Joystick Choices...

[ItchyD]

I'm planning to do arcade controls for an xbox and I was wondering what my best choice is for a joystick?  I am planning to use this thing http://www.xgaming.com/byoarcade.shtml to go from the joy to the xbox, should I get an 8 way stick, that 49 way thing, or something else?  Is the 49 way stick going to be compatible with my xbox?  Another consideration is I want to light the ball on the joy, I do have access to a lathe at school so I can machine the shaft myself probably...

[Ginsu Victim]

For the encoder, why not hack an XBOX controller instead? Cheaper option than using X-Arcade products.

For sticks, it depends on what type of throw you like, if you're a fan of leaf switches or microswitches, if you want circular or square range of motion, etc....

[u_rebelscum]

And for the 49-way stick, won't work without another board.  The weird 7 values per axis, in a special 4 bits format, can't be read by stuff not designed for it.  There was a circuit to convert it to an analog signal on the web which should work if you hack to the analog stick on the xbox controller, but I can't find it and it's been replaesed in use with 49 to USB encoders (which I doubt will work on xbox).

[DeLuSioNal29]

Try doing a search on a Pelican Real Arcade Stick.  They can probably be hacked since the buttons are the same size as normal arcade pushbuttons down to the microswitches and everything  (I know because I have one).  I plan to build an Xbox powered arcade in the future and I will use this joystick's guts in my control panel that I build.

Mine was about $50 US.

~ DeLuSioNaL

[Ginsu Victim]

I'v

Try doing a search on a Pelican Real Arcade Stick.  They can probably be hacked since the buttons are the same size as normal arcade pushbuttons down to the microswitches and everything  (I know because I have one).

Same here. I added pinball buttons and replaced everything in it. It was my practice run before moving onto an actual cabinet.