homemade controller mark 6 parts from ebay

bohoki · January 22, 2016

its been years since i made one from scratch and i being a glutton for punishment once more into the breech

if anyone wants to try to make one i'll list the parts i used and links to the sellers and a wiring diagram

but once again i realize this is not any better (maybe slightly worse) than a pc controller with an adapter

took me a while to find my unibit from the powertroller and its all dull now so it was hard making holes

the major difficulty was cutting the keypad hole i majorly screwed it up i tried to drill holes and use a coping saw but it was also dull and not cutting so i just used a soldering iron to melt out the square (if anybody has any better metods for cuting a square out of plastic please let me know)

almost ran out of room but these arcade like buttons from china are smaller than real arcade buttons

still waiting on my knobs from china

Edited January 22, 2016 by bohoki

BigO · January 22, 2016

Yeah, building controllers is probably more fun for me than playing the games with them once I have them built.

Some people would be satisfied with the quality of that cutout. Glad to see you're not one of them.

When you're short on tools and funds, pick up some files and sandpaper (and a few little chunks of wood, dowels, etc. to use as sanding blocks). Hog out the hole with your trusty Bic lighter, a hammer and chisel, a flat rock and a rusty nail, or whatever. But, make the rough hole smaller than required then finish it to the exact size and shape with the files and sand paper.

Depending on the thickness of the plastic, I may use a hand sheet metal nibbler to work from the rough size toward the fine line then finish with a file.

I'm just barely patient enough on a good day to do it that way, but it works.

I should just use a router, but setting up a jig to cut a perfect hole for a one-off part just doesn't seem worth the time.

Papa · January 22, 2016

I use a wood base and plexiglass top. It's a tad easier to cut. Pretty much anything is better than those mushy 5200 side buttons! MEH!!! :skull:

The 5200 would be such the bomb if not for those faily-arsed craptastic controllers. I don't know what they were thinking. I suppose they were trying to get the most out of porting the home computer carts. Those didn't use the paddles so they needed something with more space in the joystick throw to give you something to imitate paddles but no return to center is ridiculous! I really like the system the couple of times I've owned one, but the controllers always broke and It was too much upkeep.

A 5200 to XE/800 adapter would be dope!!

Lynxpro · January 22, 2016

I use a wood base and plexiglass top. It's a tad easier to cut. Pretty much anything is better than those mushy 5200 side buttons! MEH!!!

The 5200 would be such the bomb if not for those faily-arsed craptastic controllers. I don't know what they were thinking. I suppose they were trying to get the most out of porting the home computer carts. Those didn't use the paddles so they needed something with more space in the joystick throw to give you something to imitate paddles but no return to center is ridiculous! I really like the system the couple of times I've owned one, but the controllers always broke and It was too much upkeep.

A 5200 to XE/800 adapter would be dope!!

They were trying to shove a 360 degree joystick up George Plimpton's posterior over all of his commercials hyping Intellivision's dopey 16-direction disc/fingernail file trimmer.

+grips03 · January 22, 2016

Yeah, building controllers is probably more fun for me than playing the games with them once I have them built.

Some people would be satisfied with the quality of that cutout. Glad to see you're not one of them.

When you're short on tools and funds, pick up some files and sandpaper (and a few little chunks of wood, dowels, etc. to use as sanding blocks). Hog out the hole with your trusty Bic lighter, a hammer and chisel, a flat rock and a rusty nail, or whatever. But, make the rough hole smaller than required then finish it to the exact size and shape with the files and sand paper.

Depending on the thickness of the plastic, I may use a hand sheet metal nibbler to work from the rough size toward the fine line then finish with a file.

I'm just barely patient enough on a good day to do it that way, but it works.

I should just use a router, but setting up a jig to cut a perfect hole for a one-off part just doesn't seem worth the time.

I think we PM'd about this a few years ago, but I finally got around to making my multi-console controller. I'm going to make a 5200 cart for it pretty soon. As it now it supports ~20 consoles using 5 or so carts.

When we cut the keypad hole its done a milling machine using a jig.

BigO · January 22, 2016

I think we PM'd about this a few years ago, but I finally got around to making my multi-console controller. I'm going to make a 5200 cart for it pretty soon. As it now it supports ~20 consoles using 5 or so carts.

When we cut the keypad hole its done a milling machine using a jig.

The milling machine is certainly an ideal solution. The nearest one I have ready access to is about 20 miles away so I just do without.

I believe we did chat about this. I had been working on a multi-system controller as well at that time. My thought was to try to make a controller with a "universal" serial output which would be interpreted by a plug-in module at the console, a specific version for each type of console. I have shelved that in favor of things which I might actually have time to accomplish.

That's an interesting approach you've taken with the cartridge for a "personality module". Have you posted more about your project somewhere that I've just missed?

+grips03 · January 22, 2016

The milling machine is certainly an ideal solution. The nearest one I have ready access to is about 20 miles away so I just do without.

I believe we did chat about this. I had been working on a multi-system controller as well at that time. My thought was to try to make a controller with a "universal" serial output which would be interpreted by a plug-in module at the console, a specific version for each type of console. I have shelved that in favor of things which I might actually have time to accomplish.

That's an interesting approach you've taken with the cartridge for a "personality module". Have you posted more about your project somewhere that I've just missed?

I didn't know what forum to use as its a multi-console controller. I have 7 carts made already. Going to make 5200 cart soon and should ship Feb/March.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247443-super-ninja-controller-pre-order/

Pic is of beta controller.

bohoki · January 23, 2016

i was trying to make one for under $50 bucks

so far its been approximatly

$6 for the box (200x120x75mm)

$6 for the joystick

$1 buttons

$3 keypad

$1 for the potentiometers

$.25 for knobs

$3 for 2 meters of rainbow wire

$.40 for 15 pin plug

my next one i'll put the pots on the side and the buttons under the keypad

Edited January 23, 2016 by bohoki

+grips03 · January 23, 2016

i was trying to make one for under $50 bucks

so far its been approximatly

$6 for the box (200x120x75mm)

$6 for the joystick

$1 buttons

$3 keypad

$1 for the potentiometers

$.25 for knobs

$3 for 2 meters of rainbow wire

$.40 for 15 pin plug

my next one i'll put the pots on the side and the buttons under the keypad

why the pots if its a digital joystick?

bohoki · January 24, 2016

why the pots if its a digital joystick?

2 reasons

1 to adjust center for perfect movement and

2 to ride the knob and play the worlds greatest game

kaboom_log_and_t_shirt_by_brokennye-d6kt

Edited January 24, 2016 by bohoki

+grips03 · January 24, 2016

ah, centering

bohoki · February 14, 2016

i got another box from china so i tried a different scheme i call this one mark 6b

i got to say i think i prefer the buttons on the side although i did to a better job with the keypad hole this time

i made 2 because i had 2 fabtech joysticks from an old arcade panel they are similar to wico but are a bit more loose

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e366/bohoki/DCP_9069_zpsgcbxvlbw.jpg

horrific wiring nightmare but thankfully i got minipots

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e366/bohoki/DCP_9070_zpscyiprgxx.jpg

Edited February 14, 2016 by bohoki

+grips03 · February 14, 2016

i got another box from china so i tried a different scheme i call this one mark 6b

i got to say i think i prefer the buttons on the side although i did to a better job with the keypad hole this time

i made 2 because i had 2 fabtech joysticks from an old arcade panel they are similar to wico but are a bit more loose

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e366/bohoki/DCP_9069_zpsgcbxvlbw.jpg

horrific wiring nightmare but thankfully i got minipots

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e366/bohoki/DCP_9070_zpscyiprgxx.jpg