joystick

[beo]

okay, not art exactly, but i thought if a thread relating to building a joystick belonged anywhere on the board, it was here. don't know if any of you guys get quite as wet over hardware as i do, but if you do, you might find it interesting, i guess! anyway, having something to update with progress will keep me motivated to get this project finished.

so yeah, first pic... the parts:



from the top left we have:

a bunch of cables
some screws
360 headphone jack extender
sanwa jlf joystick (white top)
xbox 360 wireless pad pcb + battery compartment
4x red sanwa 24mm buttons
8x white sanwa 30mm buttons


it begins...

[idolminds]

Oooh, cool. Its been my not-so-secret dream to build myself a MAME cabinet. But maybe a controller would suffice.

[Ghandi]

That's pretty cool, let us know how it turns out.

I'm terrible at doing things like that. My brain wasn't wired for that sort of activity, I guess.

[Quemaqua]

I've just never tried this sort of thing.  I get the feeling I'd have a blast.  I was looking forward to this thread, beo, definitely keep us updated.

[PyroMenace]

Yea building a joystick would be pretty damn satisfying if your a big fighter game fanatic, I know it has peaked my interest from time to time but those days are pretty much gone, I sold all my fighter game and hardware to K-Man. I know that building joysticks has become much more mainstream since the release of SF4, which is pretty cool I think.

[beo]

okay, first update. nothing major to show here, but i've made a start. got nearly all the wiring on the pad side of things finished today (just three more points to solder). some of this is so damn fiddly - i'm just glad my hands are steady. i resorted to the glue gun to keep some of weaker connections in place, i can only hope that i've wired everything correctly.

topside:


underside:

[Quemaqua]

It's like an evil electronic octopus.

[beo]

tamed the octopus with some terminal strips today. also got started on the box itself...

[beo]

nearly finished, just need to paint the box, then wire the buttons and stick into what i've already done.



i'm thinking of using the below as artwork (goes under a clear acrylic sheet), but not 100% sure yet.

[Quemaqua]

Damn, that's a seriously heavy duty box.  Looks like you could kill somebody with it if you had a mind to.

[Xessive]

Man, this is coming along very nicely!

Sweet artwork btw! hehe

[scottws]

Oooh, cool. Its been my not-so-secret dream to build myself a MAME cabinet. But maybe a controller would suffice.

I've been wanting to do that forever as well.  Trouble is, I'm no carpenter.  Oh yeah, and it's not cheap.

Definitely keep the pics coming, beo.  This is awesome.

[beo]

so nearly finished now. just got to wire the buttons into the terminals and fix the base on (and hope that it works, of course).

went for some different artwork than i previously posted - wanted to keep it as minimal looking as possible.


the buttons on the back are for back, guide, start and wireless sync.

[Quemaqua]

Nice!  Looks pretty sweet.

[beo]

bah @ my dodgy soldering. only seven of the sixteen functions are working. would of been very surprised if it had all worked first time, but still... going to have to spend some more time with the soldering iron. grrr.

[Quemaqua]

Just save it and use it as your automatic handicap stick when you play people who suck.

[beo]

unfortunately i'm not aware of many combo's involving down, right, b, wireless sync, back, start and/or guide...

[Quemaqua]

By automatic handicap I meant you could vent your rage on their inferiority by beating them to death with it.

[beo]

this thing had been gathering dust in a semi functional state for the past year, but with the upcoming release of super street fighter 4, i made it my mission to get it working. found a much easier circuit board to solder to and finished it off this evening. it works great and i am happy!

my only problem now being that i fucking suck at using an arcade stick! gotten so used to pads that i'm having to relearn it all. ah well, after the effort i put into making it, i'm definitely sticking at it!

edit - obligatory shots:

the internals. it was originally planned to be wireless, but as the board proved too tricky it is now wired. meh. on the plus side, this means i can also use it on my pc. yay.


size comparison sitting in front of a 37" tv.

[scottws]

Awesome.

FYI, the wireless Xbox 360 controllers do work with a PC.  You just need the wireless USB do-dad they sell.  I think it's called the Gaming Receiver.  I have one and it works great.

[K-man]

Beo, that's fucking beautiful.

[ren]

That is fantastic. How long did it take?

[beo]

well i made the box about a year ago, so i don't quite remember! discounting my first botched attempt on the wireless pcb, probably about 20 hours of actual work plus drying time for glue and the many coats of paint and varnish. the second attempt at wiring was surprisingly quick - 4 hours, tops.

if you plan on doing anything like this yourself, i can't stress how important choosing the right pcb is. the frustration of trying to get the first board working, compared to the total simplicity of the second, really proved that.

[sirean_syan]

I've been meaning to let you know how sweet that is for a while now, but I've been distracted every time the thread was updated and kept forgetting.

So...

Awesome stuff. I'm glad you went with the Sagat theme instead. After some SFVI time with my brother this weekend I decided that I much prefer the Sagat vs Ryu story over the Akuma vs Ryu.