Building my own controller?

I am a part time sim racer. I don't have the time or the connection to race online. I do like to race at home from time to time. I am interested in making my own controller. I presently use a hand held steering wheel from InterNet. I have not found any other hand held controller like this one. I have contacted the company (British) but they have not responded. I do not want to get a wheel and pedals. I am happy with a simple hand held controller. My question is how hard it would be to make my own? What parts would I need or is some of the controllers available for PC's have the following: 1 - A variable wheel. 2 - A variable throttle control 3 - A variable brake control 4 - at least four option buttons. The wheel that I use connects through the sound card. I assume it is analog. Would a digital controller be different? Mack -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----

On Wed, 27 Feb 2002 20:23:49 -0500, Mack <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>I am a part time sim racer. I don't have the time or the connection to >race online. I do like to race at home from time to time. I am >interested in making my own controller. I presently use a hand held >steering wheel from InterNet. I have not found any other hand held >controller like this one. I have contacted the company (British) but >they have not responded. I do not want to get a wheel and pedals. I am >happy with a simple hand held controller. My question is how hard it >would be to make my own? What parts would I need or is some of the >controllers available for PC's have the following: >1 - A variable wheel. >2 - A variable throttle control >3 - A variable brake control >4 - at least four option buttons. >The wheel that I use connects through the sound card. I assume it is >analog. Would a digital controller be different? >Mack >

Interact, makers of the V3 wheel, used to make a *force feedback* hand held controler. It is no longer listed in their catalog. There are also two options that I know of for using an R/C car controler with a PC. One, by Dura Trax uses the shell of an old style Futaba radio as a PC controler. It comes with an R/C car simulator program. The other, by Serpent, is an interface box that allows you to use an existing R/C radio as a PC controler. This is an expensive, and less than optimum, solution unless you already own the radio. I would consider this a fairly easy DIY project, but then I've also designed and built my own R/C infrared transponder system, hardware and supporting timing software, from scratch by myself. I'm the handy sort. All you would need is a wiring diagram for the gameport, available from a number of sources on the web, use google, a couple of 100k pots, you could always just go to Radio Shack, but mouser.com will give you military spec pots if you're willing to pay for them, some wire, four buttons and a DB-15 connector, also available at Radio Shack, and somthing to mount them on. Plus a bit of dicking around with the actual control interfaces to the pots. If you're the sort who enjoys doing this for the sheer pleasure of it, go ahead and build. If not, just by the Dura Trax: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p.pgm?Q=1&I=LXPL92&P=7 KFG

It's not that difficult using the gameport. A couple good websites to get you started: http://www.theuspits.com/hardware/lew/index.html http://www.gunpowder.freeserve.co.uk/wheels/ You should also be able to find some info on how a gameport works on the web. Have fun Ken Ken Mack wrote:

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> I am a part time sim racer. I don't have the time or the connection to > race online. I do like to race at home from time to time. I am > interested in making my own controller. I presently use a hand held > steering wheel from InterNet. I have not found any other hand held > controller like this one. I have contacted the company (British) but > they have not responded. I do not want to get a wheel and pedals. I am > happy with a simple hand held controller. My question is how hard it > would be to make my own? What parts would I need or is some of the > controllers available for PC's have the following: > 1 - A variable wheel. > 2 - A variable throttle control > 3 - A variable brake control > 4 - at least four option buttons. > The wheel that I use connects through the sound card. I assume it is > analog. Would a digital controller be different? > Mack > > -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- > http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! > -----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----

On Wed, 27 Feb 2002 20:23:49 -0500, Mack <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>I am a part time sim racer. I don't have the time or the connection to >race online. I do like to race at home from time to time. I am >interested in making my own controller. I presently use a hand held >steering wheel from InterNet. I have not found any other hand held >controller like this one. I have contacted the company (British) but >they have not responded. I do not want to get a wheel and pedals. I am >happy with a simple hand held controller. My question is how hard it >would be to make my own? What parts would I need or is some of the >controllers available for PC's have the following: >1 - A variable wheel. >2 - A variable throttle control >3 - A variable brake control >4 - at least four option buttons. >The wheel that I use connects through the sound card. I assume it is >analog. Would a digital controller be different? >Mack

Check out this page, it shows a home made, hand held controller. It's in German, but the pictures are good and will show what can be done. http://www.richardkunze.de/len3_000.htm KFG

Thanks to all of you. That last picture is something I think I could do and maybe even improve on. This stuff is exactly what I was looking for. Once completed, I will let you guys know. Once again I appreciate the advice and links. Mack On Sat, 02 Mar 2002 18:15:29 GMT, [email hidden] (Kevin F. Gavitt) wrote:

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>On Wed, 27 Feb 2002 20:23:49 -0500, Mack <[email hidden]> wrote: > >>I am a part time sim racer. I don't have the time or the connection to >>race online. I do like to race at home from time to time. I am >>interested in making my own controller. I presently use a hand held >>steering wheel from InterNet. I have not found any other hand held >>controller like this one. I have contacted the company (British) but >>they have not responded. I do not want to get a wheel and pedals. I am >>happy with a simple hand held controller. My question is how hard it >>would be to make my own? What parts would I need or is some of the >>controllers available for PC's have the following: >>1 - A variable wheel. >>2 - A variable throttle control >>3 - A variable brake control >>4 - at least four option buttons. >>The wheel that I use connects through the sound card. I assume it is >>analog. Would a digital controller be different? >>Mack > >Check out this page, it shows a home made, hand held controller. It's >in German, but the pictures are good and will show what can be done. > >http://www.richardkunze.de/len3_000.htm > >KFG

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On Mon, 04 Mar 2002 06:25:17 -0500, Mack <[email hidden]> wrote: >Thanks to all of you. That last picture is something I think I could >do and maybe even improve on. This stuff is exactly what I was looking >for. Once completed, I will let you guys know. Once again I appreciate >the advice and links. >Mack > Please, I'd love to see what you end up with. If I were still driving R/C seriously I'd probably be doing it myself, so I have some actual interest in your results. KFG