Basic questions about Arcade Stick building

Tech Talk
1

Hey everyone,

I’m new to this forum and want to ask some questions about Arcade Stick building that might not be advanced enough to make it into the Tech Talk, but might be too much to post in the “SRK Newbie Saikyo Dojo Arcade Stick FAQ (Read this before asking questions)” Thread.

I’m planning on building my own Stick, the actual building has to wait until somewhen in the summer, but things will be easier then if I already have final plans and templates (as I’m not experienced with that kind of work).

To give you a brief idea of the kind of stick I want to make I’ll leave some notes here:
(Note that my plans are in a very early stage)

Basics / miscellaneous:

This is going to be a 1-Player Stick.

As I’m only playing on my PC I don’t need PS3 / PS2 /X360 support, however, I guess it’d be a good idea to take an Xbox 360 controller PCB anyway, to rely on the support from “Games for Windows Live” and having the convenience of an USB Cord.

The Arcade Stick should have a detachable USB Cord, though shouldn?t be wireless.

The most part of the Enclosure will be made of MDF.

Layout:

I want every Pushbutton and Joystick on top of my Arcade Stick in the control panel. With six buttons in a standard Japanese layout, as start and guide buttons I want to use slightly smaller buttons in the upper left-hand corner.

Hardware:

Based on the information I?ve got from slagcoin I want to pick up the Sanwa JLF Joystick. As the difference between Seimitsu and Sanwa buttons doesn?t seem to be that crucial I want to pick up the 30mm Screw-in GNC buttons ? mainly for the modding purpose. As mentioned in the ?Layout? passage above, the upper left-handed corner pushbuttons will be smaller buttons ? maybe some Sanwa / Seimitsu Screw-in 24mm buttons, or those 28mm player imprint buttons.

Enclosure:

As for the enclosure, I?ve not set my mind for a specific case. I really like the look of those QANBA sticks, but they don?t seem to be slanted ? which is what I?m mainly looking for.
On the other hand I don?t even know how to build a slanted case ? a so calledidiot box (pretty devaluating name) seems to be much easier to plan and therefore to build.

1.) That idiot box is a box-in-a-box design, right?

So much for my brief plans, and it doesn?t seem like I could get a hold of heavy machinery ?no circular saw, no router and not even a multitool. Whatever, lets continue the questions:

2.) How do I get all those holes and cuts in the acrylic? I?ve seen someone trying it with a fret saw ? sawing for ten minutes with frequent pauses to prevent melting and not getting a centimetre further.

3.) Using this layering:

How thick should the bottommost layer be?

4.) How thick should the acrylic be?

5.) Building a case like this:

How do I slant it?
(I don’t want to build a Bumblebee either)

6.) If my PCB doesn?t have a common ground, can I grab anyone and use it for all the buttons?

7.) How do I get a sense for the general size?
a. How much room do I generally have to leave in every direction of the Pushbuttons on the control panel to keep it comfortable?
b. What are the most common dimensions?

8.) I can’t get a scale print of these layouts.
I guess I must have misunderstood the instructions. Let?s take for example the ?Standard Japanese arcade layout? with 300 PPI. This picture is 2621 pixel wide. So we do have to divide this by our PPI count, right? So 2621 / 300 = 8.74 inches; so that my German mind can visualize anything from that I have to multiply that with 2.54, this equals 22.19. And this again means that the printout must be ? sorry, I?ve got the wrong measuring tape (laid out 22.19 inches) … but then again do 8.74? from the joystick to the Pushbuttons at the far right (which there are 8 of) seem pretty short. Did I get it right?

2

Ummm you have a lot of questions. I have only modded some madcats sticks so I probably cant help much.

I think you should go here if you havent already:
Tech Talk

Try asking one question at a time here and in the right thread. I kinda doubt someone will be able to answer all of these questions at one time. I could be wrong though :sweat:

Edit: I just noticed you have been there. Well if I were you, I would continue there.

3

Hey kataridragon,

I haven?t posted yet in the Tech Talk. That was my first post in this forum.
I just figured it?d be a good idea to have all of my questions collected and since Starcade RIP suggested in this thread to only post more advanced questions in the Tech Talk section I thought this was the best way to go.

Thanks for the advice though, maybe I?ll ask the moderator tomorrow to shift this thread over there.

4
  1. Use a hole saw. They are ideal for drilling button sized holes into things. You should have little trouble with it as long as your drill is powerful enough, as you’re working with rather thin plexiglass.

Alternatively, you could find a CNC place and ask them to do it.

  1. The thickness of that layer doesn’t really matter (unless you are bottom mounting your stick, then in which case you’d want it at least 1/4" thick). You could even omit that layer entirely if you really wanted to…

  2. An eighth of an inch is the popular choice for plexiglass. Thinner is more prone to cracking, thicker is more durable but will shorten the height of your stick.

  3. Building a bumblebee is pretty much what you’re going to have to do (even if you try to use a different slant box design like Cicada’s or MAS’, the process ends up being almost the same), unless you want to just halfass it and build a regular box and then only apply two rubber feet at the top to give it a slant or find other lazy ways to achieve a slant.

  4. If your PCB does not have common ground, you must use the correct ground for each signal. Square’s signal to square’s ground, X’s signal to X’s ground. No mixing it up.

