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| Ultimate IR Lightguns with recoil |
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| JayBee:
Since it's not very easy to find information online on how to build that type of lightgun, I decided to share the design I came up with, in case it might be useful to anybody else. The base guns are a Namco Guncon and a Sega Virtua Gun. Inside of each I first put an Arduino and a DFRobot IR Cam based on SAMCO's design, and then I also included a recoil solenoid along with the DIY control circuit, and Magic Trashman's awesome 3D printed clicky triggers with arcade switches (you can find him on tweeter). Later I also added a rumble motor in the Virtua Gun handle (used when reloading, shooting offscreen, or changing lightgun mode ), and a foot pedal to the Virtua Gun that I can plug/unplug at will. Here are some pics (I didn't install the rumble motor nor the foot pedal yet): I known, the UP of the IR Cam is on the side, that's because DF Robot messed up their last series of IR Cam sensor and all the sensors are tilted on the side :dunno Also, the cables aren't very clean and there is a lot of hot glue :angel: I figured out the next best thing after 3D print to keep the extra button and the solenoid in place was hotglue. It's especially efficient with the solenoid since the flexibility of hotglue prevent it to move to much or damage anything. Next time I will upload all the solenoid circuit Schematics and components ref when I finish them, since it was the hardest part to design. |
| Zebra:
I've built a bunch of arcade recoil guns and I have converted some for use with a PC and PS2. For the solenoid recoil circuit, I found it was a lot cheaper, quicker and easier to use off the shelf pcbs instead of making them. For example: For full auto solenoid recoil, you can get these ne555 signal generators off ebay for $5 delivered. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NE555-Pulse-Frequency-Duty-Cycle-Square-Rectangular-Wave-Signal-Generator-Mo-WK/153603386974?epid=1881291624&hash=item23c379ae5e:g:XU0AAOSwJshc~z9G I spent more on shipping when I tried to buy parts to make my own. The ne555 signal generators can be triggered with either a mosfet or a 555 USB trigger relay like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/5V-30V-Delay-Relay-Timer-Module-Trigger-Delay-Switch-DIY-Micro-USB-Module-stable/173463895046?hash=item286340fc06:g:VHMAAOSwhO9bbk~c:sc:USPSFirstClass!10530!US!-1 I like to use the USB relay trigger boards because they can take power from any micro USB psu (so it's a use for all those old phone chargers). This shows them in action with a solenoid: And the same parts used in a Time Crisis arcade gun (converted to PS2 Guncon 2): Note how no switch is needed to go between semi and full auto. It just recoils once when you pull the trigger and full auto if you hold it so you can play games like Time Crisis 2 and 3 without having to flick a switch every time you change guns. |
| JayBee:
--- Quote from: Zebra on October 08, 2019, 05:00:45 pm ---I've built a bunch of arcade recoil guns and I have converted some for use with a PC and PS2. For the solenoid recoil circuit, I found it was a lot cheaper, quicker and easier to use off the shelf pcbs instead of making them. For example: For full auto solenoid recoil, you can get these ne555 signal generators off ebay for $5 delivered. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NE555-Pulse-Frequency-Duty-Cycle-Square-Rectangular-Wave-Signal-Generator-Mo-WK/153603386974?epid=1881291624&hash=item23c379ae5e:g:XU0AAOSwJshc~z9G I spent more on shipping when I tried to buy parts to make my own. The ne555 signal generators can be triggered with either a mosfet or a 555 USB trigger relay like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/5V-30V-Delay-Relay-Timer-Module-Trigger-Delay-Switch-DIY-Micro-USB-Module-stable/173463895046?hash=item286340fc06:g:VHMAAOSwhO9bbk~c:sc:USPSFirstClass!10530!US!-1 I like to use the USB relay trigger boards because they can take power from any micro USB psu (so it's a use for all those old phone chargers). This shows them in action with a solenoid: And the same parts used in a Time Crisis arcade gun (converted to PS2 Guncon 2): Note how no switch is needed to go between semi and full auto. It just recoils once when you pull the trigger and full auto if you hold it so you can play games like Time Crisis 2 and 3 without having to flick a switch every time you change guns. --- End quote --- That's really nice stuff, great job! ;D Yes I saw that you can use those ne555 boards, but there are few reasons why I preferred making my own board; it takes far less space (the space in the console guns like mine is very limited), it's cheaper, kind of simpler (it's just a MOSFET with one diode and 2 resistors), and because timings and activation are directly controlled by the arduino, I can fully control its behavior. For instance with my code if you are aiming off screen, the solenoid won't be triggered, but the gun will vibrate instead (I also have rumble motors now in the guns). And of course, mine also have the full auto mode getting activated when holding the trigger ;) Next I will try to make the arduino communicate with the emulators to have a real ingame feedback. But indeed, if I had real arcade guns with true recoil, I might have considered ne555 boards instead, they would make more sense. The main goal of those guns is being fully functional and as close as arcade feeling while staying very affordable. In total, each of those guns with all the hardware inside cost me around 60$, it's only a fraction of what would cost me if I wanted to get real arcade guns :lol Edit: Here you can see it in action: |
| Zebra:
If you just want to use an Aimtrak gun with mame, you should look at one of the Aimforce dongles sold by arcadeguns.com I have one. Their software let's you set up recoil in emulators on a game by game basis. You can set the type of recoil (semi or auto) and you can even set the recoil speed. If the original pcb of one game had faster recoil than another, you can set it up to match. The only reason I don't use mine is that they only work with aimtraks and the Aimtrak recoil solenoids are not suitable for full auto. It destroyed my aimtrak gun in around three minutes, so make sure to find a suitable arcade solenoid. Their recoil control software is the best I have seen in terms of functionality and ease of use. |
| JayBee:
--- Quote from: Zebra on October 09, 2019, 12:29:55 pm ---If you just want to use an Aimtrak gun with mame, you should look at one of the Aimforce dongles sold by arcadeguns.com I have one. Their software let's you set up recoil in emulators on a game by game basis. You can set the type of recoil (semi or auto) and you can even set the recoil speed. If the original pcb of one game had faster recoil than another, you can set it up to match. The only reason I don't use mine is that they only work with aimtraks and the Aimtrak recoil solenoids are not suitable for full auto. It destroyed my aimtrak gun in around three minutes, so make sure to find a suitable arcade solenoid. Their recoil control software is the best I have seen in terms of functionality and ease of use. --- End quote --- I used my solenoid in full auto mode for hours (playing games like terminator), and they were barely hot. But there are actually few things that make solenoid overheat: many cheap new solenoids don't have enough lubricants, and have weak spring, making them stuck in very often, which is turn makes them burn out. Adding some ceramic lubricant and a slightly stronger (not too strong) spring usually solves those issues. The second issue is with the solenoids that don't have something to stop the coil from going too far out, making it struggle to get it back in, and so overheat. Last issue is with the timing, the solenoid should never stay active more than necessary, and have sufficient cool down time. if using it faster than it can handle, it will burn out very fast. I made sure while writing my arduino code to protect the solenoid from using wrong timings. The Aimtrak software seems really cool, but for me having a different setting for each game seems a bit useless in most cases, since the solenoid behavior variation won't be that huge. There is something else I am trying to do that I hope Howard_Casto can help me with: make the games directly send the solenoid instructions to the gun. Like this no need for custom settings, and the gun will behave exactly like in the arcade. Emulators like Mame seems to be able to read those instructions from games, the challenge is converting them to serial commands for the arduino. |
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