Rllmuk Arcade Stick Thread

[NecroMorrius]

Yeah I just saw who offered to buy it

Methinks that one won't go ahead. Shameful!

[Sir DangerM]

Cheers!

My TE stick died on me again tonight. The reconnect controller message popped up halfway through a league game with Patronsaint . It was fully flush with the dongle when I checked it, plenty of slack on the cable. Reconnected and it was OK again... argh :/

I'm pretty sure my RT button on mine is a bit fucked. It seems fine on it's own, but when using it for any EX moves they don't seem to reliably come out. If I use LK + MK they work fine every time.

I know other people have had trouble with trigger buttons on the TE too...

[NecroMorrius]

Look at the jugs on Chun-Li.

I thought it was the DOA stick at first.

[SpagMasterSwift]

All that spinning has effected her anatomy.

[DC]

Here is my wip EX2 sanwa/art mod

Still need to hook up the guts, but happy with the outside. Props to FurryGreenMonster for sorting the art and supplying the double-sided sticky! When its working Chunners will be wanting a word with your Fei-long!

The story so far is here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spagmasterswi...57614688940975/

How much did that all set you back mate (if you dont mind me asking)? Money and time?

[Lyrical Donut]

I'm pretty sure my RT button on mine is a bit fucked. It seems fine on it's own, but when using it for any EX moves they don't seem to reliably come out. If I use LK + MK they work fine every time.

I know other people have had trouble with trigger buttons on the TE too...

Well in that instance the entire stick and all buttons stopped responding - the 360 reacted as if I'd disconnected the cable, there was no way that could've happened. It happened again yesterday during my session with The Shend too.

Time to phone fuckers up, I guess

[Dave White]

Well in that instance the entire stick and all buttons stopped responding - the 360 reacted as if I'd disconnected the cable, there was no way that could've happened. It happened again yesterday during my session with The Shend too.

Time to phone fuckers up, I guess

Oh no!

[Dr Seedyman]

Im gonna be all over this on release.

Not a huge fan of the artwork but I know the stick is a rock solid weapon.

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-01-77-1-49-en-70-38wc.html

[DC]

Im gonna be all over this on release.

Not a huge fan of the artwork but I know the stick is a rock solid weapon.

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-01-77-1-49-en-70-38wc.html

But how much will be added on top for importing.

Lik Sang used to mark things down but I understand Play Asia dont do this.

[Dr Seedyman]

But how much will be added on top for importing.

Lik Sang used to mark things down but I understand Play Asia dont do this.

A fair bit will get tagged on for P+P and Import Tax,

However the 360 RAP EX Sticks go for crazy money on Ebay so at least the product starts off cheaped even if the other stuff remains the same.

If I can get it to my door for less than £200 im a happy man.

[SpagMasterSwift]

How much did that all set you back mate (if you dont mind me asking)? Money and time?

Well it has added up over the months, I bought the EX2 a while back when they were £25 or something from Amazon or Play.com. The Soldering Iron was around £18 from Maplins and came with Solder. 6 Sanwa switches and a ball top was £14.20 (outrageous!). Bought a metal file for £8 (which will no doubt come in handy in the future), wire was £1.85, borrowed double-sided tape off Furry and printed & laminated art at work so that was free. Already had knife & screwdriver so probably cost me about £65! Oh I bought a solder sucker too for £8 >_<

Time was spent waiting around for parts to arrive from Gremlin, trying to suss out how to laminate the art, etc. Actual time spent doing it so far has been 1 hour desoldering (first time doing it so was being overly careful), 5 mins laminating art, 20 mins attaching the art, cutting holes and inserting buttons! Wiring it up could take me till the end of the year tho...

I've absolutely loved doing this and now I have the bits will be attacking my PS3 Hori...

[kittsy]

You should probably snip the metal contacts on the buttons so they're as thin as the Hori ones, then fit the board directly to the buttons like it was originally. Otherwise you'll have a loose circuit board rattling around in there. Fewer joints to solder, less chance of something snapping off later.

[SpagMasterSwift]

Cheers Kittsy, I've been toying with this idea since I realised I can't currently solder for shit, so doing 24 connections was daunting to say the least - at least the 'snip method' halves this... I have solid wire so the boards shouldn't swing around too much if I do go the wire route...

