Planning Custom Racing Control Pad, Some Help Needed., Multiple buttons on a single switch Options

[CaptainHair]

Hello, been reading the tutorials and gathering supplies for about a week now. Thought I'd finally make a post with some of the questions I've gathered so far.

*note* The pad for this project is one of the new common ground pads, the one with the restyled D-pad connections. And skill-wise I've not done any fine soldering work for a long while, but I'm hoping with some practice I can get back to where I was.

Firstly a quick explanation of what I've got planned. I'm wanting to replace the left analogue stick with a small steering wheel, slightly larger than the analogue stick. At first I was going to just add a new potentiometer and run it directly to the wheel, but from what I've been reading/multimetering the analogue sticks is a strange beast.

Because the potentiometer is limited by the movement of the stick, it only rotates around 85-90 degrees. That means the "minimum" setting on the xbox pot is still going to be 1/3rd(ish) or its actual minimum. Its kinda hard to explain... but I think I'm correct. If anyone knows of a guide or anything to do with replacing the pot with another one and still be able to use the new pots full rotation, I'd love to know. Closest I could find was to run a resister across the outer legs of a 10k pot, which effectively raises its minimum and lowers its maximum. But apparently that method destroys the taper of a linear pot. So I decided against it. Instead I've ended up using the standard pot with a couple of gears setup to a 1/3 ratio to gear down the pot so that the wheel can turn 270 degrees rather than the standard 40. But if anyone does know about replacing the pot with a different one, I would be very interested.

I'd reposition the up/down analogue to a thumbwheel somewhere and the left stick click to a button somewhere, worst case I can do without them, so I'm not thinking too hard about them. I'll see what space I have left after the important parts.

Anyway, the other part of this mod is to have basically an auto-clutch shifter. I'm planning on using an (on)-off-(on) toggle switch to emulate a gearstick. So (on) = LB+A, Off, (on) = RB+A. Now, I've gotten a little confused whilst going through many, many threads on duplicate buttons and wire traces.

I'm a little confused as to the common ground system and how it works. Am I to understand I can take the positives from 3 button and have them all using the same single ground wire? I ask because space is tight and I can't find anywhere that sells a small switch that allows 3 separate circuits to switch. If they all share the ground wire, I can make do with a DPDT switch.

I guess what I'm getting at is, what is the simplest way of wiring up multiple buttons on a single switch? For the A-button I'll probably just try scraping the surface off and soldering straight to the face and the shoulder buttons shouldn't be any problem.

Alternatively, could I use a SPDT switch with some sort of relay? That way (on) could trigger a relay that fires A/LB and the same for the other toggle direction.

Anyway I'll end it at that before I ramble too much. Thanks very much for your time and any advice you can give me, its much appreciated. Cheers

[RDC]

The POT on the Stick isn't really anything strange, it's just a 10k Linear Taper style POT is all. It will measure weird as there are 6 total in parallel, so the value will be around ~1.5k when checking the outside leads, and then the Wiper readings are just all sort of odd as the MCU is loading it down sitting there, but it's just a 10k Linear POT is all.

It's used as a simple voltage divider, one side is Grounded, the other side is the Analog Voltage line and the Wiper just outputs that voltage swing from Ground to 1.5v (on that controller version) and sits around 0.75v for center. They can be replaced with any other Linear Taper POT of any value and degree of rotation. It's not how much it moves that makes it work, just the voltage swing that is 'read' on the Wiper from moving it, so 10k, 50k or 1M, they're all going to give you the same voltage at the same spot.

The ones used on the Sticks have a small degree of movement, because the Sticks themselves can't move very far, so that 1/3 value you're thinking they have isn't really the case. It's closer to 90% or so because the POT has such a short range as well, and while the full value still isn't used, that doesn't mean you can't use it, you can, it's just not going to do anything special and for sure not going to damage anything. You could stick a Trim POT in there if you wanted to, though turning it 20 times or more in each direction with a diddle stick or small screwdriver wouldn't be very practical, but it would do the exact same thing in the end as the original POT on the Stick, as would a Slider style Variable Resistor or any kind really. Point is, as long as you can move the new POT in either direction so you have that voltage swing, it will work the same, the degree of movement of the POT has nothing to do with how it works.


The CG/2 layout, Common Ground, just means that all buttons use the Ground connection, that is, they all 'activate' when that button line is connected to Ground.

