for example.

 (My initial device was a mere small machine screw that bumped into a rubber padded wood block set that Id glued in place.   The forces eventually broke the block off.   Hence, my advice to use something like a metal bolt set with bumpers - that goes through the actual shell)

 Rubber bumpers will help,  but even then a person can generate quite a bit of force in a quick-twitch flick of the wrists, in the heat of battle.

 Re-enforce all the corners with blocks, much like the ones you have in the rear.

 Additionally,  it seems you simply glued the handles to the metal tube.   This may also stress-break at end of travel.   To prevent this,  I had made two donut shaped collars that were cut at the correct handle angles.   I screwed glued and screwed them to the inner side walls of the handles, using small screws.    Then,  the tube was inserted into the collars...  and I put a long thin bolt through the collar top,  and into the steel tube.   This locked the tube to the handle quite well..  yet could be taken apart if needed.

 Another option,  is to cut the ends of the tube a bit,  and make it so that you can bend two flaps 90 degrees, and screw them in place.

 Yet another 'not so great' but dooable option, could be to tap threads into the tube ends, and lock it down with an internal & external nut.  I dont recommend the typical use of threaded rod, as the threads anywhere else would shred stuff.. such as the bushings / etc.

 The spring return could use some tweaking too.   A quick helper may be to mount each spring end to opposite diagonals... to give more distance.   They should be stretched out a little to create tension.   It looks like if you turn one direction, the other spring will sort of bind up currently.

 Wood is fine for a decent yoke.  Just have to make sure its well built to take the abuses.

you got a build blog / pics of your setup Xiaou?

[Generic Eric]

Force you used.  Effective it was!

WTG! 
I've got to Han it to you.  Taking a shot at doing it yourself first!
I'd like to know more about your Plexiglas trigger.  Will your next version have thumb buttons?  I can't tell you if you need them or not, it has been a while since I played.  This isn't my list, but go here to gog.com to check out some PC based Star Wars games.  If you are interested, report back with any mods you made to this yoke in order to play them.  That is one of the things I would like to do when I get my yoke wired up.  May the Force be with you, and all that jazz  


I^{hopeI wasn't too heavyon the puns}

[kjeffery]

Use the yoke from stun runner, you can find those machines for dirt cheap or spare parts for them

[evilfred]

I'd like to know more about your Plexiglas trigger.  Will your next version have thumb buttons?  I can't tell you if you need them or not, it has been a while since I played.   check out some PC based Star Wars games.report back with any mods you made to this yoke in order to play them.

  thanx for the kind words!  I believe it should work for any game supporting joystick X and Y axis!

what can i say about the plexiglas trigger...its sawed out of ordinary 5 mm thick acrylic clear plastic. think it was from a discarded pen holder!
its pushing on a pressure breaker switch bought on Ebay for 1$ for 5 psc
he thumb button i didn't try to implicate because its not needed for the game to be played. there is 4 buttons in the mame64 version but they seem to do the same thing. firing the lasers and eventually firing the torpedo in the exhaust port ?

[lcmgadgets]

Beautiful! I wish I was this innovative!

[Aceldamor]

I'll have to agree with the others here, it's cool "out of the box" builds like this to that are cool to see. Really nice work done here. Have you thought about using some putty or something to smooth out the handles a bit? I only ask cause it looks like the right side has a bit of a rough finish in one of those pics, but it may just be glare from the gloss.

Also, curious to know how it "feels" compared to the original. is the up/down motion have some resistance to it? I would assume that would depend on the strength of the spring you used. Which brings me to my second question, how is the return to center? is it bouncy or smooth?

Stuff like this makes me want to give it a go. I wonder if 3d printed handles would hold up to the abuse.

[Generic Eric]

What kind of wood did you use for the handle?  Where did you find the pattern for the handles?  That link you gave used star wars themed lollipop holders.  Anyway.

I have a few ideas that I'm try to organize together.  One of them was to find a more handled shape handle.  Another was stylizing the grip.  Originally I had considered knurling, but don't see any info on knurling irregular shapes.



Check that link out for some ideas.  The guy used tape from the automotive section of walmart.  Others use skateboard tape.  This whole time I'm looking at this idea thinking "that looks like sand paper."  Then I found it in this video    The comment of the day! 

 Dude that must of shredded the ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- out of your palms! I skate and shoot and my hands get distroyed for my griptape (mob grip) and that plus the recoil, I feel bad just thinking about it
   

I don't know what kind of hoodlum skates and shoots?  *shrug*

There is this other stuff called gun tape, from guntape.com  It may be better suited.


But this isn't about me, I can do my own thread for that.  But the handles, that is what I really want to know    Is that pine? How thick is the wood?  Thanks.

[pbj]

Pinballjim is impressed by your ingenuity.

[lamprey]

Use the yoke from stun runner, you can find those machines for dirt cheap or spare parts for them

Links?

[jennifer]

   This is a custom arcade controls site, and that certainly does qualify, So for that you get a Christmas cookie from Jenn.

[Xiaou2]

you got a build blog / pics of your setup Xiaou?

https://www.facebook.com/kungfu.steve/media_set?set=a.10153501478760798.1073741831.839410797&type=3

Just some pics.

[thomas_surles]

great build/tutorial. I actually want to make a similar one to make a diddy kong racing cab. I figure a yoke is the best way to go for the plane controls.

[Generic Eric]

great build/tutorial. I actually want to make a similar one to make a diddy kong racing cab. I figure a yoke is the best way to go for the plane controls.

