Kaytrim's Kustoms Back in Action

[Kaytrim]

It has been quite a while since I posted in this thread so I thought I'd bring you all up to date on my progress.  Now that I have finished the basement I can spend more time in the shop working on joysticks again.  Here is one that I recently finished.

Curly Maple dyed black. Contain Sanwa JLF joystick, Seimitsu buttons, and a pad for XBox 360.





I was also contacted recently by a company out east to make a set of 7 joysticks for them.  These were a little different as they are to be installed in some kiosks at a up coming convention.  The 'game' that they are going to run is their version of Space Invaders.  The Seimitsu LS-32 joystick is set for 2-way mode and has two Sanwa buttons.




I have a few more items in the works and will post when they are done.

Michael

[javeryh]

Awesome job.  What kind of tools do you use to make your cuts?  Table saw?  Radial saw?  The curly maple one is fantastic and I love the finish.  Also, are the 360 controller's analog sticks connected at all or is this thing strictly for the D-pad?  I'm guessing you hacked a wired controller too and the three buttons on the front are 'back', 'home' and 'start', right? 

I'm really really really tempted to make one for myself for Street Fighter IV but I don't know if I can afford to right now.   

[Kaytrim]

Awesome job.  What kind of tools do you use to make your cuts?  Table saw?  Radial saw?  The curly maple one is fantastic and I love the finish.  Also, are the 360 controller's analog sticks connected at all or is this thing strictly for the D-pad?  I'm guessing you hacked a wired controller too and the three buttons on the front are 'back', 'home' and 'start', right? 

I'm really really really tempted to make one for myself for Street Fighter IV but I don't know if I can afford to right now.   

I use a Contractor's Table Saw, Compound Miter Saw, Benchtop Band saw and Japanese Hand saws for all my cuts.  I also have a Benchtop Drill press and a router table.  I use finely tuned, razor sharp hand planes to clean up the wood for a nice clear finish with the curl in the wood.  Sanding tends to muddy the appearance.  The 360 controller's analog sticks cannot be connected due to the fact that the joystick is digital so it is D-Pad all the way.  The rest of your assumptions are correct.

Get your current projects finished first javeryh.  Your juke is close to being finished and your arcade machine could possibly handle SFIV when it comes out for the PC.

Michael

[dmworking247]

Kaytrim, nice work as always. Is it just me or are you tweaking your design regularly? I'm not sure I noticed before but those latest sticks seem to have a routed recess (router table?) to allow an easy fit of the bottom plate?

[Kaytrim]

Kaytrim, nice work as always. Is it just me or are you tweaking your design regularly? I'm not sure I noticed before but those latest sticks seem to have a routed recess (router table?) to allow an easy fit of the bottom plate?

As I am gearing up for regular production I am finding areas and tools to improve the design for repeatability.  There was also a major design change in the 7 stick order.  Because these were to be mounted to a kiosk I needed a more substantial base panel.  Normally I use a 1/8 - 1/4" hardboard bottom.  On this order I used 1/2" MDF so I could install some t-nuts for mounting.  The best way to attach the bottom panel was to use a rabbeting bit in my router table and clean up the corners with a chisel.  This worked so well that it will be come a regular part of the design only for the thinner panels I normally use.

Another design change brought on by the 7 case order was the mounting blocks for the top panel.  Again these were used for strength and repeatability.  Look at the curly maple case.  Those little corner blocks would split once and a while.  These new mounting blocks match the slope of the sides on my design and give a more substantial mounting block to screw into.

Keep your eyes open on my blog.  I'll be announcing something in the next week or so.

Michael 

[Timoe]

Congratulations on your recent produce.  You do great work and that black maple case has a style that is truly unique.  I bet it was fun to order all those Seimitsu sticks, even if you don't get to keep them.  Since I stopped putting projects together I have missed ordering/having all those parts on hand.

Feb 17th is coming so you better get to work.  There is an angry mob out there that wants to buy up your sticks 

btw: SFIV has gotta be laced with drugs.  That game is so much fun and so addictive it is crazy. 

/edit: thanks MrMojo 

[MrMojoZ]

btw: SFV has gotta be laced with drugs.  That game is so much fun and so addictive it is crazy. 

And here I was all excited about SFIV and you get to play V!!