Project - VOLTECH Arcade Sticks

Tech Talk
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Update Here’s the link to my new trading post VOLTECH Arcade Sticks

Ok so I’m pretty much sold out and not making anymore Vewlix cases for a little while
instead I’ll be focusing on getting my VAS-HG case finished up.

VAS-HG Elite (actual case design may vary)

VAS-HG Lite (actual case design may vary)

All the same button layouts

Comming soon VAS-HG Elite slim “prototype” shown

Old Model

Finished cases by a few of my customers

I’m putting together a collection of all the sticks that I’ve built and what they looked like when they where finished.
So far I’m really impressed with what I’ve found let me know what you think.

** Finished cases**

Voltech’s stick (My first build)

My new baby :smiley:

Oak bros #1 (Solid Oak curved)

Oak bros #2 (Solid Oak angled)

Arifrancisco’s stick (B/W lacquer)

Vince34’s Akuma stick (blank maple)

Vince34’s Rose Stick (New)

http://homepage.mac.com/ficchi/.Pictures/RoseStick2.jpg

ice_berg_slim’s CE stick ( twisted Zebra)

sait0u’s stick (White Lacquer)

cue16’s stick (Black Lacquer)

Carlun’s stick (B\W Lacquer)

protomanSTi stick (Mahogany Stained poplar)

mekkanic’s stick (Black Lacquer)

Pasky’s stick (B\W Lacquer)

Deepthoughts stick (Black Lacquer)

Kyle’s Ibuki stick (full custom)

T.E. layout w\ Vewlix art

CE stick (White Lacquer) thanks to ice_berg_slim for the awesome artwork!

Perfect Legend (Fanta Stick)

MNWKA

True_Old_School

You can find more pictures of my completed sticks here

P.S. If you have a finished Voltech Aracde Stick that hasn’t been posted yet, I’d love to see it!

You can find more pictures of my completed cases here

P.S. If you have a finished Voltech Aracde Stick that hasn’t been posted yet, I’d love to see it!
Good work guys :smiley:

Hello SRK please take a minute to read through my post. My name’s VOLTECH,
I’ve been lurking and eventually posting here for some time now and I have to say I love this community :lovin: especially the Tech Talk and Good Games threads!

Anyway I’m building myself and a couple of friends a new custom fight stick. While I’ve built a few custom sticks before (see pics below*) this time around I’d like to document my progress and get some helpful input and advice from the SRK community before I begin.

My Goal is to make a hybrid stick that can mount both American and Japanese (Happ, sanwa\seimitsu and Fanta) layouts. I?m going for the best of both worlds in a standardized box with a clean and low profile design. (Low as possible Happ willing)

I’ve been doing my homework on this project so I have a pretty good idea of what I want and how I’ll go about doing it but there are a few areas that still allude me. I’ll be keeping a build log here to document my work and progress so feel free to follow along and leave comments. I’m open to constructive criticism and advice, that’s kind of the point of me making this public.

Bill of materials (BOM) for my prototype

  1. Frame: 1"x3" 4? Poplar (basically 1 foot board per box ) - because it’s the cheapest of the hardwoods and can be stained or painted easily (I plan to user other hardwoods later for the final build)

  2. Panel mount: 3/4" MDF - Seems to be the standard and is easy to work and shape.

  3. Joystick Mounting Plate: 4"x4" .080 2024 Aluminum plate ? I?m working on a universal mounting plate that will fit both Happ, sanwa\seimitsu and Fanta* sticks.
    Shown here with the Sanwa stick mounted

  1. Top Sheet: .1/8" Plexiglass - For it resistance to scratches and it?s fairly inexpensive and easy to work with.

  2. Artwork: 12?x8? photo paper - I?d like to put together a template so art can easily and quickly be made using photoshop. (I could use some help putting this together and could provide all the measurements including hole placement)

6.Button Hole patterns: 8 buttons Japanese\American Hybrid - I want to use one pattern to please them all so I?m thinking of doing something like this

Full size pic found here
Universal

*Vewlix

*Blast City

  1. Base material: (?) Here is one of my dilemmas. I could just use another piece of Plexiglass with 4 rubber screw down feet just like everyone else. (This seems to be the standard but is a little expensive) Or I could use a piece of hard board with a piece of closed cell rubber glued to it for a super comfy and sticky grip for lap and tabletop play. (This option is a little cheaper and feels nice when playing on your lap) the down side is that you don?t get to see the inside of the box and all its glorious wiring.

