I think I'm done with these.
I've rewired them so that it is cleaner and the button/joystick assignment is about as logical as I can get it. Player 2 is buttons 1-4 for the joystick 5-10 for the buttons and then coins 1 and 2 are 13 &14, P2 and P1 start are 15 & 16 and then player 1 buttons are 17-22. The order seems odd but because I want to play Nestopia I had to put P2 low enough that it wouldn't get cut off, and wiring the IDE header made sense this way. The GPwiz is held in place by the USB cable which is tightly wedged into a cut out on the back piece of the CP frame.
I found a 15 pin DB extension cable and a 15 pin DB header for the back of a computer case at a PC recycling place, which I cut up to make a nice clean connection from P1 to P2.
Here is a picture of the pair of controllers ready to play some Daraku Tenshi.
I am pleased with the finished product. If anything I wish that they had the same style of finish, but I think that this is a good example of two different finishing options. With a tablesaw and a router I could set up to make these thing fairly quickly, which could be an interesting way to make a few bucks if anybody thinks they are worth anything.
I have definitely enjoyed the process even with the difficulties and errors. After starting off thinking that these parts would go into my cabinet when I got it, I have come to a point where rather than take these apart and toss out the boxes I would rather sell them and buy new components. It's a funny place for ME to end up, working in professional theatre I constantly work on projects with a life expectancy of less than 2 months. MOST things I work on end up in the dumpster shortly after they are finished, but I don't want to toss these out. There are places where the craftsmanship is a little lower than I would like, but considering I was treating these as prototypes I think overall they are great. Now I guess it's time to dive into my cabinet, but I can't take it to work nearly as easily, and I definitely don't have a useful shop here, I see a very drawn out process in the works. Hopefully I'll be able to work on small parts and transport them back and forth.
Thanks for reading, consider the floor open for questions and comments.