You can have any number of buttons all use the same Ground connection, because they all already do in the controller anyway, what you can't do is tie those button lines together though and use a single button/switch to activate them, they need to stay isolated from each other, via the button/switch design or with Diodes, or you'll always be pressing say A+LB any time that you tried pressing A or LB individually.

Using the momentary DPDT switch would work here, provided the game will let you get away with shifting and pressing the clutch at (close to) the exact same time. You would have the A and LB lines on one set of Throws, then A and RB on the other set of Throws, then Ground on the Poles. That way A+LB are connected to Ground (pressed) when the switch is moved in one direction, then A+RB are Grounded when it's moved in the other direction, and nothing happens at all when it's at the center position.

Alternately, you could do it a ton of other ways, but the momentary DPDT switch like you've first planned on there would be the easiest way. A SPDT could be used, as could a couple of buttons, but you'd need to use 4 Diodes then (1N4148 or similar) to keep the button lines isolated so everything worked right, whereas the DPDT switch already does that because it's 2 switches in one already. If you're wanting more of that slap shifter feel and an easy install, then the DPDT would be best.

[CaptainHair]

I could kiss you, I could bloody well kiss you.

Thanks so much for your reply, whilst searching the faqs and tutorials your advice popped up often, I'm really glad you're still around to help those of us stuck, brilliant.

Right lets get cracking.

The POT on the Stick isn't really anything strange, it's just a 10k Linear Taper style POT is all. It will measure weird as there are 6 total in parallel, so the value will be around ~1.5k when checking the outside leads, and then the Wiper readings are just all sort of odd as the MCU is loading it down sitting there, but it's just a 10k Linear POT is all.

Ah, if all 6 of them are connected perhaps thats why I was having a bit of trouble getting multimeter reading.

It's used as a simple voltage divider, one side is Grounded, the other side is the Analog Voltage line and the Wiper just outputs that voltage swing from Ground to 1.5v (on that controller version) and sits around 0.75v for center. They can be replaced with any other Linear Taper POT of any value and degree of rotation. It's not how much it moves that makes it work, just the voltage swing that is 'read' on the Wiper from moving it, so 10k, 50k or 1M, they're all going to give you the same voltage at the same spot.

The ones used on the Sticks have a small degree of movement, because the Sticks themselves can't move very far, so that 1/3 value you're thinking they have isn't really the case. It's closer to 90% or so because the POT has such a short range as well, and while the full value still isn't used, that doesn't mean you can't use it, you can, it's just not going to do anything special and for sure not going to damage anything. You could stick a Trim POT in there if you wanted to, though turning it 20 times or more in each direction with a diddle stick or small screwdriver wouldn't be very practical, but it would do the exact same thing in the end as the original POT on the Stick, as would a Slider style Variable Resistor or any kind really. Point is, as long as you can move the new POT in either direction so you have that voltage swing, it will work the same, the degree of movement of the POT has nothing to do with how it works.

Ah! I didn't know the standard pots had limited range. I havn't removed mine yet to see how much range they had, I assumed (there lies the mistake) they were 300 degree range like 99% of pots seem to be. I just figured it discarded any readings over/under its angle range.

Anyway, so its just a simple case of swapping out the pot? Thats brilliant. Cuts down on a heck of alot of problems AND I can just use a regular 300 degree pot without worrying about gearing. That assumption of mine really shot me in the foot there. I've got a nice 10k with a good solid base and a nice action to the shaft, so I'll most likely attach the wheel directly to the top of that.

The CG/2 layout, Common Ground, just means that all buttons use the Ground connection, that is, they all 'activate' when that button line is connected to Ground.

You can have any number of buttons all use the same Ground connection, because they all already do in the controller anyway, what you can't do is tie those button lines together though and use a single button/switch to activate them, they need to stay isolated from each other, via the button/switch design or with Diodes, or you'll always be pressing say A+LB any time that you tried pressing A or LB individually.

That Common Ground is going to save me alot of trouble too. My previous research indicated that I would need to run 3 seperate circuits, 6 wires in total. Now I know they can have the same ground I can easily do what I'm after with a DPDT.

Using the momentary DPDT switch would work here, provided the game will let you get away with shifting and pressing the clutch at (close to) the exact same time. You would have the A and LB lines on one set of Throws, then A and RB on the other set of Throws, then Ground on the Poles. That way A+LB are connected to Ground (pressed) when the switch is moved in one direction, then A+RB are Grounded when it's moved in the other direction, and nothing happens at all when it's at the center position.