  2. Feet: (?) Either 4 rubber feet or a closed cell rubber covering the entire bottom???

  3. Glue: Titebond - This stuff is awesome!

  4. Dowels: Fluted Dowel Pins - these little guys will do the job

  5. Hardware: screws nuts and bolts - I haven’t worked out the sizes just yet

did I miss anything?

Q&A

Q. - Where are you from?
A. - I live in Huntington Beach CA

Q - Will you be selling these sticks?
A - No I hadn’t planned to but If I get enough interest and the demand is high…yes!!!

Q. - Can you make me a custom stick?
A. - Maybe down the road, for now I want to work on getting a solid box design then I’ll take it from there. So keep an eye on this thread :wink:

Q. - Hey I make sticks too ie pad hacks and wiring and or custom art, wanna work together?
A. - Maybe PM me lets talk

Q. - Will you make turn key sticks or just the bare bones kits?
A. - If the demand is there I’ll do it :wink: But in the beginning I want to focus on just getting a good box out there and then build on that.

Q - Where do you plan to build these sticks?
A - My dad has a wood shop at his house and I have access to it :wink:

Q. - Got any pics of your progress so far?
A. - Just a few models so far (see below) let me know what you think.

Q - What program are you using to make your models?
A - Google sketchup download it here http://sketchup.google.com/ it’s free!

Q - Can I see the other sticks you’ve built?
A - Sure see below* :smiley:

VOLTECH type 1 frame - My friends suggested I make one like this for them I changed up some of the angles and so far it’s the most popular. What do you guys think?

So here’s what I may go with since it’s the most versatile. Extra button can be used as a Sync button or a dedicated Dual switch mode button ie Toodles new Imp or just as a hole to mount what ever you want even a headphone jack or just a button plug ;).

I’ll save the headphone jack mod for the pros and since I use wireless I didn’t think about it sorry maybe next time.

Jack not included just the hole :wink:
http://www.markertek.com/ExtraImage.asp?item=NAUSB&i=HI-RES/NAUSB.JPG&t=Larger+Image
added to main page :wink:

Progress Updates

More pics can be found here
as you might notice it’s not perfect and needs a little touch up still :\ but over all looks pretty sweet!

New Hardwood Maple Case (sanded)

New design coming soon!!!
Just playing with some new designs let me know what you think

Here’s a sneak peek of the slim 2" and mid 2 1/2" models I’m working on. Both are just concept at this point and would be made of High end Hardwoods or Lacquered with piano black, white or died\stained finishes.

The mid size is in a new shape I can do in any size and may vary with a rounded edge as well.
I do not plan to take orders for these but I’ll just make a few of each and who ever wants it can buy it. I will be making some price adjustments once my list of the original 20 is complete.

Some of my previous work

More pics can be seen here
http://www.joystickvault.com/showphoto.php?photo=1001http://www.joystickvault.com/showgallery.php?cat=677
http://www.joystickvault.com/showgallery.php?cat=678http://www.joystickvault.com/showphoto.php?photo=1003&cat=676

Special thanks to 1esproc for putting the Sanwa buttons, joystick and mounting plates online.

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tagged

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Excellent prelim info. Looks like you are getting closer in building the ultimate Jap/American Hybrid Case. Congrats on your progress. I am sure many of us will be looking forward for the final product.

Yet another SRK innovation coming soon. I love this community for all its technical know how and helpfulness to others.

4

Holy smokes. Awesome stuff.

5

Go for it!!! Definitely looking good; hopefully you make a few with the original Vewlix measurements, since it sort of is a Japanese/American hybrid layout.

6

Wow, thankfully those MadCatz patents are pending because that shit is TIGHT.

Excellent work, my friend. Can’t wait to see what other corporate designs you improve on!

