Author Topic: DIY arcade joystick w/arcade parts for $60 (Read 5094 times)

CthulhuLuke · « **on:** September 30, 2003, 07:17:29 pm »

Hey all,
I put this little article together over at shoryuken.com, although Snaaake wants to murder me if I put it up on the hardware sectiong

Alright, now first thing your gonna say is "That's way too expensive" but not if you do this right, you can build your own arcade stick for less than 65 dollars easy, with MINIMAL, I mean MINIMAL knowledge and experience, this is pretty much connect the plugs and screws, no cutting/wiring/etc. required.
Here's the box and pcb you buy:

http://www.redoctane.com/arcadecasepcb.html

And get the arcade parts from:
http://www.therealbobroberts.com

Happ Super Joysticks Black -$9.50
8 x Happ Microswitch Pushbuttons R/G/B/W/Y/P/O/BLK - $1.45
total is $9.50 + $11.60, +$6 for shipping, $27.10

so you gotta total of $25 for the RedOctane case, and $27.10 for the arcade parts, plus to save yourself from shipping get one of these two items:
http://www.redoctane.com/conexcabforp.html
http://www.redoctane.com/dualusb.html
cause an order of over 25 will get you free shipping, whats your total?

$57.10 for an arcade stick working to playstation, with REAL arcade parts, a NEW Super Joystick, a playstation extension cord, and all that good stuff. The only sorta hard part about this whole thing is you gotta email Bob Roberts to make your order, and send a check in the mail. All you do is figure out what button colors you want, all white is the standard, and then screw it together.
Another big note: Apparently the super joystick will bottom out with this case, so either you can pick yourself up the competition or ultimate joystick from bob roberts, or you can find a router to route out 1/4-1/2" of the wood where the joystick will be. It's a real simple operation since you dont need to be neat on the underside of the joystick, just try not to hurt yourself. I would imagine a dremel would work just as well, although you might be replacing whatever bit you use because MDF takes it out of a dremel if used too much.
-good luck

*A note: those usb convertors have been out of stock for a while, so I think the only thing you can get really is the extension cord to save on shipping, which is fine so you can have your arcade stick nice and far away.*

Ahi_Tuna · « **Reply #1 on:** September 30, 2003, 07:23:41 pm »

Supers will bottom out on a Redoctane case. You're better off with a competition or ultimate. Competitions sit a little lower than I like though (about 1/4" too low)

You can see some examples of that can be done w/ a Redoctane case at my site. I build them as cheaper sticks compared to my big special sticks.

www.modeverything.com

CthulhuLuke · « **Reply #2 on:** September 30, 2003, 07:25:36 pm »

Ooo lame, well then I guess if anyone wants to follow this guide their gonna need a router to route out the wood to accomdate for the supers bottoming out. I didnt realize till after I posted that they were 3/4" mdf wood. I'll modify the original post.
-Chu

Ahi_Tuna · « **Reply #3 on:** September 30, 2003, 07:42:37 pm »

The bottom plate is too thin to take enough out of and the box is already built so you can't get a router/dremmel down in there. The only other option is to cut a hole from the top and use a mounting plate like they do in the arcades. You can then use the "shorter" spacers in you competition.

I'll get flamed for this but Ultimates fit in there perfectly. I top mount my Japanese sticks (Sanwa/Seimitsu) in these boxes.

Someone will also need to know how to crimp/cut wires. The button wires do not use .187 crimps. They are smaller for the japanese style smaller switches in those stock buttons. You'll need to cut and solder/or crimp new .187 crimps into all of the buttons. Also their common ground is soldered down for all of the buttons andjoysticks. You'll need to figure out how you want to handle it.

For RedOctane PSX boards, here is a diagram I made for the PCB. From here you can also add your two left buttons.
http://www.geocities.com/armad1ll0/images/RedOctanePCB.jpg

It's not as simple as Luke says but it still is pretty easy. I can get a stick redone in less than an hour. Stripping all of the graphics, I can get it done in ~1.5 hours.

A trick for handling common ground for all of these sticks. Instead of crimping everything. I just run a unshielded sold tinted wire across all of the cherry switches.

http://www.geocities.com/armad1ll0/images/Stealth_wire.jpg

Maybe I should write a guide, but much of this info is on my site if someone goes through everything and my examples pages.

