El Kabong2 (or making my first arcade stick) Part 6 - Seventh Inning Stretch

The hardest part of the build was finally done, and while not 100% perfect, it was better and shinier than I imagined. It was time to start figuring out what the final layout would look like, although I still was unsure on what the artwork would look like. I started out with a button layout similar to the Madcatz TE stick:

Pay no attention to that purple flask over there...

It was clean, looked nice, but it just didn’t speak to me. Besides, I had ordered enough buttons at that point to mix and match plungers and rims, so that’s what I did. I bolted up the base of the joystick and dropped in the buttons to have a look. First up: black buttons, white rims, with the black joystick and white dust washer (I’m a fan of symmetry if you hadn’t guessed…)

Notice the reflection of the towel on the bottom of the case? Hard work pays off baby!

The clear PS button? Genius...

While I wasn’t much of a fan of this combination when the box was unpainted, I had to admit it looked really good with the painted box. The white rims made the black plungers look like they were floating above the case, and the black joystick really gave it the authentic arcade look and feel. However, it felt like there was way too much black going on. Even if I used a picture with a light background, I wasn’t sure it would work in the long run. So, I tossed in the reverse: White buttons, black rim, white joystick, black dust washer

I added the lexan top for added effect. It will look even better with art

The black on white buttons look pretty good on the side

The button setup was a winner for sure. I liked it with the unpainted box, and liked it even more with the shiny black case. The white stick looked, well, strange, as I never saw one in an arcade. But I had to admit with the button combination it worked. I tried to switch back to the black stick with that button combo, but it wasn’t working for me (besides the fact it threw the symmetry off!). So, that combination would be final.

Next I turned my attention to the wiring. After mulling a few options on how to keep the sixaxis pcb in one place, I settled on a combination of Velcro and Shoe-Goo. The battery for the sixaxis fits on the back of the board with two spacers that clip to the pcb and hold the battery in place. I used the Shoe-Goo to glue the spacers to the battery, then clipped it to the pcb. I placed a 1x3 inch rectangle of Velcro to the other side of the battery, and placed the other side of the Velcro inside the case. With this setup, the parts won’t move unless I pull them apart, so moving the case won’t cause the pcb to fall. I folded the ribbon cable over itself in order to mount the axisadaptor on top of the sixaxis pcb, and held it in place with servo tape (a strong double sided tape used for R/C radio electronics). Next I ran the usb cable from the pcb to the gender changers I bought earlier, then slid them into the slot I had shaped for it, making sure it was flush with the back of the case. Once positioned, I used some construction adhesive to make sure it never moved.

Aside from the polish I need to clean out, I'm quite proud of how that turned out

Next up was the wiring. I had bought some cable sleeves to try and organize and clean up the mass of wires that would be in the case. After fighting with the 3 ground wire chains I decided I didn't have the patience to do the same for the signal wires for all 11 buttons, no matter how neat it looked. If I had actually planned out the length all the wires needed to be ahead of time, I may have been able to run the wires thru a length of sleeving from the button back to the axisadapter. But it turned out as an exercise in futility. So I settled on neatly tucking the wires around the button lock nuts at the bottom of the case. I managed to get everything wired up and the plexiglass bottom buttoned up just as my good friend and fellow Stree Fighter of 19 years walked in. After a small glitch that caused some of the buttons not to function (I think a ground wire may have been lose; how embarrasing) I handed it over to my buddy, who absolutely hates the Playstation controllers (he's a Sega fanboy who's been anti-Sony since the original Playstation, so I take his criticism with a grain of salt). After firing up the PS3 from the fight stick (still very cool), we get into some SFIV. After a few warm up round, he's able to pull off Guile's ultra move, something he's never been able to do on anything other than an arcade setup. "You build good toys my friend" he said, laughing as Chul Li laid crumpled on the ground. Note to self: Germaine can no longer play with my toys....