Wahooo! StarWars Yoke is Finally Available

[Sensei]

Wahooo!

Ever since building my Mame(tm) cabinet I have been looking for a way to play the classic StarWars game (and a few others I used to throw quarrters done like they were nothing)

But....to truly get the feeling of the original back you needed some sort of yoke that was both the steering mechanism and the vertical axis for the guns.

I have been everywhere from eBay to various other "for sale" boards.  (even here).

Finally the flight yokes over at GameCab.com are available for pre-order.
www.gamecab.com

There a bit pricey at $185 US but I've been dying forever for one and have no ability to make one out of crappy plumbing pipes (like the ones you can by the plans for on-line....TwistyYoke or something).  (ask me they look a little crappy on a cab you've spent months at making).

Also, the website states that the guy is waiting for 20 pre-orders before he'll complete all the orders (otherwise he'll just refund the money).  Please!! pre-order some 'cause I'm dying here!

Thanks for hearing my out.

[danny_galaga]

well, hes no web developer! what does it look like? i couldnt find a picture on his site...

[quarterback]

well, hes no web developer! what does it look like? i couldnt find a picture on his site...

Here's a bit of a pic:
http://www.gamecab.com/yoke.htm


But I thought there were actually MORE pictures that he had posted here on BYOAC when he was working on a prototype.  Hmmm....

[quarterback]

Hey d_g, there are more pics in these threads:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=35279.0

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=33883.0

HTH

[Xiaou2]

 Well, the rear part of the unit looks pretty professional.  Nice job.

 However, theres no updated pics of the front... and as it stood,  it was not a pretty sight.

 There isnt enough room in the smaller frontal box for the larger gear... so its y accuracy will not be as good as an original, and will not match the x-axis.. which could cause a bit of trouble.   The spring system in the front box was also a nightmare imop.   Hope it changed...  as its shaping up really nicely otherwise.

[Lilwolf]

btw, what a great idea for a website for low run items like this.  Allow the preorders to be shown... and put a minimum number in there.

So you know you don't have to eat any looses.  And you still keep up with how many are out there waiting.

I wish others (Oscar + restrictor plates) would try something like this.  Figure out the cost / price for lower runs and just see if they can make money on smaller, but more expensive runs.

[jcroach]

Damn.  I'm going to have to start saving my pennies..........................

[Jedi Master Matt]

Count me in as definately interested.   I will need to see a final production version (pics and details) before I sign on the dotted link though.

I can't remember - what is the interface for this?   I thought I remembered it was USB at one point.

[ultramagnus]

wow, thats rather expensive when you consider you could buy a professional flight sim yoke from CH products for not much more...

[2600]

wow, thats rather expensive when you consider you could buy a professional flight sim yoke from CH products for not much more...

You could if you are using Microsoft Flight Simulator, but they aren't any good for this application.

[ultramagnus]

firstly, i would never use M$ flight simulator

secondly, i was just saying that they are very accurate and lifelike, whereas these are probabally not, yet they cost the same amount, it just seems overpriced, especially when an original out of a cab goes for less on ebay!

[2600]

firstly, i would never use M$ flight simulator

secondly, i was just saying that they are very accurate and lifelike, whereas these are probabally not, yet they cost the same amount, it just seems overpriced, especially when an original out of a cab goes for less on ebay!

Are you kidding me with this?

You totally missed my point.  The CH products are fine products.  They are accurate and lifelike for flight simulatoin.  They are not accurate nor lifelike for Arcade yoke games.

Last I saw, the ones on ebay were going for $200 and they are not perfect.  Didn't Oscar's go for around $500?  If they are less then $200, they are with broken, expensive gears or buttons that aren't made any more.

And that is no relation, with Gamecab's cost.  The Gamecab yoke is not overpriced.  It may be expensive, but not overpriced.

[NoOne=NBA=]

i was just saying that they are very accurate and lifelike, whereas these are probabally not

A flight yoke is not lifelike for Star Wars games.
The yoke handles need to twist, not push in and out.
Your accuracy on Star Wars would not be nearly as good with an in-out system.

it just seems overpriced, especially when an original out of a cab goes for less on ebay!

Only the really ratty ones.
I've seen originals that were missing half their pieces go for $100+
Most of the ones you see go sub-$200 are "well used" ones.