CthulhuLuke · « **Reply #4 on:** September 30, 2003, 11:26:51 pm »

A handheld dremel could fit down there pretty easily I would think, I could see how a router couldnt. Well ultimates aren't HORRIBLE sticks or anything, they're just not nearly as good as competitions or supers.
Unshielded wire definitely works great, thats how Mas does their wiring, I'd just be too worried bout having the grounds touch the NO's accidently, but its definitely easier than crimping 15+ quick disconnects worth of grounds.
-Chu

armad1ll0 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 01, 2003, 12:38:44 am »

Yeah, the dremel will fit down in there but it would be such a hack job. I wouldn't recomend it. It's certainly going to get out of hand and isn't much for the begginer carpenter etc... that's what this guide is for right.

You know what? I work at Capcom and we have Betson/Imperials which are the same as Happ Ultimates in our breakroom machines. They work fine and I know that after playing every single day with my high level skilled coworkers that Ultimates are fine compared to Competitions and I hate Supers... they feel so clunky... you can also never be "sure" about the down blocks... So for Capcom fighters... Ultimates are fine. I don't care what anyone else says... the guys on Shoryuken etc... can argue to hell and back.

Also a properly mounted PCB board and the inside all tied up correctly in the controller box, nothing is going to get out of control and hit that ground wire. I've done this for many a controller and there is no problem with the unshielded ground wire.

CthulhuLuke · « **Reply #6 on:** October 01, 2003, 12:51:29 am »

Yah I will admit Ultimates work fine, I have one on my bro's Mas stick with a light spring, and the problem with Super Joysticks is you really gotta break em in to get them to feel right. Also, on my super joysticks I actually bent the actuators towards the center so that the joysticks were more sensitive, worked great.
What do you do at capcom? I'd freakin love to go play some capcom games with those workers, some hella good competition there.
-Chu

armad1ll0 · « **Reply #7 on:** October 01, 2003, 02:03:38 am »

Officially, I'm a production assistant. I do alot of different things including game design. I used to be a game producer for EA/Activision but then a lull hit hard in the bay. What's key is that I've made friends with the arcade dudes and they teach me stuff and I show them cool stuff.

We mostly play SF3 3rd Strike which is by far one of my favorites now! If they had only ported a better version to the home and on more next gen systems.

CthulhuLuke · « **Reply #8 on:** October 01, 2003, 01:21:27 pm »

Damn, game design at capcom, that's pretty awesome, although arent most fighters from Capcom designed in japan, or do the Capcom US dudes get to put their input into a future game?

SF3 3rd Strike for the dreamcast was pretty good in my opinion, there was a tiny bit of load time, but most of the frames were there I thought. That game would be a lot more fun to play here if they didnt know how to parry EVERYTHING, holy crap, I played some of the tournament guys a few monthes back, I threw out everything and they parried it all! Those freakin ---daisies---, although my Remy and my Alex are pretty brutal. They cant parry a 360 throw from Alex.

-damn I miss my dreamcast, RIP dreamcast
-Chu

armad1ll0 · « **Reply #9 on:** October 02, 2003, 05:39:03 am »

Dreamcast 3rd strike isn't a very "perfect" port of the arcade version.
I'm so in love of the arcade version that one of the machines that I want to build next year after I'm married is a Capcom 29" impress Japanese machine that will have a switch box inside to go from JAMMA imput to ArcadeVGA input for a MAME Machine. I think that it can be done with some work.

Parry is a pretty intense gameplay device added for the SF series. I would have liked the 15th aniversary version to have been based on 3rd strike but with every classic character added. That would have made a better "all stars" version instead of the 3D version that got scraped last year for this Hyper SF2 15Th A version.

We are considered the 8th studio of Capcom. The only one outside of Japan. Different studios do give some peer review but eash studio does it's own thing once a project is approved.

Yeah, Capcom did love the Dreamcast didn't they. Too bad too much money was lost in developing for that machine.

CthulhuLuke · « **Reply #10 on:** October 06, 2003, 03:37:05 am »

*Bump* Wow this thread tired fast -___- oh well

Ahi_Tuna · « **Reply #11 on:** October 06, 2003, 03:08:31 pm »

For $5 you can also get enough acrylic to cut two new top covers to replace the Redoctane ones with the funky graphics.

slicer_d · « **Reply #12 on:** October 13, 2003, 10:44:16 pm »

Quote from: Ahi_Tuna on September 30, 2003, 07:23:41 pm

Supers will bottom out on a Redoctane case. You're better off with a competition or ultimate. Competitions sit a little lower than I like though (about 1/4" too low)

I'll get flamed for this but Ultimates fit in there perfectly.

Correct me if I'm wrong here but dont comps and ultimates stick out at the same height from the base 3.66in?

