I built a joystick today what did you do? - Modding Thread

[moh]

Tonight I gotta figure out a CPS2 kick harness hack ... I only need 3 lines for P1 kick buttons, going to see if I can find an old analog CDROM audio cable to use ... i think the pin spacing is the same.

I was really hoping a floppy connector would work, and it's very very similar, but slightly larger.

$17 - 20 for a pre-wired kick harness seems like a lot to me, I'll just make my own.

Of course I still need to sort out a new joystick that I can convert between a 4-button Neo Geo layout and a 6-button layout for fightans ... shouldn't be too hard as long as I use quick connectors and can easily access the inside of the stick to shuffle things around.

yeah, I saw the pre wired ones on jammaboards for ~$15, thats half the price of a damn CPS2 mobo >_>

let me know what you end up doing because i'm in the same boat D:

[shmuppyLove]

Tonight I gotta figure out a CPS2 kick harness hack ... I only need 3 lines for P1 kick buttons, going to see if I can find an old analog CDROM audio cable to use ... i think the pin spacing is the same.

I was really hoping a floppy connector would work, and it's very very similar, but slightly larger.

$17 - 20 for a pre-wired kick harness seems like a lot to me, I'll just make my own.

Of course I still need to sort out a new joystick that I can convert between a 4-button Neo Geo layout and a 6-button layout for fightans ... shouldn't be too hard as long as I use quick connectors and can easily access the inside of the stick to shuffle things around.

yeah, I saw the pre wired ones on jammaboards for ~$15, thats half the price of a damn CPS2 mobo >_>

let me know what you end up doing because i'm in the same boat D:

Well, you've got a cab so you might want the full thing with 2p connectors as well (also volume controls). I just need to get 3 more connections straight to my joystick for my supergun, so I think I'm going to wire the 3 kicks to a female RJ45 keystone jack in the joystick, then use 3 wires on an ethernet cable with the RJ45 connector on one side to the joystick and the 4-pin analog audio connector plugged into the aux. port on the CPS2 A board.

I am predicting graet success very naice

[shmuppyLove]

Project "Kicking It"



So, turns out that old analog CDROM audio cables fit perfectly!

So, going to slap an RJ45 keystone jack on the other side of it and use that as my kick harness.

Then, joystick will have something similar -- RJ45 keystone jack with quick connectors for the three kick buttons. Connect the two with a standard straight-wired ethernet cable, and voila! Kicking it!

Added the jack:





Tested continuity and they're all good.

[speedlolita]

Made a PlayStation to BNC cable!

PCB is home to 220uF caps.

[moh]

Made a PlayStation to BNC cable!

PCB is home to 220uF caps.

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n85/ ... 0038-5.jpg

thats sex O:

[matrigs]

reinforced with half a dozen of acrylic pieces around the joystick and in places of aplied pressure.

has lost any form of artistic value but damn son is this solid now.

[opt2not]

Nice one matrigs! Though if you wanna improve the aesthetics just a bit more, you could spend a bit of time tidying up the wiring. Cable-ties are your friend!

Edit: here's an example from my Q3 stick's wiring. Something like this would look really nice in your see-through case.

[emphatic]

Left handed stick on the cheap

My youngest girl is a lefty, so I decided to level the playing-field when she's playing Puzzle Bobble on the 360 with her sister, I'd give her a stick of her own.

End result:



Parts used:

4 clear Seimitsu 30 mm, 2 purple, 2 smoke
2 SANWA 24 mm, start/select - purple one is a place-holder until I've bought another white one
1 Madkatz JLF-clone fitted with proper JLF PCB, white Qanba shaftcover and LS-56 washer to match the pink ball
1 leftover plate from a Chinese crapstick to funtion as mounting/spacer to the JLF-plate
3 strips of double-sided adhesive tape, 2 for the stick, 1 for the PCB
1 ReMatch PCB (PC, PS2 and PS3) with special PS2 cable (can be gotten from vigo @ BYOAC)
1 CD carrying case

Holes done, marked the spot the plate is going:




Plate has double-sided tape:



And, done:



Outside view:



PCB went in quite easy and lovely:



Made a small groove for the cable using a hobby knife:



Bob's yer uncle:



It's a bit too light right now, needs to stuff something heavy into it, but I'm quite pleased with it so far.

[speedlolita]

That's really awesome.

[opt2not]

Yeah that is perfect for your daughter! Nice job.

Today I replaced my CPS2 A-board fan with a new silent one. Totally worth it.

[CkRtech]

Today I replaced my CPS2 A-board fan with a new silent one. Totally worth it.

Which replacement fan did you use?



...What was that? You'll have to speak louder - I can't hear you over my CPS2 fan!

[emphatic]

I recommend this:

[opt2not]

That's the one!
The ebm-papst 612FL. Perfect drop-in fan...super-silent. All you have to do is wire the connector to this fan's leads and you're good to go.

[shmuppyLove]

Planning out my 6-button stick for CPS2 ...

[CkRtech]

Awesome. Fan replacement (or disabling) on CPS2 is required. Thing is just way too loud.

Too bad I just ordered from digikey today. I could have thrown this one in.

