Racing Sim Custom Handbrake
I've always been a big fan of racing simulators, and in 2019 I bought myself a steering wheel and pedal set from Logitech. I've always enjoyed rallycross, and wanted to add a handbrake to my setup. Most of the ones I found for purchase were quite expensive, and I wanted the challenge of building one for cheaper.
This project includes custom 3D printed parts, an Arduino Leonardo, a three terminal microswitch, and various hardware.
This is the first project I've designed something in CAD to be 3D printed. I took a lot of inspiration from handbrakes I've seen in professional racing vehicles, making it as sleek and functional as possible.
The handbrake was printed in three parts. First being the moving arm that would activate the switch. I wanted to print the base in two pieces to give me the ability to easily make any changes or adjustments to the hardware when needed.
At this point I knew I wanted the arm to activate a simple switch, to send a signal on or off. I considered using a flexible resistor to give more refined input, however the switch seemed more practical.
With all the parts in hand, I began seeing real progress. Everything felt properly sized and had good weight to it. My next step would be to build the assembly with long screws, some washers, and wing nuts to hold everything together. At the same time I had to mount the switch in the proper place on the base, so the arm would enable the switch when it was rotated, and disable when released.
For a mounting system, I used a clamping microphone stand that was small enough to keep the handbrake lightweight, but sturdy enough to support it on a desk. Future revisions of this project may look to improve on this.
The switch was wired on the normally closed pole, and connected to the Arduino Leonardo through ground and a digital pin. The choice was made to use an Arduino Leonardo because I wanted the handbrake to give an input to my PC as if it were a keyboard. This meant I could easily map the input to a certain key to be used in the racing simulator. The last thing I added to the handbrake were two screw eyes and a small spring to give it some recoil.
As a final product, I am quite happy with how it turned out. In the future I may strip down everything to paint it. If you're interested in the code running on the Leonardo, I have linked the Github. Additionally, more photos from the project are in the gallery below.
