Laying Plans

[izzy]

Ok so here goes my first attempt at this. Since I only took one CAD class back in college. Ill keep posting as I get further along. I know that this project is going to take a long time. But, its something I will enjoy doing. So here is the CAD picture I had said I was going to post. The design is based on the Happ 8 way competition the 4 way competition the tornado and the 3" trackball. This maybe subject to change as I really like those RGB buttons and dont know of any better joysticks.

[jholman76]

Im thinking some of the more experienced CP builders are going to first say you wont need that many buttons for players 3 & 4.

Next, and I'm trying to be constructive, it looks like it might be turning into a franken-panel. Lots o' buttons BUT I have never build a 4P CP, so that might just be normal.

The main thing I tried to obey is "Can my wife operate it?" no disrespect to her, she is a huge geek too, but she doesnt follow emulation/MAME, etc so I have to keep it simple. Just make sure to label the buttons whether it be vinyl stickers or a CP overlay.

If you do go with custom overlay graphics, best make them cool in that white-space area, unless there are plans for that. perhaps move P1 & p2 up more for some palm/wrist rest area? Or use a 2.5" hole saw to make some cup holders!

Just my opinion. Feel free to disregard.

Looks good otherwise. Wish I still had my vector skills... I  miss 3DSMAX

joe

[izzy]

Yeah its a franken-panel alright.  Hmm cup holders are not a bad idea. One thing that I would like to add is the Electric ICE-T Deluxe RGB Arcade Trackball. I know it can be flush mounted but If anyone has mounting hole mesurements that would be great. Also, I would like the Joystick Mounting Kit - No Visible Hardware. I know that the width for mounting these is 5/16 but what should the depth be?

[Turnarcades]

I concur. Take the buttons down to 4 for the outer players first off. Arcade games rarely used more than two for those players, and 4 will be plenty for 4-player console games like Super Bomberman, Mario Kart, Thrill Kill etc. Lose the 7th button on the other players (hate that layout!) and do away with the big row of stuff at the top. There are plenty of 4/8 way switchable sticks out there without the need for extras, plus if you mount your trackball and spinner more thoughtfully you can use any of the other buttons comfortably and decrease the size of your panel a fair bit:

[thomascirca]

I concur. Take the buttons down to 4 for the outer players first off. Arcade games rarely used more than two for those players, and 4 will be plenty for 4-player console games like Super Bomberman, Mario Kart, Thrill Kill etc. Lose the 7th button on the other players (hate that layout!) and do away with the big row of stuff at the top. There are plenty of 4/8 way switchable sticks out there without the need for extras, plus if you mount your trackball and spinner more thoughtfully you can use any of the other buttons comfortably and decrease the size of your panel a fair bit:

How wide is that guy?

[Turnarcades]

That panel is 39" wide by 15" deep. The end player controls could go towards the rear edge an inch or two if you required more hand resting space - this was specific for a customer and a little closer to the two front players than we'd normally go.

[izzy]

Thanks for all the help fellas. Sorry it took me this long to reply. Now as far as the joysticks go I hope am I making a good selection. I play a lot of fighters and I'm going for the happ 8 way for player 1 and 2. And, for players 3 and 4 the happ 49 way with the rotary mod. And a dedicated 4 way for the classics. I'm just hoping that lighting the rotary one wont be a problem.
 

[bkenobi]

How are you going to put an LED inside the stick if you have a rotary switch attached to it?  I don't personally see an easy solution for that.  You can't stick the LED up inside the stick and just squeeze the wires out because they will break when you rotate it.  I think this is an either/or, not both...

[izzy]

I was actually thinking about this myself.  I might just buy one to hack it up and see what happens. But for now all I've seen is some guys using what looks like head phone jacks plugged under the shaft. When I plug my jack into my ipod I can rotate the ipod and leave the jack alone. Yes I know this answer is not technical but its all I can think of   

[bkenobi]

I get what you are saying, but I don't know how you are going to do that THROUGH the rotary switch itself.  The only way for that to work would be to put a gear off the shaft to attach to a rotary mechanism similar to the original rotary hacked joysticks (mouse hacks).  I'd love to see a sketch of how you would get around this, I'm curious!

[izzy]

I get what you are saying, but I don't know how you are going to do that THROUGH the rotary switch itself.  The only way for that to work would be to put a gear off the shaft to attach to a rotary mechanism similar to the original rotary hacked joysticks (mouse hacks).  I'd love to see a sketch of how you would get around this, I'm curious!

As soon as I get around to it ill post something. But, in the mean time remember this "If you know the enemy
and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a  hundred battles" Sun Tzu. The Joystick being the enemy. 

   

[Benevolance]

I bought the Happ 49 way joystick. The joystick is comfortable and is a good length, but it is not as responsive as I would like, particularly re-centering. Not a big deal if you're playing NES rpgs like I am, but I've noticed it performs poorly on fighters and other games where fast reactions are important.

The Groovy Game Gear upgrade grommet improved the feel tremendously, but it is still not perfect. If you still decide to go with the 49 ways, I would recommend the GP Wiz49 MAX control interface. It made the set up an absolute breeze. Randy T has mentioned on his site for a long time that he's working on an alternate offering for the 49 way, but I haven't seen mention of an actual product for sale yet.

In the meantime, if I had to buy sticks again, I would probably check out the U360. That seems to be pretty favorably reviewed by most members of this board, and it eliminates the need for a 4-way, I think.

[izzy]

Thanks for your feed back Benevolance. I was looking at the U360 when I saw the U-TRAK. It looks great. So I'm modifying my drawing to use this trackball. I have one question if anyone can help out there. The Ultimarc website shows some dimensions but not the radius of the corners. If any one who has one of these can let me know what they are that would be great. The reason I need them is because I would like to use 5/8 MDF and 1/8 plexi thus giving me 3/4 for the t-molding. But in order to make the trackball sit nice I would have to route 1/8 off the MDF.

[Turnarcades]

Thanks for your feed back Benevolance. I was looking at the U360 when I saw the U-TRAK. It looks great. So I'm modifying my drawing to use this trackball. I have one question if anyone can help out there. The Ultimarc website shows some dimensions but not the radius of the corners. If any one who has one of these can let me know what they are that would be great. The reason I need them is because I would like to use 5/8 MDF and 1/8 plexi thus giving me 3/4 for the t-molding. But in order to make the trackball sit nice I would have to route 1/8 off the MDF.

There will be no need to route out if you mount the trackball without the trim flange. Personally I prefer this and that is what was done with the panel above.

[izzy]

There will be no need to route out if you mount the trackball without the trim flange. Personally I prefer this and that is what was done with the panel above.
[/quote]
I see. I was going along the review by blind_dado http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=83988.0
And this is what he did. He showed some good examples. Maybe I need to think this out more.