PART I (2002)
This was my first attempt at recreating the arcade feel, the total project cost me less then $150 AU.I bought the Happ joysticks and buttons from ebay, since OzStick at that time had just started and were fairly expensive. I used a hacked keyboard as the interface, and yes; there were problems with it. Basically some combinations of buttons could not be pressed simultaneously. I did managed to fix some of the clashes by using signal diodes. Below are pictures of the actual wiring. As you can see it was extremely messy. The sticks dimensions where copied from the x-arcade (who where nice enough to offer the blue prints on their site.)and all of the keys where assigned to the same buttons. If you plan on building a desktop arcade stick, definitely invest in an I-PAC; it saves a lot of work as well as making the controls accurate, but at this stage I was wanting to keep costs to a minimum.
blueprints of the x-arcadeCAD DWG (drawing) file - accurate 1:1 drawing of the x-arcade stick
click images for larger pictures
PART II (2004)
I've finally decided to upgrade from the hacked keyboard to an I-PAC ($80 from OzStick). After I had bought this and was reading Ultimarc's site, I found out that they had released a simplified usb I-PAC which would have been much more suitable (and cheaper).
All the old wiring removed, I tightened and re-orientated all the buttons to make things look neater.
A 50 pack of lugs ($12) and 8m of wire ($4.70) where bought to do all the wiring.
I didn't want to go through all the complicatedness of drilling holes for the two keyboard connectors, so I used the same trick as previous of tying a knot in the cable. Though I needed to splice the cable to first thread it through the hole.
Finally I decided to add a back to it, sprayed black so when seen from the side it wasn't noticeable.
For any comments/questions/anything at all
mail@thydzik.com
