- 153
- glasgow
- jamsy
Simple (and cheap) fix for Logitech Wheel Optical Encoder Issue
- Thread starter Sick Lenny
- 47 comments
- 91,696 views
Hi, I disassembled but the optical encoder was not broken. I just needed to tight harder the screws of the optical sensor and the calibrations was correct again
thank you!!!!!!
- 153
- glasgow
- jamsy
Your welcome, ah nice one, well done, and at least now if the encoder does go, which it will at some point lol, you will feel more confident at having a go, hapy racing, add me on psn if you like, i only play gt6, and in between moving home at the moment so i am not on much for the next 4 weeks.
- 1
- Italy
i'had the same problem...i tried with glue attack but fail
today shop are close so i try with a bungee cord and it's works
sure is not an definitive solution but my problem was that g25 brokes just when my friend give oculus vr to try
today shop are close so i try with a bungee cord and it's works
sure is not an definitive solution but my problem was that g25 brokes just when my friend give oculus vr to try
When I took my G27 apart I discovered my optical encoder had one crack going along the whole of the encoder. I got some super glue and found a wire terminal that was a hair too small. I filed it down, sheared off the access and it fit like a charm. Super glued it on there and put it all back together and she is working great again. I am probably still going to buy the brass encoder when she breaks again but for now she is working like new. The whole process took around 3 1/2 hours. Thanks a lot!
Here are a couple pictures that I took
Here are a couple pictures that I took
- 38
- Alberta
- Jonny
Nice looking work bench, you should of tried putting a washer on it, that's what I did with my g25 and haven't had any issues since even with hours of drifting and getting it warm lolWhen I took my G27 apart I discovered my optical encoder had one crack going along the whole of the encoder. I got some super glue and found a wire terminal that was a hair too small. I filed it down, sheared off the access and it fit like a charm. Super glued it on there and put it all back together and she is working great again. I am probably still going to buy the brass encoder when she breaks again but for now she is working like new. The whole process took around 3 1/2 hours. Thanks a lot!
Here are a couple pictures that I took
I created an account especially to give Kudo's to the author. Fixed my G25 today in the same manner. I found a thin washer, filed it snug and secured it with a tiny amount of glue. The optical encoder sits really snug again against the axle. I used a 5 mm socket to push down the washer onto encoder. I found myself also needing to use the same socket to get it on the axle. I felt that using my fingers would bend the broken plastic.
- 192
- Earth
6 years later hope that you or someone can clarify a couple of things: you said the washer should go in snug, in order not to have to use glue. Well I found two washers, one of which appears to be the exact size needed but it doesn't sit snug around the shaft. There's maybe a hair worth of space in between but it isn't snug. Will this be a better way to go along with some super glue than with the other, slightly smaller washer? I'd need to drill the centre hole in order to make it fit the shaft. Even then there's no guarantee I'd have the exact drill size so it likely wouldn't sit snug either. But based on the pic below am I safe to go with the larger washer? (2nd from the bottom). Suppose that I'd use superglue and squeeze the wheel together in order have it closed fully.
Seems like the obvious next step but before I proceed I'd like to hear opinions, as once I glue it in place there's no going back.
PS: may use Gorilla glue (for wood, plastic, etc) as I find it far safer than super glue.
Thanks everyone, for contributing to this great thread.
- 192
- Earth
Glad this thread could be of help to you!
I had a whole response typed out saying that the larger washer should be fine and why but then I remembered why it was necessary from my obervations. Just gluing by itself wouldn't work because the shaft the wheel goes on is so snug it actually puts pressure on the plastic that sits around it, and in my case, made it want to split apart again after being glued. The washer was key to counter this.
Having said that, if you glue the back side of the washer to the solid face of the wheel it will sit against, it may hold. I would recommend a super strong glue for that, I don't thing GG is that strong (it may be for the application, but like you said it's kinda a one shot situation).
The encoder wheel on my DFGT fit the washer perfectly, so I want to say they are some sort of standard dimension, which is why I recommended taking it to a hardware store and go through all the washer bins to find the right one. Is yours not from a DFGT unit (I suppose the size of this part could change with revisionsof the unit as well)?
Got it working!
Sick Lenny, your input in this thread was instrumental. Thanks for checking back in after all these years.
Let me share my experience (and some pics) that I hope will also help others. It wasn't straight forward for me, so I hope that anyone reading this can be better prepared and hopefully get your unit running quickly.
Here's what I found: in order for the wheel to work the gap must be closed fully. Even the smallest of gaps where it's cracked will mess with the sensor. I had tried several techniques using the larger washer in the pic above and tuck tape (not duck tape) instead of glue and nothing worked. I doubt that I could have gotten this to work if I had used glue. The risk is far too great getting it on the spokes and this would ruin the wheel. Not enough glue and the crack may not close fully or hold. Or it may break up in the future. As Lenny said there's some added pressure once you mount things back in place.
