DIY gaming controls: Racing steering.

Arcade gaming in the 90's had all sorts of controls. However playing race games today on a PC isn't so fun without a steering control. With even the cheap makes of these gaming controls costing over INR 3000, console gaming isn't an everyday accessory. This DIY steering is made from a roller mouse, some wires and woodwork.

It's a small prototype designed during a FabLab workshop at College of Engineering, Pune. It is very cheap to make and very customizable. It works by reading the mouse input and generating virtual keypresses according to the input. I have used Dec C++ to code the software.

The Steering console uses one of the mouse's rollers to move with a shaft that is connected to a plastic-disc that acts as our steering. Depending on the movement on the roller left or right key presses are generated (The keys can be changed).
The right and left click buttons are desoldered and wired back with a foot long wire between the buttons and the board. These buttons are our acceleration and brake pedals.

Here is the video of the steering in operation at the FabLab, COEP. It didn't have acceleration and brake pedals then.

Step 1 Dissecting the mouse

The mouse has two rollers. We have to attach  a gear to the x-roller, such that the gear will drive it's shaft i.e, the roller when the gear is moved. To accommodate the roller's gear we need to cut away a portion under the x-roller. Take a look at the pictures for the marked lines on which a cut is to be made. Cut only that portion which blocks the gear, excessive cutting of the mouse casing will weaken it.

To be able to mount the mouse casing to the underside of the table effectively we will need to chop of the lower part of the mouse case. Your case may look different and your height requirements might again differ. Measure twice, cut once.

The last picture for this step shows a finished mouse casing.