Home made Pedals !??

Hey ! I'm thinking about making my own pedals ! So I wanne know if I need one potentiometer for each pedal or one for both ?? Should I connect the wheels for using one or should I use two individual pedals for accel and braking ? Thanks for any help !

>I'm thinking about making my own pedals ! >So I wanne know if I need one potentiometer for each pedal or one for both ?? >Should I connect the wheels for using one or should I use two individual pedals > for accel and braking ? Two is much easier to implement. 2 x 250K linear pots in series. check out Wallys page "www.oz.net/~wottenad" for more info. My design is basically a large sheet of 18mm MDF as a base. Two pedal size bits of 10mm MDF bolted to two huge gate hinges (you may try spring loaded screen door hinges as my springs are not readily available) To connect to the pots I bought two extra large old style knobs and smashed them to get the brass insert out then soldered a disk of double sided PC board to the brass. I then used a small lever system (made from a kitchen door lever thingy I found in the hardware shop) to drive the pots. I also put a large *** stopper under the brake pedal to give it some feel. Once I chocked up the front of the assembly to get the foot to pedal angle right it worked like a charm. BTW play in socks not shoes, it gives you much better feel. Phil

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> Hey ! > I'm thinking about making my own pedals ! > So I wanne know if I need one potentiometer for each pedal or one for both ?? > Should I connect the wheels for using one or should I use two individual pedals for accel > and braking ? > Thanks for any help !

You should use two pots for that, it works better. You can also drive with both feet, i.e. on the gas but braking too. Also use two seperate pedels. The way I did mine is I mounted both pots inbetween my pedals & sunken into my pedel base so I doesn't bother my feet. Wire them to be totally seperate from each other. On mine my gas is Joystick 1-Y Axis, and my brake is Joystick 2-Y Axis. Mike

: You should use two pots for that, it works better. You can also drive : with both feet, i.e. on the gas but braking too. Also use two seperate : pedels. The way I did mine is I mounted both pots inbetween my pedals & : sunken into my pedel base so I doesn't bother my feet. Wire them to be : totally seperate from each other. On mine my gas is Joystick 1-Y Axis, : and my brake is Joystick 2-Y Axis. There's no need to use both joystick 1 and joystick 2 for the pedals. You can connect both pots easily to joystick 1-y axis. You can check my idea for doing that: rieska.oulu.fi/~heinanen/wheel.html Antti -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Antti Heinanen Dept. of Information Processing Science http://rieska.oulu.fi/~heinanen University of Oulu, Finland ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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> There's no need to use both joystick 1 and joystick 2 for the pedals. You > can connect both pots easily to joystick 1-y axis. You can check my idea for > doing that: rieska.oulu.fi/~heinanen/wheel.html > Antti > -- > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can do that but then you cannot truely drive with two feet, like most of the real drivers because to drive with two feet the computer needs two seperate inputs, one for gas and one for brake. So you can be doing both at the same time. If you use one axis, think of your pedals as your joystick y-axis, it cannot go up and down at the same time. Just my two cents, but it is no harder to wire this up than the other way and I perfer to have two true inputs of where my feet are on the pedals. Mike

: You can do that but then you cannot truely drive with two feet, like : most of the real drivers because to drive with two feet the computer : needs two seperate inputs, one for gas and one for brake. So you can be : doing both at the same time. If you use one axis, think of your pedals : as your joystick y-axis, it cannot go up and down at the same time. : Just my two cents, but it is no harder to wire this up than the other : way and I perfer to have two true inputs of where my feet are on the : pedals. Does the brake win the gas? If you press both pedals at the same time, how does the car react? Two inputs is a very good solution, but it doesn't work with all the games. Antti -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Antti Heinanen Dept. of Information Processing Science http://rieska.oulu.fi/~heinanen University of Oulu, Finland ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The brake does win most of it, but it's kind of hard to describe, you kinda just have to feel it for yourself, but it does work well. And you are correct that it does work with all games, but the only ones it usually doesn't work with are the older ones that don't support two joysticks, ala World Circuit. The new ones like Nascar, Indycar II, World Circuit II all allow two joysticks so you can set them up to work. Like I said, this is how I did it and it doesn't seem to react funny, which I think it might if it was wired to one axis. My friend is going to be trying this though because he has a 486-33 and can only run World Circuit, so he has to wire it this way. I'm interested to see how it works. Mike

> but the only ones it usually doesn't work with are the older ones that don't support two joysticks, ala World Circuit. Correction: World Circuit did support two joysticks! I used my CH yoke and pedals with it. BTW, Walt Ottenad has a terrific web page dedicated to building your own wheel and pedals. He even has plans for creating seat movement that's directly connected to accelerating, braking and shifting! The guy is clever as hell! Check it out: http://www.oz.net/~wottenad/wheel.htm -- Lew Wiegand