Oooooh this is very smart is exactly the type of inspiration i was looking for. I have a ton of these little stickboxes from console repair. I was thinking "what if i put it right under the stick" but uhhh it instantly occurred to me that the moment i slam it into gear against the guide plate, there's going to be a mad torque on the stick that'll rip the stickbox right apart, it's not made for levered side loads like these. My other thought was to have a good robust potentiometer read X movement but have two Y movement limit switches. I'll be using a blue pill with custom firmware for my build, i have already done a firmware proof of concept. I'm looking to accomplish following features: - compact build, possibly conical running narrower towards the bottom, fully enclosed in a 3D print. - quick desk mounting, tilted towards me. - 6 speed gearbox arrangement with Euro reverse rear left, so ideally where one needs to press down on the shifter knob to get it into reverse. I don't know if i can implement this type of reverse, but i guess i can always "cheat" and make it more difficult to move to the left into the reverse. - hollow alu shaft with wiring with MiniXLR connector for the knob. Two knobs, SKRS and racing. - i'm also adding a 3.5mm jack for clutch pedal. - probably some sort of button/encoder device for more functions.
I did watch a video recently that showed replacing the potentiometers with hall effect sensors that detect rotation. Extending that out you wouldn't need a joystick from a controller just one massive joystick :)
@@JWNZ Have you ever taken apart a Dreamcast controller? Instead of a tiny return spring in the bottom, a giant one surrounds the whole stick assembly. The stick dangles a magnet on top of 4 linear analogue Hall sensors of unknown exact type. The sensors are placed at the X and Y ends of magnet travel. Then the signal is conditioned by an opamp that subtracts the corresponding axis signals, outputting X and Y axis signals. The chassis is designed to avoid steel screws nearby, with only brass screws in vicinity, and it must have also constrained placement of controls - trigger magnets and corresponding Hall sensors are not allowed to be near and interfere with the stick. I don't have experience designing with Hall sensors yet, but this look suggests that some extra care is needed when designing around them, you apparently don't want nearby hardware that can become asymmetrically magnetised and affect the readings. Being 26 year old hardware, i'm sort of surprised we're not seeing this particular design return, given any patents must have lapsed. Instead they copy the potentiometer stickbox and use a Hall rotary position sensor in place of a potentiometer. While Dreamcast design excels by eliminating the wear prone axis splitter assembly and making return spring much more long term durable since its ultimate deformation relative to sheer bulk ends up tiny.
No, consoles don't like you using your hardware like PC. I Might investigate it one day. So far I have only found examples that used chopped up official controllers.
