The Haxxor pit is finally underway

[The Fugitive]

Mine had a door in it, and even with that I was getting tired of climbing in and out of it.  

Yours is looking great buddy! I'm looking forward to the "add-ons" you put in. Remember, a simpit is NEVER done !  

[dkff49]

Thanks for all the compliments and suggestions guys. It's about time I was able to put my woodworking skills toward something for me.

Lawndart/EBFD, you had your chance at getting a pit and opted for a custom desk instead.    That monitor is a little undersized for the pit but I hope to take care of that sometime soon. I doubt though I will be anything like you have anytime soon.

The only real sacrifice I had to make was that I had to move my gaming rig down to the basement area, which remains pretty dry down there due to some real good ventilation and a woodstove in the winter. This however was a small price to pay for being able to have a setup that allowed me to have my rig connected all the time and to have nice comfortable seat. I just hope to not fall asleep in it.

[The Fugitive]

I do miss my car seat since I gave up my pit. I've been thinking of getting another one and building a base for it so I can use it at my desk. An office chair just doesn't cut it.

[Bizman]

I do miss my car seat since I gave up my pit. I've been thinking of getting another one and building a base for it so I can use it at my desk. An office chair just doesn't cut it.

I used to have kind of an easy chair on a piece of chipboard on wheels. The base was large enough to fit my pedals, too, and narrow enough to fit between the legs of my computer desk. Unfortunately, the chair broke down and I was forced to buy a regular office chair.

[M0nkey_Man]

Mine had a door in it, and even with that I was getting tired of climbing in and out of it. 

Yours is looking great buddy! I'm looking forward to the "add-ons" you put in. Remember, a simpit is NEVER done ! 

kinda like a computer

[dkff49]

Right now I am working on list of components to add the the switches and button for controls in AH. I will be using 3 sticks that I have at home right now and tearing them down to the boards and using the inputs from these and using some DPDT MOM toggle switches in the dash and some spst push buttons on the armrests.

As it stands now I am a little undecided as far as the toggle switches go. I am not sure if I want to use the larger/ full size toggles or the minis. The minis would be much smaller and not stick out as far and may not get accidently bumped as often. On the other hand the full size toggles are more expensive but would be easier to find and may even be a bit more durable. Any suggestions would be helpful, especially from those of us who have built pits similar to this.

[The Fugitive]

You could use a second USB keyboard for all of your switches. Pop that baby open heat up your soldering iron and off you go! As for buying switches, use a place like this  http://www.newark.com/toggle_toggle by in bulk and save your self some money.

[dkff49]

You could use a second USB keyboard for all of your switches. Pop that baby open heat up your soldering iron and off you go! As for buying switches, use a place like this  http://www.newark.com/toggle_toggle by in bulk and save your self some money.

I appreciate the suggestions.

I have given the keyboard a thought before. My only thing is, does it read in game like a keyboard or a seperate control? The benefit to using controllers is if there is a need to make a change while typing in the message bar I can do it without having to close out the radio. Does anyone know if this is different using the keyboard?

Here is the site I was looking at for switches. http://futurlec.com/SwToggle.shtml .They just don't have the full size switches though. If I decide to go with the full iszed ones I found another site, http://www.mpja.com/Switches/departments/117/ .This one has the biggest variety of parts that I have found so far. Both sites so far have really good pricing even without the bulk pricing which the second one does offer. Thought I would share these as well in case anyone else is looking for reasonabley priced components.

 

[The Fugitive]

If you use a second keyboard the game will see it as keystrokes. So in stead of hitting "g" to drop gear you make a lever that hits a switch wired into the "g" key of the second keyboard.

This is a picture of a friends setup. He used a second keyboard and wired the buttons, switches, levers, and rods all to it. He said it work great. Only problem was remembering which button did what!  LOL!

[james]

I have a Leo bodnar board. I have been trying
To figure out how to do that with a keyboard.

[Pigslilspaz]

I think it'd probably be better getting one of those game pads and cracking it open, they are all meant to not be keyboard keys.

[Bizman]

I am writing this using two keyboards simultaneously, 10 finger method, both hands using a board of it's own. You can check which buttons have been pressed with which hand. So I guess this proves that a with a secondary keyboard the message bar must be off if you want to use it as a controller.

Nevertheless, I'd like to know how the wiring is done. All modern keyboards seem to have a three layer film system under the buttons, and although changing the buttons to switches is in theory a simple task, soldering the switches on the plastic film doesn't seem like one.

[ink]

one of these days I will get to build one......

[james]

INK, you having more immersion is not what i would want anytime soon when that KI is around. Let me know if you build one so i know to make mine armor plated will ya? 

[ink]

INK, you having more immersion is not what i would want anytime soon when that KI is around. Let me know if you build one so i know to make mine armor plated will ya?