Please be careful..... (more)

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Posted by OSCAR on 31, 2001 at 7:41 PM:

In Reply to: thoughts on a Steering Wheel mounted to a spinner posted by Marty on 31, 2001 at 6:46 PM:

Most commercial spinners use a 1/4" shaft, including the OSCAR. On a spinner there is little or no moment transmitted to the shaft due to the action that a spinner sees (rotary).

Take a Happ's super joystick with about a 4" moment arm. The shaft diameter on the joystick is 3/8" and designed to take this moment. Now on the arcade steering wheels that I have seen (lets say 10" diameter), they use a 3/4" round bar for the shaft, and again this is because of the moment. A steering wheel is a special case because it can, and will, transmit a coupled moment (pushing on one side, while pulling on the other) back to the shaft. Let's say 20lbs. force, which would be typical for an aggressive player, kids, leaning on the steering wheel, etc... with a 10" coupled moment arm would present a 200 in-lbs torque to the 1/4" shaft..... This translates into a 130ksi bending stress for a 1/4" spinner shaft, and only 5ksi for a 3/4" arcade steering wheel shaft . This is the reason steering wheels use larger diameter shafts. 1018CRS (cold rolled steel, for the layman) is good for about 90ksi, and aluminum is good for about 20ksi.

My calculation is looking at pure bending only, just because I figured that would be the most likely failure mode. Note that I neglected 3-dimensional stresses, shear, and stress concentration at the bearing/bushing contact points. All of these would just increase the margin of failure.

In short... attaching a steering wheel to a 1/4" shaft is asking for trouble. You may be okay if you use extreme caution, but I would never recommend it because I would hate to see somebody damage their control panel, spinner, investment.

As some of you know, I put up a steering wheel DIY project. Real arcade steering wheels are available online and eBay, and that would be the safer route. The idea of multi-tasking your spinner can be very tempting, and that was why I went through the calculations and decided against it when I chose to add one to my cabinet.

--OSCAR

OSCAR website

Follow Ups:

Re: Please be careful..... (more) Marty 5/31/2001 (3)
- if you're interested, look what I found..... OSCAR 5/31/2001 (2)
  - Re: if you're interested, look what I found..... blah 6/01/2001 (1)
    - Re: if you're interested, look what I found..... OSCAR 6/01/2001 (0)
Hey, add that to your project page! (NT) Mojo2000 5/31/2001 (0)

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: Most commercial spinners use a 1/4" shaft, including the OSCAR. On a spinner there is little or no moment transmitted to the shaft due to the action that a spinner sees (rotary). : Take a Happ's super joystick with about a 4" moment arm. The shaft diameter on the joystick is 3/8" and designed to take this moment. Now on the arcade steering wheels that I have seen (lets say 10" diameter), they use a 3/4" round bar for the shaft, and again this is because of the moment. A steering wheel is a special case because it can, and will, transmit a coupled moment (pushing on one side, while pulling on the other) back to the shaft. Let's say 20lbs. force, which would be typical for an aggressive player, kids, leaning on the steering wheel, etc... with a 10" coupled moment arm would present a 200 in-lbs torque to the 1/4" shaft..... This translates into a 130ksi bending stress for a 1/4" spinner shaft, and only 5ksi for a 3/4" arcade steering wheel shaft . This is the reason steering wheels use larger diameter shafts. 1018CRS (cold rolled steel, for the layman) is good for about 90ksi, and aluminum is good for about 20ksi. : My calculation is looking at pure bending only, just because I figured that would be the most likely failure mode. Note that I neglected 3-dimensional stresses, shear, and stress concentration at the bearing/bushing contact points. All of these would just increase the margin of failure. : In short... attaching a steering wheel to a 1/4" shaft is asking for trouble. You may be okay if you use extreme caution, but I would never recommend it because I would hate to see somebody damage their control panel, spinner, investment. : As some of you know, I put up a <a href="http://skum.org/oscar/projects/steeringwheel.htm">steering wheel DIY project</a>. Real arcade steering wheels are available online and eBay, and that would be the safer route. The idea of multi-tasking your spinner can be very tempting, and that was why I went through the calculations and decided against it when I chose to add one to my cabinet. : : --OSCAR

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