Desktop Controller Help - Buy or Make?

[TNVols]

Looking for some help from the MAME Community...

I am trying to figure out how much of a project to take on.  I know that I don't have a ton of time to devote to getting a desktop controller up and running so I am interested in recommendations on what pre-built controller options are out there.  If there are no good options can you steer me towards a fairly basic panel design that I could duplicate.  Something with a track, spinner and two or three joysticks.

Thanks for taking the time to read the post and give your feedback.

[Donkbaca]

If you have a drill and circular saw, make one. A simple cp is 6 pieces of wood butt jointed together. Do you have a router?

[TNVols]

sure do...  have one that is mounted to a bench.  How hard would the wiring be?

[Donkbaca]

The wiring is super easy.  Takes time, but is not at all hard.  Typically you get an encoder of some sort, key-wiz, ipac, etc. you wire one end to each switch, the other end to one of the screw in terminals, then you daisy chain the grounds.

[TNVols]

thanks for the reply...  I am assuming Happ controls as the best source for controls?  Also is the IPAC the encoder of choice? 

Thanks again for your time.

[Donkbaca]

Nope, happs is not the best place to go.  Look on the buy sell trade section for vendors.  I like Paradise arcade, they sell IL comps and Supers which are the same thing as the Happs sticks cor competitive prices, but their shipping is super fast and only 5 bucks.  I would get buttons and sticks from there.  If you want it lit up, you need a LED controller, I would go LED Wiz from groovy Game gear for that. Probably get my spinner from there too.

Trackballs from either ggg or ultimarc.  I would probably go for a usb trackball, that way you don't have to worry about getting a separate optical board to hook the trackball up to.

I would go ipac for controls interface.

t-molding.com for t-moilding.

just check out the vendor threads on the buy/sell/trade forum





What are

[mwong168]

For joysticks and buttons I would get them from Chad at lizardlick.com

http://www.lizardlick.com/IL_c_149.html <-- get the iL instead of the HAPP for $1.00 more
http://www.lizardlick.com/Classic-Buttons_c_171.html

For keyboard encoder I would recommend buying an I-PAC from Andy at ultimarc.com.
http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html

Also since you have a router available, make a template and route off a bit under to mount the joysticks so it sits properly instead of looking like a stubby from the top.

[llars]

Sounds like you are starting a project very similar to mine. For the encoder my advice would be to go for the Mini Pac. It has all the inputs for buttons, trackball, and spinner on one board so you will only have one USB coming out. If you buy an ipac you will have one usb for that, one usb for the trackball, and one usb for the spinner. Plus the mini pac comes with wiring harnesses so no soldering wires.

http://www.ultimarc.com/minipac.html

As far as pre-built options go there isn't a whole lot out there for single player. X-Arcade makes one but it's just one stick and 8 buttons. SlikStick had a decent one with two sticks and a spinner but good luck finding one. If you want to build your own, here's the latest revision of my panel to give you some ideas.