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Building an arcade stick: And So Can You!

135678

Posts

  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Doc wrote: »
    My first stick is complete, I'm working on a second now, since I got a second controller in case I screwed up the first. I wanted to wire up the triggers of this one, but it's kind of complicated on the madkatz one that I have. I have no problem building that circuit, but I may have fucked up my board. I did one side perfectly, and it works great. When soldering the wiper/center point of the other side, the blob of solder came off the board. I tried to put it back, but failed. Now there is a greasy substance (flux?) covering the point, and I can't get anything to stick to it, even after wiping it off. Done I fucked up? I may just leave it disconnected, as it doesn't seem to be interfering with the rest of the controller. I really wanted those buttons, though. :(

    I am considering just going out and getting another used madkatz controller, since a friend now wants me to build him one, as well. I can use this one for that purpose. :D

    Unless you pulled off the copper solder pad, it's still salvagable. You probably just got some of the lithium grease they use to lubricate the plastic triggers onto the PCB. Clean that shit off with some isopropyl alcohol, apply flux, and solder.

    Duncan345: Good to hear it. You can probably just post your progress in here if you want, though; I'm almost done with this and it looks like I've inspired several people to give this a shot. (And the whole point of a walkthrough like this is to show what mistakes I've made, so that other people can avoid making them as they try something similar.)

    Daedalus on
  • DocDoc Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2009
    I think I done fucked it up beyond recovery. It's okay, though. I'll use that pad for my friend's controller. I got another madkatz pad and did it right this time. Then I started up my xbox (nothing plugged in yet) to make sure all the connections were working.
    Three blinking red lights.
    ...
    Fuck.

    In any case, the completed controller that I have is pretty big, so my second one is going to be smaller. I'll be using oak 1x4s for the sides and 1/2" particle board for the top and bottom. The acrylic surface will be flush with the 1x4s, so it should be pretty slick. Until I get back my XBox, I can test the connections on my PC.

    Doc on
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    I gotta say, after using MDF for the majority of this controller, I think I really hate the stuff. It feels like wood for the most part, until you chisel it wrong or something, and then you realize that it's basically cardboard. If I ever make another stick after this one, I want to do the control panel out of metal.

    Daedalus on
  • DocDoc Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2009
    Daedalus wrote: »
    I gotta say, after using MDF for the majority of this controller, I think I really hate the stuff. It feels like wood for the most part, until you chisel it wrong or something, and then you realize that it's basically cardboard. If I ever make another stick after this one, I want to do the control panel out of metal.

    I used 1/2" particle board for the whole first box and that worked really well. The issue is that it's hard to drill or screw into the ends, so you have to either use corner brackets on the inside, or put a 1x1 post on the inside of each corner, then screw into that. I did the second one.

    Doc on
  • DocDoc Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2009
    My layout/template for the new stick:

    layout.jpg

    I am getting ahead of myself, though. Heh.

    Doc on
  • wallakawallaka Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Just found the thread today after (mostly) finishing my wireless 360 joystick.
    Prototype time!
    th_0301091347.jpgth_0301091218.jpg
    Didn't really take any pictures during construction, but it is well documented already in the thread. I used butt joints because I don't have a miter, plus I'm lazy. The tools used were a jigsaw, router, and drill. The box is made of 1x12" scrap board, most likely cedar, for the sides and top. The bottom is an old bookshelf. I countersunk the screws, and it hinges at the bottom because I haven't figured out the battery situation quite yet. I left enough of the controller shell that I can use a standard battery pack. I'm ashamed to say that I just jumped right into it. I put the buttons where my fingers could easily touch them, but didn't measure really at all. The entire layout is eyeballed. I did use the cardboard box for about a week before I made it in wood today. I simply cut the top of the box off and traced the pattern onto the wood, adjusting where the cardboard felt cramped.
    th_0309090141.jpg
    I tried to make it as thin as possible, so I had to router some clearance grooves at the joystick and buttons. Overall dimensions are 14x12," the height at the back of the box is 3.5" and at the front it is 2" tall.
    th_0309090140.jpgth_0309090139.jpgth_0308092042.jpgth_0309090139a.jpg
    It works just like it's supposed to, so this is better than some of my projects. I'm going to get some plexi and make a top plate eventually. I also haven't made the front and back plates either. The hardware is from X-Arcade, it seems to be sturdy enough and was way cheaper than anywhere else, $45 for 2 sticks and 20 buttons. I can switch to a Happ stick later if I feel like it.