I've done alot of testing in the game. Suprisingly for a sim its actually really poor when it comes to the clutch. Basicly what most people do is mash both clutch and gear up/down at the exact same time, makes a perfect shift, don't even need to lift off the throttle. I've also tried pressing the gear before clutch and vice versa. It seems that as long as both button presses are within a certain amount of time from each other (like quarter of a second as a rough guess) it counts as a perfect shift it seems. I know the racing wheel controllers have auto-clutch built into their software options, so I'm not too worried about it being "cheaty". If there was some kind of skill needed whatsoever for manual clutch I'd hesitate to do it, but it really is just a case of mashing the buttons somewhat close to each other.

Alternately, you could do it a ton of other ways, but the momentary DPDT switch like you've first planned on there would be the easiest way. A SPDT could be used, as could a couple of buttons, but you'd need to use 4 Diodes then (1N4148 or similar) to keep the button lines isolated so everything worked right, whereas the DPDT switch already does that because it's 2 switches in one already. If you're wanting more of that slap shifter feel and an easy install, then the DPDT would be best.

Aye, I think after reading what you've said and looking at it more carefuly I'll do it a little differently. Since room is so tight around the face button section (certainly too wide for a DPDT) I'm planning on replacing the A button with the toggle switch. That way I can duplicate it as a mini-button elsewhere for menus and manual control, plus I won't need to worry about affecting the A-buttons "feel" by soldering my wire directly to the black pad section. It'll also give me more room, meaning I can fit a DPDT switch in with ease. I'm not really sure on what "feel" I want the shifter to have yet, I know it is adjustable somewhat by shortening a metal dowel inside the switch to soften the switch.

So, total planned work for now is:
1: New potentiometer for left/right axis and attach wheel.
2: New "thumb-wheel" style potentiometer for rare up/down axis use.
3: Small duplicate "A" button somewhere for rare use.
4: DPDT switch mounted in old A button hole, mapped to LB/RB/A.
5: relocated "left analogue-click", not sure if this is neccesary? Its never used in-game when racing, so I don't really need it. I know if you remove pots you get "axis float", can I assume the is no such thing for the digital buttons?

Well I think thats it! You've answered all of my questions and I've probably learn't more from your single post than I have hours and hours of reading. At least if I even need to know about pot tapering, the knowlege is in my head somewhere.

If I could just add a couple of questions to finish off my planning stage.
1: Can I safely remove the left analogue stick click button without it affecting anything? Its never needed while racing, so it saves me fitting it elsewhere.
2: Since I can apparantly use my own new Potentiometer I've had a thought. You mention that the standard xbox potentiometer has a rotation of slightly more than the analogue stick allows. To Quote: "and while the full value still isn't used, that doesn't mean you can't use it, you can, it's just not going to do anything special and for sure not going to damage anything". I was thinking it might make sense to connect the outer legs of the pot together using a TRIM pot (your mention of them in jest made me think of it) so that I can adjust the "minimum" reading of the pot. That way if I have too large of a "deadzone" when near the edge of maximum rotation, I could adjust the trim pot to calibrate the pot? In my head the theory seems sound, I know you can bridge a pot with a resister to change its voltage range, so doing the same with a trim pot seems to make sense to me.

And I think thats about it for now! Again, thanks very much for your reply. Everything seems so much easier now, I've just got to wait for some more supplies before I can start work this weekend.

Cheers

[RDC]

Yes, just swap out the POT for the other one and that's about it.

You don't need to do anything special when removing a button, it's the same as just not using it. Only the Analog lines cause issues if left floating.

Putting any kind of additional Resistance across the POT isn't going to do a thing for the Dead Zone, in fact it will act exactly as it did before adding it on there. Remember the POTs are used as voltage dividers, and there are already 6 of them in the controller, so each one is already in parallel with the other 5 in there, and no change is made if one is removed or another one added that's a different value. All adding a Resistor in there does is put more of a load on the Analog supply.

To change the Dead Zone or Sensitivity of a POT it's a good deal more complicated on the electronics side of things as you'd need a PIC to read in the Analog voltage from the POT, then some code to convert it however you're wanting, and finally a DAC to output the adjusted Analog voltage. Mechanically with gearing you can make it more or less sensitive, but there's no way to increase a DZ mechanically aside from taking the POT apart and severing the trace in the thing, which you only want to get into as a last resort or Stick to Button kind of setup.

