Arcade Joystick for Amiga/Megadrive use

[Retrograde]

Allright, so I finally got around to continue my old private project of constructing an arcade joystick for my Amiga and Megadrive to replace my old aging Wico redballs, which **** me off most every time I try to play with them cause the deadzone is too large these days.

Got the thing planned out now, it's gonna be a wooden box partly constructed from an old desk pedestal (I think is the term) I found with roughly the proper dimensions (10mm thick) and material I want, I butchered that to make a top and bottom for the box. The sides from a strip of wood I got cut at a timber supplier (sadly one piece 4mm too long, but we'll rectify that).
Using this for inspiration:

I think I got most of the tools too that I need to finish this, so remains to get a 28mm wood bit that works for the drill press at work I'm gonna borrow.

The joystick will be arcade parts; Seimitsu LS-32 stick and Happ competition buttons, gonna spend here as this'll last me a lifetime and can always be reused if I decide to do something more clever with the interface and/or housing down the line.

The electronics are an old Megadrive joypad with wrecked directional buttons (but otherwise working), already got the soldering done earlier last year to attach connectors to it so should be good to go once the housing is finished.

Layout: the areas coloured in are to be drilled/sawed away

Side view: Woods aren't a perfect match, but as I'm going to sand and maybe paint the surfaces it'll be ok.

Soldering the donor pad:

Button/stick connectors:

Feel free to comment and provide ideas, especially as to the wood finish as I haven't decided myself 100%.

 

[Mendel]

Interesting. It is always going to be just right when you build it from ground up like that. I am taking the easy way out with x arcade stick and kipper2k adapter


edit: word of warning to any casual browser of this thread: My way does not work, at least it didn´t work when I tried it! So that leaves me with having to do a project from scratch.

 

[wangerman69]

Very nice looking good

 

[johnim]

hi Retrograde i did 1 some time ago have a look

https://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=20515

nice work btw

john

 

[Retrograde]

Well, the weather has been too good for indoor work, but a small update now, nearing completion, got the final little screws and other parts too:

Testing the cuts/fits:

What was that about measuring thrice my old teacher used to say, well in my defense I only measured twice (and forgot to account for the material thickness), but nothing that can't be fixed with some creativity with a handsaw and a file.

Quick test mounting, I decided not to glue at all just use lots of screws:

Gonna screw and clamp to do the final touchups, should hold it together well enough for my handling, then it's time to oil it, can almost smell the finished thing now...!

 

[slk486]

Looks good!

Is there enough room to rest your right wrist in front of the buttons?

If you have other consoles, you can put an MC Cthulu in there

Love DIY's!

 

[Mendel]

Why all red buttons?

I have x-arcade dual stick and the one thing I´m not happy with it is all the buttons have same color.

I think having red, green and blue buttons would make it very nice for fighter games and such. But of course, it is a matter of taste.

 

[slk486]

I think having red, green and blue buttons would make it very nice for fighter games and such. But of course, it is a matter of taste.

There's no accounting for taste, but why red, green and blue specifically?

 

[Retrograde]

slk486:
Yes, when firguring out the layout I looked at all kinds of templates, then just went for the simplest solution;
Given the max dimensions of the panel (and min of buttons) I had at hand (320x260mm c:a) I put my hands on the thing and got a feel for where to put parts comfortably, as you can see the lower middle button is a bit oddly offset, that's what you get when doing sort-of free drawing.

This thing has 9-pin out on a cable, I've made provisions to bypass the (for now 3-button) megadrive controller for direct connection to say a C-64.

Mendel:
All red for nostalgic design reasons, my first joysticks were my leaf switched Wico Red Balls and that's how a controller should look like.

Essentially I think colour is almost purely a design descision, since after you configure and start a game you press the buttons intuitively without looking so colour coding becomes a first impression/convenience thing.

 

[Mendel]

Mendel:
All red for nostalgic design reasons, my first joysticks were my leaf switched Wico Red Balls and that's how a controller should look like.

Essentially I think colour is almost purely a design descision, since after you configure and start a game you press the buttons intuitively without looking so colour coding becomes a first impression/convenience thing.

:wooha: Oh, yes! That does look like a nice design! There´s something timeless about black and red. I kind of used that theme in a pc project too: http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/3596/20120619161049.jpg

Anyways. This may be a bit far fetched but I think it´s no coincidence that many political popularist parties also use and have used black and red in their flags and banners, and mix it with yellow sometimes. Not to make any political arguments whatsoever, just to note that the colors are attractive and mix very well.

I think having red, green and blue buttons would make it very nice for fighter games and such. But of course, it is a matter of taste.

There's no accounting for taste, but why red, green and blue specifically?

Now that you mention it, there must of course be a yellow button as well!
I guess it´s a lot less self explanatory now that you asked and as I actually think about it
Well, I hope this doesn´t derail too much but I just had to make a screenshot of a game and search for a similar cabin as I was thinking of to communicate my mental image of what an arcade controller "must look like":

In any case, I think black and red will already be a LOT better than all black, which is what my x-arcade has... hmm... maybe if I just painted them buttons all red...

 

[Retrograde]

Small update!!

Tuesday evening meant LOTS of sanding, and the first coat of varnish.
Second coat today. Tomorrow afternoon oiling, turns out my old oil was well, old, so gotta run by the store again.
Then another thin coat and friday-saturday the last soldering of the buttons/stick and away we go...

I'm impatient!

 

[johnim]

looks nice mate i was going to varnish mine but left it naked will need a v2 soon

 

[Mendel]

(and sell v1 )

Hey! Looking good!
Kind of makes me want to sacrifice a gamepad for... well... some kind of a failure. Maybe I should practice trying to make tac 2 buttons and stick work with gamepad circuit board or something like that

 

[johnim]

i used this for pc/mame part and wired directly for amiga/other use

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Twin-2-US...K_Controllers_Attachments&hash=item4cff6d3791

 

[Retrograde]

Did the final work today after a couple days of trying different coatings.
Oil wasn't good for me, while it's splendid for some furniture (i've oiled shelves before and they look very nice) it doesn't seem great for grabbing and handling all day long, in any case it never dried fully for me over the varnish and felt a bit slick.

So... gently removed that and put on a coat of waterbased matte lauquer instead, that essentially dried in an hour or so, though I reckon in a week it will have really hardened.

Anyway I got to a point where it's good enough, here are the final pics, enjoy!

Buttons and stick mounted:

Soldering all done: (had to work a bit with the thick wire I had)

Finished and getting a bit of sun:

Another shot:

The stick it's natural habitat flanked by my old Wicos:

Well it's been quite a learning experience, I don't work with wood and paints every day, so it was good practice. I am pleased with the result, the stick looks good and the performance is very good too, precise control and distinct buttons that can really take a pounding...

... I had quite the session with several Megadrive and Amiga games already today, they're more fun now!!

 

[johnim]

very nice mate

 

[Rakeim132]

Beautiful finish, indeed.
Very nice DIY.