The super-villain emerges from the grand entrance in a wicked, souped-up robotic spider. “Ah hah, so you’ve discovered my secret compound, Ms. Croft. How unfortunate for you that I control all the egresses…” She chortles (evilly) and presses forward on the switch installed on her armrest panel.
“Before I modded my robotic contraption, I could only go backwards and forwards. Now as you can see, I enjoy greater directionality with this Ball Top 4-Way Rocker Switch. Resembles an arcade joystick, does it not, Ms. Croft? Never has leading you to your doom felt more like a game!”
This is a very nice, hefty 4-way control switch, it looks a lot like a joystick but is decidedly heftier, and has built in clamping-switches rather than using microswitches. This makes it great for really big robotics and control panels, but it’s not as light and easy to use as a plain joystick. Also it has built in X retaining slots so you really can only move in four directions, you can’t rotate around once you’ve picked a direction like an arcade stick. You can easily disassemble the switch enough to panel mount it, there are even a few gasket rings included.
This way or that way, one or the other, perhaps or perhaps not! So hard to make decisions these days without feeling like you’re just going back and forth constantly. Deciding how to use this joystick-looking rocker switch? That’s the easiest decision you’ll make all day!
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Open Hardware is In, New CircuitPython and Pi 5 16GB, and much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey