My latest 360 'wireless' arcade stick *Heaps of photos*

I’d like to show some of my previous creations before I get onto my latest arcade stick.

First off, a joystick I made for a friend a little while ago. He’s known as Huzza on these forums. This was pretty much my first stick, I think it turned out alright and Huzza loves it, but there is room for improvement.

It looks different now than it did then (ball is different)

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Next up is an arcade cabinet I made using an Xbox and a 63cm television. I call it the Ultra X Arcade.

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A stick I made recently for my 360 using a wired controller. The cabling is a bit messy, but hey it works and you normally dont see inside the box. It was one I knocked up fairly quickly, made of plywood and uses a Sanwa JLW joystick and Happ buttons. The 360 controller I used was one of the old ones (without a common ground) so choosing a JLW over a JLF was probably the best idea. After using it for a bit (and seeing all the other awesome sticks on this website). I wanted to make a stick that used all Sanwa buttons and a JLF joystick seeing as the new 360 wireless controllers have a common ground, connecting a JLF is a piece of cake.

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Now, onto my latest stick, I wanted to go even further with this one and include the guide button complete with LEDs. This stick is made entirely of plexi-glass (Perspex for us Aussies), and uses all Sanwa parts (JLF joystick and OBSN-30 and OBSF-24 push buttons) Not sure the reason to go with plexi, I guess to be different in a way, but its easy to work with and with a bit of care, the results speak for themselves.

Ok, first up, here is a picture of the new wireless board. It does seem a bit cheap (quality wise) in comparison to the originals PCB but at least its a common ground controller now which does help is wiring up the stick and buttons. As you can see Ive already removed the left and right triggers and soldered in a 10k resistor in each so I can use buttons.

I dremelled out the back piece of the controller…

…so theres a way I can fit in the battery pack

Thanks to the guide by llama Lighting the dome, the centre dome of the guide button was cut out a little and I hot glued in a red and a green LED (this is to indicate charging and finished charging for the P&C cable). Instead of using four LEDs, I only used two, green on top and red on bottom, that seemed to suffice, plus the P&C only has output for two LEDs.

The piece that contains the LEDs for the guide button was a little trickier to make. I had to line up the LEDs the best I could so they would shine up the guide button but nowhere else. Once this was done and had the guide switch installed, it was simply a matter of wiring up all the ground connections and then running a wire to their respective points.

Here is a picture of the modified play and charge cable (thanks to Sinister Slipknot for the tutorial), as you can see I chopped the end off and soldered on a USB socket which will make it flush with the case.

Just finished the box, those two pieces of plexi running down either side of the joystick hole are for two reasons, one to give it a bit more strength and two to provide a place to screw on the plate. I opted to get an S mounting plate (dont know why they call it an S plate, as its not really shaped like an S, but anyway…) that way I wouldnt have any ugly screws showing on the top.

The whole thing is held together using Acrifix 192 glue. Its amazing stuff and gives a really strong bond when using plexi. I got it a while back from a local supplier, cost me like $20AUD, but it lasts ages. Make sure you are well ventilated because this stuff will send you high if you arent careful :wgrin:

http://www.eglider.org/images/uploads/acrif.jpg

Now, all primed and ready for painting

Picture of the finished wired up controller PCB. I hot glued the connections as they can be easily torn off, especially the points for the D-pad.

All finished!

Inside, again, not too neat, but you dont see it :razz:

Shots from other angles, the side buttons are the L&R triggers and ones at the back are the Start and Back buttons.

USB port from behind- the other black hole is for the sync button.

Lastly, the guide button lit up, when connected…

…and when the battery is being charged.

Overall Im pretty happy with how it turned out. Let me know what everyone thinks!

Holy Shit…
Couple questions/comments.
The JLF shaft is high enough that you can use the regular mounting plate, and put plexi over it to hide the screws/insert artwork etc, so you could have used that as well. Also, you say you used plexi, but you ended up painting over it anyways. I sorta expected a see through case but your final product kicks ass as well. Are you gonna put any clear coat on it or something similar?
It also says that you used that strong glue, so there are no screws holding the case?

I know I could’ve used the regular plate but this one just gives it a bit of extra strength. I painted over it because a) I wanted it white and b) to cover any small errors that I had to fill up with a plastic putty. There are a couple coats of primer, about 4-5 light coats of white and about 3 light coats of clear.

And yes, there are no screws holding it together. That glue is super strong, probably stronger than screws. It’s like liquid plastic, bonding into one piece.

The only screws are for the base plate :wgrin:

The glue actually melts the plexi a little fusing the pieces together.

A custom plastic case, that is fantastic! :tup:

Cool stuff!

wow !!!

good shit right there man.

why are u using a lan plug for your controller… err is that a lan plug or usb?

repped

It’s a USB plug for charging the batteries :woot:

I believe thats for the charge kit

*edit * Dreamcazman beat me to it :slight_smile:

i know its a usb to charge i was asking if it was a usb cuz it looks like a lan plug

Nice shit you have… congratulations ;)!

Congratufreakinlations one of the best customs I’ve seen yet. Just out of curiosity why did you use screw-ins for the main buttons and not snap-ins like you did for the other buttons. I’m repping you right now bro.

Dreamcazman, why not use an arcade button instead of that tiny Sync button? Also, it would be easier to use a standard AA battery pack from Radio Shack instead of dremeling off the original battery holder, but you’d lose the P & C support… Something to think about though.

What are you gonna do if you ever decide to replace buttons and such, or open it up?
Wait, I think I see the screw holes on the bottom.

I prefer the screw-ins. Easier to remove if ever I want to. I would’ve used screw-ins for the 24mm buttons too, but you can’t get them in white.

I wanted the sync button to be as small as possoble. It’s not something I’m going to be using that often (hardly ever in fact) Only time is if I take it around to a mate’s place. I thought of the idea of regular batteries, but that involves me having to open the stick all the time - call me lazy. :rofl:

Yeah, it isn’t glued shut, the base does come off.

Naa, that’s not lazy. There are multiple decent mounting options for an AA battery pack though. I’ll have to take pics of my wireless stick sometime (which I don’t like posting because it has a bad paint job, otherwise it’s nice).
I guess I just don’t like P & C kits because Eneloop Batteries are way better than any standard rechargeables.
Anyway, good job! It’s nice to see someone else doing a more advanced Xbox 360 stick.

I love the LED guide button work. I have been wanting to do that and have tried but those LED points are so damn small! Any tips?

How did you round out the corners on that plexi case? I’ve played on an all acrylic case before, and those sharp edges dig into your palms/wrists.

:quakevoice: HOLLLLLYY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!.. YOU ARE THE LEADER