Xbox 360 Arcade Stick Project

Thought I might share this if anyone's interested. I'd appreciate some feedback!

I'm constructing a couple of wireless arcade sticks for my Xbox 360.

Here's what I've got so far:

The Box - This is made from pine. Not exactly the best place to show it, on a laminated table, but you get the general idea of what's going to happen.
http://s3.tinypic.com/syw5km.jpg

The Pad - A wireless pad butchered from a pink controller. The new pads are all common ground, so no extra circuitry required. I thought I was going to have to convert, but phewft! Soldering the contacts wasn't too difficult, you just have to know where to solder and then scrape the carbon coating off. Hot glue was applied to keep the wires in place. Next pad that I do will definitely have thicker wire, as this stuff is a nightmare!
http://s3.tinypic.com/azc31e.jpg

The Buttons - I'm using a mixture of Sanwa and Seimitsu buttons, but definitely a Sanwa joystick (you can see it in the picture above on the floor on the left!) The Sanwa buttons are OBSN 30mm and the Seimitsu are 30mm PS-14-GN and 24mm PS-14-DN.
http://s3.tinypic.com/2hgral0.jpg

That's all for now, I'll update again when I've done some more work! :)

Cool, I'm assuming this will be finished in time for SFIV? :D

I need to have three done by then, or I'm for the chop!

the corners of the wooden box might be a bit uncomfy on the legs though or are you going to pad them a bit?

All the edges will be routed with round over bits so should be nice and smooth.

cool, because the hori i have is a bit uncomfortable unless you pop it on a pillow.

look foward to seeing the results :)

say hello to my litto' friend!
http://s3.tinypic.com/2m7hm6e.jpg
Fitted with a 30mm spade bit for the button holes.

Awesome! Where'd you steel the drill press from?

bought it, from Machine Mart haha. It's my birthday present from Jen :D

Looks good, although I am looking at getting the purchasing team to get the Madcatz ones stocked at SCAN before SF is released, if I get any confirmation shall let you know just in case you don't get them finished in time :)

Good luck with the project, looks good so far

I'm not so keen on the MadCatz ones because they're wired, but if you could let me know anyway, that'd be great :D

Cheers Carl!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Steve B

I'm not so keen on the MadCatz ones because they're wired, but if you could let me know anyway, that'd be great :D

Cheers Carl!

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no way you could mod them to be wireless using the wireless controller(s) you've dismantled? :P

doubtful :(
Plus, I don\'t want to be paying over a hundred quid for a tournament edition just to tear it apart :P

What were you planning to cover the top of the box with or will it just be painted?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zap

What were you planning to cover the top of the box with or will it just be painted?

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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.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Carlh

Looks good, although I am looking at getting the purchasing team to get the Madcatz ones stocked at SCAN before SF is released, if I get any confirmation shall let you know just in case you don't get them finished in time :)

Good luck with the project, looks good so far

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*furious nod*:crazy::crazy::crazy:

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

Before:
http://s3.tinypic.com/2vlv38y.jpg
After:
http://s3.tinypic.com/qz0xfn.jpg

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.

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!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Steve B

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.

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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.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zap

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.

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Awesome! How far through are you?

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.. :p

NAUSBs have arrived :)
http://i44.tinypic.com/2uoo2gx.jpg
They'll all need to be reversed though!

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.

The Box
http://i40.tinypic.com/8w04yp.jpg

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 :D Spade bits are LOUD!

Router arrives tomorrow as well, so quite excited :D

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

The Box
http://i40.tinypic.com/ok5479.jpg

A new pad!
http://i44.tinypic.com/2ccpcex.jpg

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
http://i43.tinypic.com/30ms5qx.jpg

oh, and the box that the router bit and screws came in:
http://i39.tinypic.com/261mglk.jpg
slight over-use of packaging perhaps?

Add it to the thread of shame!

Packaging Fail

Stick is looking good so far!

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

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.

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
http://i41.tinypic.com/6scb3l.jpg

The Pad - Under Side
http://i43.tinypic.com/w8lxuc.jpg

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
http://i41.tinypic.com/1zvr61l.jpg

Shelf - Under Side
http://i41.tinypic.com/2e16jwp.jpg

Shelf - Stick Area
http://i42.tinypic.com/282g8s4.jpg