  5. You typically want a few inches to the left and bottom of the buttons/stick to have a place to rest your hands. The other two directions don’t really matter, unless you intend on having buttons on the side or top of your stick, in which case I’d give yourself a few inches.

It depends on your tastes, but you’d want your stick anywhere from 10-16 inches wide and about 6-10 inches the other way. For comparison’s sake, a TE’s top panel is about 15"x9". Use a piece of printer paper (11"x8.5") to get a sense for how much space that is.

  1. Yes, 8 inches is right for that layout. This may seem small, but in the interest of space a lot of stick companies have opted for button layouts that keep the stick really close to the buttons. You can always give yourself more space between if you want.

When you go get it printed out, just tell the employee to have it printed out at 300dpi (the file itself should specify 300dpi). Or, you can print it out yourself, simply take the file, shrink it to 33.3%, and then print it out on your home computer (home printers default to 100dpi, but you should be able to specify your own dpi as well). You may need to crop it a bit so it’ll fit on one page.

5

Thank you for your answers, I?ll get into them separately to keep it neatly arranged.

If it?s going to be too expensive in a CNC place or if I don’t find one near me, would you have any advice on the actual cutting?

I want to top mount the joystick on that layer, just as in this sketch.

Thanks.

I don?t want to halfass anything; I think we are talking past each other.
What I meant was that the bumblebee viewed from the side looks like a triangle and I don?t like that very much. Instead it should be like a triangle sitting on top of a rectangle ? if that makes sense.

Thank you.

That?s very helpful, thanks.

Alright, I?ll give it another try tomorrow.

6

I’m going to go ahead and toss this over to tech talk. You’ll get a lot more feedback there, hopefully.

7

Thank you for moving this thread, I hope it will get more attention over here. I?ll summarize my remaining questions in this post ? I hope this thread stays clear thus.

1.)
How do I make straight cuts through acrylic glass (3 ? 4 mm) without power tools?

2.)
Building the box of the Arcade Stick ? is it needed to build a box-in-a-box to keep it sturdy?

3.)
As I’ve seen thisthing in multiple Arcade Sticks in this forum, what ist the exact size of the mounting plate?

EDIT:

Got another one for you! :slight_smile:

4.) How thick screws will I need to mount the Sanwa JLF Joystick?

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  1. you cannot. An expensive acrylic cutter tool or a table saw with a high tooth count blade is the only clean way to cut acrylic. There is a hand tool, but it will probably be very rough. At the place where you can buy acrylic, ask for it to be cut to size.

2)No. You can use butt joints with dowels. People often add corner post for added stability.
http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww301/rtdzign/MiniStick/th_c572e521.jpg http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww301/rtdzign/MiniStick/th_DSC04394.jpg

3)Don’t know. You mount it in a 24mm hole.

4)I use 6-32 thickness machine screws.

9

Thank you for the information.

Building the case like this - will the face where the dowels where sticking out of be flush enough after sanding with a sanding block and painting that no one will be able to point out that there are any?

10

Yes you can sand them down flush, smear some wood filler over any gaps and then paint over. In my cases I kind of like how the dowels look after I apply varnish, especially if the wood around the down is dark.

11

Thank all of you for answering my questions. I’m pretty happy that I found this place. Maybe I will post a worklog somewhen in the summer. I’m pretty sure though, would I tell you that I’d definetly post one - something would come in the way. I’m not superstitious or anything …

EDIT:

As I was working on the sketches for the stick I discovered something that could become a problem. Here is a Sketch of the Arcade Stick from a top view - the blue/purple - ish area marks where I plan to place the acrylic glass - the surroundings will just shape a frame around the glass and control panel while being on the same level to ensure comfort. The acrylig glass is just supported by the two 20 mm x 160 mm ledges placed underneath it.

http://www.abload.de/thumb/topvieww-ocpxo7s.png

The actual control panel will be layered like this:
4 mm acrylic glass – The closest (while thicker) thickness to 1 1/4 inch I can get here.
Art --------------------| - The buttons will screw into these 3 layers - so I don’t need screws in the glass.
2 mm MDF -----------
8 mm MDF - This is the closest (while still thicker) MDF thickness to 1/4 inch - that I can get here.

Do you think this makes the control panel rigid enough to not sag while I’m button-hammering?

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13

Thanks for that, I wanted the info about that plate to draw it into my sketches - I wanted to sink it into a 5 mm MDF layer (with a 15mm MDF layer right behind that). But the needed information isn’t really noted there as the mounting plate doesn’t seem to be a square.

14

Of course both measures are stated in the pics. 1 in the upper left and the other in the lower left picture :wink: -> A=26 mm, B=31 mm

15

Thanks! I have overlooked the second size. Now I’ll put it in there as well.

EDIT:

I hope this question doesn’t get lost in this thread:

16

Hey everyone,

thanks for helping me out so far. I just want to bump this thread since it’s almost off the second page.

17

you should use the “thread tools” to “subscribe to the thread”.

18

Thanks, how did you know that I didn’t subscribe to it? Although I believe that I set it to do that automatically, I didn’t get any notifications, which I set now manually.

Just in case someone doesn’t read the whole long thread but the last two (or so) posts I will add my question here again: