I wanted something to replicate “turn signals” in my simulator rig for, well, controlling the turn signals as well as lights and the like. This will utilize these generic and readily available 4-way joystick controllers, commonly used for industrial applications:
The idea to use this is not originally mine, just to be clear, but unfortunately I do not recall exactly where I saw these being used for this same application.
So into Fusion 360 we go! First I modeled up a simple box to hold the turn signal, the cutout matches the profile of my Moza R5:
The build volume of the whole thing is too large, so it’s split in half, the two holes seen above are for 4mm guide pins that help locate the two halves together:
Next I added a plate on top, to retain the two halves, and give something to mount onto the Moza R5 wheel base:
The recessed channel on top is space for the wires to run and the Arduino Pro Micro that powers it to live, one quick job of soldering up the connections later and mounting it to the wheel base and it works!
But it’s kind of ugly having all that stuff sitting in the open and the lights are sure distracting, let’s make a lid too!
The lid is really simple and just uses some magnets where the lower mounting bolts to hold it on:
Last but not least I double-sided-taped a small 90-degree piece and my old phone to it, and bam! We have turn signals (really just 8 additional switches, two on each side) and a slick “dash” that can pipe dash info from SimHub!
It’s pretty tight between the paddle shifters and the phone/dash, but it clears fine and from testing normal usage it seems like it doesn’t interfere at all!
