Custom stick gallery

Re: 6 hour stick (minor oops)

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GodEater said:

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I just found this floating around on the internet...thought you guys might like it:

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I'd rather you posted it in another (or make your own) thread. There are better examples of MAME inspired cabs out there and it has nothing to do with what I wanted this thread to be: A place for VFDC members to showcase their efforts at making custom sticks.

GE

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Hey, totally understandable...sorry bout that!

 

Re: 6 hour stick (minor oops)

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Anyways, I'll probably be making another one this week, as soon as I get some microswiches.

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Awesome! Are you going for presentation or sticking with utility this time around?

GE

 

re:

GE, I forgot how you got the lexan to hold in place without screwing it in from the top. Is it just being held in place by the buttons?

Even though my base isn't finished, I thought i'd post a picture anyways because I don't know when I can get around to finishing it after today. I still needs fine sanding (still got some wood filler on it). I basically copied the design of the dreamcast agetec base, with some catch22 influence. I was surprised I was able to do the angled cuts with a circular saw I got for cheap.

 

Re: re:

Hey Teetu,

Good job on the frame. Pretty ballsy to do the decorative cuts by hand! How are you mounting the stick and buttons? One piece of wood with holes cut through or the rafter system that Catch favours?

The first stick I dadoed the wood top so I could slide the lexan in and out and it was held in place. That wasn't so bright as it took a lot of time and could break really easy. Second Stick I screwed it down but I don't like that so with the new one the button screws are holding the lexan in place.

So long as your framing is level this will actually be sufficient. If your framing is a little bit off you'll find the lexan peeks up at the edges so make sure you get it right!

GE

 

Re: re:

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GodEater said:

Hey Teetu,

Good job on the frame. Pretty ballsy to do the decorative cuts by hand! How are you mounting the stick and buttons? One piece of wood with holes cut through or the rafter system that Catch favours?

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You would be surprised how accurate you can be with a circular saw if you use a straight edge guide. It's a tedious to line it up and clamp the edge down for EVERY cut, but the circular saw was $30 versus a few hundred for a table saw. Then again, the hand saw miter box is even cheaper- but i'm to lazy for that.

For my happ stick, i'm going to cut a 10X7 piece of mdf for the top panel. I figure the easiest way would be to flip the frame upside down on a flat surface, put the plexi and graphic in, then put the mdf on top of that . That should ensure a dead flush with the top of the base, then I'll lust glue the underside of the mdf into place.

For the sanwa stick I'll have to use catch's rafter style I suppose. Next time I order, I definately need to get screw type sanwa buttons and a mounting plate for the sanwa stick so I can make a simple panel like the american style.

 

stick mounting

you can top mount Sanwa sticks into wood panels as well. There is a good tutorial on www.modeverything.com; check the right hand panel where the subject is "top mounting j-stick". That might be a better way to go for you.

GE

 

Re: stick mounting

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GodEater said:

you can top mount Sanwa sticks into wood panels as well. There is a good tutorial on
www.modeverything.com; check the right hand panel where the subject is "top mounting j-stick". That might be a better way to go for you.

GE

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My sanwa stick did not come with the metal mounting plate- so I can't do that. Even the way he shows seems a bit difficult with the router and all. A very easy, sure fire way to do it with the mounting plate would be to extend to pieces of wood from the sides of the frame (leaving enough space between for the base of the stick), and then screwn the mounting plate on top of those pieces. Catch essentially uses a thin piece of wood as the mounting plate, but my problem is I can't find wood that thin (only 1/4"). I want the stick to be as close to the surface as possible, but I don't want to mount it to the glass because I don't want the screws protruding. I'll take pictures later to show what I mean...

There are two realizations I came to about why the screw type sanwa would be better. The first is obvious, and that is you could make the simple top panel in one piece. The second, more time saving thing is that you could use 1 1/4" bit to make holes for the sanwa OBSF 30- and you wouldn't have to worry about the hole being a little to big because you could just screw the buttons tightly. You wouldn't need to use a 1 1/8" spade and make it bigger with an exacto or sandpaper, because the top of the button would cover up the slightly oversized 1 1/4"hole .

Anyways, i should stop talking and finish my first stick...