[ultramagnus]

i suppose, its just from the pictures and stuff it doesnt look to be high enough quality to justify the high price tag.

oh well, only time will tell

[NY_in_TX]

wow, pretty good first post.   

[2600]

i suppose, its just from the pictures and stuff it doesnt look to be high enough quality to justify the high price tag.

oh well, only time will tell

* 2600 Slaps self in forehead

Your right steel is a pretty low quality material.  Last I saw Gamecab was using the exact same handles as the Real yoke (2nd revision yoke).  A much better material would be the plastic kids toys like in the BYO yoke.

[Buddabing]

i suppose, its just from the pictures and stuff it doesnt look to be high enough quality to justify the high price tag.

oh well, only time will tell

Please do not thread crap. Not only is it against the forum rules, it is totally unjustified. How can you tell what "high enough quality" is from those pictures?

[danny_galaga]

still funny the only pics i can look at are not on the site theyre sold on!  looks good though. i think the price is pretty good considering that there is lots of steel in it and its a pretty low volume production.

[Gamecab]

i suppose, its just from the pictures and stuff it doesnt look to be high enough quality to justify the high price tag.

oh well, only time will tell

What pictures might you be looking at??  This link http://www.gamecab.com/yoke.htm shows a black gloss painted flight yoke base made from .118 of an inch 3310 construction steel.  This steel is the same steel that automotive disk brakes are produced from.  I also feel that .118" of this material actually makes this unit overbuilt.  Each part was laser cut at a metal fabricator and has a margin of error of .003.  Show me a lack of quality in that link.
If you are looking at the prototype postings then you may want to add comments to that thread.

Charlie

[Crazy Cooter]

I think that's a good price for what you get.  I see incomplete originals go for $100+ on ebay.  Whoever buys that needs to find the missing parts (or buy two), then figure out how it all works, hack in an adaptor box, repaint all of it... etc.

[Gamecab]

Guys,

A quick statement about the price:

[NoOne=NBA=]

This is just like RandyT's 49-way interface.

There were a ton of "that won't work that way" posts when he announced it; and, more importantly, before anyone had actually USED one.

[Lilwolf]

Yes, its EXACTLY what we want.  I still trying to figure out how to talk my wife into letting me buy one

I'm hoping that small runs that are only filled when you have enought sales will let you sell them for a while.  Because I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to get one for a runs

[Sensei]

So now I am about to start producing a run of high quality arcade style flight yoke, this is what you guys want, Right?

Yes yes!  Gamecab, dont listen to all the naysayers.  I want one and as I said before, having a pvc tube flight yoke on your cab you spent hours/days/weeks/months on, just doesn't seem right.

Thanks for your efforts.

[ultramagnus]

hmm, i guess i was looking at the pictures of the proto after all hmm, well, perhaps i was wrong, whatever, might consider buying one when there are some indipendent reviews, im in the market for a decent space flight yoke anyhow and whats this twisty thing your all talking about anyhow?

[armax]

hmm, i guess i was looking at the pictures of the proto after all hmm, well, perhaps i was wrong, whatever, might consider buying one when there are some indipendent reviews, im in the market for a decent space flight yoke anyhow and whats this twisty thing your all talking about anyhow?

if ya don't know, you really had no business posting a negative comment in this thread in the first place...

[pointdablame]

hmm, i guess i was looking at the pictures of the proto after all hmm, well, perhaps i was wrong, whatever, might consider buying one when there are some indipendent reviews, im in the market for a decent space flight yoke anyhow and whats this twisty thing your all talking about anyhow?

if ya don't know, you really had no business posting a negative comment in this thread in the first place...

There's a lot of truth in that statement.

They look really great.  I'm not really in the market for one, but I'd certainly take one of these over a beat up eBay yoke.  Sure if I had $500 to spend on a mint original, I would, but this definitely looks like the next best thing.

[CheffoJeffo]

hmm, i guess i was looking at the pictures of the proto after all hmm, well, perhaps i was wrong, whatever, might consider buying one when there are some indipendent reviews, im in the market for a decent space flight yoke anyhow and whats this twisty thing your all talking about anyhow?

Google could be your friend ...

[Sensei]

whats this twisty thing your all talking about anyhow?

