That is one hell of a nice idea. I agree that it looks really difficult and time consuming. And yes, expensive! That would probably be awesome just for one mod but it doesn’t seem to logical to try and mass produce because of the time and money required to do it correctly. Kudos for your effort!!!:tup:
Incredible mod, now it just needs a glowing bubbletop and light up buttons.
for some reason it reminds me of the deathstar
It’s been in the works since before then; probably since March 2009. Most of the work done on this was in my head - devising how it would all go together. I didn’t have much time this year to sit down and get it done, but altogether it probably took a month.
Next time will be much faster.
Me neither. Actually in searching around to see if anybody had done this, I came across an SRK post from 3-4 years ago - some guy had the exact same idea but the farthest he got with it was a CGI rendering of his stick. So, props to him - can’t find the post now.
That would probably work well. I know the engraved images in plexi would glow brightest if they were lit from the edges, but backlighting would probably work fine.
Should be around the same price - you may have to use the A4 size EL Panel and cut it down.
The lamination around the cut edges needs to be as THIN as possible, so there was only one solution for that: 3 mil thickness Self-Laminating Sheets. I used “GBC Self-Seal”, a pack of 10 sheets. Here’s an example: after cutting the 8 button holes, you need to lay a section of lamination on both the front & back of the EL Panel to cover up the holes, then cut it out again (2mm smaller). You don’t need to re-laminate the entire EL Panel again, only the cut areas.
Do NOT get it laminated at Kinkos or anywhere. The EL Panel itself is composed of high-end plastic lamination and would probably melt in that process.
I think I’ll do that - I’ll make an update later.
Yes, I am. It’s the year 3000 - Daft Punk and Kool Keith say hello.
Thanks everybody for the kind remarks! I’m pretty much blown away by this myself. I have to switch it on and stare at it for a few seconds every single time I walk by it in the room.
My goodness that is tight!
You put up a youtube of that thing in action 
Bingo. We’re thinking alike. It’s in the cards. A light-up Vewlix TE that glowed all red & white would be dope as well.
Yeah, I’m not worried about HORI stealing this idea and mass-producing it, although that would be cool to see.
Agreed. I’m thinking an always-on LED mod would be better than the flashing lights.
That’s so dope. Thank you.
You can disregard all that unless you plan on cutting it into smaller sheets, which I wouldn’t recommend. You’d have to re-wire the actual sheets which would be a mess.
All you need to know is that there are 2 thin ribbon wires going along 1 edge of the EL Panel, and you can’t cut them. Beyond that you can go wild, from cutting as many holes as you’d like, to even cutting down the shape of the EL Panel as long as those 2 wires are intact.
Because of those 2 wires, I had to set it up with the wires trailing off into the base in the lower left-hand corner. It wouldn’t work any other way on an HRAP, because the BACK & START button holes would have cut through those wires if they were in the upper-right corner as I originally planned. Of course you could ditch those buttons or move them to the side… there’s a lot to think about when designing this mod.
By the way, I did buy from Glowhut on eBay and I recommend them. They answered all my questions, too.
Just print on the top. Backlit film isn’t clear, it’s white. So you wouldn’t see the image if it was printed on the back.
It’s also important that it’s white - you can’t use transparency. That way your white colors stay white when it’s powered OFF. Otherwise you’d see the pink color of the EL Panel when it’s powered OFF, if it was clear. The panel turns bright white when powered ON.
You don’t need UV inks - those are for powerful industrial applications, such as movie-poster sized displays where you’re blasting the ink with many UV lamps behind it. The EL Panel is so weak, it could never fade your artwork. I used my regular HP inkjet photo printer.
I got lucky with backlit film by shopping around A LOT, online and locally. I found a local art supply store with a 20-pack of 17" x 22" sheets on clearance for $50, regular price $100. So I’ll get 60 prints out of that by cutting them down to legal size (actually I use 8.5" x 13.5" through my printer). That’s less than $1 each.
I didn’t find any online that were such a great deal, and no place that could print them for me affordably. The service started at around $20-$30 per print. What if the color was bad? You couldn’t redo it yourself.
A black light would make any artwork glow. But the purpose of this mod was to eliminate the need for an external light source :smokin:
I want a panel like this!!!
Well done, that looks hella nice! 
I might have to drive down to Minni to check it out in person. That’s one sweet stick.
Good Job! That is awesome!!!
FUCKING AWESOME… I wish I had known about this when I made that BlazBlue template…
Somebody get on that.
I am SO looking into this for my next build. That is abso-freakin-lutely amazing. Well done.
Damn! I want this stick… to use on the holodeck. :tup:
A few more random pics: the metal control panel, EL Panel & artwork powered OFF & ON in daylight (hard to photograph), and the dark:
I thought the light shining sideways into the button holes might illuminate the Seimitsu buttons a little, but it doesn’t.
Oh well, it’s still the best joystick ever :rock:
And the final product, one more time:
Thanks again everyone for the very kind comments! I’ll be back…
That cracked my shit UP man!
Kool Keith!
HA!!!
“Rap moves on, to the year…3000!”
“Technics spin, rotate, them red lights illustrate!”
Fuckin dope!
Def one of the most creative and visually stunning sticks on here! GJ!
I do have a Kool Keith joystick on the drawing board, too… a light-up Black Elvis stick would be cool, or Octagon or whatever. Dr. Octo-gate :smokin:
Just stumbled upon it but VERY NICE and different.
:nunchuck:
Hey, VMS, does your panel or 9v adapter make a high-pitched electronic squeal? Mine do, shit. I can’t stand it.