How-To: Joystick from scavenged parts

From the MAKE Flickr pool

Eschlaep shares details on building a 2-axis joystick from scavenged VCR and computer mouse parts –

Well, the other day I found another idler wheel from the same VCR, and I decided to share the construction technique so that you can make one too. It’s pretty simple and takes an hour or two. You will need a VCR idler wheel that looks like the one in the picture below, four microswitches (you can scavenge these from an old computer mouse), a spring, and a piece of sheet steel to mount the whole arrangement on. The sheet metal must be steel for reasons I will discuss later.

Fashioning compnents like these from scrap can be uniquely satisfying – and of course economical. Catch the full how-to over @ Tube Time.