Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Pew pew..

I've been trying to get together the parts to build an arcade stick for the PC. I've got some cheap buttons, crimp-on connectors for the wire, and a PC controller to cannibalise. I'm afraid that the controller is a bit too complicated, as it has analogue inputs and too many digital inputs for what I'm doing. I could probably find a cheaper, simpler one for half the price I paid for this one and simply use this one as a PC gamepad until such time as I feel confident enough to hack the analogue inputs. I get the feeling that the controller acts as a mouse when the analogues are in use, which suits me fine. 

I still need:

a soldering kit
a tiny screwdriver set
a joystick
MDF cut to size
to dig out my drill
a 1" drill bit
a 1-1/8" drill bit
a lot of 18 gauge wire, possibly smaller (I've heard it's easier to work with than barely sufficient gauges, for this kind of thing)
possibly a simple, ten digital input USB gamepad
a terminal strip
some kind of project enclosure

The buttons I've found are not what I will be using on my next stick, I just want to get something together that works before ruining some really nice, vintage parts. I may need to order my joystick online, which from what I've seen, might be a bit difficult or a little more expensive than what I wanted.

to do by Saturday:
get the wire
order my joystick
figure out which controller I'm going to be using

It's kinda rainy out this week so I'll save the legwork for next week. I've never done anything involving electronics before so it might take me longer than it would if I were familiar with the basic parts and processes that I'll be using.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Would you believe me if I told you that I was back from hiatus?