Is a DIY BMW 7 Series control knob possible?

**wallaceacura** · 03-09-2006, 05:47 PM

I've been thinking about the 7 series control knob in the armrest and wondering if this can't be recreated. I know there are lots of posts on this, but I wanted to see if anyone had any "roll your own" ideas.

I remember seeing a mini joystick that had 4 or 8 directions and clicked when pushed down. Can't find the exact model, but here is a
similar one I found at Electronic Goldmine.

If a + gate were made to define up/down/left/right you could make most of the functionality....

**mushin** · 03-09-2006, 06:11 PM

Alps makes a range of mini-joysticks, including one with 8 way + click + rotery encoder at the base (I think it did all that anyway.) That would give you a lot of control options. As for interfacing, there's a variety of direction you could take (from a uC to hacking KB/mice boards) depending on your skills and what you want out of it.