Hi
Having seen the sudden rush of driving games for the PC I am thinking
about maikng my own controls. I just wondered if anyone had done suvh
a thing and if so did they have any tips about what to do and what
not to do. Having though about it for a while the biggest problem I
can forsee is getting the whell to self centre and also to prevent
over rotation destroying the potentiometer (which I assume is
sensible to use to measure the steering?)
Thanks in advance for any help
Al
P.S. if there is a FAQ or file available by FTP could someone point
me at it.
Well I'm glad to see that I am not the only crazy person who though A$199
was a bit steap for the T1 control set. I am currently on version 2 of my
steering wheel design and about to start construction of my pedal set, at
the moment I use 2 buttons in the SW for Accel and Brake (these will
become the gear change when pedals are working). My first attempt was
mearly a 250k pot mounted on a bracket with the steering wheel connected
straight into the pot via a control knob glued into the center of a
kiddies toy steering wheel, no self centering.(this was good for about 10
laps then you had to tighten grub screws!!) The new one is quite an
improvement as it incorperates centering as well as being much
stronger.(Reduced lap times by about 0.7 sec on most road courses in ICR)
If you want I will try to draw up some plans and E-mail to you....
Hope to hear back
Anthony. B.
Quoted text (31 lines)
> Newsgroups: rec.autos.simulators > Path: simba.cnsnet.com!news3.net99.net!news.cais.net!uunet!in1.uu.net!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!yarrina.connect.com.au!warrane.connect.com.au!iccu6.ipswichcity.qld.gov.au!news > Subject: Re: Anyone made a home made steering wheel and pedals? > Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 04:06:10 GMT > X-Nntp-Posting-Host: ppp1.ipswich.gil.com.au > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > Mime-Version: 1.0 > X-Mailer: Mozilla 1.1N (Windows; I; 16bit) > Organization: Global Infolinks Internet Server, Ipswich Qld Australia > Lines: 16 > Well I'm glad to see that I am not the only crazy person who though A$199 > was a bit steap for the T1 control set. I am currently on version 2 of my > steering wheel design and about to start construction of my pedal set, at > the moment I use 2 buttons in the SW for Accel and Brake (these will > become the gear change when pedals are working). My first attempt was > mearly a 250k pot mounted on a bracket with the steering wheel connected > straight into the pot via a control knob glued into the center of a > kiddies toy steering wheel, no self centering.(this was good for about 10 > laps then you had to tighten grub screws!!) The new one is quite an > improvement as it incorperates centering as well as being much > stronger.(Reduced lap times by about 0.7 sec on most road courses in ICR) > If you want I will try to draw up some plans and E-mail to you.... > Hope to hear back > Anthony. B.Quoted text (19 lines)
>> Well I'm glad to see that I am not the only crazy person who though A$199 >> was a bit steap for the T1 control set. I am currently on version 2 of my >> steering wheel design and about to start construction of my pedal set, at >> the moment I use 2 buttons in the SW for Accel and Brake (these will >> become the gear change when pedals are working). My first attempt was >> mearly a 250k pot mounted on a bracket with the steering wheel connected >> straight into the pot via a control knob glued into the center of a >> kiddies toy steering wheel, no self centering.(this was good for about 10 >> laps then you had to tighten grub screws!!) The new one is quite an >> improvement as it incorperates centering as well as being much >> stronger.(Reduced lap times by about 0.7 sec on most road courses in ICR) >> If you want I will try to draw up some plans and E-mail to you.... >> Hope to hear back >> Anthony. B. > I would be interested to hear ideas on making your on steering wheels. I have > been prototyping a system for a couple of months..... SO what kinda setups > work the best?Here is a copy of an E-mail I've sent out to a couple peaple. This pedal
set-up works rather well. Another addition I've found to enhance the
setup is to use two strong *** bands (per pedal) to pull the joysticks
to the full back position instead of centering. I'm not sure how to
'post' the picture (BMP) I have for this, so anyone interested just drop
me a line. I can convert it to a different format also.
I'm currently using two $10 joysticks for pedals and a CH
flightstick for steering. I modified a 'Y' cable to switch the
foreward-back motion (of the third joystick) over to the left-right
motion (of the second joy). The computer only sees 2 joysticks.
This is how I modified the 'Y' cable. After assembly I took the
'pedals' and secured them to a board so that I could better secure them
to the floor under my desk. Hoope this helps you out.
To modify the 'Y' Connector follow these instructions:
Note: Ensure that you refer to the attatched pedals.bmp file. And, the
wireing list at the bottom of this letter.
1. Determine which connector (of the 'Y' connector) is joystick 1. Do
this by doing a continuety check from pin 1 of the computer end to the
lower right pin of of both joystick ends. Mark the cable with a ***
band or something.
2. Cut wires. Both cable insulations (going to joystick ends) need to
be split for wire access. Slit the insulation length wise, being
carefull not to go to deep and damageing the wires inside. About two
inches will be sufficient. The length wise cut will allow the insulation
to remain in place for pulling strength when in use.
3. Joystick 1 cable. Cut wire #6. Shave the insulation on wire #8
about 1/4 inch), DO NOT cut the wire.
Note: If the modified cable will be plugged into a non modified 'Y'
cable (which I highly recommend for the use of a third joystick for
steering) then all joystick 2 wires do not need to be cut. Only wire #s
11 and 15 need to be cut.
4. Joystick 2 cable. Cut all wires in the joystick 2 cable. DO NOT
cut the cable insulation in two.
5. Splice the wires. Splice the #11 wire from joystick 2, to the #6
wire going to the computer end. Splice the #15 wire from joystick 2, to
the shaved #8 wire connecting joystick 1 and the computer.
6. Wrap up. Tape up all splices making sure all bare wires are
insulated from each other.
7. Test assembly. Connect cables as shown in the picture. Start your
simulator (NASCAR) then set up the accelerate and brake controls. The
program should require you to calibrate joystick 1 and 2 upon start up,
if not make sur you select it in the controls area. Remember you now
have 3 controllers. The pedals will be joystick 2. Both pedals will
function in the foreward/backward direction. One of them will be joy 2
'Y' and the other will be joy 2 'X'.
pin # Function Color (may not be the same in your cable)
---------Joystick 1 cable---------
3 FWD/BACK Yellow
6 LEFT/Right Blue
8 X/Y common White
---------Joystick 2 cable---------
11 FWD/BACK Yellow
13 LEFT/RIGHT Blue
15 X/Y common white
Note: You can check colors (without cutting wires first) by using a
sewing needle pushed inside the individual wires and checking continuety
to the pins.
I hope this helps. If my explanation is confusing let me know. Also,
if you need the picture in a different formant (instead of BMP) let me
know what you can use. Let me know how it works out.
Good luck,
Lyman
If you're going to exhcange some ideas, count on me. I'm looking for a design
of a wheel not only because a $199 is to much, but because I want to have more
interaction with the game, like a motor in the wheel to simulate the hardness
of it.
Rafain Rdz