Check here for what people have built using the TwistyYoke plans.
I'm sure they work great but I have very little PVC assembly skills and I'm not sure it's look would suit my cab.

http://www.twistygrip.com/morepics.htm

Hope this helps.

[Tailgunner]

Just going to throw in my 2 cents.

I've given serious concideration to making replica Atari yokes a couple of times. I've got two of them(well, one and a half) and I've blueprinted the thing completely. To do a authentic replica would require over $250 in parts. To have molds machined for recasting the metal grips would require a $6000 investment and I'd need to have at least 100 grip sets cast to get the cost per set within reason. Add around $100 in labor for assembly, and a 100% markup to make it profitable enough to bother doing.

Anyone here interested in a $700 replica Atari yoke? Got 99 friends you can talk into buying one also?

I can't see selling 20 of them at that price, let alone 100. Which is why Charlie has my admiration for even attempting to fill this market. I have one of his first generation yokes, and if you search this forum you can find the thread where I took mine apart and documented it for the benefit of the community. I'm in line for one of the new ones, and rest assured it'll get the same disassembly and documentation treatment that the other Gamecab yoke did.

I know a little more than most about the new versions, but as it's his project I don't think it's my place to spill the beans just yet. But that day isn't too far off, and as soon as I have one to play with you'll know about it.

[DarkKobold]

Question for Gamecab-  How close to authentic are these? Can they be used for replacement parts for an original Yoke? Could one be "dropped in" to a star wars cab, at least phyiscally, if not electronically?

[ScoopKW]

Gamecab --

Any chance of putting a button in the middle for us Spyhunter fans?

I bought a "needs work" spyhunter yoke ages ago, and still haven't bothered to work on it.

I'd pay your prices -- no problems -- for a working, plug-and-play yoke.

Those of you saying the "quality doesn't justify the price" -- try making one yourself. You'll run up $200 in parts, and then still need hours and hours to assemble and test the thing.

ScoopKW

[Tiger-Heli]

Any chance of putting a button in the middle for us Spyhunter fans?

Not sure about clearance, but otherwise it seems simple enough to do.  If twisty grip could fit two buttons in a 1" PVC pipe, I don't see this being a problem.

$185 sounds like a lot, but so are your other options -

The Twisty-Grip materials cost about $43, but it looked like, well, a bunch of PVC pipe.

Menace had what I think is a great BYO yoke at http://arcadecontrols.com/hosted/yoke/ , but I think I estimated it at around $90, plus a lot of touch labor.

Yokes on E-bay are routinely around $120 for ones needing a lot of TLC.  (And personally, I would feel guilty about buying an E-bay one, b/c it likely keeps someone from restoring an original game.

[Xiaou2]

 Just FYI,  Spy Hunters middle button was non functional.   It was merely used to
act as a flashing beakon to let you know that the van is on the way.

 It does not make the van come faster..ect.   

[Gamecab]

Gamecab --

Any chance of putting a button in the middle for us Spyhunter fans?

I bought a "needs work" spyhunter yoke ages ago, and still haven't bothered to work on it.

I'd pay your prices -- no problems -- for a working, plug-and-play yoke.

Those of you saying the "quality doesn't justify the price" -- try making one yourself. You'll run up $200 in parts, and then still need hours and hours to assemble and test the thing.

ScoopKW

Hold on, I just got a dumb flashing LED idea based on Xiaou2's reply.  I'm going to have to run into the basement and I'll be back with a possible answer.

Mental Note - Take Xiaou2 out for lunch one day.

[Gamecab]

OK, I went to check and see of the weapons van button triggered a blinking scroll lock on the keyboard, it didn't.  IF it did I thought it might be a cool retrofit for someone to do if they also used a GameCab driver board, but no dice.  It was worth the attempt and I also got in a good 20 minutes of Spy Hunter, then Some Stun Runner (I'm drifting from the point here  )

Question for Gamecab- How close to authentic are these? Can they be used for replacement parts for an original Yoke? Could one be "dropped in" to a star wars cab, at least phyiscally, if not electronically?

Well Physically yes. the mounts will line up exactly.  If you were to replace an existing SW yoke you would need to change out the head potentiometer from 250K to 5K.  The next step would be to just wire the unit to the existing board through the use of a molex connector.  I'm going to provide a wiring diagram with the yokes anyway.  I'm also going to use color coded wire this time around to make it easy for people to make connections to 3rd party devices as needed (AKI interface).


