Now deBoru, I think you got a pretty good deal in the end 
They are coming!
I need this so badā¦ really, really badā¦
I totally agree and Iām totally stoked to be part of it, even if that part was a little smaller than I thought I was capable of.
I want this product to explode (figuratively of coarse), finally there is an open platform that anyone can get their hands into.
@fearless, Iāll cut another JLF gate for you when you order too.
Steve, who some of you have emailed back and forth with and is the electronics and programming master behind the scenes is revamping some of the code I wrote for the demo to make it much more efficient. We are pretty sure the whole thing can come in under 8kā¦ Boards will launch with the optimized code installed. I will make a video on loading code to the board before Saturdayā¦
Ok, thanks for let me know Armi, just let me adjust my bucket and I will put my order immediately!!!
Seconding wanting pictures of this stick. Is the Pink Top Joystick nearly the same? Asking because it an identical description.
Iāve been eying this thread for awhile now and Iām mostly set on buying my parts from your shop. Iām still trying to figure out exactly what items I buy to get the feel I want though. I want an engage distance the same as the one as the gold custom actuator when you demonstrated it in a nearly year old video, and a throw about 1.5x that much. Enough tension that it wonāt hang on a direction and little to no deadzone waggle but little tension as not to impede movement.
In the description for both the black and pink top joystick it says that it recenters perfectly which is why Iām interested in it. Recentering is pretty important if you want a stick as sensitive as I do. Iām assuming that means itās better than other sticks in this regard. What makes it better? The pivot shape? Would be nice to have pictures of that too.
Also it might be good to have a list of every individual part that is included with a purchase on a page. For example, on your JLF page it is pictured without a balltop. Does it come with one? List could help novices like me whoāve only used HAPP/Sanwa sticks and some knock offs.
The pink is the same as the black top. Engage is pretty short but if you want a long throw you might have to wait if Armi releases the actuators he talked about. There will always be deadzone wiggle no matter what the stick, however if you use a tighter spring such as the JLF Custom Springs, you can fix that.
Recentering is due to the tension of the spring, more tension, quicker and stronger recenter. The pivot is shaped similarly to a JLF, but is metal instead of plastic.
Also from what Iāve seen, the JLFs and sometimes other sticks donāt always come with a balltop.
If you want a stick with large throw then best bet is the JLF. Out of all the Sanwa and Seimitsu sticks that are commonly stocked everywhere, JLF has the most throw range. If you want even more throw range, well uhā¦ I dunno what to tell you.
Actually, it sounds like what you want is something more like a LS-32, LS-40, or LS-56. I only say this because they typically have shorter engage than JLF, and if you want to actually increase the throw then simply remove the gate and screw down the switches. Be warned though that it will feel like a circle gate simply because youāll have nearly the full range of motion of the pivot with no restriction other than hitting the switches. You will have no corners with this method.
Youāll never get rid of dead zone wiggle. You can put on a super tense spring and youāll still have some range of dead zone wiggle.
Sorry guys, Susan had a minor procedure in the hospital this am, and we just got homeā¦ Lots of fun discussion though.
Let me get into the joystick discussion a little later.
Right now I want to clarify something:
The Kaimana is 90% posted on the site and just needs to be turned on with some tweaks. We did run out of time yesterday and Susan was in surgery this am, it will be done later today. Hopefully the RGās will go up today or tomorrow also.
I am going to try to clarify, without creating a s storm, what our position is on the Kaimana. I am not going to discuss features of other solutions in this thread as they are not released and we donāt have the information outside of what the people creating that solution have disclosed. This information may or may not change over time and is not important until they release their product, if and when they release.
What is the Kaimana?
It is an Arduino based board that allows for RGB animation and LED control in a variety of environments, including fight sticks. The goal is to give people an extremely easy Rgb led system to install that requires no knowledge of programming, but is only limited by the imagination of hose who decide to explore the possibilities.
Why open source?
Open source allows for an unlimited number of combinations including different applications. Just in fight sticks the combinations go on forever. The variations can be adjusted to suit each particular modded fight stick, layout, colors and even fighting style. The uses are so vast they can extend well beyond the standard applications, for example, we already have someone installing the Kaimana into a classic arcade game to provide animations on the control panel.
Can I use the Kaimana if I donāt know how to program arduino?
Yes, as it was pointed out the Kaimana would be useless unless it has code installed. Lucky for you, it comes with code installed! Pretty much any micro controller device is useless without code installed. In the last week there have been 8 different versions of Kaimana software created before it even launched (we are adding 2-3 more today)! To load these different codes, you download the free arduino environment, open the file, plug the board in with a USB cable, and press upload. Thatās it. You do not need to know how to do anything other than open a file, and select load.
I heard that open source means I have to be a programmer!
What it means is that if you decide to mod your stick to match your fighting style, color choices, or whatever you can. Or you can use the dozens of premade animations and programs. They key thing is that with a supported open source project, the choice is yours. Enjoy premade programs, create your own, modify an existing piece of code, itās all up to you. Want 7 buttons instead of 8, no problem, different layouts, what ever you can think of, the flexibility is amazing. Have an 8 button stick you just want cool animations for, just plug the board in and you are ready to go!
How is the Kaimana different than the Sparky?
- It communicates directly via standard USB connections, no adapter required.
- It allows individual led RGB control so color animations are possible
- The Sparky relied on other peopleās hardware to function, the Kaimana has hardware built specifically for it, and it is built to work with a variety of other peopleās hardware.
- the Kaimana uses indexed LEDs and is expandable to handle more LEDs than we have ever seen in a fight stick.
32teeth did a kick as job with the tech available at the time!