7

they can’t patent that design if it is already known :smiley:

and trade dress is highly debatable

but daaamn, that stick design is sexy

8

Just so there’s no confusion I made the Vewlix tribute model for a friend. I have no plans to try and take Vewlix or Madcatz designs and make them my own.

I may go forward with this build since it would be a fun project plus my buddies already fallen in love with the shape. To be honest I was afraid that I would get my self in trouble trying to make Vewlix knock offs and as a designer I would like to think I could come up with something original. So I changed up the cuts, shape and dimensions so it wouldn’t be an exact copy . What are your thoughts on this?

P.S. I will put up some of the other styles I’ve been tossing around and maybe do a vote for the most popular. With the materials I have I can probably make about 3 or 4 sticks so I’ll try and make them all different but with the same basic dimensions just to keep things simple for now.

I’m really hoping to make this a community effort so please let me know how you feel about this good or bad I wanna hear it. - Voltech

9

I’ve always wondered how you wire up the actual stick after you built the nice case and inserted the pretty seethrough buttons and sanwa joystick…

Do you just open a 360/PS3 joypad, take out the main PCB and solder directly on the points for the buttons and d-pad? Where do you get the schematics for the PCB so you know where to solder?

And how do you make it work for several consoles? Put the different joypad boards inside the stick? How does it know which system you’re currently playing on? Lotsa questions, but arcade sticks is such a rare thing to see in northern europe you have to build them yourself (or order from overpriced online stores). And these days, all the hori and madcatz sticks are sold out from all providers due to release of SF4.

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www.slagcoin.com and the stickies on TT

also VOLTECH those are some sweet looking designs, keep up the good work. i live in cypress so HB isn’t too far from me, maybe we can share some trade secrets as i also want to start building a very small number of cases for sale.

11

Oh wow.
Looks good.
The Hybrid is cool.

I would love to have one of your Vewlix-style.
In Japanese 6-Button though. :frowning:
I have not yet played a game that uses Eight Buttons.

You are Huntington Beach.
I’m Westminster, so I’m close to you. =)

12

You planning on making extras to sell?

13

wow this the shit man!

btw: you main chun on sf4? i have yet to see a chun

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I would not worry about it. If you are only making a few of them, there should not be a problem. I think Madcatz, who’s made a few thousand and counting, should maybe be worrying if they never consulted with Taito though.

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would be very interested to see how yours turn out. make a sample and if everyone likes what the see… u might just HAVE to start selling these! lol

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Taito and Capcom are pretty much a unit now. I am pretty sure that Capcom’s licensing of the product is a good sign that proper measures were taken :tup:.

17

that looks great.

18

Wow thanks for the support and a very special thanks for your site, it’s been a huge help to me and I’m sure many other people!
I can only hope this project can help a fraction of the people you have with the stick building process. Any input you have would be greatly appreciated your help and advice means a lot to me. :pray:

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Thanks I really appreciate your intrest !

For the most part this is true (though SF4 uses all 8 ie change the face in the match screen or map all 3 buttons to one for easy ultras or easy throws) I’m trying to cater to both styles of play and use 1 universal design also as an added benefit even the NeoGeo guys get their 4 button layout! Lets say I have a friend that only wants 6 buttons I can always put button plugs in the empty holes or just not cut the holes in the plexi and problem solved. The hole pattern will still be in the main frame so down the road if he changes his mind it’s an easy upgrade.

Westminster that’s right around the corner from me :smiley:

Thanks!

Yes I do although she plays completely different than I’m used to, I’m gonna stick it out cause I can that see she still has potential.

Yes me too lol
Well if things work out and I do decide to sell these sticks I’ll be sure to make a post in the correct thread found here http://forums.shoryuken.com/forumdisplay.php?f=224
For now this will just be my build log

Oh and a little update on the progress even if it is just eye candy.

(moved pic to main page)
Actual build starts 3/15/09

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Hey VOLTECH, since it looks like you’re using my LS-32 model, if you break the group you should be able to remove the S-shaped mounting plate (looks like it’s still on there). I’ll add a copy of the model without it when I get a chance.