How to : USB scroll wheel

knob4.JPG
What a great use for that old, or broken, VCR & mouse you have lying around collecting dust. This looks fairly easy to make, and the end results will improve your productivity.

This guide is to illustrate how to make your own "Knob", very similar to the Griffin Powermate. Now, the knob I showcase HERE lacks some of the features, but mine can be built out of parts you have laying around the house. Mine didn't cost me a penny, unless you want to count about $.02 worth of solder.

Learn more about making a USB scroll wheel


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Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

Posted by: bbot on April 11, 2008 at 5:31 AM

Yeah, and the hack's only three years old!

Seriously, make, I've seen this about a hundred times by now.


Posted by: raidcore on April 11, 2008 at 8:35 AM

I agree

I was thinking the samething when i read the title....


Posted by: Marc de Vinck on April 11, 2008 at 8:55 AM

Hopefully it is new to some of our readers. Better yet, maybe it will inspire some of them to make it, or improve upon the original (old) idea.


Posted by: joem on April 11, 2008 at 11:22 AM

new to me. and appreciated.


Posted by: Marc de Vinck on April 11, 2008 at 11:46 AM

@joem

Yea! Glad you liked it.


Posted by: jpaturzo on April 11, 2008 at 4:03 PM

Wow, that was three years ago. This is the kind of stuff I came up with in the depth of my unemployed-ness.

Another guy did something similar and cites me as a source. Honestly I think he did a better job than me.

http://www.hackaday.com/2006/04/11/ergonomic-vertical-mouse/


Posted by: Phillip Torrone on April 13, 2008 at 8:45 AM

@bbot - 99%+ have never seen this and 2 years from now when we likely post it again 99% of those people will not have seen it either...


Posted by: Mauricio Gómez on May 1, 2008 at 3:15 PM

it was new for me too, and I builded my own

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1gEvVDoSHPE

thanks make

ebdmau.blogspot.com

i want go to maker faire!!!


Posted by: roryok on May 2, 2008 at 2:58 AM

huh?

Not trying to be a smart ass, but... Is this a joke?

What advantage does a big knob have over a scrollwheel on a mouse? Of course, I'm still in favor of reusing bits of things and building your own stuff, but I just don't see the point of this.

I went to the Griffin Powermate site, and that REALLY seems like a joke. they claim 'You can quickly and easily program it to execute any Key Command, in any application.' - then the examples they give are all just scrolling.

Seperate mousewheel? I don't get it.

Now, a keyboard with a mouse built in - THATS something I could understand.


Posted by: Marc de Vinck on May 2, 2008 at 6:12 AM

@roryok

I have a jog shuttle, and it is very useful when you are using audio/video applications. It's great for scrubbing through the files and setting up macros. Otherwise, you don't really need one.

A mouse wheel is not the same as a jog shuttle.


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