Quick joystick panel for computer

[Zathras]

My father-in-law is a big fan of Ms. Pac Man/Burger Time/etc classic games and he was really enjoying my x-Arcade solo last time they were in town (on their next visit it will be interesting to see his reaction to the cabinet ).  

I was itching to build something since finishing my cab so I decided to build him something like that - but designed w/ older games in mind and very easy to use.

So Sunday late afternoon I grabbed some scrap mdf and just started at it w/ no planning whatsoever.



The top/front/back is covered in Happ vinyl.

The joysticks are some cheapie 4 way NOS Wicos from ebay
(the buttons ebay cheapies also).

I tried to find black carriage bolts everywhere but ended up just grinding down letters and painting some

The heart of it all is a Gravis Gamepad Pro USB.  It was pretty easy to use all around - no analog sticks to mess with.  I just drilled some holes next to each contact.  Apparently the grounds are all connected a diode as they didn't have continuity (to avoid ghosting?) so I went ahead and just ran both wires from each button.

One nice thing about the GGP is that apparently if you dl the Gravis software you can remap any button to a keyboard command.  To keep things simple I will probably just set up his mame to the joystick configuration (probably going to just install Mame32 for them - for the all-in-one easy-to-use simplicity).

As far as the sides:


First the sides were just spray painted yellow.  

I wanted some side art but didn't wan't to spend any money.  I had some extra 2x4" avery mailing label sheets so I grabbed some vector art and printed some classic character art.

I trimmed them out and stuck 'em on (I didn't want to trim too narrowly on some limbs so I just rounded off close - you can see some in the pic but you don't really notice it IRL).

I then sprayed many, many, many coats of clear gloss over that.  I think It turned out quite well for stuff I just had lying around.  The shinyness doesn't come through in the pic but it has a nice sheen across the whole side.


Wiring is A bit spaghetti but it works.  Since they don't live close enough to swing in to fix things I made sure to secure everything extra well with hotglue - even putting a dab on the wire side of each crimp connector.  

I didn't run the usb cord through the wood because I didn't want a hole that big/didn't want to cut the cord and resolder it.   I just put some thicker rubber self adhesive feet on the bottom so then you can run the cord out the back/side/right/left/whatever.

I will be adding a slightly recessed bottom panel - you can see the supports it will screw into in the corners.  I  just need to find something around the house that is thin and sturdy enough for lap use.

Apart from things I had lying around I probably spent around $30 ($15 for the gamepad being the most expensive thing).

It was a fun little project.  I am discovering that BYOACing is addictive....

Thanks for looking,
Zathras

[garyh]

Nice job. There's something very satisfying about producing something from nothing.

Gary

[pcdoctor]

Gorgeous!
So, those are mailing labels on the sides!
Genius!
What did you use to stick them on the sides?
That's really tempting to do the same thing to a large cabinet.

[Zathras]

What did you use to stick them on the sides?

They were self-adhesive lables - just Staples brand Avery label knock-offs. Then the whole side was coated with clear gloss spraypaint.

I know I've seen bigger printable uncut sticker sheets which would probably work fine for a cab - it will be interesting to see how they wear/if they yellow/etc.

[Witchboard]

I would think that after you sealed them with your clear spray paint they should wear rather well.  Nice job!

[pathdoc2]

Looks great.  Very nice job.