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DIY LED Bat Top joy sticks
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Slippyblade:

--- Quote from: Mr_Numbers on February 21, 2014, 04:58:49 pm ---
images

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+1
tylerwerrin:
well, here is the new cast -- looks like its a success. Used a mini vacuum chamber built from Tupperware and stirred very slowly. No bubbles and the threaded insert is cast within the plastic itself. I bought a new resin kit, so I'll be able to make about 12 total tops. Still waiting on the RGB Led's. Sorry for the wait. I'll get more supplies if they become popular and people are happy with them. What's nice about the removable tops is you can swap them for whatever style you like, providing they are threaded with 5/16-18. Conversely I have some M6 inserts, which would be compatible with standard hollow shafts.


tylerwerrin:
hey guys,

just wondering what resistors I will need, if using with the LED Wiz (version 2). The Electric Ice buttons with their RGB Drive have small resistor pellets -- I am not sure of the Ohm rating. I have also heard I might not need to use resistors with the LED Wiz version 2. Please let me know!

armi0024:
Nice work!  Two guys did the illuminated tops, Dragon Sticks did a run of Delrin ones for us that looked pretty good before he dropped off the map :(

The 6mm threading works well but it's harder to sit an RGB LED in there which is why we have used 10mm threading.  That's usually the threading on the outside of the brass insert so it's pretty easy to unscrew it and use a 10mm top.

Keep up the nice work, and let me know, I can help out with doing this on an indexed based controller also. (This can be run of Ultimarcs new Indexable LED controller pretty easily.  It's pretty straight forward to adapt the EI buttons over to index controlled also.)


--- Quote from: tylerwerrin on February 13, 2014, 11:35:59 pm ---Hi guys,

My CP has 90's style Bat tops -- I like the style more than the ball tops, yet I love how the ball tops light up and generally just look awesome with an LED wiz. Anyways i started searching around on the net, and discovered that only one guy has ever made an illuminated bat top -- it was a prototype in which he cast a mold, dyed resin and installed joystick shafts.

His looked awesome, so I figured I'd give it a try. The one catch I have found is finding low cost joysticks which are hollow to allow for the wire to be threaded inside. Anyways, I'll get to that in a minute. Here's what I did (sorry for no pictures during the build... i'll get some if you are interested!)

1) Bought OOMOO 30 Silicone Molding compound and mixed it 1:1 in a mixing cup.

2) Using a Happ competition joystick as my mold template, I inserted the joystick with the bat top facing down in my drill press and lowered it into my Silicone. The next morning, my mold had hardened. I popped the joystick out, leaving a nice cavern for which I would cast my resin into.

3) i used 1 drop of Castn' Craft white pigment with about 5 ounces of resin. It turned a nice milky white. This would be what I would cast with.

4) I had purchased some 1/4" steel tube at a local auto parts store and cut it to the length of my bat top, plus half an inch. I then threaded one end of the hollow tube with 1/4-20 thread.

5) I then screwed on a 1/4-20 brass wood insert.

6) I put this arrangement, with the threaded end & insert DOWN into my mold, and got it directly in the middle. I then filled the mold with my resin mixture.

7) I let the thing cure for a couple days in the sun just to be sure. I popped the newly cast bat top out of the mold and then using the force of the chuck on the hollow tube i was able to unscrew the tube from the newly cast top!

I now have a handle (which looks comparable to a normal joystick shaft.. it could look better, and will, after I chrome it -- the stainless steel finish isn't the best). I will thread an RGB LED easily down the shaft of the hollow tube -- with any luck it will light up just fine!

I'll keep you guys posted...

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tylerwerrin:
thanks! The reason why i used the 5/16-18 inserts is because the hollow shafts were expensive and I couldn't easily make my own. The stainless steel pipe looks good, even without a chrome treatment and the pipe fits in the happ competition joystick base perfectly. Not only that, but the pipe is relatively cheap to source.
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