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Anyone build their own controll panel?

Malakai - Nov 19, 2004

		Malakai		Nov 19, 2004
			I've been pondering building a control panel out of arcade parts for awhile and have checked out some of the designs ar arcadecontrols.com, but I was just curious if anyone here has built their own and want to share some pics and/or design plans for others to see/use. Thanks

		Scared0o0Rabbit		Nov 19, 2004
			I started one, I built the interface for the pc, but never actually wired buttons to it.

		mal		Nov 19, 2004
			I play my arcade games with a Saturn pad.

		Cloud121		Nov 20, 2004
			As do I. Wait, I guess arcade ports don't count... :lol:

Dud

Nov 20, 2004

	
	
		
		
			Originally posted by Malakai@Fri, 2004-11-19 @ 09:42 AM



I've been pondering building a control panel out of arcade parts for awhile and have checked out some of the designs ar arcadecontrols.com, but I was just curious if anyone here has built their own and want to share some pics and/or design plans for others to see/use.



 Thanks



[post=124058]Quoted post[/post]

I was pretty sure there was someone here that built one and was showing pictures of it. I've been bouncing the idea back and forth too, but I'll probably just end up getting an X-Arcade rig.

		Malakai		Nov 20, 2004
			I've been eyeing that idea as well. I don't like the button setup 100% though. I'd like something with two rows of 4 buttons, instead of 3, 3, and 2, especially for 4 button neo geo games. I know one of the custom mas joysticks has this setup, but I've had 2 of these with a super nova and, to me, they just didn't feel right. It would have probably helped if i had some type of custom stand, at the perfect height, but that's another story. I've also read in one of the reviews that the joystick on the x-arcade wasn't as responsive when doing circular motions and such, for games like street fighter 2, where ya do the fire ball and jumping upper cut, etc. I guess you could always buy a better happ joystick and replace it, if the mounting is the same. The last part I don't particularly care for is the $20 adapters to work on other systems. Fortunately, if you get the ps2 adapter with the system, there are compatible adapters that can be bought elsewhere for the pc , xbox, dreamcast, genesis, pc engine, saturn?, and cube. In fact, I've seen one that works for both xbox and gamecube. I've also got one of those smart joy? adapters for the pc already, and it seems to work great, a little cheap made though. I just wonder if there are any compatibility problems with going from a ps2 adapter on the x-arcade to another third-party adapter. My original plan, if I built one myself, was to hack my old microsoft sidewinder controller, which had been a great controller for many years but is now kinda worn out from use, and also a third party playstation controller, and use the sidewinder plug for pc, and the playstation one on the ps2 and various other systems, with third party adapters. My problem is that I'm not that great at working with wood and building boxes etc. I'm mainly an electronics person, and just rough estimating, I'd say it would cost me around $27-$30 for the arcade parts, $20 or so for the wood, another $10-$15+ for a generic ps2 controller/circuit board, ms sidewinder $10-$20 - i already have mine so free for me, wire for soldering all of the connections $5?, sand paper, hole cutters, varnish or custom control panel marquee $8-$30, paint $3?, screws $1?, staples $? (to hold wire in place), etc...... hmm, now buying a prebuilt one is sounding better already lol. Also, does anyone have any experience with the Arcade MX Double player control panel?

		Scared0o0Rabbit		Nov 20, 2004
			As the owner of an x-arcade, I can say it's kind of nice. It's also a bit overpriced considering what it actually is.

ExCyber

Nov 20, 2004

	
	
		
		
			The last part I don't particularly care for is the $20 adapters to work on other systems.

I think that's because they actually gut a controller for the "adapter" and cable. If they could pick up custom cables somewhere cheap (Xinga used to sell them, not sure if they do anymore) and use a microcontroller it could be a lot cheaper.

		Malakai		Nov 21, 2004
			Speaking of the x-arcade, isn't it strange that they're only using a 9 pin serial connection, for even the two player (28 microswitches?) control panels. This would mean that they are using some type of special encoder chip, to keep people from making their own adapters, if I'm not mistaken.

		Scared0o0Rabbit		Nov 21, 2004
			they use a special encoder, but not just to keep you from making your own encoders. It actually contains a keyboard encoder, built into it, the cable to connect to your pc through the keyboard port is a straight through cable I think.

		Malakai		Nov 21, 2004
			Well, I just took the plunge and ordered a "solo" one.. I'm still planning on building my own control panel, but a lot smaller to start out with. In fact, an atari 2600 control panel. I used to love the ol' wico one, with the button on top of the joystick and the big button on the bottom. I never could play too well with the dinky black ones that came with the atari system. They were small and had very stiff controls...