Force Feedback Steering Wheel Made From Power Drill

When it comes to controllers for racing games, there is perhaps no better option than a force feedback steering wheel. With a built-in motor to push against the wheel at exactly the right times, they can realistically mimic the behavior of a steering wheel from a real car. The only major downside is cost, with controllers often reaching many hundreds of dollars. [Jason] thought it shouldn’t be that hard to build one from a few spare parts though and went about building this prototype force feedback steering wheel for himself.

Sourcing the motor for the steering wheel wasn’t as straightforward as he thought originally. The first place he looked was an old printer, but the DC motor he scavenged from it didn’t have enough torque to make the controller behave realistically, so he turned to a high-torque motor from a battery-powered impact driver. This also has the benefit of coming along with a planetary gearbox as well, keeping the size down, as well as including its own high-current circuitry. The printer turned out to not be a total loss either, as the encoder from the printer was used to send position data about the steering wheel back to the racing game. Controlling the device is an Arduino, which performs double duty sending controller information from the steering wheel as well as receiving force feedback instructions from the game to drive the motor in the steering wheel. Continue reading “Force Feedback Steering Wheel Made From Power Drill”

Internal Combustion Torque Monster Has Great Impact

Once the domain of automotive repair shops and serious hobbyists with air compressors, the impact driver so famously used to remove and install wheel lug nuts and other Big Fasteners with just a squeeze of the trigger is more accessible than ever. Thanks to Lithium Ion batteries and powerful and compact brushless motors, you can now buy a reasonably powerful and torquey impact driver for a relatively low price- no air compressor needed! But what if you relish the thought of a noisy, unwieldy and unnecessarily loud torque monster? Then the video below the break by [Torque Test Channel] is just what you need!

Now, this is Hackaday, so we don’t have to go into detail about why a person might want to rip out the electric motor and adapt a 60cc 2 stroke engine in its place. Of course that’s the obvious choice. But [Torque Test Channel] isn’t just mucking about for the fun of it. No, they’re having their fun, experimenting with internal combustion engines in odd places before they are banned by 2024 in California. Now, we’re not sure if the ban includes these exact types of engines- but who needs details when you have an impact driver that can change semi tires like a NASCAR pit crew.

Looking like an overpowered weapon from a first person shoot’em up game, [Torque Test Channel]’s modified Milwaukee tests well after some modifications. Be sure to watch the video to see how it performs against an electric tool that’s even larger than itself. There are graphs, charts, and an explanation of what can be done to make even more power in the future. We’re looking forward to it!

What’s that you say? You don’t have a two stroke engine sitting around waiting to be swapped into ridiculous gadgets? Look no further than your local fridge compressor and be ready to burn some hours getting it running.

Continue reading “Internal Combustion Torque Monster Has Great Impact”