Custom arcade stick building questions.

[Momo254]

What's the best wood to use when building an arcade stick?  I got a router for my bday thanks to my girlfriend and is a router pretty easy to use for making indentions to mount a joystick and buttons? Thanks in advance.

[NiteWalker]

The 2 best materials in my experience have been baltic birch plywood for the body and MDF for the top. Baltic birch plywood is very light and very sturdy. I like MDF for the top as it is uniform in thickness and flatness and because it machines very easily. What style of joystick are you building?

Here's a couple of mine.

[kowal]

Nice sticks!

I use wood frame (I have resigned from MDF )
http://www.kowal.itcom.pl/ArcadeParts_pliki/Skrzynia.htm

[NiteWalker]

Nice sticks yourself! Especially the Feng one.

[Momo254]

I wanna build just a custom sanwa case.  I'm just trying to find a good wood to use or a combination there of

[Momo254]

The 2 best materials in my experience have been baltic birch plywood for the body and MDF for the top. Baltic birch plywood is very light and very sturdy. I like MDF for the top as it is uniform in thickness and flatness and because it machines very easily. What style of joystick are you building?

Here's a couple of mine.

I really like that stick with the sanwa parts on it.  It looks amazing.  I'm just starting out and I just wanna get as many tips as I can.   My gf bought me a router for my bday, but I have yet to even touch it. 

[Kaytrim]

Looking at the middle pic bottom row I see tones of quick disconnects and wire ties and other parts in the background.  Where do you get your supplies?

TTFN 
Kaytrim

[NiteWalker]

Looking at the middle pic bottom row I see tones of quick disconnects and wire ties and other parts in the background.  Where do you get your supplies?

TTFN 
Kaytrim

Here's most of my sources. I generally buy in larger quantities to save a bit. A lot of my sources are ebay sellers.

Here's the list:
.187 Quick Disconnects for Happ buttons and sticks and seimitsu sticks.

.110 Quick Disconnects for sanwa buttons.

Euro Terminals for wiring up the insides. No more paying $2.59 each at radio shack.

Acrylic or Polycarbonate sheet for making control panel overlays. Fast shipping and much less than what you'd pay at Home Depot or Lowes.

This is the seller where I get my rubber feet from. They're not listed at the moment, but the ones I use are 15/16" diameter.

Plastic Jars, just in case you were interested.  I buy the 26 oz size. Check out his site as he has a lot more sizes and styles.

A good source for Baltic Birch Plywood. Sells decent sized pieces for not too much. Good quality stock. This place is especially useful if you only need a little bit for a project. I'm favoring baltic birch plywood as a building material now because it's stronger and lighter than MDF.

That about covers my online sources for the most part. I get my glue, gluesticks, exacto supplies, and cable ties from wal-mart. I get wire (22 awg stranded) and soldering supplies from radio shack. Hardboard (for joystick bottoms), plastic laminate, contact cement, wood glue (titebond FTW), and other misc items I get from Lowes (closer than home depot). I got the square cable tie mounting plates from home depot a while back, but would do an ebay search if I needed them again. And I get most of my tools from amazon.

Hope this helps you out some. Let me know if I left anything out.
 

[NiteWalker]

My gf bought me a router for my bday, but I have yet to even touch it. 

You're off to a good start.
What router did she get you?

What questions would you need answered?

[Kaytrim]

Thanks for the links.    I am looking at getting into this but my artistic skills are very lacking.  I might have to outsource this part of the task or sell without art or a basic color scheme.  I notice that you use Happ controls in one and Swana in the other.  What is the difference and why would people choose one over the other?  Are you laminating or painting the base?  I am looking at doing a portable MAME setup with a custom interface.  What do you make yours for, console or PC?

TTFN 
Kaytrim

[NiteWalker]

I notice that you use Happ controls in one and Swana in the other.  What is the difference and why would people choose one over the other? 

It's a matter of preference. Sanwa buttons and joysticks are more responsive than Happs. They are much preferred for fighting games. Some still prefer the feel of Happ buttons and sticks. I used to swear by Happs but now I'm a sanwa convert. IMHO, sanwa buttons and sticks aren't for heavy handed players.

