Fan-made positional guns; are we there yet?

[Timstuff]

I was thinking, would it be possible to make a fan-made positional gun like the ones used in Terminator 2? Those things are likely to one day end up like the Star-Wars yoke; no-one makes them, but everyone wants them. I was thinking though; suppose you bought say, a toy Uzi made of plastic. You could modify it a little using some clay and then make a fiberglass mold. From that mold you could make the actual gun out of fiberlgass and sand it till it's smooth as glass (minus the fiber). You could also have a hole on the side for the "missile" button on the side, which shouldn't be too hard to find. The trickies part would be how to go about jointing it and all that, because you'd probably have to machine the parts. Also, figuring out where and how to mount the pots could be tricky. If you have a positional gun I'm sure it would be easy to take one apart and see how it works. Also, it would need a good black finish.

I think this could be a really neat project for someone who has good fiberglass molding skills and knows where to go to have the metal parts machined, and hopefully it would turn out well enough to be a saleable product if they could be produced quickly and efficiently enough.

[Tahnok]

It couldn't be that hard. You would just need to find out the correct value for the pots (maybe someone with the real ones could help out here). You would then just interface that the same way people always do (which I have no idea how). You could probably make the monut the same way as the star wars yokes, PVC.

[JODY]

Positional guns are cheap all the time on Ebay.  I bought one a month or two ago for $5 plus shipping.  If the pots are bad, I'll replace them.  The gun is nice though with all good springs and gears.

It isn't a T2 so that is why it went cheap.  See one on Ebay with the game name it came from....go to klov.com and see if it was positional.

[Timstuff]

I don't know if it's because I'm not typing in the right search terms or because no-one is selling them right now, but I seem to have alot of trouble finding matching sets of guns that are at a good price. I'd really like to get my hands on some though.

[NoOne=NBA=]

A Microsoft Sidewinder joystick (the kind with a twist axis on the handle) would give you a pretty good start.
You could set the twist for X-axis, and use the Y-axis as-is.
If you restricted the stick, to keep it from rocking sideways, all you'd need is the gun top.

[armax]

t2 guns are going pretty cheap and plentiful.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13718&item=6177497677&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

I don't sense the same thing limited supply as a yoke.

[JODY]

I don't know if it's because I'm not typing in the right search terms or because no-one is selling them right now, but I seem to have alot of trouble finding matching sets of guns that are at a good price. I'd really like to get my hands on some though.

I didn't notice any a few minutes ago...but besides the one I mentioned above I bought two others a few weeks ago that were in excellent condition.

[JODY]

t2 guns are going pretty cheap and plentiful.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13718&item=6177497677&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

I don't sense the same thing limited supply as a yoke.

That isn't the final price.

[armax]

the last went for around $50 correct?  And everyone knew about it here.  Heck, I can't give away my positional guns...

[Kremmit]

It couldn't be that hard. You would just need to find out the correct value for the pots (maybe someone with the real ones could help out here). You would then just interface that the same way people always do (which I have no idea how). You could probably make the monut the same way as the star wars yokes, PVC.

What value pots you use won't make any difference, as long as you get 'em interfaced with the PC.  If you hack a PC joystick, you can just use whatever pots are already inside it.

Those "Police" guns are likely from a Steel Gunner or Steel Gunner2.  I picked up a set of those for $18 & change.  They're heavy, though- the shipping was more than the guns!

If you're really looking for a set, just start searching the Arcade category for "gun".  You'll have to weed out the lightguns, games with gun in the title, ect.- but you'll find all the auctions you've been missing, too.

[JODY]

the last went for around $50 correct?

[Timstuff]

If you're really looking for a set, just start searching the Arcade category for "gun".  You'll have to weed out the lightguns, games with gun in the title, ect.- but you'll find all the auctions you've been missing, too.

That's what I've been doing. I'm sure that when the time is right I'll be able to find a pair though.

[Lilwolf]

btw, NOS guns SHOULD go for that much.

[POS]

I'm curious. how do you interface a gun that has pots? if you are going MAME?  isn't it analog not digital, I'm confused.  I'm sitting on 4 guns that came out of a Gun Buster machine( similar to Doom).  I want to unload these and will be posting on Ebay.  I'm currently working on my 2nd MAME cab. 

[Kremmit]

You can hack the pots on your guns to the guts of a PC analog gamepad or PC analog joystick.  But the donor gamepad/joystick must use the same value pots as the ones on your guns-  If the guns use 5k pots (most arcade parts do), then you must find a controller that used 5k pots internally, which most of them don't (PC parts usually use 100k pots).  The Microsoft Dual Strike and the Logitech Wingman have been reported to have the correct pots.  Anybody know of any others?  We should start a list.  In fact, I'm gonna start a new topic for that.

Or, you can buy the A-Pac at www.ultimarc.com, or the AKI at http://dave.bit2000.com/.  These are interface boards designed to interface any arcade part that uses pots, whatever the pot value.