Yup, the routing out the bottom with a chisel and hammer works well, as I introduced my way of doing it a while ago.
Welcome to the stick building team. Current members: RoTeNdO, Dreaded Fist, and SNAAAAKE. 
I really got to post more pics on my site. Anyway… DF, I noticed that on your site, of the the pics you have up have the button layout design over the artwork. Was that a copy paste work? and how do you guys get so good with the photoshop artwork? Do you all just do extracting images or is it more to it than just that? Thanks.
Roto, when you build your sticks what’s the usual overall cost for materials/etc. (Presuming you go with a comp joystick and comp buttons).
Also I guess its worth asking how much do you charge for labor/etc, when you build the stick for someone else. (Since I'm not sure later down the line if I'd want to build a stick or not due to the time/effort/learning involved).A fairly good looking single stick would cost you around $60-70 to build with artwork and plexi.
IF you skip artwork them maybe around $50(depends).
thas a secret broham, lol jk. but I use the magic wand tool to crop the images, and I put the lay out on top. It took me quite awhile to crop images but i keep them saved liek that on a big photoshop file so it make things faster. I just drag and drop the layout over the image.
and for kicks, poeple check this out! my first stick! lol good it was ugly, i think rotendo commented on it abotu teh bolts sticking out lol.
Magic Wand
I came across a link that would be good for anyone that may be interested in doing any Soul Calibur custom art. The pictures are clean, with ONLY the character on a solid white back ground. Perfect for the magic wand tool using inverse mode like Dreaded Fist was talking about.
copy, paste, then scroll down
http://www.felixmcli.org/sc2-galleries-ill.html
Although I suppose the best thing to do would be to scan the pics from the Art book that was availible with the game.
My joystick is at my friends shop. They build Kitchens for multimillion dollar houses, and my joystick is so perfect right now. We just put another coat of primer on it and sanded it again, and now we’re triple coating it with black paint, then stenciling a V.S sign in the middle and then laquering it 3 times. It is wood, but the paint is so smooth, with no holes at all, that it feels like plastic. I’ll post pics once it’s done!
does anyone know where I can buy the box for the joystick for cheap? I’m not good with wood, so I would like to start of from there . . .
Speaking of redoctane on that very issue. DF, wouldn’t it make more sense price wise to grab the 29.99 cheap namco/capcom joystick they make? Since correct me if I’m wrong, but once you open it up it’d be a solderless free job to simply swap out the cheap parts and put in the happ parts right?
I suppose so, yeah. BUt I’ve never tried it so I can’t say much about that method.
That wouldn’t be a good plan, cause I’ve heard of people blowing their controller ports changing out the parts for Happ ones.
Hi,
I'm at the finals steps at completely my arcade controller. All i have to do now is solder on a few remaining wires that fell off while i carried it to my car, and i have to solder the 5 volts onto the p360. I'm curious as to the procedure in soldering the 5 volts from the controller to the p360. This is because I do not know where i should solder off the blue wire, and onto where i should shoulder the 5 volts to the p360. Please help.
Thanks,
VietKhan
SB, the thing is I think the joysticks that they sell use a ps pcb in them, with everything connected appropriately. Just with cheap joystick parts insteado happ parts. Plus aren’t the blowouts mainly attributed to the 360s?
been awhile since i posted in this thread. anyways, in my arcade, the buttons feel like there’s some kind of heavy spring inside or something. i dunno if i’m describing this right but it feels like you actually have to push instead of lightly tapping on the buttons. i know comp buttons are easy to push in. are ultimates like how i described?
OneInchPunch
Yes vertical ultimate buttons are EXACTLY how you described.
I personally prefer horizontals…cool for my taste. 
I took a pair of scissors, and I cut the blue wire half way from where it leaves the controller cord, and where it connects to the dc pad. Then I soldered a wire to the blue +5 volt wire, and soldered THAT on to the p360. Is this all correct?
Also, I am curious as to the structure of the wiring for all the buttons. Mine do not work, and i’m going to The Home Depot today to purchase thinner wire, and re-do it all.
hahaha, something happened that i did not expect to happen but in the aftermath i got pics. well it’s got a competition stick which i regret and concave competition buttons from therealbobroberts.com which i regret as well. but that shit could be fixed
wiring.
hey vietkhan study this next pic hard cause it will help you with wiring if that is your problem, just make sure you know about the difference between the tabs found on the microswitches.
The tabs on the micro switch can actually be wired reverse. You can wire ground wire to the NO and action to the COM, this is how mas is done, this’ll come in handy when your wire is a bit short or something.