Building my first custom Arcade Stick, Hoping to get some advice

Tech Talk
1

So I decided to go ahead and build my first custom arcade stick. I found a nice tut here with tons of info that I’ve been reading up on: http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/example2.html
I’ll be going for that basic design.

So it looks like my ingredients will be:

1 SANWA JLF-TP-8YT JOYSTICK from focusattack.com
1 SANWA LB-35 MESH BALLTOP from canadian joysticks
10 30mm face buttons (8 face + start and select)
8 UILA RGB 5VDC LED LAMP
1 Cthulu MC PCB from focusattack.com
1 SPARKY PWM SMD LED CONTROLLER PCB from focusattack.com

~15’ 20(?) AWG Insulated Wire
~30 Various Connectors
Probably will be using screws on the butt joints
The basic measurements for the materials:

(planning on making all wood MDF)
1 12" x 8" x 3/4" Wood
2 12" x 8" x .093" Acrylic Glass
2 8" x 1-1/2" x 3/4" Wood
2 8" x 2-1/2" x 3/4" Wood
1 10-1/2" x 1-1/2" x 3/4" Wood
2 13-1/2" x 2-1/2" x 3/4" Wood

SO…
My big questions are:

  1. Where can I get some buttons that will look good with the Uila installed in them? I need the buttons to be screw-in I assume to work with the tutorial I am basing my stick off of. (I’m really uncertain if I even need screw-in) I have been having a lot of issues trying to find buttons that are clear(or at least similarto something like the seimitsu-ps14-k) and screw in; any suggestions?

  2. Does it matter what gauge the wire is or is it safe to stay between 20-26 AWG?

  3. Does anyone know of a good controller converter from PS3 to 360? I saw the chronus usb solution and was wondering if anyone had tested using it instead of going with the imp and 360 controller pcb.

  4. Do you have any comments about the materials I am using, from the wood to the stick or any other comments or advise? Do not know much about different joysticks so I went with the standard looking one from focusattack… T_T such a noob…

This is my first post guys, thanks for the help in advance!

2

22AWG stranded.

3

Thanks for the input; stranded is a good idea. Any particular reason it’s 22AWG?

4

Hi there, I’m also starting a custom stick :slight_smile:

Standard JLF + OBSF-30 stuff, all from www.arcadeshop.de (I’m in Switzerland).
I will code my own controller, because why not.

Are you mounting from below (using a “S” plate)?
What do you think about butt joints + dowels?

5

Stick needs a home button too?

6

Nah, Cthulu PCB takes care of you there. Start+select pressed simultaneously works as Home.

Good catch! I forgot to look into which S plate to get, I guess it would be easiest to get one that I could mount from below, I guess that would be the factor to determine how thick to make the top piece of wood + glass… Any recommendations on the measurements and type of plate? And I’m going to wrap the wood body of the arcade stick with tolex (the vinyl material on guitar amps) so I have no aesthetic reason to go the dowel route. It would look cleaner for a natural wood look though.

7
  1. Where can I get some buttons that will look good with the Uila installed in them? I need the buttons to be screw-in I assume to work with the tutorial I am basing my stick off of. (I’m really uncertain if I even need screw-in) I have been having a lot of issues trying to find buttons that are clear (or at least similar to something like the seimitsu-ps14-k) and screw in; any suggestions?

SEIMITSU PS14 KN 30MM SCREW BUTTONS, and they do come in clear.

  1. Does it matter what gauge the wire is or is it safe to stay between 20-26 AWG?
    Stay in between 20 to 26 AWG, 22 AWG stranded is common, easy to find and a good average size to work with, specially when it comes to screw in terminals and crimping.

  2. Does anyone know of a good controller converter from PS3 to 360? I saw the chronus usb solution and was wondering if anyone had tested using it instead of going with the imp and 360 controller pcb.
    THERE ARE NO GOOD PS3 -> XBOX 360 or XBOX 360 to PS3 Converters. For the money you spend on the Chronus you spend ALOT LESS just getting a Dual-Mod. There apparently an issue with the Chronus ifterfealing with the other players controller. Get the PS360+ PCB board. It does PS3, Xbox 360 and a few other systems and its all Auto-detect.

  3. Do you have any comments about the materials I am using, from the wood to the stick or any other comments or advise? Do not know much about different joysticks so I went with the standard looking one from focusattack… T_T such a noob…
    Hardwood, MDF and some kind of Plexy like Acrylic for the top panel. Decent thickness Sheet metal is good but not required.

This is my first post guys, thanks for the help in advance!

8

Thanks for all that great info! I found someplace with the ps360+ in stock so I guess I’ll go for that… Does anyone know if the headphone jack on this outputs game volume as well as mic chat? like if I wanted to run just a pair of headphones to this, would it get game volume? Or if I wanted to get crazy, run a pair of small headphone speakers to it to output game volume?

9

PS360+'s mic is just like the normal Xbox Mic. It only outputs chat, not game volume. I just built my first stick, a 2 player control panel with 2 PS360+s and voltech harness from paradisearcade. Very easy to install, and works awesome! I did have some issues updating the firmware on OS X, it didn’t seem to work well on OS X till I updated the firmware on both OS X and Windows. It “just works” on the PS3 and Xbox 360, which I was very happy with.

10

Thanks for all that great info! I found someplace with the ps360+ in stock so I guess I’ll go for that… Does anyone know if the headphone jack on this outputs game volume as well as mic chat? like if I wanted to run just a pair of headphones to this, would it get game volume? Or if I wanted to get crazy, run a pair of small headphone speakers to it to output game volume?

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The Mic jack only does chat and not game sounds.