Posted by Arcade 2000 on 11, 2000 at 4:43 PM:
I recently posted this to Agent Davis in reply to his recent message, but I'm not sure it has been read, so I will repost it here so it doesn't get missed.
Saint has been patiently waiting for this from me, and since I lost Ray iddings, it has been a non-issue, so I thought I'd put a basic description for you tinkerers to follow.
I wish I had more time, I would put up a page, but I had promised Saint a piece on this, but Ray Iddings cut out on me, and well, the rest is history.
Check this out: I thought of this, a while ago. I basically popped an old Colecovision steering wheel on top of the Twistygrip spinner (perfect fit) and had a wheel, but my son pulled on it and broke the spinner knob right off. The other problem was that the angle - a spinner is ok at the angle ofthe panel, but a wheel you want more facing you, so this is what I did. I constructed a driving wheel assembly that consisted of the wheel, and 3 gears (inside). The first gear was a 45 degree beveled gear attached to the wheel, turning a straight gear with a rubber washer around the edge, that once placed on top of the panel, rested against the edge of the spinner knob.
Now, you turn the wheel, which is facing you at a 45 degree angle, and the gears move, turning the spinner. This is enclosed inside of the same Radio shack project box the Twistygrip people used for their standalone spinners, only, standing upright for the best angle for the wheel.
It can be popped on, and off without screwing up the spinner knob.
One more thing, and I got this from the Colecovision model. I created a kind of custom pedal made of 2 pieces of wood and a hinge and a spring, and 2 contacts, wired to a standard 1/8" mono headset-type plug, and the cabinet has an outlet to plug into attached by wires to one of the buttons on the panel (the one used in MAME for acceleration in say, Pole Position, etc). You pop on the wheel, plug in the pedal, and you're off.
It's not the easiest thing to make, but if a custom gearbox company can manufacture them cheaply, I suppose they could easily be mass-produced.
I guess you can consider this an official write-up. Sorry I can't do better.
Anyway, game on!