āWho do you go to when your code doesnāt compileā, well first there are forums and forums and forums going over this. Second, Paradise will be offering some support to help people with novel animations and combinations. We are actively looking for animation suggestions and coding possibilities and will be demonstrating more of these in the upcoming days, weeks and months. The best part is, if you create your own amazing code, you can share that and earn store credit.
"For the Kaimana to be successful, it must foster the support of those who desire to learn how to code arduino, create patterns, or input based effects, and share them."
This is just a misunderstanding of the project, the possibilities will be endless if the community expresses themselves creatively the way they normally do. However, 1-2 new patterns will be available every week for the next 4 months. This is the commitment Paradise is making to the board, we will continue to develop new code that can be implemented for free! If the community embraces it and has fun, that number could grow exponentially. This is the idea of open source. Even if not one community base code project is submitted, there will be dozens of scripts each with 10-20 options of color and set up allowing for 1000s of possibilities.
Are we launching with a UI, no, but does this mean we wonāt have one in Novemberā¦ With the open source nature of this, if customers ask for a solution, itās very easy to create the answer. Again, not to drive this point home to hard, but if you have an idea, you donāt have to build your own LED board, you can express that idea on the Kaimana. share it, and earn credit for it.
Can you create complex animations and patterns with 32k?
By allowing an easy way of uploading code to the board the Kaimana limits the amount of extra space required to store unused code. We have no doubt that the capabilities of this board will be well beyond what people can currently imagine. Entire classic arcade games were created with less than 32k. So what if you go beyond thisā¦ trust me, we have plans 
There are entire Christmas light extravaganzas run off this level of memory. The pinball movies posted earlier this year were run off the Kaimana, mutiple lights reacting to targets and inputs. I could really go on and on.
Just like a great match, we all want to win, but when you get up for the match after you need to remember you are part of a community. Without that community the match would not exist, and life would just not be as fun.
As with all our custom products, silent pads, shafts and more, the Kaimana will be available for wholesale distribution. We encourage other vendors to let us know if they would like to carry a product from out store, we are happy to provide our products for distribution, we see this as a way to build community.
Thank you for your support, we are very excited for the new possibilities. New movies will be posted of the Kaimana with some fun new features tonight!
Would Susan be okay? I pray for a speedy recovery.
Sheās all good, thank youā¦ Sheās so good despite not being allowed to drive she is going to the office supply store for fun. OH BABY I have a hot one!
Hmmmm, what showed up in my inbox tonightā¦
Big dayā¦
The Kaimana series is finally posted!!! programs coming this weekend. All boards will be shipped with the rainbow attract mode and light on with button press.
http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/1656-large_default/paradise-kaimana-led-controller-pcb.jpg
Alsoā¦ Susan brought RGās on board. OBSFās are up, OBSNās are soon to follow!
http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/1670-thickbox_default/sanwa-obsf-30rg-red.jpg
Great news indeed!!! Iāll try to catch some later!
Congrats to Susan (ladies first!) Armi and the rest involved in this project for make this happen!!!
Hey armi, I made an order on the site and nothing pops up under my account regarding that order. Apparently this has been the 2nd time even though last time susan was able to track down the order in paypal.
This happened to me as well, i payed using paypal but nothing is showing in my orders. Iāve just sent an message over about it via the contact details in the website.
Congrats on the Kaimanaās launch!
Howdy yāall, I need this Kaimana in my arcade cabās life, show me the way!
Iāve got 12 Sanwa OBSC (30mm) 6 Sanwa OBSC (24mm) and two JLFās. Iām not concerned about lighting up the JLFās right now but the buttons I want flashing. So what exactly do I need to purchase from Paradise to get those 18 buttons lit up? Iām browsing through and getting a little confused on how everything is connected.
Thanks a bunch!
Zensouken, are all 18 buttons on one cab?!
Or is it like 10 per cab (ex, 8 for face buttons, 2 for st/ sl)
Well, lets just assume you need 10 buttons lit up for a standard stick:
1x Kaimana PCB
10x Kaimana Jās
For the harnesses, they can easily be chained together. Look at the KJ and youāll see 2 wire harness headers. For the first LED in the series, connect 1 harness to that 1st led (header IN) from Power on the Kaimana (look on the wiki for available power source spots). Connect another harness to that 1st led (header OUT) and connect it to another LED (header IN) and repeat for all LEDs in the series.
PCB - X - X - X - X - X - X - X - X - X - X
If X denotes KJs, and - denotes harnesses, youāll need 10.
10x Kaimana Harnesses. BUT, if I were you, Iād buy extras. Every arcade store in the history of arcade stores ship out some faulty harnesses. It not to their fault or anything, it just happens. Sucks to just about complete your set upā¦and then one of the harnesses dont workā¦
Whats the deal with these RG buttons? Whats special? Whats different? Clearly the micro-switch but can anyone elaborate?
several differences, just my observations:
- Operating life is way longer (rated 5,000,000) than standard Sanwa sw-68 switches (rated 1,000,000), suffice to say, these can take a hell of a lot more beating.
- The switches themselves are reed based, they are magnetic contacts (similar to sanwa jlf silent D2RV-Gās), there is a very very faint click on actuation if you really put it next to your ear. but you really wont hear or feel any click when youāre playing. its smooth as butter.
- the actuation point is lower, like, almost exactly when the plunger hits the rim (when you hear that āSLAPā sanwa sound). and not as sensitive as standard OBSF. (avoids accidental presses more!).
- The buttonās Operating Force is a TINY bit higher than standard OBSF, but they are not as hard as seimitsu buttons. kinda like in between but more on the sanwa side.
- over all more solid feel when pressing (imho).