Update to "My two player bartop finally complete"

[agent_c]

Having managed to get back into this account after a while, I wanted to post my update to the bartop i made a few years back. Lockdown gave me the opportunity to update quite a bit and although the cabinet is basically the same internally it's now modern using an Asrock B560M-ITX/AC, 10400f cpu with 8gig of ram and a gtx 1650, 2x 4 tb 3.5's and a 1tb m.2. I also changed the monitor to the excellent Dell 2007fpb, I used this as the native 1600 x 1200 is perfect for the way I wanted it to be, no widescreen systems here I'm afraid . (Ps2 and gamecube are the latest systems I put on it.)

 I also switched to Mag Stik Plus bat tops and converted them to be rotary sticks via an old mouse and some 3d printed rotary encoders, They're not brilliant but the work well enough for the two games i wanted them to work for (ikari warriors and midnight resistance). I'm also playing with Arduino's at the minute so might go down that route to add some better rotary control but i'm happy with the way it is.... for now.

Just about to make a Gun4ir gun using the info on Jaybee's page http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,161189.msg1697808.html#msg1697808 and will probably be asking questions along the way.

 I switched to Windows 10 as it's easy enough to hide all traces so it boots straight into hyperspin (yes I know some of you don't like hyperspin) tbh I know how it works and find it easy to modify things that need doing.

Anyway it's nice to be back on after so long and look forward to being told i'm doing it wrong in the gun4ir thread.
Thanks to Saint for sorting out the account for me but who knew a microsoft email would hinder my attempts to regain my old account!

[rackoon]

welcome back

got a question for you. if your system was sitting on a desk would the screen view be blocked by the marquee

I found this out the hard way. had to build a pedestal just so someone over six foot could see. I noticed your screen is real tight up against the speaker board like mine was 

[agent_c]

HI, the marquee doesn't affect the line of site for the screen, it's hard to see from the pics but the angle of the base (where the speakers are) is pointing slightly up as I wanted the throw the sound forward not down.

[EvilNuff]

Have any more detail (and pics) of your 3d printed rotary encoder solution? 

[agent_c]

Here's a shot from Cura of the print, i had a usb "ball" mouse sat around and thought why not use the rotary sensors as rotary encoders on each mag stick,(y on one and x on other) so I designed an ir and sensor holder and a rotary wheel (45mm diameter) so i could play ikari warriors and midnight resistance. the ir holder uses a 5mm ir led and the original 3pin sensor which is double sided taped to the groove on the base, the holes fit perfectly with the existing screws that hold the micro switches in the mag stick,tbh they're functional but lack the click of a true rotary joystick, still they make the games playable a bit more than before, not tried other games as those two are my faves, I can post the stl files if anyone wants them. I'll try to post a pic of them in situ shortly.

[agent_c]

A pic of the printed parts mounted on the mag stik, the arrows show the two sensors, (the ir led is one of the ones i had spare from the gun4ir build as they're powerful and there's now no issue as the distance of the receiver is 13mm away to allow the mag stik to still be able to switch between 4/8way.) the other arrows show i set the holes on the ir mount to use the existing screws/holes on the mag stik micro switches and to show i have the rectangular hole on the rotary wheel the perfect size to fit around the 4/8way lever actuator plate so it's a tight fit and stays nicely on even when switching the mag stik, only other thing i did was add a small amount of grease to the shaft of the mag stik so it is easier to spin.

[bobbyb13]

That is VERY cool.

Nice work.

That adds a stack of games to the playability list, doesn't it?

[PL1]

That adds a stack of games to the playability list, doesn't it?

It's over two dozen games between the mechanical rotary and optical rotary joystick games.
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Joysticks#Mechanical_Rotary_Joystick_Games_.28LS-30.2C_Happ_Mechanical_Rotary_Sticks.29


Scott

[agent_c]

Thanks for the list, I might try setting some of the others up to see how they work, It's by far not perfect but it's definitely workable, your never gonna do speed runs using the mechanical encoder but who cares when you wanna just have a 20 min blast of nostalgia. I tried it with spinner games like Arkanoid/Tempest and although it works the problem is for games like that you have to set the sensitivity high in mame plus the non clicky bit as you rotate means you tend to over rotate a lot, sadly then you have to go back into settings and reset sensitivity back for Ikari etc so I tend to just leave it as is unless my son wants to play Arkanoid, which is one of his faves.
 Let me know if anyone wants the STL file so they can print their own to give it a blast, I've been thinking of modifying the design to include some resistance and clicks as you rotate as I think that would improve the overall feel of it, I print in PLA+ so it's relatively hard wearing so should last a while at least, simple serated edge on the wheel and solid support bar in the correct place on the ir holder would probably work, like the design below....might try that in next few days! Round rather than pointed contact points probably better as less resistance but hopefully you get the idea.

[agent_c]

Realised why i never tried before, motion of the stick means the travel doesn't allow any way to add a click feel... still working on that in my head

[PL1]

Realised why i never tried before, motion of the stick means the travel doesn't allow any way to add a click feel... still working on that in my head

Use a loop-arm and post setup like the mechanical rotary joysticks used.
- Mount the encoder wheel and detent "gear" described below on the magnet/joystick shaft so they can rotate like the actuator and rotary switch shaft on the Happ stick.
- Mount the optical sensors and the roller arm microswitch described below on the loop-arm like the body and wires of the rotary switch on the Happ stick.  They can't rotate because the post is through the hole in the loop arm.

I've been thinking of modifying the design to include some resistance and clicks as you rotate as I think that would improve the overall feel of it, I print in PLA+ so it's relatively hard wearing so should last a while at least, simple serated edge on the wheel and solid support bar in the correct place on the ir holder would probably work, like the design below....might try that in next few days! Round rather than pointed contact points probably better as less resistance but hopefully you get the idea.

I've been working on a controller design that uses 8 detents per rotation and a roller arm microswitch.
- The microswitch isn't wired to anything.  It just makes it so each detent is exactly 45 degrees from the last one.
- Mount the microswitch so when the roller is in the small diameter cutout, it just barely touches the deepest part of the detent "gear" and the lever arm (green line) is perpendicular to the point of contact. (purple dot)  For switches like the one in the picture the switch body is rotated 7 degrees.


Scott

[agent_c]

thinking mode on.......

[PL1]

thinking mode on.......

The short lever arm microswitch is this one.

LMK if you want the variable values and/or the parametric OpenSCAD code used to make the switch holder and detent "gear".


Scott

[bobbyb13]

This joystick work is absolutely awesome.

I will never live long enough to build all the machines I want!
 

[Mike A]

This joystick work is absolutely awesome.

I will never live long enough to build all the machines I want!
 

Not at your current pace.

[bobbyb13]

All true.
It is painful.

I have a week of no (regular) work here so maybe I can get at least one thing done.

[agent_c]

Not been thinking too heavily about the "clicky" feel for the Mag stik mod as yet because finally got round to doing the gun4ir mod to the cab, must say it's so much fun now it's done, easy and painless other than removing the screen surround then drilling holes in it.
So glad I did it tho, doesn't look too bad. I have a tinted sheet of perspex in front of the screen which softens the ir leds a bit, I've still not replaced it for a bigger sheet but will do soon. (there's a 1cm gap at top if you look carefully.
So glad I did it now.