Just a little bit of recap, last time on the joystick upgrade we replaced the stock joystick with the new joystick that was unable to connect to the joystick platform. So basically we dropped the new joystick in a cup, drop that cup in the old joystick slot because the new slot was off center…and…maybe I should just use pictures.
So as you can see, these joystick platforms look a little different. The main problem is that the whole that will be dropping the joystick in is much smaller and the location is off. Instead of it being in the center, it’s on the right hand side which is a pain because of how my hand sits on the platform. So what can we do? Well we can’t just put the new joystick in the old platform without some engineering. Beneath the old platform there is no hardware to connect list new joystick to so we’ll have to tackle that.
Essentially we took the joystick from the diagram below:
This new joystick that takes little effort to push which is reason enough to change devices. My hands are getting weaker over time and this upgrade makes the wheelchair easier to handle. Like I stated, unfortunately it doesn’t attach to the joystick platform that I’m used to with the hole in center so I needed to make something to hold the new joystick in the old joystick platform. Below is what I came up with, a cup that the joystick could drop into so that the cord could slot through:
The size measurements were included in the documentation for the new joystick so it took the measurements and created the cup based around them. Just enough space to hug the joystick tightly and let the cord go through the side and the bottom so it can connect to the computer in the back of the wheelchair.
So the parts came in and I went to the guys that repair and work on wheelchairs and what do I find but the new joystick platform puts the joystick in a different location than the old ones did. Example:
Why isn’t the hole in the center on the new platform? Honestly, I have no idea but I’m starting to think it’s because somebody out there knew that I wanted to use this and they wanted to cause more minor inconveniences before the universe implodes on itself for the umpteenth time before we all start over again. So we couldn’t do the upgrade that day, I didn’t prepare the cup design at that time but when we came back a second time I had it it was ready to go. The tech was slightly impressed that I came up with something and it worked first time.
Next time we’ll talk about the new platform with the Lego expansion!
-mh
