Part Selection

 
The first step to any controller is first decide what you are going to use it for.  The games you intend to play will determine what parts you use and what interface you will select.  I enjoy MAME (Galaga) and Callus (Street Fighter).  Callus required the most buttons so I decided to go with 2 joysticks and 6 buttons each.  I also wanted to be able to select and run a game with only the joystick so I would need the extra buttons pictured at the top (see Controller Top.jpg or Controller.jpg).  All parts are from Happ Controls.  The joysticks are Happ’s Super Joysticks in 8-way mode.  All pushbuttons are Happ’s Ultimate pushbuttons.  Both use microswitches for interface.

The Layout
 

I decided to go with a Street Fighter type layout for the joysticks and the buttons.  Here is a real good tip.  Trace out the dimensions of your buttons and joysticks on paper and cut them out.  Then arrange the paper buttons and joysticks on a piece of masonite.  Masonite is a cheap building material you can find at any hardware store.  This way you can play around with your layout by just moving the paper around.  No drilling to figure out exactly how you want it.  Then trace your layout onto the masonite.  You now have a template to build your control panel with.  I measured out all my dimensions and labeled them right on the masonite.  I then drilled all the holes out and put my controls in.  Masonite is much easier to drill, much cheaper than plywood and stiffer than cardboard.  I could now see exactly how my joystick would feel and I haven’t messed up one piece of wood trying.  Masonite layouts will save you time and money.  You can see my template in masonite.jpg.

The Cabinet
 

Bring on the carpentry :).  I made my controller out of 3/4 inch plywood.  This may be a bit excessive but I wanted something that I could beat the heck out of.  I tend to be an emotional player and will be the first to slap the controller when I die.  This big thing hurts my hands.  I covered the outside of the plywood with kitchen countertop formica.  This left a very nice finish and makes it “beer proof” for the occasional spill.  I used a router to cut the formica, which left nice clean edges, but I am still looking for some nice molding to put around the edges.  Formica isn’t cheap but here is a good tip.  Go to your hardware store and find a piece of formica that is damaged.  I found a piece that had a huge crack down the center of it and was basically useless for a counter top but would not affect my joystick at all.  I just cut around the damage.  I ended up getting a $60.00 piece of black formica for only 8 bucks.  I don’t think I could have painted the joystick for $8.00.  One more tip.  Since I used 3/4 inch plywood my joysticks were too short when I mounted them.  I took a router and carved out the area where my joysticks were mounted.  This let me keep the durability of thick plywood but still mount my joystick with the maximum length and freedom of movement.  Check out joystick routing.jpg to see how nice this worked.

The Interface
 

I decided to go with a hacked keyboard for my interface.  I chose this mainly for cost.  I read all the information I could on hacking keyboards and figured I could do it no problem.  I was right and wrong.  If you decide to go with a keyboard hack make sure you have plenty of time, plenty of patience and the right tools.  Keyboard hacks are cheap but they are a royal pain in the *$%.  Soldering to a pc board is rough without a really good soldering iron.  And doing all those wires took forever.  Take your time with the soldering, it is real easy to screw things up.  Even if you screw up on the last wire it is back to the drawing board if you burn up the board or short it out.  I am decent with a soldering iron and was quite happy how good my hack turned out.  Take a look at keyboard hack.jpg to see for yourself.

The Wiring
 

Wiring was the roughest part but I came up with a great timesaver.  I used terminal blocks from Square D.  They are DIN rail mounted.  I just cut a piece of rail and mounted it to the bottom of my plywood and then the terminal blocks just snapped in.  I connected my keyboard hack to one side of the terminal blocks.  Look at terminal strip.jpg to see it.  This particular terminal block has little labels you can write on for identification.  See Terminal Strip Closeup.jpg to see how nice this makes wiring.  It also is great for tracing the matrix; you only need one wire to trace it out!  Terminal blocks and DIN rail can be found in any industrial supply catalog.  I used Graingers.

To connect my joystick to the computer I used a connector in the back of the joystick (see keyboard connector.jpg).  This lets me use a standard keyboard extending cable to connect my joystick to the computer.  This method also allows the controller to be portable.  I just pick it up and take it to a friend’s house.  You can find this part at an electronics store.

A keyboard hack needs diodes to stop ghosting.  I soldered my diodes into the wire and used heat shrink to insulate them.  I then used a quick connect crimped on the end of the wire.  I attached this connector to the microswitch and the other end to the terminal block.  I used wire ties and adhesive anchors to make my wiring clean and not a mess.  Check out Wiring1.jpg and Wiring2.jpg to see the underside of my joystick and the completed wiring.  Clean wiring makes a nice professional looking job.

Conclusion
 

I left out a lot of steps in the construction and wiring parts.  This was not intended to be a how to guide just a quick run down of things I discovered and ideas I had during the construction process.  Read the web page you got this from extensively and visit the projects linked there.  Saint has done a spectacular job of assembling all the technical information you need.  (saint's note.  He really did say that.  I didn't throw that in there.  Honest.)  It is where all my know how came from.  I hope my project and the ramblings here both inspire you and make your project better.  Half the fun of your arcade controller is building it.  Now go play some games ?!

Thanks Jim!