You can laminate it and then glue it on. But plexi or lexan looks and feels much better.
Kinko’s also does adheasive backed vinyl I think.
I’ve been wondering what the specifics and guidelines are for making stick graphics. Can some of you pros post some specs of common stick dimensions?
Does the plexi/Lexan hold the graphic vinyl in place, or is it affixed to the surface of the stick?
Also, is it a good idea to leave some area around your graphic and trim it to spec after you get it back from Kinkos?
Thanks for all the info, guys. 
Reminding anyone that if they want help with any photoshop work for sticks I would love to do it
you can see some of my stuff at
and
or at my website
http://www.jake.evilarchitects.com/main.html
Try tinning them, that means putting soldering on the wires (kind of like just galcing the wires with solder), so the soldering on the PCB can hold on to the soldering on the wires.
really? that’s great cause i can put the clear glass over it laters. i just want to get it on there now.
now m question is if i have the pelican real arcade (universal)
how would i fit a graphic on it?
Hi, I’m thinking about making a 1-player stick. I made a 2-player not long ago and notice the buttons were a bit far away from each other, I used 1.5" between them with the ultimate buttons so because of the nuts (1-7/16), that is the closest I could lay them. My question is, if I use comp buttons, are the nuts the same or they are smaller so I can lay the buttons closer? I remember seeing a stick with the buttons really close, how is that possible?
1.5 inches is what I used in the stick I built recently. It used comp buttons. I believe 1.5 is the standard.
Capcom has used 1 1/2" and also 1 5/8" grids for the 6 button US design. The older designs are smaller.
Any plexiglass, acrylic or Lexan will hold the graphics in place. The US Happ type buttons will also keep your clear cover on top so there’s often no need to use screws to hold it down.
You can design your button spread and distance to the joystick at any comfortable distance you like. It really doesn’t matter as long as the player feels comfortable with it.
The underlays can also be printed on anything that will take the color and hold it for a good amount of time with out fading. It’s doubtful that your sticks will also see dirrect sun.
Arm, do you know the spacing between buttons on Japanese cabinets, like the Versus City type for example? Either imperial or metric is fine.
Thank you.
Nitewalker:
How goes the progress on the box man?
I was thinking…How would it look if instead of using wood and plexi for the top part, using only plexi? Wouldn’t that be nice? Would be able to see everything through and I think it should be cool. Anyone done that before? How well does it go to make it this way? Well, when I say plexi, I mean something transparent, I would probably go with lexan. How sturdy would that be?
Yeah, it can be done. I’ve seen pictures of a stick made only with plexi, two sheets with like 6 carriage bolts and nuts to keep them together at the proper distance. Looks snazzy, but I’d imagine it would scuff more than most. The only thing if you go this route for a ‘visible stick’ is that you are going to want THICK plexi, probly the .25" or greater thickness, so it can handle the mashing abuse. You’ll also need to use carriage bolts to attach the stick to the plexi, and some people don’t like the bolt heads on the surface; with plexi over wood, you can hide and countersink those into the wood, and never feel them with the plexi.
If you can drill and cut the plexi smoothly, it can be done and look nice.
Just about done. I have to get the slot cutter for the t-molding and the art printed.
The thickest lexan I could find was 1/4 but I think it should be ok, looked strong enough. Today I found a 2.5’ X 2.5’ laminated board for $4 but the color is like the wood pattern for wood furniture so I would like to paint it. Is this possible? What kind of coats should i use? Sry, I don’t know much about painting stuff so I don’t know what can be paint and what cannot.
Edit: Yeah, and another question, since I’d like to make a inclined stick but with laminated wood…what about the painted surface that I need to chop of to make it angled, can I use the laminate and glue it back or something?
Nite, you said you usually use 4 in back and 3 in front, how do you screw the top piece to the back and front piece? Do you like cut the wood with an angle or there is something else we can do? I remember seeing once on the net I could put something under the top piece to make the connection flush?
You can use wood filler to close the gaps. But what I like to do is cut the front and back pieces with an 8 degree angle on the long edge and that way everything fits nice and flush and tight. Also when assembling, I use wood glue and countersunk screws and the holes filled with wood putty. In the end everything is very tight fitting and looks as though there’s nothing but glue holding it together. Works great
my pelican universal mod is done, all i want to know now is it i put my agtec pcb in there will it work? and if it’s the board can i use another dreamcast board pcb?
You could put the agtec pcb into your universal if you wanted to. What you would need to do is wire the +5v wire from both pcbs together and then make a switch to toggle between which system is supplying the power. It isn’t that hard if you can solder. Uhm if you decide to gut the agitec for it’s pcb think you might be interested in selling the case?
i will sell the case to you provided that this works. do you know for sure this will work? cause i don’t want to ruing it…