    I didn't know about the common ground thing when I made mine, so it's a bit spaghetti. I might do something fancier later or on my next one, but this is workable. I only had one panic moment when the PCB burnt, but I was able to trace it out and solder again. And yeah, that's Cat 5 wire. This is a Microsoft controller, $25 shipped from eBay. Apparently there aren't any 3rd party wireless pads so I had to scrape the rubber off of the contacts. They were much smaller than the 3rd party ones I've seen. I was worried that I would burn through something, but my soldering iron had a small enough tip that it worked out fairly well. I'll definitely get a pencil tip before I try this again, though.

    wallaka on
  • SaberwulfSaberwulf Registered User new member
    edited March 2009
    Dude, well done to all you guys making these joysticks by yourself. I'm currently building my joystick at the moment. Only the prototype will be done as I made the arcade box out of a shoe box lol.

    Will try to post some pics if I can borrow a camera. Thanks Daedalus for helping with my soldering points and chaining my xbox 360 controller. I hope it works...now where did I put my medusa of a PCB?

    Update: Guess my controller wont be see'ing any daylight forever. My controller doesnt even want to turn on....sigh.

    Saberwulf on
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Saberwulf wrote: »
    Dude, well done to all you guys making these joysticks by yourself. I'm currently building my joystick at the moment. Only the prototype will be done as I made the arcade box out of a shoe box lol.

    Will try to post some pics if I can borrow a camera. Thanks Daedalus for helping with my soldering points and chaining my xbox 360 controller. I hope it works...now where did I put my medusa of a PCB?

    Update: Guess my controller wont be see'ing any daylight forever. My controller doesnt even want to turn on....sigh.

    Check for shorts. Make sure you didn't connect the ground directly to power, or the common line directly for power (since they're different on your controller).

    You pretty much need a multimeter to do electronics soldering, unless you're capable of never making any mistakes. You should be able to find one relatively cheap somewhere.

    Daedalus on
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Late last week I put the finishing touches on this thing.

    The first order of business was to fit the PCB into the project box. There weren't really any mounting holes or anything already in the box; it was just an empty box made of corrugated plastic.

    The first thing I did was cut a hole in the box, towards the bottom, that the Xbox headset jack would fit through. This would have been trivially easy to do with a Dremel or other rotary tool, but I didn't have a Dremel. What I had was a drill and a hobby knife. So I used the drill (and a 1/8" bit) to drill a couple holes and then connected them with the knife, then cleaned it all up (also with the knife). It came out straighter and better than I expected.

    That held up one side of the PCB, but what about the other side? If I had some PCB feet, I could mount it properly, but I really didn't want to have to run to the electronics store again. So I took a ballpoint pen and took out the "pen" part so all I had left was the "spitball launcher" part. Then I sliced a couple slices off of this at the proper height to support the PCB, and I glued them to the bottom of the box with cyanoacrylate.

    Cyanoacrylate, also known as the brand name "Crazy Glue" (and sold as "Super Glue" by some companies, but I hate that term because umpteen other chemicals are referred to as "super glue" as well) is some pretty awesome stuff when you need to glue plastic to other plastic.

    Anyway. Then I had to cut an opening for the DA-15 jack, which would be mounted on the inside. I needed to cut the hole wider than was needed for just the jack to fit, because the connector on the cable is wider than the jack. I also cut an opening on the other side for the cable from the PCB to the Xbox to go through. This needed to be right at the top, because that cord was soldered to the PCB and wouldn't fit through a hole in the middle.

    Then, as a finishing touch, I drilled a big hole in the side and fit a button there to use as the Xbox Guide button. I figured that this button would only be used with the Xbox, so there was no point to mounting it on the stick itself. I really should have gone with a Japanese button, though, because the Happ Horizontal that I was using was ridiculously long for this purpose.

    (Also, there aren't any "player indicator" LEDs, but I could theoretically put some on if I wanted to. I just can't bring myself to give a shit.)

    Still, in the end it all fit together. I used superglue on the headset connector and the USB cable to keep them stuck to the box. I tried to use some on the PCB itself, to keep it stuck to my ballpoint-pen standoffs, but that didn't seem to work. Still, it seems pretty solid. The final step was to fix in the DA-15 connector with some jackscrews (and nuts and washers, etc). There's really no substitute for these, so buy them when you buy the connector so you don't need to run back to the store like I did. (edit: and before you waste time: those standoff screws that you use to mount your computer motherboard to your computer case are the wrong size and thread for use as jackscrews. I tried.)

    20090304095752.jpg
    20090304095714.jpg
    20090305151912.jpg
    20090305152357.jpg

    So that went really well. Then I needed to put the finishing touches on the arcade stick itself, and here's where everything went wrong.