So this is what I did: used the smaller washer from the pic above and widened the hole in the centre. But just enough to make it barely slide down the shaft. The larger washer's centre hole was a hair wider than the shaft and it didn't work to close the gap. Think of the washer as a clamp. You really need something to clamp down on the shaft and this will fully close the gap. No glue needed.
Keep in mind that the drilling wasn't that simple. Washer is so small that I had a tough time using pliers to hold it in place. Had to drill very gently and widen the gap a few microns at a time. Too much and it wouldn't close the gap fully, forcing me to start over with a new washer. As seen in the pic the washer took a beating. I used a sharpening stone to smooth out the rough edges a bit. It isn't pretty but it worked. The gap was fully closed once I forced the washer down the shaft, pressing down with my fingers. Should I have to replace the washer in the future it should come out fairly easily seeing how no glue was used.
Perhaps you may get lucky and find just the right washer for the task. Or as mentioned, bring the wheel to a hardware store. Or use a drill to make your own hole.
Tested the wheel on two computers close to a dozen times. It calibrates just fine (it will turn the wheel fully to one side then the other, then centre it in the middle position). Man, am I happy. As are my kids. $20 best spent!
PS: this is the 5th wheel in the house and I just picked up another for $15 that I hope to get working too (may start a thread on that). I only tried this Logitech wheel briefly and it works nicely, love that it has a gear shifter on the side. Definitely worth fixing. Thanks to all that helped out in this thread.
Sick Lenny, your input in this thread was instrumental. Thanks for checking back in after all these years.
Let me share my experience (and some pics) that I hope will also help others. It wasn't straight forward for me, so I hope that anyone reading this can be better prepared and hopefully get your unit running quickly.
Here's what I found: in order for the wheel to work the gap must be closed fully. Even the smallest of gaps where it's cracked will mess with the sensor. I had tried several techniques using the larger washer in the pic above and tuck tape (not duck tape) instead of glue and nothing worked. I doubt that I could have gotten this to work if I had used glue. The risk is far too great getting it on the spokes and this would ruin the wheel. Not enough glue and the crack may not close fully or hold. Or it may break up in the future. As Lenny said there's some added pressure once you mount things back in place.
So this is what I did: used the smaller washer from the pic above and widened the hole in the centre. But just enough to make it barely slide down the shaft. The larger washer's centre hole was a hair wider than the shaft and it didn't work to close the gap. Think of the washer as a clamp. You really need something to clamp down on the shaft and this will fully close the gap. No glue needed.
Keep in mind that the drilling wasn't that simple. Washer is so small that I had a tough time using pliers to hold it in place. Had to drill very gently and widen the gap a few microns at a time. Too much and it wouldn't close the gap fully, forcing me to start over with a new washer. As seen in the pic the washer took a beating. I used a sharpening stone to smooth out the rough edges a bit. It isn't pretty but it worked. The gap was fully closed once I forced the washer down the shaft, pressing down with my fingers. Should I have to replace the washer in the future it should come out fairly easily seeing how no glue was used.
Perhaps you may get lucky and find just the right washer for the task. Or as mentioned, bring the wheel to a hardware store. Or use a drill to make your own hole.
Tested the wheel on two computers close to a dozen times. It calibrates just fine (it will turn the wheel fully to one side then the other, then centre it in the middle position). Man, am I happy. As are my kids. $20 best spent!
PS: this is the 5th wheel in the house and I just picked up another for $15 that I hope to get working too (may start a thread on that). I only tried this Logitech wheel briefly and it works nicely, love that it has a gear shifter on the side. Definitely worth fixing. Thanks to all that helped out in this thread.
- 192
- Earth
- 1
- Australia
Great thread guys. Thank you very much for this post OP, I made an account just to share my experience:
- I have a g27 with a 60 hole encoder wheel, hopefully this all applies to you too.
- For me, the right size hole washer was an M5 washer (0.5mm hole in middle). this size was the tightest i could get - I believe the stem in the middle is about 4.4~7mm so it is a little loose.
- HOWEVER, you must find one that has a small 'diameter' if that makes sense - the first set of M5's i bought were too wide and covered the encoder holes and I had to visit the hardware store again, encoder in hand.
- You must use high quality super glue that will bond to both metal and plastic. Hold the encoder together tightly during application, so that the cracks are pressed together.
- And finally, don't get too crazy fiddling with the encoder. As you can see, the plastic is quite fragile. I made the mistake of using cheaper superglue on my first go which left a sticky white film behind. While removing it with pliers and cutters, I split the existing crack further and made more cracks.
- 1
- United States
A decade later, you just saved my ass, dude. I opened up my G25 that was acting up and found it was the encoder disk, and this fixed it perfectly for me. I honestly don't know if I would've taken the gamble of buying the 30-dollar brass disk plus the long shipping wait, so you probably just saved my wheel. Thank you.I know that this known problem has been talked about in many threads here, but instead of reviving one from the dead and in the interest getting this info visible to others searching for help I decided to post a new thread here.
