Building a HitBox-like Fightstick from Scratch

A bit of background: I am a gigantic noob and I’ve decided to build something like a HitBox. I recently switched from an Xbox controller to a HitBox-like keyboard layout and could never go back. Since there’ll be no joystick, I’ll have no need for a weighty case and am just going to go with a sturdy tupperware container. Aesthetics aren’t really my concern (as you can probably tell :)). I’ll have no problems getting the appropriate holes in said container. I’ll be using Seimitsu buttons and will probably be ordering my stuff from Focus Attack.

I’ve been doing a lot of research for the past few days (including reading SlagCoin and many different stickies/threads) and haven’t found a tutorial on building a fightstick from scratch that isn’t 5 years old. The vast majority of tutorials regard modding prebuilt fightsticks, or delve into the details of soldering parts from extracted PCBs. As a result, I have some questions which may seem obvious to those who aren’t novices in the field, but whose answers are nonetheless difficult for me to find (they are in order of assembly):

  1. I plan to use an Akishop PS360+ Multi-Console Joystick PCB. Every tutorial I’ve seen deals with mounting this on an already existing PCB. If I’m building something from scratch—will I need some secondary PCB for this to work, or can I just snap my buttons in and connect them to the PCB?

  2. My buttons will be mainly Seimitsu PS-14-D 24mm. From what I’ve read, I’m able to use .110 quick disconnect wires with them. As far as my understanding goes, the above-linked PCB is solderless. My understanding is this: If I were to order these wires, I could attach the wires to the buttons via the quick disconnect, and attach the wires to the PCB via the screw-terminal. So, for 15 buttons, I require 15 wires—all/most of which would be attached to the same ground and to their respective PCB terminal. Is this correct?

  3. So, I mount the buttons to the case, and connect the buttons to the PCB. Now I need a means of connecting the PCB to the system (I’m mainly going to be using this on the PC). My understanding is: I use this USB cable to connect the PCB to a Neutrik adapter. I can then run a cable from the adapter to my PC, Xbox360, or PS3. Is this correct?

  4. My setup seems completely solderless (snap in buttons, quick-connect wires, screw-terminal PCB)—but I’ve been unable to verify whether or not this is actually the case. Am I missing some key steps/components here? Using these parts, is this all really solderless?

To summarize, my idea of the process is:
[list=1]
[] Mount buttons. Mount Neutrik adapter.
[
] Attach quick-connects to buttons. Screw in other ends of wire into PCB signal/ground (they’ll all be sharing the same 1 - 2 grounds)
[] Attach PCB to adapter via small USB cable.
[
] Attach adapter to PC via longer cable.
[/list]

Is this it? Am I missing stuff, hardware-wise?

Thanks to anyone who can help out. This is a bit long. :smiley:

(P.S. - Please, I don’t need alternative suggestions for cases/layouts and other things of this sort. I know that building may cost more than buying and modding a stick. I have access to the appropriate tools and know how much the above parts will cost. I know the typical differences between Sanwa and Seimitsu. I’d really just like the answers to these questions, and would be glad to discuss any other suggestions via PMs or something of the sort.)

  1. You won’t need a secondary PCB.

  2. For 15 buttons you will need at least 16 wires, one for each button’s signal, and one common ground “daisy” chain. The daisy chain is connected to one of two contacts on each button, and the other contact is connected to the signal wire for that button.

  3. That is correct.

I’m a long time hitbox user myself. You may want to look into this as well:

Basically it helps with the left + right = neutral issue I had with the hitbox controller.

If you don’t play charge characters much, it’s not that big of a deal, but worth looking into as it’s pretty cheap and easy to do.

IIRC PS360+ doesn’t allow for SOCDs anyway.

With an Arduino you could just use a PS2 keyboard. to control the game.