OSCAR · « **Reply #13 on:** October 14, 2003, 12:34:31 am »

Quote from: slicer_d on October 13, 2003, 10:44:16 pm

Correct me if I'm wrong here but dont comps and ultimates stick out at the same height from the base 3.66in?

Not quite. The dimensional info that Happ has on the Comp is not accurate. I measured the Comp @ 3.4", which is about a 1/4" shorter than the Ultimate.

slicer_d · « **Reply #14 on:** October 14, 2003, 02:03:05 am »

Cool thanks for the info I was just looking through your website good stuff. I'm either going to try routing out some of the redoctane box or dremel it so I can get the comp up a little higher.

Keep up the good work
Slicer_D

slicer_d · « **Reply #15 on:** October 16, 2003, 01:50:50 am »

One more question does anybody know what the redoctane cases are made out of. I have one now but I have no clue what it is actually made out of.

I read OSCAR's post about chisseling out ~1/4" on MDF but I have no idea if mine is particle board or MDF a guess a easy way to figure out would be to start chisseling but I just figured I would ask and I dont really have the time to get going on in untill saturday anyway.

Thanks
SlicerD

armad1ll0 · « **Reply #16 on:** October 16, 2003, 06:33:03 pm »

It's MDF...

J~

slicer_d · « **Reply #17 on:** October 17, 2003, 02:49:40 am »

Cool thanks looks life I'm buying a chisel this weekend!

slicer_d · « **Reply #18 on:** October 19, 2003, 06:40:37 pm »

Well I've been working on my redoctane stuff over the weekend. I got some chisels for 10 bucks at the Home Depot.

They worked pretty darn well if I say so myself. Being that you can only get in at a low angle from one direction kind of sucked. But I eventually took out 3/8" with will leave me with 1/2" thinkness with the mdf and lexan.

I would say I worked on it for about and 2.5 hours. It would have only taken an hour but I decided to go for the extra 1/8" and that took another hour. Then I tried to get it as level as I could and it seems to look pretty good. I can feal a couple low spots but 95% seems to be perfectally level.

All in all it is a good way to go if you dont have a router. And almost the only way to go if you have a redoctane case.

I'm going to post a little review/how to for the redoctane stuff later with pics so anybody that is interested and wants it right now can PM me other wise it will be up in a week or two.

Slicer_D

P.S. Here are links to oscars original stuff.
Post
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=2496;start=0
Pic
http://www.oscarcontrols.com/tmp/router-chisel.jpg

IvAnC · « **Reply #19 on:** September 12, 2004, 12:18:05 am »

http://www.redoctane.com/arcadecasepcb.html
link is not working or they dont sell the box anymore??

Raleigh · « **Reply #20 on:** September 12, 2004, 12:29:14 am »

http://www.redoctane.com/redoctanearcadestick.html

IvAnC · « **Reply #21 on:** September 12, 2004, 12:39:23 am »

Quote from: Raleigh on September 12, 2004, 12:29:14 am

http://www.redoctane.com/redoctanearcadestick.html

the whole thing? I just want the empty box so i can put the arcade parts together.

Gunstar Hero · « **Reply #22 on:** September 12, 2004, 10:59:10 pm »

Holy crap the price shot up on those. I remember they were llike $30 - $40 some time back.

If you're looking for a stick to gut and modify, some GameStop stores sell the Pelican Real Arcade sticks pretty cheap. I've grabbed a few over the last year or so and they're pretty okay, but nothing compared to real arcade controls, so they're fun to hack into better sticks.

IvAnC · « **Reply #23 on:** September 12, 2004, 11:22:23 pm »

Finally some sign of life here, thanks for the reply.
Those Pelican arcade stick? you dont know how much i hate them. Well, i guess i will make the box for my stick. I really dont want to do this!!
Anyone have extra box for sale for cheap??

SteveJ34 · « **Reply #24 on:** September 12, 2004, 11:38:54 pm »

Quote from: IvAnC on September 12, 2004, 12:39:23 am

Quote from: Raleigh on September 12, 2004, 12:29:14 am
http://www.redoctane.com/redoctanearcadestick.html

the whole thing? I just want the empty box so i can put the arcade parts together.

Not sure about the button layout, might want to add a few more on top layout and a couple on the side for pinball but worth a look:

http://www.redoctane.com/joystick-soulps2.html

When they had the closeout on the xbox arcade sticks for $22 a couple months ago I picked up several and replaced with Happ joys and buttons for desktop sticks for my nieces, nephews, and GF kids.

