Anoel,
Yes, I've used a mouse to build a wheel encoder. Hacked mouse encoders are pretty common in hobby robotics. Reusing the mouse wheel is good if you have an easy way to mount it - chopping up the mouse board and coupling to the motor can be a problem.
Laser-print-on-transparency is often the best course.
Eric is correct, you do need two bits if you want direction input. If you are confident that your motor is turning the right direction you can get away with just one bit.
One hundred pulses per revolution should be adequate. With 20 tpi screws that's 0.0005 inch resolution (I think). Remember, a 100 count per revolution disk only needs 50 black wedges because you get a pulse off each edge.
robotic regards,
Tom |