Another UK stick build

I desperately needed to build a new stick, my old one was way too tall and the layout wasn’t hot … the controls sucked too! :rolleyes:

I decided I was going to build a new stick and order Sanwa parts throughout, here’s the “design” and build so far:

Layout (297mm x 210mm internal dimension (A4 paper size), 69mm tall, 16mm thick)

http://stretchy.smugmug.com/photos/496646184_F9Ew7-M.jpg

Top board (297mm x 210mm, 6mm MDF + 2mm Plexi).

http://stretchy.smugmug.com/photos/496646267_igvaS-M.jpg

Assembled carcass (as you can see, I’m no carpenter :wink:)

http://stretchy.smugmug.com/photos/496645970_7ybtQ-M.jpg

Assembled with top boards

http://stretchy.smugmug.com/photos/496646108_u5hWm-M.jpg

Here’s where I am today (awaiting Gremlin to get through their eleventy million orders :bgrin: )

http://stretchy.smugmug.com/photos/496645905_i8KGQ-M.jpg

http://stretchy.smugmug.com/photos/496645856_vDCC7-M.jpg

Artwork stolen shamelessly from the Art forum, props to Kandoken for the awesome picture!! :rock:

I’m really happy with how it turned out considering I’m a server administrator, not a carpenter :bgrin:

Parts used:

  • 16mmx69mm skirting board! (B&Q 15 for 12m but I had 2m left over so free!)
  • MDF 6mm board (B&Q 4 for 1200 x 600mm)
  • Plexi (1.80 from eBay for an A3 sheet!)

Hopefully it holds up to a bit of abuse! Once the buttons and stick arrive from Gremlin I can figure out the best mounting solution.

You too can do this on the cheap :bgrin:

Dave

Yet another example of one of us Brits doing a bit of DIY… :slight_smile:

Hmm, the base looks wicked, considering they’re skirting boards from B&Q… o_o Might have to think about that one…

Is that a sticker overlay or a printout on the top plexi? If so, where did you get it printed?

Overall, looking good so far. Here’s to hoping the finished product is top notch… :slight_smile:

O-O~

Cool, looks nice.

How did you paint the wood? If you mount the joystick, wouldn’t it sit too low since you didn’t ‘route’ a spot for the mounting plate to rest flush with the case?

Also how did you piece together all the parts? Woodglue?

Looking great!

I was thinking about mitred corners, it does looks very neat - How are the corners and blocks fixed in position?

Any tips of shaping the a3 plexi down to a4, and drilling the holes?

Im waiting for gremlin too! hopefully this week…

I like the finished product man. White looks classy.

did a server administrator really do that? It’s quite amazing for a first stick.

profiled edges on the wood (router), perfect 45degree cuts. . . as a tip the plexi and wood top could be ordered online at the exact size to simply mount on top, but the case itself would have to be measured correctly to do so. Nevertheless you cut it yourself anyway. Paintjob looks excellent for first time.

Very nice. Moonlight as a carpenter or something heh.

Hello, can you tell me the process used for painting?

Wow, thanks for the kind comments everyone :bgrin:

Answers to the questions:

The art was just printed on a colour laser printer on normal A4 paper, this then sits in between the plexi and the MDF.

I figure I should be able to bottom mount the JLF as the shaft height is about 34mm IIRC so when under the 8-9mm of CP it should be around 23mm which I read is about perfect.

The corners and blocks are simply wood glued and tacked from both sides into the corner blocks then clamped until dry.

The paint is just 3 coats of ICI Satinwood applied carefully and a light sand in between coats (Just be careful not to remove it entirely on the corners!).

RE the profiled edges on the wood, the skirting board is already cut with a quarter circle profile :wink:

Dave

Good shit.

Nice jorb! I was thinkin’ about using some skirting boards to fancy up the edges of my eventual real-deal stick. Looks great.

Very nice, best set of skirting boards I’ve seen on a stick so far. Gotta give you props for managing it and not being much of a carpenter, wish I could accomplish something like that.

