Uhh, maybe we should wait until I actually have something to show. Right now, I’ve got drawings, schematics, measurements, and that’s about it. Maybe when I get a proto housing made and post up some pictures then.
But we’re so HYPED UP RIGHT NOW.
I assume it would be smart discussing finances now, though. Even if the housing design is efficient on material, moving a somewhat mass production of them would be expensive.
Sanwa should still own the moulds of the Flash1 housing, even though it isn’t being produced. They may be interested in selling them if they don’t plan to use them any more. Although they would still be pricey, it would be nothing compared to having a new mould produced. Then again, the cheapest option I can think of would be to ask a local college with a cnc machine, or rapid prototyping, they might produce a small run for a low cost, although lower quality they still might be sufficient for this. I’m probably talking out of my ass though.
I’ll post up just to register my interest. I’ll most certainly buy one and like many other have said, more if I like it.
Can anyone link me to something relevant on these things though? I’ve done a bit of research and it seems they fit into the ‘do you prefer the JLF or LS32 argument’… i.e. neither is superior, just a personal preference thing, and this would be a third option on an equal footing…
Am I right?
The main differences are that they don’t click, technically have better response, and have less mechanical parts so will last longer. A lot of people prefer their sticks to click though.
- How much would you pay for a kit you had to solder yourself?
around $40 - How much for a ready-to-use already soldered piece?
$50-55 - How much for a kit if it did not have the DC-DC converter?
$30 - How much for a ready-to-use piece without the DC-DC converter?
$45 - How many of each would you expect to buy?
not sure. If i liked it enough i’d probably make it my standard stick instead of a JLF. I would probably buy 1 and if I liked it, immediately buy another.
Ok, I think I’m mostly caught up on all 3 optical threads :karate:
LED’s don’t expect a specific voltage (exception being a custom part with integrated resistor). LED’s (or diodes in general) are current sensitive devices. You could run an LED at 1000V if you wanted. Just throw a series 50k Ohm resistor in there and you are running at a nice bright 20mA.
If you are concerned w/ cost and want to eliminate the DC-DC converter, ship kits w/ a hand full of resistors appropriate for different setups. Just create a chart which says, “If you would like to power the optical Joystick w/ 3.3V, use resistor X w/ each LED. If 5V, resistor Y.”
If you don’t know how much current is needed, just use Ohm’s law to determine how much current you are running it with at 5V (based on the resistor value you have installed on your prototype board, right now) and derive resistance values for the other voltage. Before you lock in values, though, be sure and check the data sheet on those parts and see what current the manufacturer specifies for a healthy range of LED operation. You don’t want to over-drive those parts and have them burn out prematurely.
As far as the Opto-transistors, if you need to run them through a Schmitt Trigger or the like, you can get parts that will run from <2V to >5V. Here’s an example from Texas Instruments: http://focus.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/cd74ac14.pdf
No supply voltage based setup necessary, there.
As far as a plastic case, that’s a tough one. Being as it is an empty shell that you want to machine, that means you have to buy block plastic stock and then machine out the core. That’s a lot of wasted material (unless cost for block stock is negligible).
If you end up giving up on the case, you might even be able to go the half-a-project-box route. There are many low profile project boxes available that are around the size of the cover you want to make, and you’d only need one half of the box. If you tweak your PCB design to accommodate one of these cases (screw holes and such), you then only have to deal with the optical dividers. My thought on this is to make a jig which holds the small pieces of plastic (which you could cut from stock plastic strips of proper height/width) in place. You then just apply glue to the top edges, set the project case down over it, and let the glue set. When you pull it off it will have the optical dividers glued in place and it’s ready to affix to the PCB. It’s quite labor intensive, I know, but if you look at the nightmare/cost of going any other route, it’s a tangible option.
-ud
- How much would you pay for a kit you had to solder yourself?
around $60 - How much for a ready-to-use already soldered piece?
$75 - How much for a kit if it did not have the DC-DC converter?
$50 - How much for a ready-to-use piece without the DC-DC converter?
$65 - How many of each would you expect to buy?
2
+1
10char
Yo, you get me one of these at Evo for $60 already soldered and you get a hug. 
Sorry about that, I wanted to spur enough interest in the community to partake in this exciting brainstorming project you have at the moment. 
Well judging by the quality of work on the CTHULHU PCB which now rests comfortably in my 2 sticks (and hopefully in a third) http://www.joystickvault.com/showgallery.php?cat=952 ,http://www.joystickvault.com/showgallery.php?cat=953,
I would be wiling to pay up to $100 for a drop in JLF combatible kit, possibly more.
Keep up the good work man, you rock.
this might be a dumb question, but is there any reason you couldn’t just copy the mold from the sanwa flash optical sensors? or use it to make yours? is the base of a flash1 different than the jlf?
Toodles essentially has done that. He already has the layout of his actual optical PCB already figured out (maybe it needs some more tuning up, but that’s about it), the problem is that even to copy the mold would cost a couple thousand dollars. That’s basically the only thing stopping Toodles right now from going on with this project.
Also, to answer the poll questions from the first post,
-
How much would you pay for a kit you had to solder yourself?
A) For an unassembled kit, I’d pay around $60.00 for the whole lot. -
How much for a ready-to-use already soldered piece?
A) I say do like you do with the Cthulu and ChImp boards right now and charge an extra $15.00 or so for assembled optical joystick PCB. In short, I say charge $75.00 -
How much for a kit if it did not have the DC-DC converter?
A) I’d still probably pay $60.00 for it. Sanwa’s FLASH 1 didn’t come with a DC to DC converter and it still sold quite well at $60.00 no? -
How much for a ready-to-use piece without the DC-DC converter?
A) See my answer to numbers 2 and 3. -
How many of each would you expect to buy?
A) I’d be willing to buy about 4 of them, 1 for myself, 3 for friends who have been jealous of my optical joysticks. :lol:
+1
except i’d buy 1-2 ~ !
so has anyone started a “get toodles a mold fun?” or something to that effect? im sure there are lots of people who would be willing to donate to the project.
- How much would you pay for a kit you had to solder yourself? i wouldnt buy one
- How much for a ready-to-use already soldered piece? 60-75 seems to be the going rate
- How much for a kit if it did not have the DC-DC converter? i dont know what this is
- How much for a ready-to-use piece without the DC-DC converter? same as 3
- How many of each would you expect to buy? at least two fully assembled
I am wondering if Per could get in contact with his contacts at Sanwa and convince them to just mold the replacement plastic housings for the sanwa flash. Wouldn’t that be something?
@Toodles- I believe you could use the networking contacts here on this board to encourage Sanwa to make a limited run of flash sticks for a special limited edition SSF4 stick, via Madcatz.
I live 15 mins from Madcatz and would be willing to get the local SD community involved in encouraging more of the locals to bring this to MarkMan’s attention.
If that does not yield results, my very good friend has access to all types of CNC machines, as he works milling parts all day to specs within a few microns of accuracy.
If he is not able to make the mold at work he has some slightly less accurate equipment available at his school he student teaches at.
Please PM me if you would like to pass on specs to him via me. He may be able to do it for just material cost, if he can use it as a teaching tool/example project.
- How much would you pay for a kit you had to solder yourself?
$25 roughly - How much for a ready-to-use already soldered piece?
$35 - How much for a kit if it did not have the DC-DC converter?
$20 - How much for a ready-to-use piece without the DC-DC converter?
$30 - How many of each would you expect to buy? 5-10 (I’d start to put them in the sticks i sell)