19 replies to this topic

[dalek]

It's not unusual, while I'm racing, for me to make adjustments to my controller sensitivity setting.  However, because I don't look at the controller while racing, the adjustments that I make can be somewhat hit-or-miss.

 

I believe I would be happy to have click stops, say for every 5% of change, as I turn the knob.

 

I'm going to see what I can devise as a mod for my Hitman but am wondering if anyone has any input as to how to go about it or if anyone has seen something similar done before.

 

[rmjlmartin]

These are made for guitar effects pedals. Maybe they or something similar could be adapted?

 

https://www.daddario...all-black-9519/

 

https://reverb.com/i...-fits-most-pots

[mreibman]

That loknob looks nice, but it's $10/knob.

 

From what I just gathered looking around, the actual electronic component would be a potentiometer with detents.

But also from the quick read, it seems like it's a switch with pre-set resistances on the knob at each stop. And I know we always debate that one, because what do you do when you need a stop that's in between?

[Paul Menkens]

 what do you do when you need a stop that's in between?

I face this in my part time job running sound, often one "click' is not enough and one more is too much on my old school dynamic compressors, with a little practice I've learned to balance it in between and it works fine.

[Paul Menkens]

It looks like it would be easy to file down the points on the knob locks so that it would be easy to set it in between on them too, and with good controllers costing several hundred $, $10 a knob isn't all that much

[Rob Voska]

Local guy drills a hole in the knob and glues a short piece of 1/16 dia. wire sticking out and uses it as a reference / pointer.

[dalek]

These are made for guitar effects pedals. Maybe they or something similar could be adapted?

 

https://www.daddario...all-black-9519/

 

https://reverb.com/i...-fits-most-pots

 

The Loknob looks like it might work well, especially if the spring could be modified to be weaker so the knob could be turned without lifting it.  

 

From looking at the pictures, I count that the Loknob has about 25 positions per one full turn.  

 

The Hitman knobs don't turn quite a full turn so, using a Loknob,  it looks like there would be about 20 stops when adjusting a Hitman knob from 0 to 10.  

 

This is equal to about 5% of change per click.  From my experience, I believe this could be satisfactory for setting the sensitivity.

 

However, not for the brakes b/c changes of the setting aren't so linear, especially down around 4.5 to 4 on the dial.

[dalek]

Does anyone know how to remove the knobs from a Hitman?  I pulled pretty hard but they didn't come off.

 

I guess there might be setscrews under the pointer strips but the strips look like they could be easily damaged trying to pry them off.

 

I'll try to get the answer from Third Eye if nobody here knows.

[JHMerriman]

Theyre simply pushed on, and are a lot tougher to get off than you expect.

[dalek]

Theyre simply pushed on, and are a lot tougher to get off than you expect.

 

Thanks.  I was able to work the knob off the shaft by twisting a couple of screwdrivers under the knob, their blades padded with masking tape.

 

I just ordered a Loknob.  I expect it to take a couple of weeks to receive the knob, get it installed (I might have to do some mods) and then try it out.  I'll post how it went.

[dalek]

I received my Loknob today and installed it.

  

It feels great -- clicks firmly but doesn't require too much effort to turn it.

 

There are 22 clicks from 0 to 10 which is about half a number per click.  That's about how much I would typically tweak the sensitivity if I was looking at the dial.

 

I should be able to try it out within a week or so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rmjlmartin]

That looks great! I might have to try that myself at some point. I think I might even have a couple on hand that were on a guitar pedal that I bought. I removed them to reinstall the original knobs.

[dalek]

Regarding the insert I made:  

1) You don't need an insert if you replace the original setscrew with a longer one

2) If you make an insert, it doesn't need to be shaped precisely, it just needs to take up space

 

But it is important that the setscrew be tightened against the flat portion of a D shaft.  If not, the knob gets pulled off center a few thou, causing poor tooth alignment of the knob and toothed ring, causing the knob to have a tendency to catch and bind.  There are a few videos about Loknob installation and the ones I watched were all installing the knob on splined shafts, not D shafts.

 

 

Regarding the pointer:  

The pointer I made (pic above) was made out of tape.  I decided to pull it off and then aligned the original pointer by unscrewing it a little -- about half a turn (pic below).  I think it will stay put because there is spring pressure against it all of the time and there is nothing trying to turn the spring.

 

[dalek]

Last night I raced and found that the idea of having click stops and the Loknob itself both worked just like I had hoped.

 

[Eddie Fleming]

Are you going to put one on the brakes?

[dalek]

Are you going to put one on the brakes?

 

I would like to but I'm going to move the Loknob over to the brakes pot and do some testing before I decide.  Small changes in the brake setting, when down around 4 on the dial, seem to make a relatively big difference in braking so I need to make sure the Loknob has enough click stops to work OK for the brakes.

[dalek]

I want to thank Jason Martin for suggesting Loknob (in post # 2) as a solution to what I was wanting to accomplish.

 

I bought a second Loknob and installed it on my Hitman controller's brakes.  

 

There is enough wiggle room, in regard to torqueing the toothed ring, that getting the maximum braking that the controller is capable of, is ensured.

 

When I adjust the Hitman brakes down around 4 on the dial, one click makes a significant difference because the adjustment isn't so linear in that area.  However, it has worked out OK as I've tested the Loknobs during racing over the last couple of weeks.

 

I believe click-stop knobs would be a welcomed change to controllers  I'd like to see controller manufacturers offer this feature or even just make it standard.

 

Even my 1:1 car radio's volume knob has click stops.  I wonder why -- it has to cost the manufacturer a little more to make the knob that way.  I guess it's some sort of a "human" thing.

 

In any case, making controller adjustments while racing, hands down, click stops make it a ton simpler.

 

[old & gray]

 

I believe click-stop knobs would be a welcomed change to controllers  I'd like to see controller manufacturers offer this feature or even just make it standard.

 

Even my 1:1 car radio's volume knob has click stops.  I wonder why -- it has to cost the manufacturer a little more to make the knob that way.  I guess it's some sort of a "human" thing.

 

In any case, making controller adjustments while racing, hands down, click stops make it a ton simpler.

 

 

 

Car radio knobs with click stops mean I can adjust without looking. One bump in the road during adjustment and you can lose your place (station). Not all roads are smooth in the land of frost heaves.

[dalek]

Actually, the volume control on my car's radio is probably not analog.  It's probably digital with 30 discreet settings (volume levels).

[dalek]

Putting a click-stop knob on the brake wasn't working out well b/c the brakes tend to drop off dramatically when adjusting below 4.  IOW, at 4 you can have too much brake but at 3 1/2 almost no brakes.  It's just how the Third Eye works.

 

To fix this problem, I glued a clear disk to the Loknob's toothed ring, allowing me to make tiny adjustments to the knob's position.

 

As you can see in the picture, I created five increments and numbered them 0 2 4 6 8.

 

Turning the disk from 0 to 8 is the equivalent of one click-stop which, for example, would be the same as turning the knob from 4 down to 3 1/2.