[kittsy]

It's probably a bit easier as well, because once you've fitted the contacts into the board they're wedged solid and you can just solder the bits that poke out. Soldering wires to things is annoying unless you've got an extra pair of hands. And there's not much room in the case, unless you bend the button contacts flat - you probably don't want those capacitors butting up against the metal base.

[SpagMasterSwift]

Was gonna slap a bunch of tape on the metal plate to try and avoid contact - having the snip does seems much more practical.

[Barnard]

My Cthulhu board arrived today.

It was very, very easy to wire up - all the hardwork was done over on this thread http://www.rllmukforum.com/index.php?showtopic=194563

Now it's time to spend some real time getting to grips with Streetfighter 4.

[AngryH]

I'm selling my Madcatz SF4 stick if anyones interested. It's in the trading folder.

[TheShend]

Do want!

[SMD]

Is that the Wii SF4 fight stick?

(I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I love my Wii, honest.)

[jonathanhoey]

OK, I'll bite. Where are the other buttons?

[CrispinG]

OK, I'll bite. Where are the other buttons?

[kloid]

This is worth mentioning though: there's a shortage of JLFs currently (the sanwa sticks). The only model I can find is the JLF-TP-8Y right now (well, last night) from gremlinsolutions. This is the correct stick, but it doesn't come with a mounting plate. This isn't ideal, since it means using the stock mounting plate and I'm reading lots and lots of stories saying how difficult they are to remove. It seems the screws are weirdly soft and may also actually be GLUED in.

The stick models that do come with the mounting plate are the JLF-TP-8YT and the JLF-TP-8T (I'm pretty sure - this is from memory though). If you're concerned about this plate thing (and people on SRK forums are saying you should be), it's recommended to wait for the other models to come in.

All that said, I ordered one of the 8Y sticks last night so I'll feedback what trouble, if any, I have with that mounting plate malarkey. *gulp*

^Since I said earlier in the thread that I'd feed back any problems I had with taking the mounting plate off the stock stick in the Madcatz SE, here goes:

FUCK THAT SHITTY SHIT.

My new parts should be arriving today and my artwork's being processed this morning, so last night I started gutting the controller. Had absolutely zero problems removing the buttons, the top of the case for a template and the stick itself.

Last thing I needed to do was remove the four screws holding the mounting plate on the stock stick. I used the correct driver, took my time and the first three came out silky smooth. The last one... The very last screw...

Wouldn't fucking budge. At all. I tried to He-Man it and the head is now stripped to fuck.

I was absolutely fuming last night.

I've no idea how to get this out now, but I'm gonna take it into town and find a shop with tools and men with beards, see if any of them can help out.

tl,dr version: Avoid choosing the mounting-plateless JLF-TP-8Y -- getting the existing plate of your stock stick is a fucking lottery.

[Tomdominer]

my artwork's being processed this morning

A question I wanted to ask is, is everyone getting their custom art laminated and sticking it on or 'lami-labelled'? I read in this great Hori EX2 Mod Guide that you can get artwork laminated with one side sticky.

Is there anywhere in the uk that offers a lami-label service? And if not, what glue / adhesive are you guys using to stick the art to the plate.

[Pistol]

I've no idea how to get this out now, but I'm gonna take it into town and find a shop with tools and men with beards, see if any of them can help out.

Do you have access to a dremel? You could cut a slot into the head of the screw, and use a flathead screwdriver to try and turn it. Or a hacksaw might work, if there's enough room to get the blade in. Or, file the sides of the screw head flat enough to get a pair of pliers on there to turn it.

If all else fails, you can drill the head off the screw, which will enable you to get the old part off - though then of course you'll be left with the rest of the screw stuck in the body. Might be able to turn it with pliers if there's enough sticking out to get a grip on, but if not you're left with only three screws holding your new part - which may, or may not, be OK.

[FurryGreenMonster]

A question I wanted to ask is, is everyone getting their custom art laminated and sticking it on or 'lami-labelled'? I read in this great Hori EX2 Mod Guide that you can get artwork laminated with one side sticky.