As long as it's comfortable for you to move the new POT/Wheel quickly and smoothly the full range it has, then you shouldn't have to mess with the sensitivity or DZ at all on the controller side of things, just getting used to the new feel of it will be the main thing really as it will have a far greater travel than the Stick did.

[CaptainHair]

Ah, well then in that case I'll just fit a standard pot and not try anything fancy.

Got quite a bit of work done today!

http://i.imgur.com/DXym5.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/zrhZH.jpg

A little looksie at all the part I have for the job so far. Big bag of assorted spare parts and such.

http://i.imgur.com/v2nXC.jpg

These are the pots I've selected for the job. The little thumb-wheel one will be for the up/down axis, just for if its needed. Also seen is the A-button which is halfway modified to fit the toggle switch, need a bit more work though. Lastly is the steering wheel I'll be using, thats real chrome and mahogany. Figured I might as well do it with a bit of class.

http://i.imgur.com/QxonX.jpg

This was all the work I'd done before staring today. Thats a bearing sealed into the analogue stick hole, I'm hoping this will act as a nice solid mounting point for the wheel, so that the stress isn't transferred down to the pot.

http://i.imgur.com/ORMSj.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/OY1dJ.jpg

Next up, some painting! Got some British Racing Green (or close enough) vinyl dye, decided to do a light first coat to test how well it worked. Its really good stuff! Gotta wait until I've done drilling/filing before I do ther 2nd coat though, but I'm pleased with it so far.

http://i.imgur.com/SpDpd.jpg

Guess I should have worn gloves, though...

http://i.imgur.com/JO7FC.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/0lpoa.jpg

Filed out the notch to make room for the new potentiometer. Seems to be a real nice fit! Gotta take a little more off, but its almost perfect.

http://i.imgur.com/PXvGQ.jpg

Time to trim the shaft!

http://i.imgur.com/Xh5YR.jpg

Getting near the end of the day now, stupidly rushed it and made a bit of a mess of the end. Also realised I've left no room for a self-centering spring to be fitted. Hmm.

http://i.imgur.com/k5Rta.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/V0Tjd.jpg

Feels good to see it looking like more than a box of parts for once. This is just a mockup, its nowhere near secure enough to race with. Plus its only held on by a single screw currently, so it unscrews under pressure.

http://i.imgur.com/nLWGe.jpg

Now, this is the problem I've found. The potentiometer fits so high into the controller that I've had to trim the shaft almost to nothing. I've also realised theres no strong way of attaching it to the wheel.

So, now I'm thinking of changing my strategy slightly. The current bearing is 19mm outer diameter, 8mm inner diameter. So I'm going to have to make some kind of spacer or washer to help everything fit together...

I was thinking instead, perhaps I should use the smaller metal-shaft potentiometer. Then replacing the bearing with one that has a bore large enough for the hub of the steering wheel to fit tightly into. That way I could just line it all up and throw some JB weld inbetween it all to seal it together.

So thats where I'm at right now, hopefully I'll make some more progress tomorrow Thanks again for the help, RDC.

EDIT: Had the calipers out for some measurments. I'd nearing a bearing with a 14mm inner and 20mm outer. Unfortunatly these only excist in needle bearings, which wont work. So I need to find a regular bearing with a 14mm inner and then find something to fill the gap between however wide it is to the 20mm hole.

This post has been edited by CaptainHair: Aug 19 2012, 03:24 AM

[RDC]

What is that Wheel from?

The metal shaft POT drilled and tapped, then a machine screw and Loc-tite used would hold better, but that adds a bit of machine work to the project and under more heavy game play I could see that working loose sooner or later from one too many hard turns.

You could go with that larger bearing, and have a shaft/spacer machined to take up the extra space in there. It wouldn't need to be metal really as plastic would do fine. A drill press and a lathe are just incredible tools to have on hand for things like that, or at least have access too. Barring that, forget about finding a Bearing with the ID for the POT shaft and OD for the shell, get one with an ID that will work on the POT, then make the hole in the shell smaller for the OD of the Bearing. Plastic Welder Epoxy or Bondo can get that part taken care of.

You could lose the Bearing completely and just fill in the Stick opening up (recessed 1/8" or so from the top) with a solid plastic plate, and then just drill a hole to mount the POT in the shell that way. Really depends on how secure you can get the Wheel mounted to the POT, the amount of machine work you want to do and what kind of abuse it will be taking.