Also - Nice plans for that joystick. You have artwork in mind for it? I have parts on the way to assemble my own. Probably going to be a couple of weeks before they arrive.

[shmuppyLove]

fffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu I just realized I can't do what I want with the joystick wiring, because I need to change the button layout when I'm switching from 4-button to 6-button ... so I'd have to open it up and rearrange the connectors.

I guess it's not too bad ... only a couple of screws to remove the bottom and move a couple quick connectors ...

The alternative is wiring all the inputs up to a DB15 connection, then using an external box to switch between whatever layouts I want to use ... the box would just have a terminal strip in it to bridge from the input on the stick side to whatever input I need on the JAMMA or kick harness.

[CkRtech]

That is how I am wiring mine. Db-15 Neo Geo style for Supergun. External boxes can be used for alternate configs/machines.

[shmuppyLove]

That is how I am wiring mine. Db-15 Neo Geo style for Supergun. External boxes can be used for alternate configs/machines.

Where did you get your connectors from? I assume people use the crimp-type connectors (male or female?), and then are you just using normal DB15 straight cables?

[CkRtech]

I picked up the connectors for the gun from digikey. They are solder type.

As for the joystick itself - I have not decided if I want a port on the front and use a db-15<->db-15 cable to connect to the gun or if I want to just get a cable, cut one end off, run the cord directly into the joystick and then use crimp style connectors with a barrier strip.

My final decision will probably be based on the cosmetics of the joystick once it is first assembled.

[shmuppyLove]

Ok so I'm flaking out on changing the whole joystick over to a DB15 connector ... so I've wired up an RJ45 jack with 3 connections for the kick buttons, and right now it's just sitting in one of the holes on the front of the stick. It needs to be secured somehow, otherwise it just falls inside the joystick when you try to hook up an ethernet cable lol



But in order to get a proper 6-button setup, I'll have to take the bottom panel off and rewire the buttons. It's not ideal, but it's not terribly difficult either.

Now I just need to build the other side attached to the CPS2 A board. Previous attempt didn't work because the insulation on the wires were too thick for the RJ45 punchdown jack. I'll have to use normal 24AWG solid wire and jimmy up the auxiliary connector for the CPS2 ...

[opt2not]

Oh nice RJ45 jack... I still need to install one on my Qanba Q3.

[shmuppyLove]

Alright I think I've got everything sorted now ...

So yes, I do have to rewire the buttons when switching from 4-button MVS to 6-button CPS2 setup, but it's not hard with quick connectors.

Here's how it looks wired for 4 buttons:



The 4 buttons are arranged like this:

O O O
O
2 3 4
1

Those 4 are wired to the terminal block at the bottom which then goes through a hacked PS2 cable to my supergun, and it works perfect for any JAMMA or MVS games.

The small 3 position terminal block on the right has buttons 5 and 6 (the two red wires) attached permanently. When switching from MVS to CPS2 I remove button 4 from the main terminal block, move the connectors for buttons 1, 2 and 3 to the top row, and connect button 4 from the kick harness to the first button on the bottom row.



The kick harness is attached with an RJ45 connector, which still needs to be affixed to the case somehow.

So then I'm using a standard straight wired CAT5 ethernet cable to attach the extra 3 buttons to the CPS2 A board --



I extracted the crimp pins from an old analog CDROM audio cable -- you could also probably use any kind of PC motherboard header connector, like USB, firewire, audio, wake-on-lan, etc. Still need to heatshrink those solder joints.



Probably not the right pins, I just stuck em on for the picture. But the nice thing now is, I can easily move them if for some reason games use different pin configurations, or I can also use the buttons for any other function on the aux connector (like volume or test).

Haven't tested with a game yet ... don't have a B board here at work. Tomorrow though!

[emphatic]

I can't see your pics, buddy.

[shmuppyLove]

I can't see your pics, buddy.

Refresh?

[gabe]

I can't see your pics, buddy.

Refresh?

I also can't see the pics...

[shmuppyLove]

I can't see your pics, buddy.

Refresh?

I also can't see the pics...

Hmm strange ... ok let me toss them up on flickr instead.

[shmuppyLove]

Oh and here's what I did with the 24mm button that was in the hole where the RJ45 jack is now:



pimp

[CkRtech]

I know you have your jack there and are good to go with RJ45, but you could switch it out for a Neutrik style plug if you wanted - http://www.focusattack.com/neutrik-ne8f ... gh-silver/

They also have colored boots available for this style of plug.

Don't know if you want to deal with the hassle or if the link interests you or not, but there it is.

[shmuppyLove]

I know you have your jack there and are good to go with RJ45, but you could switch it out for a Neutrik style plug if you wanted - http://www.focusattack.com/neutrik-ne8f ... gh-silver/

They also have colored boots available for this style of plug.

Don't know if you want to deal with the hassle or if the link interests you or not, but there it is.

Yeah I've seen those ... but wow they're expensive!

I will probably get one for my MC Cthulhu though, because I'll have to cut a hole in my other joystick to accomodate it, and it's a really nice way to finish it off.

[CkRtech]

Yeah I've seen those ... but wow they're expensive!

Yeah. I kinda winced once I got the page up on their store.