The prototype

Whilst the electronics bit took place, I got on with making a prototype. It was a nightmare I needed a material easy to work with that could be sanded, molded but at least have a srong base.

I tried thick cardboard but no good, wood was too thick. So i ended up with hardboard. i then used wall filler on the top to make the required shapes. This meant I now had a good idea how my wheel was going to look. Here's a picture prior to the final sanding and filling (you can see at the bottom I didnt have the legs lined u at this point. Also you'll notice the two silver bits have been moved from the bottom to the top this is to allow the incorporation of the vibration motors.

You get a good idea of the shape and it will fit perfectly over the current wheel.

How it all started

Im a bit behind on starting this blog, so I will go back to the beginning. I had a failure of a paddle on my xbox wheel, the standard failure where my paddle broke and with the official wheel no longer made I wanted to replace it but how.

So I found out about silicone moulds and plastic resin casts. So I decided to give it a go, below is the first outcome, I strengthened the arms so they wouldnt break, this is prior to the final clean up of the arms;

This got me thinking if I can do that for this why cant i create a faceplate for the wheel to make it in a more racing style...time to get on with the design!