DIY USB Button Box

[AirSocial]

So in my mind I have wanted to have a Button Box for a very long time. To buy one made is at least over $100 to have more than 2 buttons on it. I've been researching and found out for a decent one you can make yourself can be a end result of $50! Huge difference from something that would be $200 since it is all decked out. I plan to use it for games like American Truck Simulator and ETS 2. I made it all into a amazon wishlist. If anybody has ever built one of these before please give me and tips that you can.  Its going to be my first time attempting something like this. I will be posting status updates on my page. Please stay tuned if you want to hear how it goes.

http://a.co/4HQ3O5r

[AirSocial]

Adding to this, you can see how this company https://prosim.no/shop/en/button-boxes/222-buttonbox-pro-26-ready-labeled.html charges $200 for a box, if you look at my list, IT HAS THE SAME EXACT switches. On, on, top and bottom, off, off left, right

[mariushm]

You can use a 1-2$ microcontroller with USB built in, make it show as a usb keyboard to your PC. 

You can use port extenders or parallel to serial shift registers ( signals from 8 buttons go in shift register and you read 1 byte using SPI or i2c from the shift register chip 500 times a second or something like that.

If you want even fewer wires you can do multiplexing but then you may have issues when two buttons are pressed at same time (depending how you arrange the buttons).

 

The price is somewhat justified, if they're making a low volume production of that plastic case, circuit board etc etc. the buttons and switches are probably less than 20-30$.

 

Check stores like Digikey , Newark, Mouser ... they have tons of push buttons, switches etc of various sizes, and you get discounts if you buy bigger quantities. Maybe not as cheap as those on Amazon but quality should be higher.

 

See for example  push buttons  and toggle switches   and rocker switches

 

[Hackentosher]

You can use arduinos as HID (human input/interface device), so all you'd have to do is wire your switches to the digital io pins, and maybe have a pull up resistor on each. Hell, you might be able to get away with the internal pullup called in the IDE. That should work great for what you want. There are a gazillion different arduinos of various size and functionality that would allow you as many or as few buttons as you'd like. 

[MrJoosh]

On 12/4/2018 at 5:14 PM, Hackentosher said:

You can use arduinos as HID (human input/interface device), so all you'd have to do is wire your switches to the digital io pins, and maybe have a pull up resistor on each. Hell, you might be able to get away with the internal pullup called in the IDE. That should work great for what you want. There are a gazillion different arduinos of various size and functionality that would allow you as many or as few buttons as you'd like. 

Not all Arduinos support HID natively though - the 328p nano/mega for instance...

 

This can be worked around by re-flashing the usb chip on the board though in some cases...

[Hackentosher]

2 hours ago, MrJoosh said:

Not all Arduinos support HID natively though - the 328p nano/mega for instance...

 

This can be worked around by re-flashing the usb chip on the board though in some cases...

Some adafruit feathers do, I would use one of those anyway because they are more compact. 

[AirSocial]

Update On my Box, So me being dumb, I ordered Normally Closed switch which means it turns off when you press it, its reversed from what I need. Also my On and Off switches I just found out you have to hold them, they just dont stick into place. I am getting the rest of my stuff today. In addition I messed up when I first ordered everything. 

[MrJoosh]

16 hours ago, Hackentosher said:

Some adafruit feathers do, I would use one of those anyway because they are more compact. 

True, as do the pro micro boards with the 32u4, for the most part it's just the 328p powered boards that require a bit of hacking around to get them to appear and function as HID compliant devices...

[Unimportant]

On 12/4/2018 at 3:23 AM, AirSocial said:

So in my mind I have wanted to have a Button Box for a very long time. To buy one made is at least over $100 to have more than 2 buttons on it. I've been researching and found out for a decent one you can make yourself can be a end result of $50! Huge difference from something that would be $200 since it is all decked out. I plan to use it for games like American Truck Simulator and ETS 2. I made it all into a amazon wishlist. If anybody has ever built one of these before please give me and tips that you can.  Its going to be my first time attempting something like this. I will be posting status updates on my page. Please stay tuned if you want to hear how it goes.

http://a.co/4HQ3O5r

A ultra cheap way we've utilized before and works well is to buy the cheapest POS 3$ USB keyboard you can find and rip it apart to take the controller board out. Then find a couple - nonblocking - inputs on the multiplex to attach your buttons to.

[AirSocial]

So I finished it!! A lot of things happened. So the switches I was going to return costed more to return then they are even worth so I kept them! Also, the project box was way too small. I made my own little "Project Box" out of my Beats Xs box. I know it seems really ghetto but I am not trying to be professional and I love it. I couldn't use a normal box since when I would flick a switch the whole box would move and just rip, this box along with phone boxes are way stronger so It workers perfectly. I also have to buy my ignition switch still and normal button switches. Also I just used electrical tape since I am just fairly 15 so I cannot soder. I would have ask for help from an adult but they would have not been available in days. I feel really proud of myself for thinking about this. Also, everything works perfectly! 

[eokabungo]

On 12/4/2018 at 4:23 AM, AirSocial said:

So in my mind I have wanted to have a Button Box for a very long time. To buy one made is at least over $100 to have more than 2 buttons on it. I've been researching and found out for a decent one you can make yourself can be a end result of $50! Huge difference from something that would be $200 since it is all decked out. I plan to use it for games like American Truck Simulator and ETS 2. I made it all into a amazon wishlist. If anybody has ever built one of these before please give me and tips that you can.  Its going to be my first time attempting something like this. I will be posting status updates on my page. Please stay tuned if you want to hear how it goes.

http://a.co/4HQ3O5r

Hi,

I want to build 2 pushbuttons button box.

Does someone have a plan or a link to the items I need? My biggest problem is the size of the box and the arudino card, and to fit them inside, as I need it on a wheel rim to play iracing.

 

Thank you