The Bearing idea is nice, as it will keep things much more solid, but then all of the stress from turning and pushing the Wheel is on how well it's mounted to the shaft of the POT, so that connection/fitting will need to take all of the abuse, and like it.

[CaptainHair]

The wheel is an "executive keyring", apparently. It looked the same (only no hole) and had a leather strap with a split ring on to make it a keyring. Cost about £8 (unwanted gift on ebay) But they're usually around £20 including shipping, so its always worrying when I have it out as its the 2nd most expensive part of the project!

Your idea of drilling and tapping the metal POT gave me an idea, I'll go into it in a minute but I think I've found a good solid way of mounting it. Its always been a bit of a mystery, since when I first started the idea: http://i.imgur.com/4G9rw.jpg

A drill press and lathe and I could have had this part sorted ages ago by making myself a custom spacer type thing. However I lack both, nowhere to keep them either unfortunately or I'd most likely have invested in them by now. I'm a chandelier restorer by trade, so theres times when I need and exact-sized spacer and being able to lathe my own would be incredible.



Instead, I have to improvise by attaching what I want to lathe onto a drill/dremal and hoping its not heavy enough to throw it out of balance and egg it.



First step today was to bore out the center hole to be bigger. I know, seems crazy to ruin the nice appearance of it, but I'm going somewhere with this.




Top picture shows the pot, bearing and a miscellaneous gear that will now become the desperately needed spacer and double as the self-centering mechanism. 2nd picture shows the gear filed down to a cam-shape and with a hole drilled for a small spring to latch through for self centering. Might have to use some elastic or something else, not sure yet. It has to be strong enough to return it to center, but able to stretch far enough for the pot to reach full rotation.



And here they all are, everything attached to the Pot nice and snugly. So at this point everything attaches nicley to the Pot and the whole thing can be mounted by securing the bearing to the controller housing.



Done! So now the bearing should be in tight (thats JB weld) and since everything attaches to the bearing/pot that means everything should now fit together well!



Last job of the day, filed out a notch at opposite sides on the gear and the wheel. Then make some little "keys" to fit across, JB welded into place. Now, I've known people to put cracked engines back together with this stuff, so I'm certain my key (metal) should bond nicley with the wheel (also metal).

The key means that both the gear and the wheel will be lined up correctly when fitted to the Pot, which has a split shaft. The key simpley fits in the gap between halves of the shaft.

And thats work over for today I'm afraid. I was hoping to get a little more work done, but at least I now have perhaps the biggest job out of the way. Still have to find a way to secure the Pot when its fitted, but that should just be a case of finding/making a flat section of plastic fit to "box in" the pot. Oh yeah, theres that damn self-centering spring to figure out too, hmm. I'm inclined to use elastic or a rubber band, but I'd rather have something long-lasting that won't lose its tension quickly.

Anyways, thats all for today. Should be back tomorrow with a more progress I hope, adios

[CaptainHair]

Apologies for the doublepost, just thought I'd pop in with todays report.

None of the pictures turned out very good (forgot to turn on macro) but nothing important happened today really, I just broke things

The JB weld didn't work on the wheel or the gear, but the bearing is in like a rock. Which is kind of frustrating as I'd now consider pulling it.

After more trial fitting I've realised that by putting the wheel on the tip of the shaft its getting alot of excessive wobble. I'm going to have to mount it as low down as I can to gain as much sturdyness as possible. I did discover I can put a small hook through the split in the shaft to hook onto a spring and make a self-centering device. Then I'll mount the wheel directly to that.

As as a result of this plan, the bearing is actually kinda in the way. I think it would be alot easier to close the hole off with plastic and dril an 8mm hole through the center for the shaft to stick through. It really is harder than I thought to do this, mostly because of tolerances. The wheel ends up being at a slight angle, creating alot of wobble. Hence why I'm trying to streamline things a little to make it simpler and easier.

This'll most likley be my last update for a few days, off to stay with a friend. We're going to drink White Russians and watch movies.

Catch you all later!

[CaptainHair]

Apologies for triple-posting, I know its an internet fox paw but its not specificly listed in the rules and I figured that since I'm the guy updating that I'm ok in doing so.

Got a bit more work done today. I realised that I was just making it all far too complicated and with too many parts. More parts = less margin of error. So instead I decided to tear everything out and start fresh with a new idea. Well, its more like RDCs idea (sealing the hole then making a small one to mount the POT to directly using its threaded area.



