Custom Arcade - Part 2 - Off-Topic

lordofultima

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Edited By lordofultima

I've taken a break from Street Fighter IV to go into the next chapter of my custom arcade stick. Consider yourself lucky.

So after much deliberation I decided that the original top panel of the Pelican stick just wasn't going to do. It was too thick and the button placements and the holes themselves weren't suitable for what I was going for. What I've done since last time is decided that I wanted all Japanese parts, or at the very least Japanese buttons. The stick is still in the air, and could end up being a Happ/IL Competition, or even a perfect 360 if I feel like it. But one thing's for sure, The surface of jap buttons just feel a whole lot better.

So above you see the remnants of some things sitting around my basement. One is a giant wooden box made for me a long time ago that houses my magazines, the other is a scrap PC tower that sits in my closet for no reason. I cut some materials recently and they're all from those two objects, meaning I didn't have to go out and purchase anything (yet).

The wooden lid that box used to have was cut to fit as the top panel of the stick...

The newly-wed is a thinner board, multi-ply

...and the aluminum surface around that tower was used for the top and side panels.

The shoddy "metal" side of the aluminum won't be showing obviously. It's got some inherent flaws that make it useless on that end. Instead I'm going to use the rougher finished black side(s), shown below.

The lip on the metal works out pretty well.

Sure, I could have avoided a lot of trouble with a bunch of neat power tools, but since I'm taking the scrub way out (and don't have expensive tools such as a dremel or router) some compromising had to be made. Any rough edges will of course be filed down, and imperfections covered with a rubber molding/lining -- including for the wooden edges on the top panel. Those two lips on the back and front panel fit pretty nicely into place, and will help in providing a mounting area for the new panel when it's finished.

It's going to be a pretty massive arcade stick when it's done, but this has all been the easy part so far. I have to drill/cut out holes through both wood and metal to get everything to fit into place, which is going to be absolutely awesome (sarcasm). I also have to wire everything, but what's important as that it looks sleek and feels good first. If I decide on a Japanese joystick I'll have to cut out a large hole in the wood for the body of the stick, and then mount the plate on top of the wood, and screw it through the aluminum. If it's an American stick it'll be easy as balls since I can just mount it underneath the wood entirely. Decisions, decisions.

Check back in the near future for a part 3 perhaps? See you then.

15 years ago

lordofultima

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#1 Edited By lordofultima

I've taken a break from Street Fighter IV to go into the next chapter of my custom arcade stick. Consider yourself lucky.

So after much deliberation I decided that the original top panel of the Pelican stick just wasn't going to do. It was too thick and the button placements and the holes themselves weren't suitable for what I was going for. What I've done since last time is decided that I wanted all Japanese parts, or at the very least Japanese buttons. The stick is still in the air, and could end up being a Happ/IL Competition, or even a perfect 360 if I feel like it. But one thing's for sure, The surface of jap buttons just feel a whole lot better.

So above you see the remnants of some things sitting around my basement. One is a giant wooden box made for me a long time ago that houses my magazines, the other is a scrap PC tower that sits in my closet for no reason. I cut some materials recently and they're all from those two objects, meaning I didn't have to go out and purchase anything (yet).

The wooden lid that box used to have was cut to fit as the top panel of the stick...

...and the aluminum surface around that tower was used for the top and side panels.

The shoddy "metal" side of the aluminum won't be showing obviously. It's got some inherent flaws that make it useless on that end. Instead I'm going to use the rougher finished black side(s), shown below.

Sure, I could have avoided a lot of trouble with a bunch of neat power tools, but since I'm taking the scrub way out (and don't have expensive tools such as a dremel or router) some compromising had to be made. Any rough edges will of course be filed down, and imperfections covered with a rubber molding/lining -- including for the wooden edges on the top panel. Those two lips on the back and front panel fit pretty nicely into place, and will help in providing a mounting area for the new panel when it's finished.

It's going to be a pretty massive arcade stick when it's done, but this has all been the easy part so far. I have to drill/cut out holes through both wood and metal to get everything to fit into place, which is going to be absolutely awesome (sarcasm). I also have to wire everything, but what's important as that it looks sleek and feels good first. If I decide on a Japanese joystick I'll have to cut out a large hole in the wood for the body of the stick, and then mount the plate on top of the wood, and screw it through the aluminum. If it's an American stick it'll be easy as balls since I can just mount it underneath the wood entirely. Decisions, decisions.

Check back in the near future for a part 3 perhaps? See you then.

15 years ago