Is there anywhere in the uk that offers a lami-label service? And if not, what glue / adhesive are you guys using to stick the art to the plate.

I couldn't find anywhere that does it. It's a Kinko's thing in the US so I called the Kinko's in London to ask and they had no idea what I was talking about.

I just laminated a laser print in the end and used decent double sided tape.

[kittsy]

what glue / adhesive are you guys using to stick the art to the plate.

Double sided tape works great - seriously. Put a few strips of it criss-crossing the plate, plus a layer of it overlapping the edge slightly, then scalpel the excess once it's stuck down. The buttons help to keep it flat and there's little chance of getting ripples / air bubbles, which you might get if you use a sticky label.

You could also use spray mount, which allows you to reposition and smooth out the art after it's stuck down.

Edit: I just read that guide you posted. The writer dismantles the entire joystick shaft and replaces the microswitches - two steps you definitely don't need to do - and uses pliers to get the ball top off the stick. That's what the slot in the base of the stick is for. Put a screwdriver in, twist the top off.

[kloid]

Okay, busy morning.

The dremel thing - no, no access to one. I tried to bodge it last night with a tiny pin file to achieve the same effect (being able to flat-head it out) but that got me nowhere. What I ended up doing was going to a Machine Mart and asking for their advice. I asked if they had a workshop out back, which they did. So I nipped round to the service and spares area and said I had a tenner for anyone who'd spend 5 minutes drilling this screw out. Some guy accepted but refused to take my cash.

So happily I have my mounting plate, but - only three screws now. The only replacements I could find are 25mm ones with the wrong shaped head. I'm gonna take them home tonight after work, hacksaw them down to size (~4mm length), screw in and file down the top so that it's flush. Hopefully that'll be fine.

All in all though - god damn what a hassle.

And to the question about how to go about prepping artwork. This has actually worked out waaaay better than I ever imagined. I rang up a printing store (Hayman's Graphics, in Nottingham) who run a whole range of services and do a lot of work producing stuff for student's projects. I'm sure every city has at least a couple of this type of store.

Anyway, I explained what I was doing and asked the guy what he would recommend. His reply, and what I advise you to go for: an image printed directly on to self-adhesive white vinyl. It's pretty much the same stuff that the original art is on - a plastic, glossy, water-proof sheet with a backing paper, revealing powerful adhesive. The adhesive can be moistened slightly with a spray of water (adding just little bit of washing-up liquid) to allow it to be repositioned. I e-mailed the guy my art as a .tif file, gave him an hour, walked into town and picked it up. It's beautiful. Came to £7.50 and he did me an extra copy for free.

[Tomdominer]

His reply, and what I advise you to go for: an image printed directly on to self-adhesive white vinyl.

That sounds amaze. I also live in Nottingham, so want to give this a go.

One question: Does the guy cut the vinyl to shape for you, including the button holes, or do you have to do that after the printing?

[kloid]

You'll need to cut it yourself I'm afraid, since he's basically just transferring an image onto one section of a huge roll of vinyl. He'll print it out to whatever physical measurements you request, snip roughly around it and hand it to you. Measurement-wise, the SE top board is 271mm x 185.5mm so I asked for mine to be printed out at 273x187. It's a really nice sturdy material (almost like a thin linoleum) and I don't expect there to be any trouble trimming it neatly and accurately.

[kloid]

I really need to retract my blanket recommendation for this white vinyl stuff.

Applied it to the casing last night and, whilst it has a lot of plus points, the fact is: it's just too thin. Before removing the backing it seems a nice thickness, about 1mm; this is all backing sheet though and the vinyl itself is like 1/5th of that, tops. If you're removing the original artwork and applying it straight to the metal top plate, you're going to see the screws underneath, plus any tiny imperfection on the surface.

Sticking it on to a another material first and then trimming that as a whole should work nicely, or simply placing the sticker directly on to the existing art. On its own though, it ends up looking a little bit ropey. (It may be possible to get the white vinyl pre-loaded on some other thicker backing at the printing outlet - I never thought to ask.)

Just a heads up for anyone who was intrigued by this option.

In other news, my stick/buttons failed to arrive through the post yesterday (had the shipping address set at work). Gotta wait til tuesday now! Laaaame.