A couple of years ago I bought some cheaper arcade sticks to get into fighting games. I was mainly a pad player before. Picked up datel wii arcade stick, hori 360 tekken 6 stick, and a mayflash universal. The mayflash was my favorite. I bought a couple of ps2 to x system adapters so I could use the mayflash on more and more systems. However, after about 6 months the stick and buttons became less responsive and loose. Shoryken’s became difficult and most came out as a hadouken on my mayflash. That was the sweet thing about the mayflash, we can update the buttons and stick. I went online and ordered a sanwa jlf stick and 8 clear buttons. I was researching on the mayflash and midway through the mod buying process I made several changes. The first road bump was the mayflash itself. The label was lifting up on me. Nothing major, but ugh. Also, I have big hands and sometimes my palm falls off to the left while using the joystick. I went to google and looked around. Kind of narrowed it down to the closeout madcatz wii stick that I would gut out, a metal case, the wood simple case, and the tek plexi case. The mad catz was tempting, but I didn’t want anything rigged. I would have to cut out part of the case or have unusable buttons. The metal case looked nice, but I wanted artwork and it was already high. Also, since I’m a below par solderer I don’t want to risk frying a pcb or console with my soldering skills in a metal case. The wood simple case was my second choice, but since I had bought snap in buttons I was worried it would work well. Also, I didn’t want to get into the whole sanding, priming, painting, and touch ups from palm rubbing the case. So I went with a tek case. It is really nice and no mods required. I customized the artwork and colors to match my theme. I almost went with a Ryu theme, but if I had to focus on a fighting character I have to pick the Over 9000 a. kicker. Since I already bought my buttons and stick I needed side items. I went to ettoki to get his button and joystick harness, 4 crown 28mm buttons, and these pcb feet to attach my pcb to the tek case. The 28mm screw down crown will fit in the tek 30mm cut outs. The ettoki harnesses are awesome. Not soldering on the joystick and buttons required only 9 solder points with disconnects at the buttons for easy replacement. I did jack up the pcb. I tore up two tin square connection points while desoldering the original mayflash button pcb. (Didn’t realize the desolder device had to be pulled down and released, thought it had to go the other way. I quickly used my iron to warm up the points and along the way pulled two tin square connection points. I had to use two jumper wires from the button harness to the button resisters further down the plate.) I went to focus attack for some bling for my stick. I picked up silence inserts for my buttons, the silent mod kit for the jlf that includes the awesome kawal att. and circle + hex plates, and tops for my stick. Couldn’t decide so I got light blue bubble, 45mm bubble, clear, and bat top.
Compatibility wise I have a ps2 to 360 adapter, ps2 to dreamcast, ps2 to gamecube, and ps2 to wii adapters to make this baby usable everywhere. I also picked up the cronusmax to let me use my joystick on a ps4 and xbone. I don’t have the xbone yet since there’s only two games I want on it at the moment (Killer instinct and Dead Rising 3). I have a ps4, but I wasn’t able to test the compatibility. At the moment the cronusmax doesn’t support ps3 controllers on ps4 directly, but sadly x-input won’t run on my older than dirt windows 7 tablet but I think my sister infected it with a virus. Using that method does work, just not worth re-setting up a laptop for injustice. I can wait till they update the firmware.
Looking back it probably would have been easier/cheaper to use a ps360+ pcb, but I already had half purchased before I began the sanwa mod and I love my final product. Pictures below. Please ask questions. I don’t remember seeing this done before. Not just the mayflash in a tek case, but also mayflash and a focus attack silent mod. (BTW, the etokki joystick harness won’t work on a regular jlf since there aren’t any disconnects. Better to snip off the cable that almost always comes with it and solder with the normal mayflash instructions.) If you go with a tek case, make sure to also buy another front plate. I bought one so I can use a neutric adapter later on. Who knows what we will be using on the ps5 and xbox two?. It will probably be something from the ps360+ makers or similar.
Also, on my tek case, the artwork, artwork covers, clear dust cover, and second front panel were extra as were the colored pieces. You can jump over to the builder on his site for a price estimate. I went with a clear blue on the left and right walls. Yellow name plate, yellow pcb long plate, blue pcb plate, gold support walls (super saiyan), black trim as the main front and bottom panels to frame my artwork. The tek case is very sturdy. I thought it might have some flex to it since it is plexi, but surprisingly it is pretty strong. I don’t know if it could stand up to being dropped at 6ft or being sat on, but the joystick was firm in the case and the buttons don’t spin (actually had to spin a button to match the artwork and had to open the case to turn it from the back). There’s no flex in the middle of the case while playing and I put it through some fast multiplayer matches last night on my sf4 on ps3. If I had to compare the sturdiness, I would compare it to something like the original ps2. Of course if you really push down you can get it to flex, but you really have to put the hammer down. He has a picture on his site where he bends it into the shape of a U and it can come right back from that. It didn’t flex at all inserting snap in buttons. I do have an extra layer with the artwork thin plexi cover, but seems to be very sturdy. He did modify how the jlf connects to the case and it is even stronger now, but I would probably recommend artwork since the screws are more visible now without the artwork. The screw head is now on the top of the case. Not a biggie, just an fyi if you are going for a 100% transparent look.
Please let me know if you have questions. Most of this has probably been covered in the past, but wanted to share and/or inspire.
