X-Arcade controls transplanted to new panel

[dmel75]

I've add a TT2 spinner to my 2 player X-Arcade, now I have a 3 inch Betson Imperial that I just soldered up a mouse hack PS2 interface for. Now I've run out of room in my X-Arcade for the trackball. I have some 3/4inch cabinet grade ply in the shop and was thinking of making a new panel for my cabinet. I was thinking of just gutting everything from the X-arcade and putting into a new, bigger panel. Anyone done this? Would it be adviseable at this time to go with an i-pac or ultimarc?

[Afterburner]

I did this when I ordered the X-Arcade trackball.

They were out of stock, so they sent me the whole panel.

I stripped it and installed everything in my cab's control panel....even added a second X-arcade trackball later.

My P1 buttons 1,2,3 and P2 buttons 1,2,3 use the inputs on the trackballs, and also double as the mouse buttons.

That frees up a lot of inputs on my years-old IPAC.

[severdhed]

i transplanted my x-arcade 2 player panel components into a panel i built.  i added a 3" wico trackball (mousehack) and hard drive spinner (mousehack).  the problem you will run into with the x-arcade is the wiring.  the stock wires are very, very short, so if you are moving the two players further apart, you will need to extend the wires to one of the players controls...it is a pain in the *** if you are trying to keep all of the stock wiring intact.  if you don't mind cutting and splicing it will work out OK.  I am just about to build a new panel for mine again to add a little room the dedicated 4way stick and the spinner, but once again my wires are not long enough..so this time I am going to buy an ipac and redo everythign the right way. the other thing to know about teh x-arcade interface...unlike the ipac, ground is not ground.  buttons are divided up into groups of 4, each group has it's own ground.  if you use a ground from one group on a button from another group, those buttons don't work like they are supposed to...i found that out the hard way and had to rewire a bunch of stuff after my panel became basically unusable for a while.

looking back, if i were going to do it all over again (and i am) i would have saved up a little money for an ipac or keywiz and done it right the first time.  then I am going to put my x-arcade back together and use it to play metal slug anthology on my Wii.

[dmel75]

Yeah, since I already have a 3inch betson trackball with PS2, a TT2 spinner and all the wood and woodworking tools on hand, I'm thinking my best bet now will be to buy the joysticks, buttons and iPac and just build it from scratch. Maybe then I can sell my X-arcade on eBay to recoup some of the money spent. Thanks!