I did use the edit button. No idea why it ended up as a double post.
is it just me or that the difference between the price in amazon.jp and play-asia is just too high? I mean look at the price. close to 10k yen is around 60 bucks, where at play asia it costs over 100 bucks.even with the shipping especially from japan with 3rd party companies it shouldnt be a problem to get this product and save 10-20 bucks at least.
its realy weird tho cuz so far no such a good quality arcade stick costs that low.also as I know they charge alot for the shippingâŚright now building my own stickâŚso for 140-150 bucks for a stick with shipping?uhh not my thing.
Overseas shipping in a timely manner plus tracking isnât cheap
So bringing this thread back from the dead!
Posted some lighter details in the âCheck out my New Arcade Stickâ thread, but I figured some of this info deserves to be in the actual dedicated Exar Exaprize thread.
Background story
So if you scroll up, back in 2013, I got a local metal-working company to laser-cut a custom Exaprize panel for me, with my usual Straight-6 layout. Problem was; the Straight-6 was too close to the lever, and make the wrist twist too uncomfortable. So in late 2013, I stopped using the stick entirely, took out the lever and pushbuttons to use in other projects, and put this casing back into storage.
Fast forward 5 years.
I needed a small and compact stick for Switch. Took this casing out of storage, went back to the stock Astro P1 layout (Iâm not great with it on a Street Fighter, but itâs fine for BBTAG and DBFZ, where I donât use the K3/Roundhouse button often, or at all).
First thing I did was to try to mount an LS-40 in there (my lever of choice).
Used a Seimitsu SS-Plate, and had a cut out a rectangular opening so that the SS-Plate can be flush under the metal CP. I glued 2mm of ABS plastic in the inside of the casing, and used the alternate mounting holes (the two closer to the middle) so that my old mounting holes (the outside 4 corners) can still be used for installing in a JLF.
This got me an LS-40 mounted at the proper height. The internal clearance is still very tight, though. I had to grind down the inside of the casing a bit more under the lever shaft. Itâs still not perfect; if you forcibly press the casing underneath the lever, the plastic casing flexes a bit and the bottom of the shaft grinds against the case. This only happens if I press it like that on purpose, and doesnât seem to affect regular gameplay, so Iâll leave it at that.
As like before, I hand-cut a matching sheet of plexiglass:
Used acrylic this time (instead of lexan like last time); it was just whatever I had on-hand. Was a pain in the ass to do, but instead of using hole-saws or forstner-bits, I drilled much smaller holes, and Dremeled the holes to size. Took some time and made a huge mess (acrylic shavings everywhere!), but it worked out in the end. Actually ended up [i]dropping[/u] the acrylic sheet on my still-running Dremel a couple of times during the process, caused some pretty bad scratches. Had to sand/polish/buff that out; itâs only still visible if youâre looking for them.
Clean-ish wiring:
Used a PowerA wired Switch controller (needed this stick for Switch, and the PS3 compatibility is a bonus, since where I generally take this stick has a Switch and a PS3). Mounted the standard 20-pin header on it so that I can easily swap it into any other of my casings, and redid the wiring so that I have a 20-pin connector.
Top sub-PCB has a 6-pin connector for the buttons; I wouldâve liked to keep the pin-header on the PCB itself (rather than off a section of wire), but the pitch of the pin holes didnât match what I had on-hand.
Put in Seimitsu PS-15 buttons because the last time I put in PS-14-G snap-ins, the tip of the QDs were pressing against the inside of the bottom of the casing (and I even wire up my QDs from the inside for a cleaner look too!)
My existing mods from 2013 were left in place: micro-tact switches under the secondary buttons, and a Micro-USB jack for detachable cables.
Outside, finally done:
Artwork was roughly inspired by the Hori âswooshâ stock artwork; I think the art style around the lever and buttons are inspired from another one of Horiâs sticks. Added a hex pattern overlay on everything because hex patterns are tight.
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Seems like a perfect match for the switch!
Figured again that I should post this here as well since my main post in the âCheck out my new arcade stick!â thread will eventually get buried. Last case/structural mods to my Exar Exaprize from ~8 months ago (above).
Changed the Seimitsu PS-15 button colors to yellow-rim black-plunger.
Changed the shaft- and dust-cover to have the same color scheme as the buttons.
Added a DPDT switch on the side for console selection on dual mods (although thereâs still just one PCB in there at the moment).
Added 4 mounting holes at the topâŚ
So that I can do this:
Hereâs the back:
The mounting claws were a Switch-specific mount, but originally made to mount behind a headrest. The hinged arm was originally something with a suction cup to mount a cellphone to a car windshield. Cobbled the two together, and added a bunch of custom hand-made ABS connection parts. Didnât have any 4-40 thumbscrews handy, so I basically made my own using countersunk 4-40 screws epoxied into some custom-cut ABS âpucksâ.
The original idea was for this to be drill-less and have the mount held on by magnets, but those werenât strong enough to securely hold everything up without collapsing at the slightest bump.
Inside.
I mainly just added the dual-mod switch, but itâs two 4-pin headers that go into that DPDT switch. No second PCB at the moment, but Iâve added an ABS panel on the lower-right for whenever that happens.
And if I had any games that supported it, I can rotate it into tate mode too!
Just waiting for a physical version of Ikaruga to be released!
3 Likes
Great work, this is beautiful! Incidentally I was on the lookout for stands like this for the switch, I was hoping I could just use one in front of a stick, not ready to commit one stick to the cause, just wanted a nice stand for gaming on any given table and stuff like that.
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Yeah, I was originally on the same train of thought; I wanted something to hold up the Switch while I played on an arcade stick, without physically modifying the stick itself.
My original design had an extra base that I would place (and somehow clamp) the arcade stick on, and the Switch would mount to that. But I scrapped the idea because having that extra base to carry around would not be practical.
I ended up dedicating my Exaprize to this because a) itâs portable as Hell, so it suits the Switch nicely, and b) the way itâs mounted now, I can play with the arcade stick on my lap and still have the Switch mounted (say, in an airport waiting area); this wouldnât be possible if I needed a table to support the console.
I hear you man, this is an ultimate on the go solution, very cool. Hoping one day the mainstream catches on and makes a tabletop like device for the switch. Iâve seen some stuff but nothing worth talking about, at least nothing even remotely close to the quality you have displayed here.
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