Giving some advice, and looking for some help.

[Hoe]

I'm pretty new here. I've been trying to avoid your page because I wanted to do my controls by my self. Now that I have it all working, I started reading over your page.

First off, I never noticed any one mention how good crimp terminals work on connecting to a microswich.
I used these ones I found at homedepot: 100 Crimp Terminals

Also, I am looking for some one who has hacked a DreamCast pad. So far I have only experimented on 3rd party ones. I am having trouble getting some of the directionals, I could use a picture of yours, or some advice.

I am sort of weary on experimenting with the dc controler, seeing last time I fried a resistor in my system ;] (wasn't too hard to find/replace)

I plan on making a bump sensor, a pinball machine plunger, and a homemade spinner. I'll let you know how all thouse go once I get to them.

[SNAAAKE]

Also, I am looking for some one who has hacked a DreamCast pad. So far I have only experimented on 3rd party ones. I am having trouble getting some of the directionals, I could use a picture of yours, or some advice.

whats up newbi man  
Go here.
http://www.darkravenwind.com/cdvision/madcatz.htm

btw,CD_vision posted a picture of my panel too...you know.."sticks by readers"  

[Hoe]

His controler seems to be simplier then the one I'm doing... but that should still help me plenty (I can probly scratch down the top layer of PCB to create identical points)

[rampy]

I'm pretty new here. I've been trying to avoid your page because I wanted to do my controls by my self. Now that I have it all working, I started reading over your page.

huh? why's that? I don't understand

First off, I never noticed any one mention how good crimp terminals work on connecting to a microswich.
I used these ones I found at homedepot: 100 Crimp Terminals

darn session information hoses up the url for homedepot (grrrr stupid homedepot encoding their session info into their urls, how lame is that?!)... are you talking about female quick disconnects which a lot of us use... or is there an evolutionary clip call "crimp terminals" that are different/better... can you dig up a better/different link when you get a chance, please?

I plan on making a bump sensor, a pinball machine plunger, and a homemade spinner. I'll let you know how all thouse go once I get to them.

Cool... do you need/want any example links of others that have done simliiar things?  Have you seen the plans for some of the home made spinners that are out there (i.e. cheep, the HD bearing spinner, and twisty grip)?

Looking forward to seeing pics/write ups of some of these less common MAME machine enhancements...

RAmpy

[mcleanjoel]

Here is an idea for a bump sensor:
Hang a weight on a hinge so when the unit is bumped the weight swings into a leaf switch to trigger the bump/tilt.
You can modify how long the contact is made by changing the angle of the mechanism.
If the weight is hung by a flexible material it can make the contact longer to "tilt"
Here is a very crude drawing of what I mean - try not to laugh.



The weight should hang touching the front of the CP so a bump will make it bounce forward.

[DeathMonk]

I like that idea...  but what if it's tilted the opposite way of where it would hit the sensor?  How about you have metal contacts surronding (all sides..possibly a circle) the ball/weight as the + of the circuit and have the metal ball the - of the circuit, then no matter what way you tilt, it will still go off.

[shmokes]

hmm...it seems kind of illogical to avoid readily available information on anything that you want to build from scratch.  Why waste time and money learning from only your own mistakes when others have already paid the  price?  Besides that you surely can't trust yourself to come up with ALL the brilliant ideas that come from a collaborative forum such as this all by yourself.  Einstein built on the currently existing foundations of science.  That doesn't mean he wasn't brilliant.  Can you imagine how little he would have accomplished if he had to start from scratch -- not knowing that the earth was round or orbiting the sun or what the sun was or why it rains or what an atom was?  
Your cabinet, though.  I suppose if that's what makes you happy there's really no usefull criticism I could mount against it.  I hope it turned out spectacular regardless (and if you had any brilliant ideas yourself I hope you share them with the rest of us here who want to make the best possible arcade experience regardless of who the original innovator was   )

[mcleanjoel]

I like that idea...  but what if it's tilted the opposite way of where it would hit the sensor?  How about you have metal contacts surronding (all sides..possibly a circle) the ball/weight as the + of the circuit and have the metal ball the - of the circuit, then no matter what way you tilt, it will still go off.

Visual Pinball allows 3 bumps - forward, left, & right so you might try something that way with 3 leaf switches. Not sure how well side to side would work though.
Just forward would work as the front of the CP would "bump" the weight forward if it normally rests against it. -

3 weights & switches - 1 touching the front and 1 touching each of the left & right sides would work.

I was thinking you would need to be able to modify the time in contact with the switch, however, I played Visual Pinball and saw that a Tilt is registered by hitting it over and over - not by holding the button so that makes it simpler. I would not use anything flexible - just make it trigger the switch and return easily and quickly.

When I play I only use the forward bump anyway - buit I'm sure most of the pinball "pros" probably do bump left and right.

[Hoe]

My view of it; If I was just going to follow step by step instructions, why not just buy some X-Arcades? It's just some thing I wanted to do by my self.
For the dump sensor, I orignaly planned on using a sort of a bell like system. But I suppose if I want to get it going in all 3 directions, then I should probly do some thing that is more in-tune with your idea.

"are you talking about female quick disconnects which a lot of us use"
I believe so. I was unaware that a lot of you guys used them, I didn't see any thing on the page about them. There is a lot of differnt ones which are collectively called "crimp terminals."

[Xphile]

I believe so. I was unaware that a lot of you guys used them, I didn't see any thing on the page about them. There is a lot of differnt ones which are collectively called "crimp terminals."

like this?


from here:
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F005%5F003%5F005%5F000&product%5Fid=64%2D3049

[Hoe]

Yup, thouse (except the ones I found arn't fully insulated). My RadioShack didn't actualy carry any form of crimp terminal outside of "4 of each kind" packs, which is why I had to got them from homedepot.

[rampy]

ahh... but homedepot (to the best of my knowledge, and I was there last night buying laminate and looking at the quick disconnects) doesn't sell the preferred .187" female disconnects...

The .250"'s are too wide for standard joystick/button microswitch terminals. (they'll work OK, but the .187's are  the right tool for the job and won't fall off accidently as easily)

*shrug* ymmv, but that's the type of tid bit you can pick up in the forums before you build (without being told exactly how to build your controller per say - but save you from aggrevation, help create a better fit and finish, save a return trip to the hardware store) =P

It's all good - glad you're visiting the board now... Just surprised at the quasi-information-xeno-phobia *shrug* welcome and if you have come across other ideas/technicques that maybe we haven't stumbled upon, it would be cool to hear about them

best regards,

Rampy

PS I'm a non-conformist.  And so are all my friends!