Thanks
Charlie

[danny_galaga]

Guys,

A quick statement about the price:   The unit is not cheap by any means to produce.  The profit on flight yokes are very low, this is why they are not mass produced by other companies.  I happen to have a low overhead cost in running GameCab ($8 a month for web hosting only) and also happen to have a great 9-5 M-F job, it's not about the money, trust me....

Think about this:  Why is it that almost 10 years into this hobby a mass produced flight yoke is not on the market?  I saw the Twisty plans and actually thought they were a good idea, but in the end we all had a PVC flight yoke.  It really isn't an eye catcher when you are showing off the arcade cabinet that required close to 100 hours of your time.

Why did my first yokes do so poorly (20 months ago):  Because they took weeks to produce by hand and the quality was not great.  So I took them off the market and asked TailGunner and 1UP for help on the redesign.  Along the way I have answered no less than 200 emails on "The Status of the Flight Yokes", "Release Date???", and "Are you alive gamecab, am I going to see a flight yoke this year!!!???".


So now I am about to start producing a run of high quality arcade style flight yoke, this is what you guys want, Right?

dont worry. i think its a great price. everyone else here must be scottish! i was only ribbing about not seeing the yoke easily on the page.

[Kremmit]

There isnt enough room in the smaller frontal box for the larger gear... so its y accuracy will not be as good as an original, and will not match the x-axis.. which could cause a bit of trouble.   

It's not the diameter of the gear, it's the tooth ratio.  A gear ten feet in diameter with 1000 teeth mated to one 5 feet in diameter with 500 teeth is exactly as accurate as a one-inch gear with 10 teeth mated to a 1/2 inch gear with 5 teeth.  360 degrees=360 degrees, diameter notwithstanding.

Just FYI,  Spy Hunters middle button was non functional.   It was merely used to
act as a flashing beakon to let you know that the van is on the way.

 It does not make the van come faster..ect.   

I don't think that's entirely right either.  True, after you pass the weapons van on the side of the road, it comes whether you push the button or not.  But, if I remember right, if you die soon after getting the van, you can push to call it again.  Or you can just summon it a 2nd time right after getting it, or something like that- but I'm pretty sure you could get a 2nd van with the button.

[Xiaou2]

It's not the diameter of the gear, it's the tooth ratio.  A gear ten feet in diameter with 1000 teeth mated to one 5 feet in diameter with 500 teeth is exactly as accurate as a one-inch gear with 10 teeth mated to a 1/2 inch gear with 5 teeth.  360 degrees=360 degrees, diameter notwithstanding.

 Yes.. but if you use gears with too fine of a tooth, they have a higher degree of stripping out and breaking teeth.  Esp with a controller that will be moved very swiftly and with force.   Fine tooth gears are fine for something like clocks..ect.  But for an arcade controller, you want larger thicker tooth gears to be able to withstand the forces.   Also... fine tooth gears will be thinner and so if they get moved arround to the left or right a hair, they may fail.  The tolerances for accuracy has to be very good in the assembly that uses a fine gear system.  Finer the gears.. the more resistence you will get as well. (greater friction)
And finally... finding a fine tooth geat with a hole big enough for a standard arcade pot will not be easy... even if one exists.   

 There are reasons why the designers used these specific gears, ratios, sizes..ect.  All the testing has already been done.  These were the best results.. and they have prooven themselves.  The only major flaw in the design was the use of plastic gears instead of metal.. which would have kept them from becoming brittle and cracking with age.  Otherwise, these yokes are amazingly designed and durrable.  Some are well played and like 20+ yrs old.. and still work great.
 

but, if I remember right, if you die soon after getting the van, you can push to call it again.  Or you can just summon it a 2nd time right after getting it, or something like that- but I'm pretty sure you could get a 2nd van with the button.

 - no...  thats just a section in the game where there are 2 vans in a short time of each other.     

 I own the standup.   Played many an hour on the beast  ; )

Did you know... that when the weapons van comes.. there a picture on top of the van that shows what weapon its carrying?  : )

 
 

[daywane]

 Just FYI,