Posted by ferris on 31, 2001 at 11:42 AM:
I've finally completed and installed a spinner that I made using a microsoft mouse and standard hardware from a local hardware store. First I took the mouse apart and cut the board in half then rewired the circuit to make up for the broken board. I tested both the horizontal and vertical axis and they both work great. Then I cut the base of the mouse in half in order to retain the mouting position for the light chopper. The spinner itself was made by using a skateboard wheel bearing mounted in a board and held in position with a large washer that I cut in half. The spinner is a long 5/16" (i think) bolt with some large washers and several self locking nuts. I then put what I call a 'barrel' nut on the end of it. All it is is a long nut - I got it from home depot. I actually had to cut it in half. Then I trimmed down the little plastic light chopper and hot glued it inside the barrel nut which was just partially threaded to the shaft. I attached a perpendicular piece of wood to the top piece with brackets and then screwed the half of the mouse to it while positioning it to the light chopper. To install the bearing, you first cut a large hole with a spade bit just deep enough for the bearing to fit in but stick out a little. Then you cut a smaller hole all the way through. This hole has to be big enough for the lock nuts to spin in.
That's it. Check out the pictures. I'm going to build 3 more of these so my cabinet can play 4 player WARLORDS !!!
Cheers
ftp://209.102.178.110/users/mikecousins/spinone.jpg
ftp://209.102.178.110/users/mikecousins/spintwo.jpg
ftp://209.102.178.110/users/mikecousins/spin3.jpg