Thread: Mouse built into shifter

Originally Posted by disgruntled

job well done, creative too btw. Couple of questions though, since the shifter is a high wear item, what kind of paint and how many coat did you put on it? and the Raycrete stuff, is it like Bondo or something? does it respond well to wear, direct sunlight, high heat and moisture (from your palm). Not meant to be negative in anyway, just trying to learn a few things from people, that's all.

Thanks.

Not too high wear an item on my car as it's a sportstronic transmission.

I used this (supposedly) heavy duty auto primer I've never used before on the raycrete. So far I like it alot. I think it's trackster. Not sure off the top of my head. It's meant for metal and poly so I gave it a try. I got it like a year ago for some touchup on the car.

The Raycrete is a non-toxic two part polyurethane adhesive that is similar to bondo, except it's workable the whole time, from liquid to paste. It'll take a lot of abuse. Very strong. Water won't bother it. It will even set up submerged.

Painting it OTOH, some paints bond better than others. Though you can color it with concrete coloring powder. Which I would have done if I wasn't in such a hurry. It's also pretty easy to shape the first 24 hours or so. Like hard soap.
This knob, minus the mouse, is pretty much whittled and sanded to shape. Took a couple hours.

So, we'll see how the primer bonded. On top of the primer, I used a few coats of Krylong wrinkle paint. I'm not sure who it will hold up in the long term. I think well. It's meant to be touched. The shifter was close to perfect, but not quite so the wrinkle does a good job of hiding all sins. I just couldn't spend a couple days making it perfect. It does look pretty good, even fairly close.

Just about done. The black doesn't look so shiny in person (a good thing IMHO).

Also, that wire hanging out won't be there. Right now, the circuit board is off to the side. Just need to tap one hole and it's about done.

cool idea

Good work. I really like the idea, i might have to try something similar.

Cant wait for intalled pics

Probably install it this afternoon. Still a couple things to work out.

Find a better o-ring as these "balls" are kind of loose
They're meant to operate with the trackball up.

Need to counter sink the screw a bit better. Little fraction there scratching the ball. Normally, they screw together through the back, I had to reverse it so I could service it if need be. Managing to put it back in one piece with the wire rerun took some dexterity.

Doesn't look so "wet" when viewing it. The flash really highlights every fault.

Done!


Took a little finagling. Had to enlarge the hole in the shifter slider to pass the PS2 connector through. Also had to make sure the wire wouldn't get caught up on anything. Also need to trim the wire tie under the knob a little bit more.

Of course the mouse is backwards, hopefully that won't be too big a configuration issue.

The mouse ball is 3/4 inch. I just found some 13/16" chrome bearings on ebay for cheap. That should look better and negate the need for the o-ring to tighten it up.

Have you finished it?

Originally Posted by shotgunefx

Of course the mouse is backwards, hopefully that won't be too big a configuration issue.

If you get the MS intellimouse software, it gives you an option to 'teach' the mouse driver the direction of the mouse.


Switching the buttons is easy.