Hey /diy/. I want to make a racing wheel but I don't know how to make it actually function. Can I use an old mouse or a gamepad, or do I absolutely need a potentiometer? Is it cheaper just to buy one?
>>1010064
>Hey /diy/. I want to make a racing wheel but I don't know how to make it actually function.
Alarm number 1
>Can I use an old mouse or a gamepad, or do I absolutely need a potentiometer?
potentiometer? You have no idea what you are talking about
Alarm 2
>Is it cheaper just to buy one?
Due to alarm 1 and 2, yes
>>1010065
Please explain cause I'm a virgin to this shit and I want to get into it.
Get a goodwill wheel and mod it. Rice it to the max.
>>1010064
this is somethihng you could do in a couple of years if you /diy/ for a couple years.
As of right now you have no fucking clue where the fuck to start.
Just buy one.
>>1010065
>potentiometer
It is actually possible to make a functioning wheel from just a potentiometer and a couple of wires if you have a gameport. Back in the day when they were common I did exactly that and had tens of hours of fun in carmageddon with it.
>>1010075
It doesn't have to be professional. I saw one on YouTube that was literally a rotating circle with a mouse attached to it. I guess they assigned the mouse axis to the steering control.
I'm just wondering if that's plausible by any means.
>>1010290
the game has to support mouse to steer for that to work
Your best bet is to get a busted ass 360 controller and wire a pot onto one of the axis. I made one like this out of lego before I bought a g27
30 years ago, I bought one of these and turned it into an Amiga steering wheel. I even fitted a button into the shifter to pew-pew.
>>1010294
>the game has to support mouse to steer for that to work
not only that, some games require you allow any 3rd party control, fucking ubishit
I use FreePIE(+addon) to emulate the 360 controller and it's sticks, perhaps op can look into that.
>>1010465
Ill check it. I'll only be playing NFS Shift and American Truck Sim so it shouldn't be a problem.
>>1010419
That is the most awesome thing i have read all day.
Old school modding is a dying art, these days it's all about RGB LEDs and computer case windows instead of functionality.
And even case windows are barely modding these days as most cases come with them pre installed.
>>1010419
That's pretty cool.
>>1010294
Are you certain it's a potentiometer? Older controllers used them. But now new ones (and mice) use rotary encoders. They produce pulses with a timing relationship to indicate CW or CCW rotation (or R/L movement). Multiple axis encoder data is packed into a data structure and sent to the PC (usually over USB).
>>1010064
>Hey /diy/. I want to make a racing wheel but I don't know how to make it actually function. Can I use an old mouse or a gamepad, or do I absolutely need a potentiometer? Is it cheaper just to buy one?
If this is for a PC game, then it might be fairly simple to do.
There is guides online about how to use an Arduino as a PC mouse or keyboard; that would be where your reading should begin.
If this is to be for any kind of console, your decision would depend on if the technical specs of the controllers had been published or not.
If not, then it would probably be easier to cannibalize a cheap game controller.
Are these that expensive? You're almost better off buying one.
>>1010064
I saw this somewhere, couldn't find the picture
>>1010619
Found it
>>1010567
modern controllers use small ones like pic related, theres 2 pots, 1 for each axis then the little push button.
but yes modern steering wheel controllers use a rotary encoder, Like the G27
>>1010660
forgot my fuckin pic
>>1010621
You could expand upon this idea by mounting a steering wheel to a shaft and putting a disc on the other end that the mouse rides on. You get an actual wheel on a normal orientation.
Also, if the back and forth mouse motion is used by the sim s/w, you could move the mouse radially on the same disk (connected to a pedal, for example).
>>1010578
>use an Arduino as a PC mouse or keyboard
OP here. That actually sounds pretty interesting. Did a quick Google search and found this: https://youtu.be/uvh0iXO3Fms
I could make a housing for it and attach a steering wheel on the axel.
>>1010621
Saw that. Also saw one where a guy used an actual steering wheel with a CD on the axle, the rough part of the CD was what controlled the mouse. If I find a good "disc" that isn't too smooth, it'll be easy. That or I could just shrink wrap something on it to give the mouse a surface.
>>1010622
My cod that looked like a boring game of grand theft auto.
arduino uno
pot meters
read on uno joy
turn pot meters into axises, and easily read it to the PC