I myself had the dreaded optical encoder wheel split happen to my DFGT early last year. I came to this site to find out what was causing the symptoms I was experiencing (mainly wheel center alignment issues). So after digging the optical encoder part out and taking a look at it (and making a failed glue-it-back together attempt), I tried something else.
A washer.
If you look at the encoder it is basically a shaft piece with a wheel on the end. The wheel is solid plastic on the inner part and spokes (encoder) on the outer part. All you need to do to fix it (mine was a complete split down one side) is take it with you to a hardware store and find a washer whose inner diameter is the same size as the shaft, and whose outer diameter is no wider than the solid part of the wheel. I was lucky in that I had one the perfect size in my garage.
Slide it on, add a (VERY SMALL) dab of glue on the back to hold it against the solid part of the wheel and you are done. (Just make sure the split parts of the spokes/encoder wheel are lined back up evenly when you do though.)
I know the popular solution on here is to order the custom brass one from overseas, and not to take anything away from that guy, but for those of you who are in a hurry or don't have the cash to spare, this works like a charm. My wheel has not had a problem since.
Sorry I didn't have the presence of mind to take pics when I had it apart, but if anyone has questions (I know pictures/diagrams are much easier to read than words) I would be glad to help.
Hope this is helpful.
Update: Added photos below. You can see if you find the right size washer it will hold the split encoder wheel together and then you don't need any glue in the spokes area, just make sure the sides line up. I used a dab of glue on the back of the washer to hold it in place.
- 1
- Czech Republic
Hi guys, I used this idea to repair my g27 being off-center, but i used thick washer (and i glued it) and when i was putting it back together, i must´ve put it that the washer was touching the inside of the motherboard hole. When it was calibrating, i went right, left, but then it got stuck, and later i discovered that it was because when it hit left stopper on the rails, the momentum drifted the encoder slightly down the shaft, hence the sensor couldnt read it and wheel got stuck. I fixed it with putting the encoder on the shaft the opposite way, and it calibrated properly. But i wanted to ask, couldnt it create some problems in the future? Could you please help me? Sorry for bad english. Photos here:
photos.app.goo.gl
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0 new items by MatÄj KropáÄek
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- 1
- Poland
Yes, I know. It's been over 10 years since the OP. But, my even older DFGT had been acting up and slipping off center. I already gave the encoder board to a professional to fix, but when disassembling the wheel, I noticed that the ring itself had broken. So, I found this ancient thread and tried it out myself. Mr. Lenny, you are heaven-sent! Even though the board still needs fixing (some pins appear to have been ripped off of the board, don't ask), I'm more than certain that the broken ring was the main cause of the issue. If anyone is remotely interested in this thread, I will update my comment as soon as I get the fixed board back and put the whole thing together.I know that this known problem has been talked about in many threads here, but instead of reviving one from the dead and in the interest getting this info visible to others searching for help I decided to post a new thread here.
I myself had the dreaded optical encoder wheel split happen to my DFGT early last year. I came to this site to find out what was causing the symptoms I was experiencing (mainly wheel center alignment issues). So after digging the optical encoder part out and taking a look at it (and making a failed glue-it-back together attempt), I tried something else.
A washer.
If you look at the encoder it is basically a shaft piece with a wheel on the end. The wheel is solid plastic on the inner part and spokes (encoder) on the outer part. All you need to do to fix it (mine was a complete split down one side) is take it with you to a hardware store and find a washer whose inner diameter is the same size as the shaft, and whose outer diameter is no wider than the solid part of the wheel. I was lucky in that I had one the perfect size in my garage.
Slide it on, add a (VERY SMALL) dab of glue on the back to hold it against the solid part of the wheel and you are done. (Just make sure the split parts of the spokes/encoder wheel are lined back up evenly when you do though.)
I know the popular solution on here is to order the custom brass one from overseas, and not to take anything away from that guy, but for those of you who are in a hurry or don't have the cash to spare, this works like a charm. My wheel has not had a problem since.
Sorry I didn't have the presence of mind to take pics when I had it apart, but if anyone has questions (I know pictures/diagrams are much easier to read than words) I would be glad to help.
Hope this is helpful.
Update: Added photos below. You can see if you find the right size washer it will hold the split encoder wheel together and then you don't need any glue in the spokes area, just make sure the sides line up. I used a dab of glue on the back of the washer to hold it in place.
Hi all, just an update: since using the washer that I drilled the inner hole to fit the encoder, it continues to work just fine after all this time (although in all fairness the wheel didn't see a lot of use). Last week I replaced the DFGT with a G27. Although the G27 was a rare find as it was hardly used, there is always the chance it will split in the future. If so I'd just like to ask the question for those with a G27: do you happen to know if your encoder is the same as in the DFGT? If so I may just swap it later on, meaning I might as well hang on to the DFGT. No point in selling as I don't think I could get 30 bux for it and the power supply is worth keeping as a spare. Cheers
