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The Steering Wheel:

I’m using a “spectrum mouse wheel” which as far as I can tell is impossible to buy anymore,
the wheel uses your mouse so that when the drive shaft turns it turns the mouse ball left or right.
Likewise, when the wheel is pulled in and out the mouse ball is pulled up and down, this can be
good for flying games! I chose this because, my brother owned one and it’s a REALLY simple
concept for building your own steering wheel… the images are crude, but this will tell enough
for you to build your own in probably about an hour of wood work.

Advantages:

Cheap,
efficient,
removes and installs in under 10 seconds,
can be permanent.
Mame will support the mouse and joystick, but not two joysticks.

Disadvantages:

It will never have force feed back,
emulator must have mouse support.
Will not function upside down with a ball style mouse

What you will need:

5 inches or so of 2x4 block,
Dowel rod
Mouse (optical works, but not quite as well)
Strapping Mechanism (elastic, rubber bands, duct tape, whatever works..)
A steering wheel of some sort (this design also works for a spinner)

as you can see, this is only a few dollars in parts! and mame likes a mouse for the games so
this control is ideal and cheap.

How to build it:

First lets show what the finished product is:

You need to take about 6 inches of 2x4 and either drill out a hole or square the entire length
of the 2x4 I do not think it matters either way so long as the dowel rod does not have much
”wiggle” room.

(shown below)

Cut the 2x4 so that the depth of the dowel rod will sit flush with the top of the 2x4
this is so that the mouse ball can reach the dowel rod while it is turning or pulling out.

NOTE: that there is no room for the dowel rod to wiggle, yet it should NOT be tight
(Shown below for the square cut out)

Next step is very simple, merely attach the mouse over the dowel rod with either
rubber bands or elastic being careful to avoid the buttons,
if this is permanent I suggest removing the buttons.

(shown below)

Now attach a wheel (of some sort) to the dowel rod it can be placed in and out of the
2x4 mount at any time without having to remove the mouse.

This is VERY useful for mame users who do not want a permanent steering wheel, You can
remove it and install it in under 10 seconds,

Suggestions:

When mounting the 2x4 use the dowel rod as the limiter of how far it can fall into the cabinet
if six inches added to the dowel rod makes it hit the control panels wood, then use that to stop
the wheel from falling too far into the cabinet, …

Make sure to use a plastic spacer or something to separate the dowel rod from the control box
the last thing you want to do is scratch up your control box.

Make sure the steering wheel is at an acceptable height, and at a proper angle, mine sits
at nearly a 20 degree angle.

Here are some pictures of the finished product:

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Vital Links:

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Question ? comment ? just feel like cussing me out for ruining outrun ?
EMAIL me: outrun@ureach.com

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