IvAnC · « **Reply #25 on:** September 13, 2004, 03:43:53 am »

Quote from: SteveJ34 on September 12, 2004, 11:38:54 pm

Quote from: IvAnC on September 12, 2004, 12:39:23 am
Quote from: Raleigh on September 12, 2004, 12:29:14 am
http://www.redoctane.com/redoctanearcadestick.html

the whole thing? I just want the empty box so i can put the arcade parts together.

Not sure about the button layout, might want to add a few more on top layout and a couple on the side for pinball but worth a look:

http://www.redoctane.com/joystick-soulps2.html

When they had the closeout on the xbox arcade sticks for $22 a couple months ago I picked up several and replaced with Happ joys and buttons for desktop sticks for my nieces, nephews, and GF kids.

Yes, that is exactly what i am looking for.
One question. There are 6 buttons on the joystick. If i want to add one more button, what do i do? Get a new PCB that support 7 or more button?
thanks

SteveJ34 · « **Reply #26 on:** September 13, 2004, 09:35:15 am »

Quote from: IvAnC elink=board=1;threadid=11991;start=0#msg201163 date=1095061433

Yes, that is exactly what i am looking for.
One question. There are 6 buttons on the joystick. If i want to add one more button, what do i do? Get a new PCB that support 7 or more button?
thanks
Quote

I'm uncertain as to what the PCB is in this "Soul Calibur" PS2 stick. It may contain connections that you can solder to in order to add additional buttons. It may have wires that are already soldered just not hooked to buttons depending on their manufacturing process.

It may be designed to only accomodate the buttons that are present so would require you to create your own PCB hack from another controller in order to add buttons.

The ad special states they may or may not work and are sold as is but I think that may be more driven by their not wanting any returns for this clearance item.

It's an okay starting point box for $15 + ship particularly if you were to grab three and get free ship for > $40 orders.

I built several desktop units from the older xbox arcade sticks they were selling. The buttons and joys were usable but lacked the "Happ" feel most are accustomed to. Connections were all soldered, snipped all those and crimped on quick disconnects. Add buttons and joys from Happs (or Bob Roberts) and an XBOX<-->USB converter and you've got a desktop stick.

Makes for a nice "shortcut" to get a box to start from which is what I needed at the time in order to get 4 done in a short period of time.

CthulhuLuke · « **Reply #27 on:** September 13, 2004, 10:45:14 am »

I'm impressed A: how far back you guys bumped this thread!! B: how cheap those boxes are! Yeah if you have absolutely no building skills and want to go the red octane route that works. For those boxes to get a good capcom layout you'll need a hole saw though, but that part is much easier than constructing the box itself. I think I'm going to have to pick up a few of these just cause they're so damn cheap! If you do buy one of these expect to wire your own psx pad as chances are these pcbs are busted, missing, or you wouldn't want to fire them up. I'm also going to guess with such a cheap price the plexi on top is missing, so don't expect that to come with this package neither.

Gunstar Hero · « **Reply #28 on:** September 13, 2004, 01:41:39 pm »

Quote

Those Pelican arcade stick? you dont know how much i hate them. Well, i guess i will make the box for my stick. I really dont want to do this!!

Ya know, hate is a strong word. =(

I like the Real Arcade okay, but it's the cool looking yet super sticky buttons that make me wanna die. Still, those same buttons are the reason that I've gotten several of them cheap over the months since their release, and with a little "swappy swappy" for some better parts they made quite the stick. I mean, the encoder works fine and the box is decent (and plain, I like plain) so whats so bad about 'em? I probably have a couple funny pix of one of them sitting on a temp shelf for early cabinet "playtesting." =)

Of course, now that I have "real arcade" controls (P360's and 2 SF 6 button layouts in my cab w/an IPAC) I don't really even touch them anymore... my mind is starting to see them more and more as "console encoders" for the cab. Heh heh.


Main	Restorations	Software	Audio/Jukebox/MP3	Everything Else	Buy/Sell/Trade
Project Announcements	Monitor/Video	GroovyMAME	Merit/JVL Touchscreen	Meet Up	Retail Vendors
Driving & Racing	Woodworking	Software Support Forums	Consoles	Project Arcade	Reviews
Automated Projects	Artwork	Frontend Support Forums	Pinball	Forum Discussion	Old Boards
Raspberry Pi & Dev Board	controls.dat	Linux	Miscellaneous Arcade	Wiki Discussion	Old Archives
Lightguns	Arcade1Up	Try the site in https mode		Site News


Unread posts \| New Replies \| Recent posts \| Rules \| Chatroom \| Wiki \| File Repository \| RSS \| Submit news