Hi, I'm Bill. I'm a software developer with a passion for making and electronics. I do a lot of things and here is where I document my learning in order to be able to inspire other people to make ...

I needed a rotary encoder — I pulled a cheap one out of one of those “49 boards for Arduino” kits you see around. Not the finest encoder in the land, I’m sure, but it should do the job.

Rotary encoders are typicallyused in positioning systems withservo feedback in which the cost of theencoder usually is of minor importance.Encoders, however, are also usedin user interfaces to encode ...

Commercial shaft encoders use magnets and Hall-effect sensors, or optical sensors and encoder discs. But these can be quite expensive, so [Hello1024] hacked together an alternative in an afternoon.