Got some time this weekend to work on the flight stick. The goal as stated above was to recreate as close as possible an original Tron/Discs of Tron/Gorf/Xenophobe (I am sure there are others) stick. As the original sticks used leafs switches I knew I wanted to do away with the microswitches, but I also thought it would be cool to use the stick for more than 4 games. The idea of using it for flight games (After burner, Star Wars, Hydra, Space Harrier, etc.) was very appealing as well as being able to play both Tron games without sacraficing it to one with a restrictor (4 way vs. 8way).
The U360 is perfect for this so just need to put them together:
Step 1: remove stick from chassis
You need to remove with a wrench the nut at the bottom or the stick after removing the e-ring and actuator (not pictured)
Step 2: loosen screws at the bottom and then use a wrench to unscrew the hex posts
Step 3: remove grommet and plate
Step 4: put the grommet plate over the U360 mounting plate
Step 5: take careful measurements (I remember 11.5/32" on each long side and 1/16 on each side short side) and tape down carefully
Step 6: remove U360 mounting plate (4 screws) and drill.
Step 7: reattach U360 base to mounting plate but remove the joystick shaft and drill holes using new ones as guides:
This was probably one of the most awkward parts, it needs a straight drill otherwise you can misalign the two. I managed to clamp the U360 mounting plate below my drill press, but you could probably use a hand drill with a bubble level with a steady hand.
Step 8: Assemble
and done:
Full credit for this goes to whynotpizza and genesis who pioneered this technique:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=86734.0Still need to modify the top restrictor as they have mentioned it can limit the throw in some angles. I plan on cutting a piece of acrylic in a square slightly larger than the existing restrictor. Ill post when I can get it done.
Also as some have inquired about the other mods to the stick:
The original Tron sticks used a blacklight tube near the controller to make the plastic glow. I thought it would be cool to get a UV LED strip and place it inside. This works but the only problem is it runs on 12V. In the last post I mentioned how I will be using the Bi-polar transistor to control the on/off of the lights using the i-Pac Ultimate I/O.
To get the LED strip in I wanted to make sure it was evenly lit, so I went to Tapp plastics and got them to cut 1 3/4" (outside diameter) tubing and a small circular disc using mirrored Plexiglass to fit inside (when drilling the hole be aware that it's not center).
I then cut the appropriate length of LED strip and used the sticky backing to get the bottom LED's working.
The top LED's used the other side of the LED strip and followed the seam of where the two plastic pieces come together.
I had a very hard time figuring out the thumb button. I was able to track down the button which is a Licon 01-700157, (you can also use a Cherry P163) which you can buy online, although they are becoming rare, however finding the circular disc housing was impossible. I finally broke down and bought a used Xenophobe stick which has two thankfully.
The only problem you are left with is the LED in the switch runs on 2V. To solve this problem I used two resistors as a voltage divider circuit:
resource:
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/tools/voltage-divider-calculator/https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/direct-current/chpt-6/voltage-divider-circuits/This brings the voltage down to the 2V from a 5V source by using 2 resistors, the first resistor is 43ohms, and the second is 23ohms. This gives you 1.92V with a maximum allowed amperage of 116mA, which according to the Cherry markings is sufficient.
Still might add a leaf switch in place of the microswitch and of course will have a black plate around the thumb button with graphics.
For those interested here's some pics of the original Xenophobe stick relative to the new one:
And the final results: