TUTORIAL/PROGRESS - Revitalization of 11 TE and 2 SE Madcatz sticks -IMAGE HEAVY- COMPLETE

-----IMPORTANT INFO-----

This project is not intended to make super wiring and was done in mass with the intention of quality, by the book wiring, that will be reliable over a long period of time.
The majority of this work was done in roughly 7 days. The remaining pieces of work spanned a rough estimate of 10 weeks.

If you have questions regarding any specifics I have done with this project, feel free to ask in reply. If you have basic questions like how to padhack a 360 Brawlpad or other questions that may have been answered a million times elsewhere on the forum, I suggest you read the stickies or visit the following thread:
Absolute Question and Answer Thread (ASK YOUR QUESTIONS HERE!)

-----INFO BASICS-----

Who: FrankCastleAZ (with the company of fellow SRKTT members in Google Hangout on occasion)

What: Revitalizes and Improves 11 Madcatz Tournament Edition and 2 Madcatz Special Edition arcade sticks

When: Tuesday, October 7th - Thursday, October 16th (first 7 days) and roughly 10 weeks for finishing touches

Where: Mostly my back patio at HQ in Phoenix

Why: The sticks have been heavily used over the last 3-4 years at events and conventions around the Southwest US with AZHP Gaming and were in desperate need of TLC. Two of the 11 TE sticks were previously padhacked with a PSX pad for PS2 support. Seven of the 11 TE sticks were stock PS3 TE PCBs or had a Toodles Cthulhu installed. The two SE sticks were TvC sticks previously modded with padhacked Gamecube controllers and Sanwa JLF and OBSF products. All of them needed a complete overhaul of cleaning, rewiring, new artwork etc.

GOAL: To take a 11 Madcatz TE arcade sticks and 2 Madcatz TvC/SE arcade sticks and revitalize them with a good clean, a rewire, new parts, new artwork and other general improvements. This will attract attention from event attendees to arcade sticks and fighting games who may not have normally been interested.

-----PREVIOUS ARTWORK-----





-----PREVIOUS FINAL PRODUCT-----

-----NEW ARTWORK CREATION-----

GOAL: To attract attention to arcade sticks and fighting games from attendees who may not have normally been interested by doing custom artwork from various popular pop-culture characters using whatever artistic skills I’ve learned over the years with Illustrator and Photoshop.













-----DISASSEMBLY FOR TE STICKS-----


-----REMOVED TOP BASE SHELLS FROM MIDDLE BASE SHELLS-----


-----REGLUING OF ALL TE NUTS-----
The fact that the nuts come loose on the TEs are the ONLY drawback of the TEs IMO. Nothing a little extra glue won’t fix.



-----MODIFIED MIDDLE TE BASES-----
To fit Neutrik USB adapters inside the cord compartments


-----INSTALLED NEUTRIK USBs IN TE STICKS-----
Added Netruk USB adapters in cord compartments


-----INSTALLED TACTILE SWITCHES IN TE STICKS-----
Added a tactile switch in the cord compartment to use as a Home/Guide button on all TE sticks - Big thanks to @deserada for the idea for the tact switch! :slight_smile:
A simple small drilled hole allows the button to barely stick out and be noticeable, but the thickness of the plastic where the hole is drilled allowed that particular tact switch to be easily pressed without causing too much force on the switch itself which is only hot glued in. I chose to hot glue due to the lengthy cure time I would have had to deal with when it comes to resin or bondo or whatever. I’m not concerned about the strength and am fairly confident that they’ll be just fine mainly due to the actuation point and force required to press.




-----REMOVED TURBO AREAS & PCBs-----
Removed the plastic encasing for the Turbo/Home areas on the sticks and removed the PCBs to use later

-----MODIFIED SE BASES-----
Dremeled out interior of SE bases and made holes in back in order to fit 24mm buttons for Start and Select and added small hole for tactile switch for Home/Guide button

-----USB NEUTRIK ADAPTER AND TACTILE BUTTON-----
Installed USB Neutrik Adapter and tactile switch for Home/Guide button

-----PADHACKING TIME!-----
Padhacked three Madcatz 360 WWE Brawlpads, two Official XB1 Pads, and two PDP RockCandy 360 Pads (one pictured)

-----INSERTED PS3 & 360 PCBs INTO TE BASES AND WIRED UP-----
Soldered to the home contact on each of the PS3 TE PCBs and mounted all Padhacked 360 PCBs and PS3 TE PCBs inside the cases.
Made individual short length USB wires to go into the interior of the Neutrik USB jack and soldered the ends on each PCB.
All button wires go from the PCB to the original Madcatz quick disconnect (QDC) terminals.

-----INSERTED XB1 PCBs INTO TvC/SE BASES AND WIRED UP-----
Mounted each XB1 padhacked PCB and soldered wires directly to screw terminals on buttons. Will likely switch to screw terminals in case of needed button swap or eventual artwork swap.

-----BUTTONS CAME IN (ALONG WITH OTHER PARTS FOR OTHER PROJECTS)-----
Buttons came in from PARADISE ARCADE SHOP alongside other various parts for other projects including our Sega Blast City cabinets. Link to that project coming soon

-----LED USB CABLES IN MULTIPLE COLORS FOR INSTALLED NEUTRIKS-----
Since all arcade sticks have Neutrik USB adapters (USB B to A), color coded LED USB cables that match the artwork were ordered.

-----TE SCREWS IN MULTIPLE COLORS-----
TE screws that use a 2.5mm hex key with slightly smaller profile than the stock Madcatz TE screws that used a 3mm Hex key

-----INSTALLED BALLTOP/BUTTONS & ART PROVIDED VIA @d3v ON TvC/SE STICKS-----

-----INSTALLED BALLTOP/BUTTONS & ART ON ALL TE STICKS-----

Plexi and artwork for 10 of the 11 TE sticks as well as my personal TE stick are complete. I cracked one of the old plexis I had so there’s 1 more stick (Akuma 6 button) I can’t complete until I get a new plexi.

Photos aren’t the best due to lighting/dust/camera.

Plexis I’ve had for a while, and brand new artwork is via Art’s Hobbies at www.tek-innovations.com . Art has supplied the FGC with plexi since 2009 and everyone should show their support for his longevity and excellent customer service and buy from him. :slight_smile:

Photo of Frank while he was doing all this.

Spoiler

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-OWAr0ZMKD8w/VD4818QzNlI/AAAAAAAAGT8/MRTbq0G1s1o/s0/hangout_snapshot_0.png

^^ worst photo ever. @d3v knows I hate the photo, so he posted. #whatadick
:slight_smile:

But the power… of the warrior!

Speaking of which @FrankCastleAZ you need to do at least one Warrior themed stick.

Glad I was able to witness 2 days worth of work from across the country.

This thread does not do Frank’s work justice.
Those who been in SRK TT hang outsob G+ for the past week really seen all the hard work Frank put in.

Its one thing to bling out a single arcade stick to be as slick and as fancy as possible, but it is another matter to scale back and only focus what is practical for the stick. Especially when the sticks are going to be modded for continuous public use.
All the wiring are text book examples of how it should be done. Frank glued wires down correctly to his PCB pad-hacks; not on top of the solder point, like what alot of people do.
The lack of the turbo/guide area makes these TE sticks perfect for House-own/loaner-sticks for Tournaments and Conventions.

When the next Tech Talk awards come out I like to nominate FrankCastleAZ and his work featured on this page.

this is super dope, I love the scale that you’re doing this on.

Using this “assembly line” method is great for large batches. 1 at a time is so demoralizing.
-ud

This thread gives me finger cramps just thinking about all the wire cutting, sleeve stripping, and crimping. The soldering part is rather fun. The prep time however…

Glad I could be there for moral support and distract you at a few turns :smiley:

+1 Tech Talk.

Pics not working?

EDIT - Fixed

geez frank! great work! whats the info for the hangout? would love to support!

Well I’m not doing the hangouts right now. I did them from the Tuesday thru the following Wednesday on the dates posted on the OP. The links for each day were usually posted in the Best Ultimate Tech Talk Hang Out Loud Edition topic.

Although it’s unlikely I’ll be doing more hangouts in the near future since I’m getting busy with AZHP Gaming, @deserada is hosting a few of them here and there (mostly on weekends). I do still have plenty to do with some of these sticks though, so i’ll at least be posting updates here. Especially after I padhack the last 2 or 3 Rock Candy 360 controllers and get art and plexi in.

Thanks for the support though guys!

EDIT - I got an “offtopic” on this post, while in my own topic, while answering someone’s questions. LOL! @Edgar

That’s correct. Unless someone else hosts, I will have hangouts running Fridays and Saturdays starting no later than 2PM EST.
They’re typically up for around 14 hours, but longer if our overseas friends join.

Hey! I got some parts in! :slight_smile:

Before, I thought the main thing that would bug me was all the wiring detail. After seeing that vid? My fingers do not envy the work you have ahead with all those buttons. Placing in all the new ones = fun times. Removing them from sometimes stubborn cases? THAT = lol. Have fun! :slight_smile:

Man Looking good. out of all the nearby states I’ve been to events with AZ seems to have the best game room.

The buttons still aren’t near as inconvenient as looped ground wires. :-/

Thanks. We’ve done gaming rooms in 4 states now, but all anime and comic conventions in AZ we’ve done for the last 9 years. A ton of people who are local to AZ go to out of state conventions occasionally and come back and tell me how bad every one else’s gaming rooms are in comparison. I’m well aware we spoil the AZ convention scene. :slight_smile:
Customizing all of these arcade sticks and having them available for use is just another way we want to push the envelope to provide not only quality, but presentation value.

Your video was great!

also the bonus of 5pin to 8QD’s was awesome.

good luck with the TEs there!