Xbox 360 Arcade Stick Project

[Steve B]

Did some more work on the pad today; this time the Play and Charge holder.

Before:

After:


The three screw holes that you can see in the bottom picture (reduced from 7) will be used to hold the board in place, inside the case.

[Steve B]

Ordered some more bits and pieces today:
Quick disconnects from Lizard Lick
Sanwa JLF stick from Gremlin
NAUSB connectors from Farnell to take care of charging

Hopefully these should arrive in the next couple of days!

[Stephen C]

The top is split into two layers:
1 - The surface layer, made from 2mm acrylic provides a protective cover for the art inlay.
2 - The support layer, made from 6mm MDF provides a place to anchor the buttons and the joystick.

The first box I make will be like this. The second box I make, I plan on making it out of a single piece of wood, like in an electric guitar.

That's what I did with my cab, although I accidently managed to split my Area 51 marquee trying to clean it with a damp cloth so I bought a couple of H R Giger posters and made a new marquee and art inlay for the control panel plus some lime green Sanwa sticks, black and lime buttons plus the T-Molding to match, still not finished though.

[Steve B]

That's what I did with my cab, although I accidently managed to split my Area 51 marquee trying to clean it with a damp cloth so I bought a couple of H R Giger posters and made a new marquee and art inlay for the control panel plus some lime green Sanwa sticks, black and lime buttons plus the T-Molding to match, still not finished though.

Awesome! How far through are you?

[Stephen C]

It was a complete Area 51 cab but I've had a change of heart so I've started converting it to run Mame, I was going to keep the Area 51 artwork but after breaking the marquee I figured there wasn't much point.

Last thing I did was cut about 10cm off the bottom of the cab to make it shorter (it's a behemoth), I also need to get hold of some speakers to hide where the cables from the Area 51 guns used to go, the whole cab needs some paint, control panel needs some T-molding and I could do with respraying my coin mech.

Still quite far from finished, I'm just really really lazy..

[Steve B]

NAUSBs have arrived

They'll all need to be reversed though!

[Steve B]

After a long period of absence, I've finally found some time to work on the arcade stick again. Hooray!

I've started epoxying the box together, pics to follow.

I've started preparing a second pad, which will use thicker gauge wire. My second Sanwa JLF arrived from Gremlin (finally!) along with some quick-disconnects from Lizard Lick. Again, pics to follow.

[Steve B]

The Box


It went together pretty nicely. Ideally, i'd like to have some proper bar clamps, but I'm having to make do with a solitary G-clamp. A trip to B&Q is definitely in order!

I've set up the pillar drill with the 30mm spade bit in preparation for the Guide button going in on the front panel (that's why it's not glued completely) but it's getting quite late for doing any drilling in my top floor flat Spade bits are LOUD!

Router arrives tomorrow as well, so quite excited

[Steve B]

Some more work done on the box today, a couple of holes drilled, router bits getting delivered tomorrow, so more progress then.

The Box


A new pad!

[Steve B]

Got the rabbeting bit for my router today, so did a trial run on the Guide, Start and Select buttons. Also got my tiny screws for the NAUSB connector.

The Box

[Steve B]

oh, and the box that the router bit and screws came in:

slight over-use of packaging perhaps?

[digit]

Add it to the thread of shame!

Packaging Fail

Stick is looking good so far!

[Blademrk]

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

[Steve B]

Got the new pad soldered up, but it's all packed up ready to be taken home, so will post pics later.
It also needs to be hot glued, as some of the contacts are incredibly small and delicate.

[Steve B]

As promised, some pics of the new pad. Unfortunately, a few of my smaller connections broke off on the way home The pads are fine, but I'll be taking the epoxy to work with me tomorrow so I can apply straight after I solder them up!

Got my stand-offs sorted out. These'll be recessed into the MDF top on the underside. Battery pack is in also, so she's all coming together.

The Pad - Top Side


The Pad - Under Side

[Steve B]

Been doing some work on the MDF shelf that will support the buttons and the pad, amongst other things.

I kinda raped the joystick bit, which is unfortunate. This MDF shelf will probably be used until I get my acrylic, then I'll cut the acrylic at the same time as another MDF shelf.

Shelf - Top Side


Shelf - Under Side


Shelf - Stick Area