Are you going to make the yoke handles bananas? 

[PL1]

great build/tutorial. I actually want to make a similar one to make a diddy kong racing cab. I figure a yoke is the best way to go for the plane controls.

Are you going to make the yoke handles bananas?

If he does that, it should be next to a Monkey Ball cab.   






Scott

[evilfred]

Have you thought about using some putty or something to smooth out the handles a bit? I only ask cause it looks like the right side has a bit of a rough finish in one of those pics, but it may just be glare from the gloss.

Also, curious to know how it "feels" compared to the original. is the up/down motion have some resistance to it? I would assume that would depend on the strength of the spring you used. Which brings me to my second question, how is the return to center? is it bouncy or smooth?

Yes im going to redesign and make everything smother. Actualy dident putt so much time into this project,  probably even replace the steering wheel base with something locking more like the original.
The springs could relay be stronger to give it a better force feeling. the wood setup is strong enough to take the force with some more wood glued to the base. the feeling right now its mush too week!

[evilfred]

What kind of wood did you use for the handle?  Where did you find the pattern for the handles?  That link you gave used star wars themed lollipop holders.  Anyway.  Is that pine? How thick is the wood?  Thanks.

The handle with the trigger its some kind of Heat-treated aspen from a sauna. (saved the wood from when we removed our sauna) 
The other one is pine!

found the patterns on a site selling the real deal!





Photoshop it with a measure of tying out diferent sizes, before i found my own measurement that felt like the on i played in a museum some time ago.
12.3 cm high
4,9 wide
 and 3.2 cm thick


White dot in the middle is the drillig mark for the metal bar

[evilfred]

   This is a custom arcade controls site, and that certainly does qualify, So for that you get a Christmas cookie from Jenn.

Yeeey!    Thanx  ....wait is that one of thos dangerous website cookies iv reed about in the paper? the ones that invades my privacy 

[jennifer]

   No, that's REAL cookie for having such a clever idea ... I would be of the opinion However, That your creativity is somewhat stifled by your means, You really should look into some used equipment (drill press, milling machine and the like) And take your work to the next level.

[evilfred]

Thanks! i know...if i could make a living out of this. believe me i would! and making things in a bigger quantity or higher quality demands both the time to do it and the right machines!
Best kick i get out from this is feeding my mind with all the problem arises out of this kind of smal project....and the joy of helping others with ideas and specialiserad solutions to projects used by others in LARP:s (Live Action roll play)

[Aceldamor]

definitely an inspiring piece. Think I'd like to give one of these a shot once I get my cab up....(god knows when that will be)

[welash]

I bought a couple of these http://www.dx.com/p/light-handle-grip-mount-w-hot-cold-shoe-for-led-video-light-162695#.VmrxrL-nbXE a year or so ago with thoughts of making a yoke.  I thought they seemed a little small, but they seem to be about the same as your quoted measurements.  Maybe you'll inspire me to actually build one.

[Xiaou2]

I bought a couple of these http://www.dx.com/p/light-handle-grip-mount-w-hot-cold-shoe-for-led-video-light-162695#.VmrxrL-nbXE a year or so ago with thoughts of making a yoke.  I thought they seemed a little small, but they seem to be about the same as your quoted measurements.  Maybe you'll inspire me to actually build one.

 It might be easier hacking up a toy gun, than that.    It would provide you with an actual trigger,  pivots, etc...  though, you might mod that as well,  depending on the feel and travel.

 Thin plastics tend to bend, flex, and or break easily..  so you will probably need to re-enforce certain areas with epoxy putty.

 ** Edit

 Ya know,  for most it might be easier to patch an analog joystick handle.  All the switches will already be in place.
Epoxy putty and some metal strengthening-screws, should do the rest.

[Xiaou2]

   No, that's REAL cookie for having such a clever idea ... I would be of the opinion However, That your creativity is somewhat stifled by your means, You really should look into some used equipment (drill press, milling machine and the like) And take your work to the next level.

 I think the hardest part to make is actually the handles...  and really, I dont think milling them would be a good, nor easy option.   Especially if they are done like the originals, with the angled handle sockets.   Milling is best for flat surfaces.. so I think only the generic shape could be cut.   After that.. would be a lot of hardcore and im-precise grinding.

 Besides carving... I think the only other high level solution would be metal or plastic casting.    And I would expect that to be quite a challenge to pull off in either case.

 Hacking of course, is usually going to be the low end option...  but,  done well,  it could look and feel as nice as anything out there.
(probably with some patching, sculpting, sanding, grinding, with epoxy putty)

[jennifer]

  I wasn't really thinking about milling the handles, (Although that would be dies on a press, or castings and would most likely be cost prohibitive for a prototype) But was more in reference to the actual milled casting of the overall assembly, And was not specific to just millers, just pointing out that used tooling in any capacity gives more integrity and flexibility to creative freedom to any given project.

[danny_galaga]

Top work Evil (",)

[evilfred]

I bought a couple of these http://www.dx.com/p/light-handle-grip-mount-w-hot-cold-shoe-for-led-video-light-162695#.VmrxrL-nbXE a year or so ago with thoughts of making a yoke.  I thought they seemed a little small, but they seem to be about the same as your quoted measurements.  Maybe you'll inspire me to actually build one.

Just do it! it was easier than i thought. With some good planing of material use and a little more money put into it it should be awesome!