Making a touch sensitive jog wheel?

**kostis12345** · 08-13-2011, 05:02 AM

Hi,
I'm on the process of making a midi controller similar to the cdj series. I've figured out how to do everything except for this. I want to add touch sensitivity in my jog wheel but I can't figure out how to do that. I somehow need to connect electronics(a capacitive sensor) inside the wheel to the inside of the controller but I can't figure out how. Cables are ruled out, they will get tangled after a turning the wheel a bit. The only way I have though of is to have a completely separate circuit inside the wheel with a rechargable LiPo battery of a couple of Ah and whenever I touch the wheel, a series of leds would light underneath the wheel(probably IR) and there would be another series of IR receivers mounted on the main body of the controller which would transmit the signal to the microcontroller. However this reminds me of a Rube Goldberg machine and I was hoping that someone might have a simpler way of doing this.
Thanks

**zestoi** · 08-13-2011, 05:14 AM

the icon idj i recently picked up just has some metal that goes down to the bottom of the controller and then makes contact with a circular surface there - seems to work ok.

**kostis12345** · 08-13-2011, 05:27 AM

Yeah, I also though about something similar, I'm worried about noise(electrical) though. Is it easy to take some photos?
Thanks for answering

**zestoi** · 08-13-2011, 05:33 AM

Originally Posted by kostis12345

Yeah, I also though about something similar, I'm worried about noise(electrical) though. Is it easy to take some photos?
Thanks for answering

sure, i'll take a couple later and post on that other thread - someone else has already asked for some just to see what's inside.

**kostis12345** · 08-13-2011, 05:40 AM

Thanks a bunch

This thread right?
http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34480

**sidetrakd** · 08-13-2011, 05:49 AM

What are you using for the jog wheel? If your using a capacitive touch sensor it shouldn't need to be attached to the jog wheel.It just has to be under the platter

**zestoi** · 08-13-2011, 05:53 AM

Originally Posted by kostis12345

Thanks a bunch

This thread right?
http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34480

yep that one

Originally Posted by sidetrakd

What are you using for the jog wheel? If your using a capacitive touch sensor it shouldn't need to be attached to the jog wheel.It just has to be under the platter

true - 99% sure that the metal rotates with the jog wheel on the idj - it's a pretty cheap controller tho - i only paid 100quid for it

**kostis12345** · 08-13-2011, 06:05 AM

Originally Posted by sidetrakd

What are you using for the jog wheel? If your using a capacitive touch sensor it shouldn't need to be attached to the jog wheel.It just has to be under the platter

*Facepalm* Oh yeah! I just make a circular conductive area with a hole in the middle to let the axis of the wheel through(I'm making the wheel using a HDD motor, link at the bottom) and then I mount that to the main body. Thanks a lot

Link for the HDD motor controller:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHgAbA7qq0w

**sidetrakd** · 08-13-2011, 06:28 AM

Originally Posted by kostis12345

I just make a circular conductive area with a hole in the middle to let the axis of the wheel through

Exactly! you may have to have gnd's running around your conductive area though to avoid interference. Maybe shield the motor? Hopefully it will just work and you wont have to do too much! Good luck

**kostis12345** · 08-13-2011, 06:40 AM

Thanks a lot

I'll make a new thread documenting my progress when I start

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