Posted by Arcade 2000 on 11, 2000 at 5:10 PM:
In Reply to: Re: MY WRITE UP OF A STEERING WHEEL DESIGN posted by dave (mouse....) on 11, 2000 at 5:05 PM:
: hey Arcade2000 - how about this wacky version of the idea, which involves no gears?
: okay - here's my thought, no matter how simplistic i figured it'd be what my lazy arse would do.
: pop the wheel onto the spinner, great but at the wrong angle, right? well, now imagine the spinner resting on a section of control panel that is hinged! hinge side toward you, lifting from the back. raise to ideal angle and lock in place similarly to a beach chair mechanism. Voila, estimated time of setup 10 seconds or so.
: (i'm sure you guys could shoot this theory down in moments, but it makes sense in this brain!)
: cheers!
: dave
:
: : 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!
The only thing is, it kind of defaces a clean panel. Otherwise, it sounds like a great idea. The main reason I did what I did was because the wheel, if handled correctly, can rip the spinner knob off, like it did on mine.