man, they are easy to find online. Amazon has a few different kinds. I’m pretty sure woodcraft’s site has some too.
Ecks is right… Zebra you live in Austrailia meaning you should have easy time to find both forstner and spade bits that are 24mm. In austrailia and in UK, they sell 24mm Irwin speedbor spade bit which they won’t ship to USA. 
hey guys i have been using 2.5 inch high wood for my arcade sticks and i was thinking of going slimmer for 1.5. Of course this would be for sanwa i just want to kno if anyone has tried going that small and how its working out for you
thanks guys
That might be cutting it close. I’m pretty sure 1.75" would work out fine, but I’m not sure about 1.5. I would say it’s possible but it would be right at the limit of how thin you can go.
If you do it let me know how it goes and post some pics. I’m making one right now that is 2". I think that is thin enough to give that awesome slim look but still enough room to fit everything easily inside.
yea i kno its pushin real close i actually wanted to do a 2" but my home depot didnt have 2" maybe i just overlooked it but im definately gonna try that 1.5 so ill let you know how it goes hopefully ill be able to start it tomorro and be done in a couple days
I couldnt find 24mm forstner in Australia, tried many hardware stores and they have none. Like Eck said, I will try find it online…:wgrin:
Btw Im using exactly the 24mm Irwin speedbor spade bit haha;
1.5" is too low. Trust me. JLF plate to base is 36mm and Seimitsu LS-33 is 35mm which is the lowest shaft length.
36mm combined with 3mm plexi thick = 39mm means you will need at least >=40mm height for the wood. SO the 1-3/4 inch is the lowest possible to build your stick.
Yea, that is what I was working on in that shot. It was a father’s day gift for my dad two years ago. Click on the image below for a slidshow of the build and end result.
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee314/KaytrimsKustoms/Centipede%20Bartop/th_Delivery4.jpg
Domz actually built a 1.5" stick, http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=163391.
so, it is possible, i suppose you just need a fairly modified jlf to manage. (at least that’s why i’m assuming he used the hori shaft)
Oh man! It looks very professional.
Then again, all the people on this thread would expect no less from you!
Awesome work!
I have a CMT 24mm forstner for the 24mm buttons. I use the 30mm speedbor spade for the 30mm buttons. 
Got the spade bit from Australia.
Holy crap! This is like the best thread I could hope to find for help on this! I was planning on having my friend help out some if I had questions. I also wasn’t planning on making a super-awesome high quality box right off the bat though. Just one that isn’t the size of an xbox. The original one, by the way. His stick is that giant. I still love it to death though, and it’s why I want to make one. Thanks a TON for the help and everything! I’m sure I’ll be stopping by here regularly to ask questions about all the fancy-pants woodworking I’m gonna try to teach myself with the help of the almighty internet.
edit
I found out the kinds of cases I keep seeing that I like so very much look a lot like the ones from the Norris Arcade Sticks site. Looking at how they put it together, it seems sort of simple if I have the right tools. Well. At least the wooden frame around the sides and the acrylic bottom. What I can’t figure out from looking at pictures, though, is how they get that top on there and then people cover it up with art and all. It looks like they take some cheaper wood that won’t be seen and screw it down with the holes for the buttons and stick cut out of it, then later it gets covered. How are people completely covering it up? Are they putting the art over it with the holes punched out and then putting another acrylic plate over that and just making it a really snug fit or something?
second edit
Jesus. I could’ve just looked at slagcoin and seen how that crap works. I’m still confused on one bit, though. Looking at this, it looks like teeny tiny screws are used to hold the acrylic top over a wooden board where the buttons and stick actually get mounted. I can’t figure out why I can’t see the screws looking at the tops of some finished boards.
Do you mean how some arcade sticks do not use screws to hold the plexiglass in place? If you use screw in buttons the buttons will hold the plexiglass in place. You can think of them like bolts.
–edit–
I’ve got a question. I want to build a subwoofer box for a 15" sub and mount a plate amp in the back. How would I make such a large hole perfectly circular? I guess I need some type of jig for my jigsaw but what exactly would I use?
What about making a recess for mounting the plate amplifier so that it mounts flush with the wood? Router only? I’m not looking to use a chisel around a 40"+ rectangle.
