I would have gotten one but the demand is so high I never had the chance after they released. Now we are in mid April and the damn Madcatz sticks STILL aren't in stock. If they aren't by mid May then im going to just pre-order the Tekken/KOF sticks that come out (It's a given regarding current arcade stick sales).

That's (partially) exactly why I'm just building 'em. Besides that, it feels good to make your own, you get the same quality while paying less for it, and you get to decide EXACTLY how you want it.

Heck, in my case, my uncle gave me one of his wireless 360 controllers to use. Gave. He has no use for it because the buttons don't work right (the shoulder ones aren't clicky anymore and barely respond when pressed, also have to be pressed right. This isn't a problem since it concerns the controller casing and not the PCB).

So, I'll be building this sucker for a fraction of the cost it would've been. I already have all the controllers - I just need the wood, the wiring, the arcade parts, and a few screws and connectors. That'll cost me approximately $60-$70, instead of $120+ for the manufactured one.

Ordered my parts for my stick. Wanted to go with Seimitsu buttons and a Sanwa stick, but it all turned out too difficult to locate. What's more is that the only shops that had them in stock stated to have no availability to ship to America. >=(

So I went with Happ parts. All competition-grade, so I should still have some good quality out of this stuff. Put in my order with Happ themselves, will let you all know when I get my stuff.

The two black buttons and the one blue one are backordered, so I won't be able to complete the entire pad right away. I decided I wanted them to send me what they had as soon as it was possible so I could at least start construction immediately. Not to mention, I can do without certain buttons - I can skip out on my shoulder buttons, or select, etc, for the most part. I'll probably get it functioning without all components at first, and go from there.

Anyways, the rest has shipped.

@tonestarr cool nothing wrong with Happ buttons if you played a lot of MvC2 at the arcade than you'll be pleased as Happ buttons are used on all arcade versions. Happ buttons also click when they go in so it's easy to know if your button registered. It's only due to my personal preference that I do not like Happ as much as Seimitsu, Happ buttons require a little bit of more force. If you don't like them you can replace them in a couple years from wear and tear.

Yeah, I got most of the parts yesterday. The blue button and the two black ones hadn't shipped yet, but they have since then. I'll probably have them by the end of the day Monday, if not earlier.

I put together the stick and a button, to see how they feel, and I'm pretty pleased. I just have to actually put together the box, mount the parts, then wire it together. Y'know, the hardest part.


I'll take photos of everything I do and show it all once it's finished. Stay tuned!

100% finished planning. Now I'm off to the hardware store to begin purchasing the little supplies for actually building it. I need all sorts of gizmos - rubber feet, steel joints, locks, latches, corner braces, etc. This thing will be the best arcade-stick ever to come from a man's household.

I'm settling on this button layout:



As for specifics on which button goes where, the four main face buttons will comprise the four on the left side, with the next two being L2 + R2/LT + RT, and the last two (the rightmost two) being L1 + R2/LB + RB.

They'll be set up like this:

Red, Yellow, White, Black
Green, Blue, White, Black

There will also be three buttons above those eight (not on the button layout diagram, since they're not the usual buttons you'd see on an arcade stick). They'll be a white Player 1 button, a green button, and a white Player 2 button.

Start, Guide, Select, respectively.

The box, from above. With Pan-pan watching.

Close-up of the holes. Each button hole is about 1 inch across - just big enough to slide the buttons in. You want to be somewhere between 1 inch and 1.25 inches, and as small as possible so the buttons don't shift. Too big and the buttons will shift, and you may expose your holes as well.

The stick hole was slightly off-center so I expanded it with a rough routing bit on the drill. ANY hole you want to start smaller than necessary and expand in this fashion, if using plywood, so you don't splinter it and make a mess of yourself. This also allows you to carefully select precisely how you want the hole, so you don't accidentally do it too big.

Control stick hardware.


All the buttons.


The mounting rings and microswitches for the buttons.

Now with everything in the previous pictures altogether now!


Side view, showcasing the door mechanics.


Door opened. In here, you'll find the 360 controller's battery pack, the Dreamcast controller's VMU (memory unit), and the connectors to switch between the various controllers (360, PS2, GCN, or Dreamcast). As you see, there are also two more locks.


Close-up of one of the locks, showing how it works. I have it attached to a doubled layer of plywood because the screws it came with are a little longer than 1/2-inch, while the plywood is a little thinner than 3/8 inch. Had to improvise.

Anyhow, these locks work by locking into a hole on the side, effectively locking the bottom door in place.


Locks in the previous image disengaged. This allows the main box door to open, revealing what would be all the wiring and truly technical garbage on the inside. This is clearly incomplete.

Shot showing what the underside looks like with both doors opened, displaying both compartments.

Entire thing now, open.

Inside, without any of the buttons or anything mounted. I was originally going to put some metal corner braces inside, but upon putting it all together, there's no space for the drill to put in the holes! I'm still debating what to do. In the meanwhile, I have the mounts for the braces - which also have screws that are too long - in place with Gorilla Glue. That's probably enough support anyways, to be honest. If I decide I want to use the braces (after all, I DID buy 'em!), then I'll drill the holes all the way through from the other side and just putty 'em up after the screws are in.

If you notice, the wood between the holes is pretty torn up. This is from not being careful enough when boring my holes. Take it slow! You'll tear up your wood if you're not careful. I lucked out and most of the damage was inconsequential.

Better showing the improvisation for long screws, this for the outside locks. Just to understand why I'm doing that, look at the picture of the first door open - you'll see a large section of screw sticking through dangerously. I'm going to fix that later on.

Showing my cuts for the hinges so everything can fit nice and flush.

And that's that. I'll be fixing that door screw issue, then painting it all next. Painting will consist of covering the entire thing with a sort of plaster - smoothing out any discrepancies and making it more uniform in appearance. After that, I'll sand it smooth, then paint it in two layers of black paint and at least three layers of clear protective gloss coat, possibly more. After it's painted, I'll work on the wiring and mounting of PCBs inside it. It'll be complete sometime next week, I expect.