Are you laminating or painting the base?  I am looking at doing a portable MAME setup with a custom interface. 

I use plastic laminate. I toyed with the idea of painting but I don't like waiting for coats to dry. Then you have to put on a clear coat and wait for that to dry. And even with all that time spent on it, the finish still isn't as durable as plastic laminate. With plastic laminate you just spread the contact cement, wait 20 min for it to dry, stick the laminate on and trim it with a router and flush trim bit. Very simple. It comes in a lot of colors too. I love it.

What do you make yours for, console or PC?

Depends on the application. Mostly console though. I even make game specific joysticks sometimes. For instance, right now I'm working on a dedicated Neo Geo stick for PC, a general purpose stick for PS2 and a stick dedicated for tekken tag tournament (5 buttons). As soon as I get a PS3 I'll make a Tekken 5 dark resurrection stick for that. Others on my list include a PS2 tekken 5 stick, a street fighter alpha 3 joystick and maybe a capcom vs snk 2 joystick. I just really like building joysticks...

Hope this helps some.
 

[Kaytrim]

Are you laminating or painting the base?  I am looking at doing a portable MAME setup with a custom interface. 

I use plastic laminate. I toyed with the idea of painting but I don't like waiting for coats to dry. Then you have to put on a clear coat and wait for that to dry. And even with all that time spent on it, the finish still isn't as durable as plastic laminate. With plastic laminate you just spread the contact cement, wait 20 min for it to dry, stick the laminate on and trim it with a router and flush trim bit. Very simple. It comes in a lot of colors too. I love it.

Hope this helps some.
 

Have you tried the stick on vinyl or do you think that the laminate is better?  How much do you charge for one of your sticks?

[NiteWalker]

I've not tried the vinyl personally but I have had a few sticks that had it preinstalled (x-arcade and street fighter anniversary sticks) and I've found that it's durable on a flat surface, but at the corners it can and will start to peel up after use. I feel plastic laminate is much more durable and worth the extra cost.

Generally prices are based on what the customer wants.

[Kaytrim]

So do you get you laminate at Lows or HD or do you get it online?

[NiteWalker]

The plastic laminate I get from Lowe's. If I need something they don't have I simply special order it and it's there a couple of days later. No shipping charge.

[Kaytrim]

Finally do you do your own artwork or do you hire it out?  Do you print it out at home or Kinkos or Mame Marquees?  I know that I am full of questions but I am rather serious on doing this to make a little money.  At least to fund my own project(s). 

TTFN 
Kaytrim

[NiteWalker]

For my own sticks I do my own artwork. For customers they provide the artwork. I get the art printed at kinko's on 11x17 glossy photopaper. I'm looking into a printer that will let me print on those sizes.

 

[Momo254]

My gf bought me a router for my bday, but I have yet to even touch it. 

You're off to a good start.
What router did she get you?

What questions would you need answered?

Its from harbor freight.  It's a ryobi router thats all I really know about it.  Is that a good router?  How hard is it to route into wood? For specifics like creating the top of the box so that it'll fit a piece of acrylic? Thats my real main concern, I don't want it to be an uneven top and all.  Was it hard to mount the joystick in place?  I just don't wanna mess this up   Also can a router cut like perfectly straight squares or rectangles?  I'm interested in making a beatmania controller, which looks like this:

[DrewKaree]

I read this thread title all wrong.

I thought someone was making a joystick out of wood. 

I was gonna get happy go jacky on the white guy like a donkey eating a waffle

[NiteWalker]

It's certainly possible, Drew, with a lathe. In fact it's probably pretty simple. I'm surprised someone hasn't done it yet.

Momo254; here's some answers.

Ryobi isn't the best brand for routers but they're ok. Just make sure to get some good router bits. Whitesides are some of the best out there and if you know where to shop you can get them for a pretty good price too.

Routing into wood is easy as long as you follow the basic guidelines. I highly recommend this book, Woodworking with the Router. It will teach you everything and more regarding the use of your new router. It covers everything including router bits. You'll be able to do everything you need to with it. It can cut the pieces (yes, square cuts too as long as you use a straight edge), shape the edge profiles, cut the recesses for the acrylic, cut your button and joystick holes, and anything else needed. Router really can do anything.