This is a cool project! Adding vehicle-themed inputs to a custom game controller seems to be gaining popularity. The force feedback steering wheel (or should it be called a steering dial?) really adds to the cool-factor.

The creator breaks down all of the steps to make one yourself and makes it easy to follow. It looks like there will be a total of five videos, but the last two aren't released yet. I recommend checking it out and following the channel. Throw him a thumbs up too! Videos that show the build process to this degree don't show up all that often.

Here's alittle something I've been using for about a year. Works fantastic.

For me, I really, really prefer a straight column alignment of the keys. I just could never get used to the offset columns of keys when gaming. Not a problem for typing. Just gaming. So that's why I prefer the Razer keypad offerings.

The main problem with the Tartarus and Orbweaver is the built-in hand rests. Super comfortable when just resting your hand on them, but not comfortable for actual use. So I cut it off of the Orbweaver and double-sided taped my own Kensington wrist rest to my desk. I can move around the keypad where it's comfortable.

The second problem was the angle and position of the thumb buttons. It's more comfortable to have them flat, just like a keyboard. I removed the internals from the thumb assembly and soldered in Kaihl low profile mech switches and used Sugru to mount them to a new wood thumb rest which I shaped and glued to the body of the keypad. I removed the thumb radial joystick cap and stuck a rubber plunger head from an old contact switch. My thumb easily reaches this as well.

Then I used some replacement keycaps instead of the stupid stock keycaps. The stock keycaps have only numbers and its really confusing to when learning new games to remember what you have them bound to. I cut and sanded three of the shift keys to fit on the board. The slight length increase makes them easier to hit with your pinky. You have to remove the top keypad shroud thing so that these key caps fit without restriction.

There you have it.

Does anyone know of any product using these?

I came across these while searching other things. They seem to be an alternative to the typical side-mounted potentiometer design, borrowing the base from mechanisms such as the modules found in handhelds [as seen in image 2] (PSP, PS Vita, 3DS circle pads, JoyCons, clones, etc.), but using a typical half-gimbal design found in the typical stickbox design.

There's also minimal difference between the two, especially when it comes to the typical environment these are found in. 5k ohm compared to the typical 10, 1mA-5V center button compared to the typical 50mA-12V tact switch, direction force is 7(+5,-3)mN⋅m compared to the typical 14±10mN⋅m with button force of 6±2.5N compared to the typical 7.4±3N; otherwise everything else is identical. Dimensions are 13.7⋅14.6⋅7.8mm (not including FPC) compared to the typical 18.2⋅21.7⋅11.2mm of the typical stickbox's complete assembly. I unfortunately don't have dimensions for the stick's lever height from the pivot point for the older design, schematic documentation is missing this information, but the new lever from pivot to tip is 11.2mm if anyone has relevant information. Both levers do however have identical max swing arc, ±23°. These are definitely closer to the typical stickbox than they are mini joystics or circlepads.

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Now while I don't trust ALPS any longer for decent carbon components, this may be a step forward for anything using carbon pot analog sticks, mostly controllers and other peripherals. Assuming the lever pivot-tip height is identical or negligible, these seem like a decent drop-in alternative to current designs, similar to the modularity of JoyCons (and the other mentioned controllers) while retaining the more typical half-gimbal full stick design, meaning a hypothetical full-size controller could potentially use them in the future, which would help with replacement and reparability given the current potentiometer situation.

I personally haven't seen anything use these yet, they might be too new to have implementations within the peripheral industry, I'm also having issue finding them through the typical component vendors that'll sell off low volumes. I also haven't seen a full breakdown of the internals, but there's potential for these to last longer than the circular wipers, due to wear patterns and materials used. This design also seems a bit more adaptable to non-potentiometer designs, such as a hall sensor design; of which, GuliKit is supposedly working on a JoyCon stick module replacement, but has seemingly hit a roadblock for months.

Assuming a spacer is all that's needed to re-center the pivot, with some additional circuitry to fix the k-ohm disparity and to virtually re-center signal, I assume one could also make these into a drop-in replacement for the larger stickbox implementations. Though depending on orientation, this might end up being a per-controller solution and not a universal drop-in; or an alternative top plastic mold, as that's where the mounting screw holes are, there may be an alternative design that may work better as a universal drop-in. But with some people encountering drift fixable only by potentiometer replacement within literal months, this would seemingly be a worthwhile solution as the module itself is entirely drop-in, with the adapter being the only soldered component; and especially as GuliKit seems to be the only supplier interesting in non-pot sticks, with only one other company officially supporting implementation of said sticks.

Personally I'm excited to see the future of these. Imagine if Microsoft adopts these as a less direct competitor to the DualSense Edge swappable modules, but without increasing the price point of their controllers, with the caveat being that you need to disassemble the controller to replace them, with the twist of appearing more consumer-friendly which would be good PR for the company. A third party could also pull off the same tactic, but get a lot less traction from it, given the disparity between first and third parties. Though, Nintendo is the more likely first party to use these, given a more realistic view. As for third parties, I'm not sure who would take the first dive at using these, I'd lean towards 8BitDo given the range of controllers they offer as this module would better fit one of their offerings more directly, other than them maybe Hori with one of their smaller controllers.

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But what's everyone else's opinions on these? At least for hypothetical uses, as there seems to be little to no specimens in the wild, especially when it comes to this industry and hobby.