Posted by Intensify on July 19, 1999 at 08:12:24:
In Reply to: Spinner circuit posted by Brian Deuel on July 19, 1999 at 03:43:56:
: I have four Omega Race cocktail spinners in my possession. They are simple knobs with custom mounting connected to potentiometers. Does anyone know of a circuit I could build to connect these through the mouse port for use with games such as Tempest, Omega Race, etc. I would like to include these in my control panels, with an toggle switch between them to switch from spinner to mouse. The Twisty Grip instructions were great, but didn't help as far as using potentiometers go (i.e. I couldn't use a mouse to connect these).
: Any help would be appreciated.
: p.s. I do have four of these spinners, but will only be using two. If anyone can help me with a circuit, I will give that person the other two that I will not be using.
If you describe the spinners a little better, I could probably help you come up with something.
If the spinner is just mounted directly to a potentiometer, then it wouldn't work to just attach it to a mouse wheel.
You would definitely need to gear down the spin in order to get it to act like a real spinner (I could give you sizez of gears, etc, if you need them.)
The way I look at it, your best bet is to try attaching the spinner to a horizontal mouse wheel inside a mouse (Tear a cheap one apart) and mount the board in a way that the wheel can still go through the sensors.
If this ends up being acceptable, let me know, but my gut tells me that a direct spin on that mouse wheel would make it move too fast (Unless you have a mouse that have drivers which allow you to turn down the sensitivity).
-- Intensify