Do you use a "Homebrew Joystick"? - Post your pics!

[virtvic]

I've wired the joystick buttons on this controller to pins 6 and 9. I'm expecting this to also function on a megadrive as button B and C.

 

I know the megadrive uses multiplexers to share pins, but just straight wired, it should work as buttons B and C on a megadrive, right?

[virtvic]

On 9/5/2019 at 4:24 PM, virtvic said:

It’s just 8 resistors on some perf board. I’ll post up the diagram later on.

Sorry - I forgot to share the diagram. Bear in mind, the resistors should be on the bottom as you are looking at it...

 

 

[virtvic]

I made this for 8 bit computers and consoles. It has a Sanwa JLF iin it and I turned some black nylon to screw into the joystick shaft (the stick is counterbored and tapped M6 internally) My home lathe is so crap, it left a liney finish, but works really well - in fact, I'd say I MEANT it to look like that...

 

 

Edited September 22, 2019 by virtvic
typos

[Omega-TI]

Has anyone ever ripped the guts out of one of these nasty thumb controller 'thing-a-majigs' and turned one into a full fledged REAL joystick?

 

 

[carlsson]

I'm not sure what qualifies as a thing-a-majig, but I once rebuilt two noname DB15 PC gamepads to be used on my Sord M5, and just the other week I opened up another noname gamepad with the possible intention of modifiying it for Atari style joysticks though I haven't begun desoldering and cutting tracks yet.

 

(Yes, I've got a reasonable number of loose and boxed PC gamepads that have virtually no market demand, though functional)

[Andromeda Stardust]

On 12/4/2019 at 5:01 AM, carlsson said:

I'm not sure what qualifies as a thing-a-majig, but I once rebuilt two noname DB15 PC gamepads to be used on my Sord M5, and just the other week I opened up another noname gamepad with the possible intention of modifiying it for Atari style joysticks though I haven't begun desoldering and cutting tracks yet.

 

(Yes, I've got a reasonable number of loose and boxed PC gamepads that have virtually no market demand, though functional)

I remember those. Most PC gamepads had resistors in the dpad to put out an analog signal for a digital pad. That's why they had to be calibrated.

 

I have always wanted to build an analog joystick for N64 use. 3rd party builds (prior to the design patent expiration) used pots instead of optical encoders like the first party game pads.

 

There exist devices like the 360 joystick by ultimark / Happ using magnetic feedback, but these come with USB controllers and are only good for PC/Mame. And vintage PC-15 flight yokes are another possibility.

 

Real arcade controllers using 90 degree pots do exist. As well I have seen thumbsticks with what amounts to stiffer springs and extension rods on them. There certainly is a disconnect between a $2.50 thumbstick and a commercial $200 pot joystick.

 

Surely someone could market a cheaper alternative. The pots alone are $35 compared to a $1 pot, simply because they are custom built to have a 60-90 degree travel range instead of 270-300. There is absolutely no reason for a pot with 90 degree of travel to be 30x expensive compared to a stock one with 300 degree movement.

 

I would ultimately abandon the N64 joystick idea.The build would have entailed a ton of work and expense with no guarantee of success for the end result. Ditto for a hypothetical 5200 joystick. Only the 90 degree travel 5K pots would need to be subbed for a nonexistent 1M.

 

As well I am pursuing other interests.

Edited December 5, 2019 by Kosmic Stardust

[StickJock]

I'm thinking about building a homebrew controller setup for my Atari 8-bits, and I want to put paddles on it as well.  I know that the Atari paddle controllers are 1 Mohm, but does anyone have any recommendations on which pots to get?  Looking on AliExpress, I can find lots of different 1 Mohm linear pots.  I assume that I would want ones that are not too stiff, yet don't spin too easily either.  Is there a torque spec that I should look at?

 

Suggestions?