 

Re: stick mounting

I didn't do a good job selecting where to put my angles on this stick, but I guess you can really only learn by trying. I took a long time to sand this, because I wanted to make sure I couldn't see any seams. I might put one more coat of paint on before the laquer (I heard laquer will sometimes yellow a white finish with age, so maybe I'll go with polyurethane) .

 

Re: stick mounting

/versus/images/graemlins/grin.gif /versus/images/graemlins/grin.gif /versus/images/graemlins/grin.gif /versus/images/graemlins/grin.gif /versus/images/graemlins/grin.gif

/KiwE (Yes I'm immature).

 

Quick questions for GE -

1. Did you get your lexan at Home Depot?
2. How did you put your box together - inside with bracing and screws? outside with screws countersunk and patched with filler? I can't decide between these two approaches. My feeling is that countersinking screws on the outside would be a better fit and a stronger base overall. Any thoughts?
3. What do you think of adding a slant to the box design?
4. Can I nab a wiring diagram off you so I'm compatible with the board harnesses?

I've got myself my wood and I've started clearing out space in my workshop to get this mini-project going. Very exciting /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Thanks for inspiration thus far.

<font color="yellow">.cheers.</font>

 

hey!

1. I got my lexan from Home Hardware. I can't imagine it is too hard to find if my local shop has it.

2. outside with screws countersunk and patched with filler. the screws tie into an inside brace.

3. I think a slant would rock. I just didn't want to bother with it this time around.

4. You can when I'm finished tracing out Kbcat's wires. my VGA cables are differently color coded than his so I have to drag out the multi-meter and manually match it.

Good luck on the construction! Give me a shout if you have any other questions.


GE

 

3. Llan, don't make things complicated, just use a binder!

 

Disaster! I started applying polyurethane to my base, and I noticed it was yellowing a bit. About 10 seconds after I applied it, I began wiping it off. It came off easy cause it wasn't thick like laquer. I wiped it clean so that the cloth was going over that area smooth as if nothing was applied to it.

Then I grabbed the laquer and started applying it. I used spray laquer before and wasn't crazy about it, and the guy in the wood finishing section told me brush on laquer would give me the results I wanted. I experimented with the laquer and polyurethane on stained wood- so I knew how to apply it.

Anyways the laquer was pretty thick and I wished I had used laquer thinner with it, but it was no big deal. Then it started taking paint off!!! The brush is a soft, good quality one, so it wasn't being that abrasive. I don't know what the hell happened. Could there have been residue from the polyurethane left over that caused some sort of reaction? Now my base has some bare parts on it, so about 2 days of work down the drain. I should have been putting in my interior frame & stick tonight, but now I cant! Good grief!

I was hoping that Catch might be able to give some advice, cause he uses laquer and spray paint like I did- but I don't think that he has been around here much lately.

On the back of the polyurethane can, it suggest polycrylic for light color surfaces. It's also water based so its easy to clean up and doesn't have the vapors and what not- so I'm gonna try that.

Any ideas what went wrong? Are the spray finishes that durable?

 

were you using a flat color paint? i noticed when my friend used silver, it began to turn yellow when he applied the polyurethane. i used black and didn't have the same problem.

 

Yeah, I used flat spray paint.

I did some research and found out that polyurethane and nitrocellulose lacquer (most common) can and yellow with age. Acrylic-modified lacquer is cool, and I suspect that is what the spray laquer for white finishes is. Water based polurethane won't yellow either. I might give this polycrylic stuff a try too.

I think I figured out what caused my meltdown. Before I began brushing on the lacquer, I put some lacquer thinner on the brush because pros sometimes do it to help with cleaning up the brush afterwards. That stuff is pretty strong, and it was able to cause the paint to completely peel off. It's a fast way to remove paint if you need to do that...

 

After some design thoughts and early drawings - in AutoCAD no less /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif - I've come to the conclusion that a slant is very difficult to do well. So, I've given up on the idea temporarily...

<font color="yellow">.cheers.</font>

 

If you don't feel comfortable cutting the wood for the slant, you could always put taller feet in the back than in the front (or no feet in the front).

 

This is my current VF stick.


This is what I'm working on now...should be done by this weekend when I get a cheap pad and some microswitches.

 

My newest project /versus/images/graemlins/grin.gif


My old project /versus/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

BMF, you've just been owned.