Joystick Builder updated with TONS of info.

Those wanting to build their own sticks for home use can now have most their questions answered. I've done a HUGE update, detailing all process of stick making.

I know it's late, but hell, it's done /versus/images/graemlins/grin.gif.

http://members.cox.net/ctwentytwo/joystick_builder/index.htm

Enjoy

 

catch!

Great update! Can I make a suggestion though? Can you take the grid out? it does intefere with the text a little. Either that or I would change the text color to more stand out from the grid.

GE

 

Awesome content catch, but like GE said it is very hard to read.

 

This is a beautiful piece of work. Since the question gets asked pretty often, I'll make it sticky.

The addition of the gallery was an especially nice touch. My favorite has to be the sarah one with little guard/punch/kick indicators /versus/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

PS: your recepticle.gif in http://members.cox.net/ctwentytwo/joystick_builder/electronics/index.htm is dead. Everything else worked afaict. Very nice work.

 

Drooooollll

 

OK Guys,
I've redone the pages, which does look better. Was it really that hard to read?

Thanks Creed for the heads up on the dead image.

GUYS, GET BUILDING. I'd like to have more in the Gallery. Phoenix, want to feature your stick in the gallery? Ohter guys?

Also, tell me what other info you want to see. I have one obvious one in mind... like explaining the Sanwa parts in detail, which I get asked alot of.... but I'll lay off the HTML for awhile.

 

Very detailed, step by step instructions. Excellent site!

 

The site is really awesome I wish I had the time or the inclination. Maybe someday...

 

Now its great! For me, it was hard enough to read. Now the site shines through. great job!

GE

 

Thanks a bunch, I have been wanting to build a stick for a while, this will help a bunch.

btw, i envy your sticks, there slick!!!! /versus/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

Yea awesome site Catch !! This will help me tremendously when I try to build my own.

 

How long have you been making these...you should go into business.
on this site even, im sure you could make a sweet dollar selling these sticks. well...you do sell them...right?

 

yeah, I make em for those who want them. But making them, or anything that's custom, requires an investment in time. When you read the site, the materials alone cost a minimum of $60:

Wood: $10
Joystick VF4 set: $20
wire harness: $5
2 small buttons : $4
Plexi: $2
Paint: $4 for the glossy lacquer, and $1 for the flat.
misc. fasteners: $2
interact joypad: $5
project box: $5
ink and paper, solder, receptacles: $2 (minimum)

That's about $60 in materials alone. Not to mention I had to pay an arm and a leg for the shipping from Sanwa. That ups the cost of the parts even more.

Then there's the matter of the cost of tools. Yes, you can reuse the tools and whatnot, but you still have to pay for it in the beginning.

Factor in the amount of time you invest in the process... trying to make a deadline with schoolwork hounding you... then $125 doesn't seem as good as it looked, once. At $125, and about 20 hours minimum invested into the creation (creating the underlay, gathering materials, making the base (the sanding, sanding, sanding), painting the base (takes a while, cause you gotta wait for the different layers to dry), cutting the plexi is a hassle because there is no proper spade for the sanwa button so you have to scrape away plexi with the backside of an xacto knife, which takes about 5 minutes per button; the time it takes to go to fedex and ship it, getting a box to ship it in, ..., I'd be getting paid less than $2 an hour.

But who'd pay $200 for a stick, right? The stick is easy to make, but time consuming. Very time consuming.

That's why I'm not so eager anymore to make one, even at $125.

That's why I encourage you all to make one, and it's why I made the website. /versus/images/graemlins/wink.gif


BTW, let me tell you a story about why I even started making these sticks. The joystick thread, below this one had gripes and moans about the various available consumer sticks available. "not like the arcade" is the first thing out of everybody's mouth. "So why not bring arcade parts home," is what I thought. I searched the net for Jamma cabinets. I need the JP stuff. I found Arcade Infinity and spent a good while tyring to find out who manufatured the parts. Did more, and more, and more searching. Went back to AI and found that they sold Sanwa buttons. Sanwa... oooh. Searched, and searched, and searched for the sanwa homepage. www.sanwa.co.jp, nope. Took me 3+ hours finding a link to www.sanwa-d.co.jp screw google. It's a miracle I found a page with a link to it. Whaddayouknow, a VF4 stick set. Filled out the forms for an order.... it was all in japanese. Used translators to translate the different fields. It didn't help, but I filled it out anyway. A week later, a reply. I wasn't expecting one. I oreder parts, and they come in a week later. Got some goodies from the Sanwa rep too! Built the base,

My itch was scratched... THE SANWA STICK AND PUSHBUTTON SET WAS BETTER THAN THE CONSUMER STUFF! I'd never know, I'd never played on a Jamma machine before. From that itch, came all the joystick building today. I just wanted others to have the complaints about the "grittiness," "not arcade layout," and "mushyness" to have a solution.

 

yea your right...still big ups for the website I'll definatly try one when I get the chance. Is the technical stuff really hard like soldering, and wire work. Do you think someone with no experiance with this sort of thing could come out with a decent "working" finished product. /versus/images/graemlins/confused.gif Im talking bottom line...can the avg joe do this?

 

I actually dumbed down the language to accomodate those without an electronics background. I also made it really repititious and redundant.

As far as soldering goes, it's easy as pie. Working with solder is easy as long as the material contacting each other, and enough heat is applied (the hotter the better).

What you should really do though, is read the whole step by step process. Everything is explained as thouroughly as I thought fit. Even the wiring section is pretty thorough. Guage the difficulty according to your ability. To me, it should be easy for anyone. Really easy.

If you come into problems, I'm here for support, as I'm sure others are.

 

To try and bait more people to take up the practice of building joysticks, I've updated the site with Sanwa information, from parts- to whom to contact and how.

Afro- I'm working on including various VF images for the underlays... don't worry, it's coming. /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[ QUOTE ]
Catch22 said:

To try and bait more people to take up the practice of building joysticks, I've updated the site with Sanwa information, from parts- to whom to contact and how.

Afro- I'm working on including various VF images for the underlays... don't worry, it's coming. /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

That reminds me. If anyone is making sticks and wants some killer stick art, that's the kind of thing I'd do for fun. I have damn near every VF image known to man so I can do whatever requests pop into your head. So there's an added incentive if anyone wants to give it a go, free photoshop work /versus/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

Actually Creed, thats the one thing that I didn't know how i was going to get it done, and make it look nice, I have no experience whatsoever in photoshop, and I would say I am shit all together in the creative arts! /versus/images/graemlins/frown.gif
I think a stick with my #2 lion would be sweet, but really i would probably take anything that just looks slick! /versus/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

I whipped this up before reading your lion request, but I'm sure we can arrange something =D

Check it out:

<font color="white">CreeD's underlay</font>

Not to scale because I don't know what the scale should be. I guess I can consult the joystick builder site and come up with a guess.

 

great artwork guys. i already have a mas stick i japanized but it still has the ghey mas artwork could you make or tell me how to change the size of the images so it will fit a 14 & 1/2" x 10" top? and i'd like some kage artwork done creed his 2p outfit or a joystick w/ the evo box art would rule as well.