I concluded work on my G25 "Pro" mod. Last week I made several paperboard button plates to see what looked best and was most practical to use. I also got the buttons I wanted to use so I could begin on the final phase of the mod.
These are the buttons I opted for. Maybe a weird choice because those are PCB mounting buttons where chassis mounting would have been more logical. But, these buttons are short, have a nice feel to it (a similar click to the two existing buttons on the G25) and are very cheap. I couldn't find any affordable chassis mounting buttons that would be better. The buttons have about the same diameter as the two G25 buttons (9 mm). I did order crimson colored buttons, but I got wine red buttons. Obviously the manufacturer took the note "Picture may differ from actual product" very literaly. Anyway, that's not a problem. Wine red is nice too
And this is the prototype button plate made from 2 mm thick aluminium. The sides were folded to provide extra stiffness to the plate. Remaining gaps and openings were filled with polyester and after some good sanding the result was really smooth without sharp edges. A primer was applied to the plate, followed by a nice mat black finish. I chose mat black because it contrasts well with the spokes of the G25 wheel without making the heart of the G25 look too thick.
The tiny black bars coming out of the bottom are actually bolts that got painted too. That's not a problem, some acetone quickly gets rid of that. The bolts are required because I use PCB mounting buttons. In other words: there should be a PCB behind the button plate on which the buttons come. Not the most easy approach (definitely not to hide the bolt heads at the front side), but I just couldn't find better buttons. The bolts are quite a bit too long in the above picture. I forgot to shorten them before spraying, damn
Originally I intended to make a final button plate after this prototype using CNC machines and then anodising the aluminium with a nice black coating, but the prototype was already looking very good. So I decided to go further with the prototype. If the paintjob ever comes off I still might make a final button plate. For now, the prototype will do. It has a professional look to it.
There's a lot of holes in the button plate. There's room for 16 buttons. This is probably overkill, but better too much than not enough. Since this was intended to be only a prototype I wanted to max out the number of buttons to see what was practical and still looking good. Some will probably think it's too dense with all the buttons, I actually liked it. I didn't feel any need to bring down the number of buttons. By using two colors for the buttons I could make groups to make it appear less dense.
Here you can see how the button plate will be mounted to the G25 wheel. The plastic Logitech logo piece grips through the 6 holes in the G25 wheel into the 6 holes of the button plate. No way it can move once it's mounted. The folded sides are only 15 mm high so they don't obstruct the paddles.
If you wondered what the cut-out parts in the previous picture were for: the 2 G25 buttons sit in these openings.
That doesn't look to bad, don't you think? I'm glad I stepped away from my first thoughts to drill holes in the G25 wheel for the buttons. With my current approach I didn't toch the nice stainless steel spokes.
While I had already made several paperboard models, this was the first time I could actually operate the buttons and feel whether or not they were good to use. The four red buttons above the middle are very easy to reach with your thumbs. You can still operate the paddles while pressing them. This was one of the goals of the mod: to have more (now six instead of two) buttons you can operate without moving hands.
While I still had the wheel apart I took the time to place small rubber strips on the backside of the paddles where they go into the steering axle. This simple mod fixes the bouncing when you let go the paddle rapidly and prevents the movement of the other paddle if you operate one. For the other buttons one has to move his hand, but the buttons have enough spacing to find them blindly. I'm really surprised with how good the overall feeling is.
Then it was time to connect everthing and put the wheel back together. Connecting the wires wasn't exactly a pleasant job because there are a lot of wires and they all seem to lead to their own life. Everytime you thought you had the wheel good on the steering axle it turned out there was a wire in wrong position blocking the mounting. But eventually I got the whole thing back together
So ladies and gentlemen... May I present to you: the
G25 "Pro"...