Thanks. Seriously, it’s not hard to cut the bits. I had to buy a table-top mitre saw to get perfect corners but that was only 15 (B&Q again :bgrin:) and will come in handy again in the future I’m sure.

All you need to do it measure, measure, measure and cut. Did I mention you should measure a few times? If you take your time and aren’t heavy handed with the mitre saw it’s easy.

Dave

A trip to B&Q it is then (didn’t realise they had any mitre saws in for that price), waiting for a friend to get back to me on whether or not he still has his hole saw, but if he does looks like i’ll be doing a bit of DIY.

Look forward to seeing it finished!

Excellent, glad to hear it. Be very gentle with the mitre when you’re cutting. If you put too much weight on the saw you will flex it and your cut won’t be true. I found that out the hard way and wasted quite a bit of wood unfortunately :sad:

The saw I bought was one like this:

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9372618&fh_view_size=10&fh_start_index=10&fh_sort_order=1&fh_sort_by=_price_rrp_min&fh_location=%2F%2Fcatalog01%2Fen_GB&fh_search=mitre&fh_eds=ß&fh_refview=search&ts=1237817149841&isSearch=true

Make sure you get the deep cut one if your wood is tall.

You’ll need to clamp the saw to a workbench so make sure you have some G clamps or similar to hand. I would also recommend buying a band clamp to hold the box together whilst glueing. I didn’t have one so used a belt from a pair or combats (one of those infinite adjustment types with a bar that presses against the webbing of the belt) and tightened it around the carcass squeezing it in shape from every corner :bgrin:

Dave

Looks awesome. I’m going for all-white buttons and paint too hopefully. Seriously that’s a damn good job. Cheers for the mitre saw link too! I didn’t realise those existed. My B&Q really sucks I think. Where is everyone grabbing small/cheap amounts of MDF etc too??? My B&Q only has massive blocks running at least 12. The less cutting I have to do the better as far as I’m concerned.

Should get on building it soon really. My parts should be here soon…just as my damn drill has packed up too :(.

EDIT - Out of curiosity where did you get the corner blocks from? I don’t need anywhere near the amount B&Q has on offer.

Thanks :smile:

B&Q should have the smaller sheets, they were lying horizontally at the bottom of the rack that all of the large sheets are slid into. Make sure you get one that isn’t warped though, lots of them were :sad:

The corner blocks were just bits I cut off of some 2x1 that I had lying around in the shed (the benefit of hoarding bits of wood I guess :bgrin:).

I notched all of the button holes for the OBSF-30s last night, the buttons now snap on to the 2mm plexi and the sprung bits rest in the notches, it works well! Unfortunately I didn’t have any suitable pan-head bolts lying around so I couldn’t mount the stick, more pics to follow soon!

Dave

Ah you went with the OBSFs. I ordered them originally but went for OBSNs in the end. Figured they’re a bit more versatile. Can’t get white OBSN-24s though so I had to grab OBSFs for the start buttons etc. Trying to fit them will be interesting to say the least. Got it figured out but knowing and doing are two different things.

Looks great so far!

I just pushed them into 24mm holes in the side of the box, they’re rammed in pretty tight and the sprung bits seem to keep them in place, time will tell I guess :smile:

Dave

i actually signed up to this forum because of this thread (even though i have been ghosting here for many many months)

just wanted to say great job and you have pushed me on with my own build! (going with MDF everything)

just wondering what your going to use inside (i assume your going to cross over everything from your last stick?)

and the two buttons in the top, i am also assuming that those are for the start and home buttons?

again, this is very very impressive to see (i actually keep this thread open throughout the day when thinking about my own box!)

one little teeny tiny request though :stuck_out_tongue: could you list the tools used in this build? (just to point out to other noob stick makers what tools you need to make a cheap box similar to this)

ohohoh and more pictures :stuck_out_tongue: you can never have too many pictures!