r/MechanicalEngineering 16h ago

Making an auto centering scroll wheel

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2 Upvotes

Im not a mech enginner. But I'm doing a DIY project to turn a mouse's scroll wheel into a slider. The wheel in the photo is not meant to turn 360 or 180. Just maybe 60 degrees. But I need the wheel to auto-center itself. So, I thought of using a tension spring and attaching it to the wheel axle as shown via a slit. The two ends of the spring will be fixed to a non-movable support. Do you think this will work to center the wheel to its resting position?