Paul's Modular Control Panel

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blueznl:
DDR and its clones? Yeah baby!

(Got anything working? DDR is on my list of 'features to add'...)

Paul Olson:
Well, I moved and started the fall semester at school, so it has been a while since I updated. Since my last post, I finished the wiring up to the patch panel. I am using a jpac, an optipac, and an AKI so far. I have been acquiring more controls, and I will need to add a 49 way encoder and a rotary encoder. I also removed the PC from the case and mounted it on a piece of plywood. It hangs from a screw in the side of the cab, nice and easy to remove when I need to.

Here is my newest addition:

The 4-way is on the left because girlfriends will not play Ms Pacman with a Tron stick ::)

I have a lot of controls to mount on panels and wire up, but I don't have much time with work and school, so it will probably be pretty slow.

I decided to make my own Tapper joystick, now I just need to buy a 2-way to mount it on. :)

NickG:
It looks great!

You could eliminate screwing around time entirely by connecting the top and one side panel together and hinging them so that they raise upward, then sliding the panels along the rails from the side. You could then effectively cover the screws with the top as well.

Paul Olson:
NickG - I am not sure if I understand your suggestion exactly. The top is just a frame around the panels, and the only thing locking the panels down is the screws. If I made the top to cover the screws, then I would not have a flat surface when everything is installed. I don't think anything hinged would be strong enough (for me at least), I really like how solid this design is. Screwing the panels down is getting easier and faster. I am wearing the screw holes down a little and it is making it easier to find the hole in the rail. Before, everything had to be exactly lined up in order to get the screw threaded, and that was a pain. Now I have about 1/32 of play to get it started. I may try to loosen the holes up a little more, exact tolerances do not seem to be needed there.

Paul Olson:
Well, I didn't do much on this project during school, but I am trying to be productive during the break. I had to redo the wiring on the panels. Crimp connectors just do not hold well enough, so I am soldering all of the connections. I was worried about the wires getting snagged, so I decided to cover everything with tupperware. It looks a little strange, but it works and it was a fairly cheap solution. It also makes the panels a little easier to stack for storage.

Since I have a pair of rotary sticks, I added a GPWiz rotary encoder to the cabinet. I haven't made the rotary panels yet, but I am happy with the GPWiz for sticks and buttons. It seems more responsive than a keyboard encoder. I hope to be able to test out the rotary function this weekend.

I have 2 weeks left before school starts, and I am going to try to get as many of these panels done as possible. I'll post updates as I get them done.

Just a note on joysticks: I put together a wico 4-way, and I now finally understand what everyone is talking about. I played Ms Pacman with it, and it was incredible! My reunion stick does not even come close to this one. I am very impressed. I will get a couple of 8-way wicos built this weekend, and I am really looking forward to testing them out.

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