Arcade Fighting Sticks (Build your own)

[FiB3R]

LOL, That's some proper ghetto **** right there :) Not as bad as I thought, but still temporary, surly?

I still think the lack of weight and rigidity would be an issue.

[Emorex]

People say it's very good if you don't have woodworking skills. Honestly, I could care less if my stick doesn't have fancy art over it, I like mine minimalistic and plain.

Rigidity is fine really. You just have to buy a stick where the cover is very rigid and not flimsy. There isn't one recommended model and you would probably have to go to Walmart (or ASDA/Waitrose) and find a tupperware or rubbermaid case that works well.

For weight, you can just add weight to the stick. Examples are dumbbells (those small, handheld ones). But I don't think you will need that really. When I play on my current stick, I put weight on the stick with my palms. The stick has to be big enough for your palms to rest, or it just feels awkward, and your shoulders will probably start hurting (imaging using a computer without any proper armrests or space for your forearms). So, the weight can be compensated by your palms. If more weight is required though, just throw a 5 lb dumbbell and you should be good to go.

[+John. Subscriber¹]

That is a damned good idea. Well exectued!

[FiB3R]

WAYHAY! My order has shipped :) But missed the postman this morning so my 120GB HDD wont be here till Friday.

Gonna be a busy weekend :D

[FiB3R]

Date................Time.........Location...........................Tracking Event

20-03-2009......04:02......Secret Location................Out for delivery

20-03-2009......03:57......Secret Location.................Arrived at delivery depot

19-03-2009......23:58......National Hub....................Sorted in hub

19-03-2009......21:43......International Hub.............En route to delivery depot

19-03-2009......21:41......International Hub.............Arrived in destination country

19-03-2009......16:31......Heathrow Airport..............Arrived at destination country

19-03-2009......02:50......Delivery Agent - Tokyo......Left origin country

18-03-2009......19:31......Delivery Agent - JAPAN......Collected from customer

Expected delivery date: 20-03-2009

HDD arrived this morning too. Happy days :)

[FiB3R]

Testing out button placements, need more boxes lol.

Will be building the proper box tomorrow :)

[FiB3R]

Octagonal gate to replace original square gate, arrived while I was out :)

[Emorex]

you may want to change the orientation of your joystick to vertical instead of horizontal. That's what most people do. I just left mine horizontal since I didn't want to remove the gate and switch the pcb around, but since you have to do that anyways (to replace the square with the octagonal) might as well rotate.

[FiB3R]

I've been thinking about that a lot, and decided the leave it horizontal as it gives me better spacing for when I add a PS3 PCB in the future.

So horizontal is the default position?

[Emorex]

I am not sure what the default is :s But I just know a lot of people use vertical. I think I may be remaking a box in the 2 weeks I have off after exams.

Going to reuse the JLF and buy OBSN-30s for the buttons instead.

[Darrian]

I really wanted to get a MadCatz SF4 joystick, but they're impossible to find and I really hate the curved button layout anyway. After looking through some of these links I'm seriously thinking about building my own, proper joystick. I don't have the tools and materials to do so at the moment, but I have to wait till June before I can get SF4 on the PC anyway. Thanks for all the info!

[Darrian]

Hmm. I had planned on raping a 360 controller to build mine, but the Cthulhu board looks pretty damned awesome. Has anybody here used it and how well does it work?

[FiB3R]

I think the Cthulhu is only for the PS3/PC right? Seems to be popular.

Had a few setbacks today, so my stick is only half built. Hopefully I'll get it finished tomorrow, sans paint job.

[Darrian]

Yeah, it is PS3/PC, but I intend to use mine on my PC only. If I used a 360 board I could have wireless, but the Cthulu would be much simpler to wire it looks like. I've gotten all amped up over the last couple of days looking at parts, I think I might go ahead and do the tupperware thing until I can gather the stuff I need to make a proper box. I even played some Street Fighter Alpha today only to be reminded how bad a standard controller really is for fighters. If I'd known just how cheap the parts were I'd have built my own joystick years ago. I haven't found a site selling quick disconnects yet, though, anybody have a good link where I could buy them?

[Darrian]

Nevermind, Lizard Lick has QDCs, I just didn't see them.

[FiB3R]

If it's for PC only, I suppose the Cthulhu is a good choice.

For me, I really wanted wireless, and as I already had a pad I could sacrifice... I also had a sheet of 18mm MDF and some off cuts of perspex (not in good condition) so I was pretty much ready to go.

I got my QDC's and terminal block thingy's from Maplin :ninja: The guy in there said he has a few friends that would be interested in buying one of these, and to bring it in when I'm done. So If I can get the process down a bit faster, I might start selling a few. I definitely learnt from a few mistakes yesterday.

[FiB3R]

OK, so I messed up making my joystick box, and have made it so the top comes off rather than the bottom.

This makes it a bit more awkward to work with, but I'm not making another box yet, so....

Can somebody have a look at this and tell me how many things are wrong with it. (in very simple terms)

Thanks :)

[FiB3R]

I've found out that I only have 2 wires in the wrong place. The ones that are coming from what are going to be my trigger buttons.

Only one wire from a trigger button should be going to the resistor for that button (the middle connection of the 3 solder points there)

I have to move it over to the other side, so that the 3 connections there are (button wire) (other button wire + Resistor) (resistor)

If that makes any sense lol. I'll post the fixed pick later.

With any luck, I could be playing on it tonight, but I've got a crappy head cold right now and I'm not really feeling motivated :(

[gone2far]

where do you get the PCBs from? specifically as PS3 one (strip it from an existing controller)? Ok, after reading your posts, something like this

is making your own stick a case of buying the parts and putting it together? i mean, that i don't have to build the joystick; i can purchase a complete joystick (handle, gates, etc as a unit) or will i have to make it?

all i want to do is buy the parts and piece it together.

Edited March 25, 2009 by gone2far

[Darrian]

You pretty much have the idea. You buy the joystick, buttons, pcb, wires, fashion a box and put it all together. Check out the first post; it has several links and pretty much everything you'll need to know and where to get the parts is there.

[FiB3R]

ARRRGGGGGHHHHH!, almost done and it turns out that I don't have enough quick disconnects. (8 short)

Off to maplin's again in the morning :/

[Darrian]

Hahahaha. That has to suck. You've had me checking this thread all day waiting for pics :p Guess I can give it a rest till tomorrow.

[FiB3R]

LOL Sorry to keep you waiting. I'm having a few probs. Something is wrong with my wiring. I'm not sure whether I've cracked the PCB of the joypad while screwing it to the wood, or if I have a bad connections somewhere, or if I have wired it wrong, but only 4 buttons and the joystick are working properly :(

I still have quite a bit of work to do on the box, like rounding off all the edges, changing the location of the charging port, adding a RJ45 port and making a RJ45 to headphone/chatpad adaptor, possiblly changing the button layout, and giving it a lick of paint. (Still not sure what colour)

I'd upload the rest here but I cant be arsed with neowin's crap image upload system. (somebody really should take a look at that) :yes:

You can see the rest here :)

http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/af641b9847...9c62dd37fab9af/

[Darrian]

Nice choice in art. I spent like 2 hours yesterday looking through Deviantart for good pictures of Cammy, but I couldn't find any that were similar to what I was looking for (I really wanted a good looking picture of her in the pink uniform).

Good luck getting those buttons working. I hope it's just a wiring problem and you don't have to go buy a new 360 pad, that'd suck.

[Emorex]

Looks really good darkfiber!