Old camera film case, plus a washer that is EXACTLY the right size. I mean, its perfect. The outer diameter is the exact size to fit inside the plastic round section inside the controller and the center hole is 8.5mm, exactly the size needed to fit over the threaded portion of the pot shaft. The metal washer gives a nice solid mount to work with and the camera case (plastic) is a very snug fit for the inner housing of the pad, should bond incredibly tightly.



Trial fit, looking good!



Here is the pot mounted inside the case.



Pot fitted! Threw a load of JB weld in around the gaps of the outside to help with rigidity. I know its messy, but that doesn't matter as you see next.



Now the bearing goes on, with the flanged section mounted outside. This increases the height by 1mm but the trade off is in the strength gained. See, the pot can't be pulled outside away from the pad because it won't fit and the bearing won't fit inside because of the flange. So when I put the retaining screw into the end of the Pot to hold the wheel on, it will essentially pull the bearing and pot towards each other, meaning neither one can fall out!

Now, you might notice I've abandoned the self-centering function of the wheel. There was just no way I could fit a spring in the small space left and elastic would wear over time. So I figured it was best to leave it out. Plus since there is no access to the shaft once everything is sealed together if it breaks I wouldn't be able to get in and fix it.

However, if I drill a tiny hole on the raised curved section around the analogue stick hold, I can thread a section of elastic through one side, passing through the shaft split, then out the other. Its not perfect and will be noticable slightly from outside. But it means if it breaks I can fix it, or tighten it as it wears.



Here is how it works, if you twist the pot it will want to pull back to center, evenly and from both sides. I'll be doing the same as this, only with a peice of elastic going straight across, rather than a band then loops around it.

And thats all for today! I've started work on the toggle-shifter now too, but its pretty much a case of leaving it all for 3-4 days so I know its dried nice and solid.

Thanks for looking

[CaptainHair]

Well, business has been busy so I havn't had much time for any side-projects. Plus I finally got around to playing New Vegas, so thats eaten alot of my spare time too. Damn fine game though.

Anyway on with a little update



Trimmed down the film case to match the height of the control pad housing. No way its coming back out now! On a good note, it all has gone very solid and robust, no wiggle anymore. Also by some stroke of luck I actually got it centered correctly!



Glued (JB weld) the wheel on today. In a perfect world I would have trimmed down the POT shaft, put a firm clamp around the two split sections to stop them bending apart, then put them in a drill press and tapped them for a perfect sized screw that would hold the wheel tight nicely. This is not a perfect world, so I had to use JB weld. There was just no way I could guarantee a straight drill/tap that wouldn't try and pull the wheel off-center. Another case of more components = less margin for error, without the proper tools I'd never get it right.

And yes, I cracked the wheel... Put a splint in it and wood-glued it tight, so it shouldn't break any further. I'm hoping to add some kind of leather/rubber grip to the sides of the wheel anyway, so it may end up not showing..

Brace yourselves, I havn't touched a soldering iron in about 5 years...


The upper and right hand side sections were while I was learning to use a solder-sucker. Never used one before, nor did I know the method of how it worked. Bottom left section is after I figured out how to use it correctly. Its a lot better, but perhaps not quite good enough. I'm going to root around the spares bin and see what else I can practice de-soldering with.

And thats it for today! Now I need to leave the wheel drying (for about a week) so next up is either the toggle-switch gearlever or starting the soldering work on the board. I'm still hoping to pick up an all-white model pad so that all the colours match, so I may hold off on the soldering for now.

Cheers for looking

[jery911]

lol for a second i though the wheel was an actual big one ahaha then i saw the other pic and notice it was small lol

[CaptainHair]

Well I'm afraid its another terrible pictureless update

Had to abandon the toggle switch idea, there is just no way I can reduce its size down small enough to fit into the pad. It would end up sticking out the pad quite a bit and looking really ugly. So in favour of progress I've decided to get rid of it.

Its a shame, I've had to give up on the center-return for the wheel and now the gear changer. But there isn't really much I can do about it.

I also damaged the right trigger spring and mechanism, so now its very clicky and soft. I can swap one in from another pad, but its just to fix a mistake, not actually gain anything special from it.

So now the only goal is to solder the two potentiometers up to replace the left stick and maybe add a small button for the analogue-click function. Lets hope progress with that goes more smoothly