Right now I’m working one my first two sticks. Well, it started as one, but I decided that since I’ve never done any of this before, I would do everything on a test stick the first time, and then do it for realsies on the 2nd…
Right now I have all the padhacking done, panel cut, lexan scored, lexan/panel buttons drilled, and underside of button areas routed out. My next step is to route out the area for the joystick. I already have my center shaft holes drilled out…
Does anyone have printable templates for routing the joystick area (front/back?) of the panel (top mounting), for both the JLF and LS-32?
I decided that I wanted to try both the JLF and LS-32 (still waiting on JLF to arrive, but have had ls32 working in a shoebox for a while). Is there a way to route a panel so that it supports both the jlf and the ls-32? I know the shaft lengths are different, and this is compounded by different plate styles. My ls-32 has an s-plate. And I’m getting a JLF, which comes with a flat plate, but at the time, I also ordered an extra jlf s-plate (which I think I discovered I don’t need?).
Basically I was thinking that I’d route to make the top of ls-32 s-plate essentially flush with the panel surface. If I switched to the jlf with the flat plate, it would sit lower, but the extra height on the jlf shaft itself would make up for it, for the most part, right? I don’t mind of the heights are only few mms exact stated preferred specs…
Do I have to route out the backside for extra clearance, similar to with the buttons?
I have some pics of my progress in this album: http://s194.photobucket.com/albums/z196/jcerwinske/Joystick/
I’m just using the plunge router accessory for my Dremel. Yes, I know it’s not as good as a dedicated router, but it seemed to work well enough so far…
But yeah, anyway, anyone got any templates or guides for doing that part?
Why isn’t that guy wearing a mask?
I found 2 1/8" is a good height. Currently my height limitation is from the PCB. With an xbox360 pcb, you’ll need to remove the thing (I don’t know the proper name) that controls the triggers.
I’m using a 1/2" MDF top. I guess I can route a spot for the pcb as well but it’s getting pretty close. My JLF is mounted from the top by routing 1/8" down into the top of the 1/2" panel and already sits fairly close to a 1/4" cover on the bottom.
To make is 1.5" tall you’ll need to bend the tabs on the buttons like the other guy and probably not have a bottom cover or top acrylic sheet.
He’s holding his breath? … lol.
There is one thing i didnt see in ANY pictures of people in action in this thread… people wearing gloves. Sometimes its that split second when you tear up your glove that can save a finger or even your hand.
Some people will say worker gloves are bad for precision , but i use some really small leather gloves .
PROTECT YOURSELF !
I’m all for masks and eye wear, but I was under the impression that gloves may snag on fast, highspeed, rotating power tools and may actually pull your hand into danger, where it might not have been. Whats a glove going to do against these tools, which cut materials much harder than what you’d be wearing, like butter?
lol, I didn’t notice that. Yes, he should be wearing a mask but I think he has a dust collection system. Either way, you guys are all adults and can make decisions for yourselves, dust masks are not necessary from a legal standpoint (whereas with primers/paints/clears they are). I generally recommend these things, especially for people starting out because if you get used to it when you are starting it becomes second nature to be safe. Also using protective equipment means that you won’t have any regrets in the future and you will be able to continue doing this.
In my original post ( http://forums.shoryuken.com/showpost.php?p=6844919&postcount=85 ) I mentioned that my teacher couldn’t paint anymore. Well this guy I work with used to work at a place that builds garage doors, a father and son didn’t wear masks when they used to paint them and ended up with asthma and couldn’t paint anymore. Something that they probably enjoyed doing and were very good at, they can’t do anymore.
I couldn’t find my mask a couple weeks ago when I wanted to sand body filler, decided, screw it I’ll just do it with all the doors open. When I went upstairs and spat in the sink, I had chalk mouth, my spit was black. Definitely not the stuff I want in my lungs. Runny nose, boiling hot temps, nothing stops me from wearing my mask anymore.
Please please please do not wear gloves when you are working with rotary tools!
From: http://forums.shoryuken.com/showpost.php?p=6844919&postcount=85
From: http://forums.shoryuken.com/showpost.php?p=6845912&postcount=87
If you get into a situation where you would normally lose a finger, if you wear gloves you will lose MUCH MORE. The gloves will not slide off, the gloves will not easily tear and release your hand, your hand WILL end up in the tool. I’m not trying to bash you and I know it seems like it should be ok to use gloves because if the tool can cut all this stuff it will just cut your glove and that’s it but that is not the case. The only gloves that will do that are the nitrile/latex gloves and even then I’m not sure. When we were at school we were not allowed to use any gloves near the drill press or grinder. I was the only one because I had a skin “disease”.