    First, I decided I wanted to make a shallow recession around the DA-15 connector on the joystick so that the plate wouldn't stick out. I grabbed a chisel and went to work. This ended up mostly okay, but I really should have done this before painting. A couple of flakes of paint came off around where I was chiseling and there was really nothing I could do but touch it up with a Sharpie and hope that it wasn't too noticable. I stuck the jackscrews in there with glue, since they weren't long enough to go all the way through the frame, and were too wide to just stick in the holes I'd drilled.

    20090305224319.jpg


    Then I needed to attach the bottom plate. I decided to use hinges and latches, so it could be reopened easily if needed.

    Of course, because of my stupidly large frame, I couldn't use concealed hinges, so I went with a couple of regular mortise hinges instead, of the type you might find on a door (although a bit smaller).

    Chiseling out the recession for these was a good deal more difficult and I accidentally split some MDF more than once. I decided to screw them into the main box before attaching them to the bottom panel. Then, like an idiot, on one of the hinges I accidentally drilled the pilot holes too large, and the screws just slid right in without, y'know, screwing. I decided to fill up the screwholes with wood glue and stick in the screws (and put some more wood glue between the flat plate of the hinge and the box for good measure) and clamp it and hope for the best. (Again, really should have done this before painting).



    The next day, everything seemed solid, so I decided it must have worked. I got ready to mount the hinges on the bottom plate and then noticed that the screws that came with the hinges were significantly more than 1/2" long, so they would have gone right through the bottom plate, stuck out as spikes, and probably injured me. I ran to the hardware store to get 1/2" long wood screws, brought them home, and realized that these too were just long enough to screw up the paint job. So I used my wire cutters to cut off the very tips of them, and then, with great difficulty and pre-drilled pilot holes, screwed the hinges to the bottom plate. (I also used glue there for good measure).

    20090305224400.jpg
    (Picture is bottom plate after chiseling but before adding the hinge.)


    Sure enough, the bottom plate was on slightly crooked, but at this point I didn't care enough to fix it. I mounted the latches (sort of like a non-magnetic cabinet door latch) to the inside of the stick, and one of the cheap hinges broke off in the process of putting it on. But the baseplate stays on with one hinge, and so I'm filing it under "well, it works, so maybe I'll fix it someday in the future maybe".

    Anyway, it's the bottom plate anyway; nobody notices that shit. If I ever do get around to fixing it, I'll just replace it with a sheet of stiff plastic or something, screwed right to the frame, because that would have been a lot easier (and would make the stick a bit lighter).

    20090309170046.jpg
    (It might not look like much, but it feels great in Street Fighter. Or Soul Calibur. I'll build boxes to get it working on the PS2 and Dreamcast soon.)


    So my stick is finished. I guess this becomes a general-purpose custom arcade stick thread? I'll edit the OP to fit.

    Daedalus on
  • mr_ekimmr_ekim Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Fantastic job Daedalus. The breakout box is a great and novel idea for universal controller compatibility.

    I'm thinking about building my own arcade stick due to the extreme lack of Fightsticks out in the market. One thing I'm considering is wiring up a wireless Xbox360 and/or a PS3 controller (maybe with a toggle switch). However, I've noticed that everyone is going the wired route, any reason why not go wireless? Latency perhaps?

    mr_ekim on
    steam_sig.pngmrekim.phpmrekim.php
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    mr_ekim wrote: »
    Fantastic job Daedalus. The breakout box is a great and novel idea for universal controller compatibility.

    I'm thinking about building my own arcade stick due to the extreme lack of Fightsticks out in the market. One thing I'm considering is wiring up a wireless Xbox360 and/or a PS3 controller (maybe with a toggle switch). However, I've noticed that everyone is going the wired route, any reason why not go wireless? Latency perhaps?

    Eh. You'll see serious fighting game enthusiasts whine endlessly about how wireless controllers "lag", but people have actually measured the so-called "lag" and with modern controllers it's less than 1/60th of a second (i.e. less than one frame) and thus unnoticeable. (Besides, if wireless controllers really did introduce noticeable lag we'd be hearing the Guitar Hero crowd complain about it first; it would be a much bigger issue there.)

    The bigger reason is that wireless pads for the Xbox 360 are really fucking expensive, as because of Microsoft's lockdown, the only ones you can buy (that aren't shaped like guitars, natch) are Microsoft's first-party pads, at $50 apiece. The third-party wired pad I used for my project cost $25 and it was still the single largest expense of this project (if you don't count the circular saw I bought).

    Also there's the issue of attaching batteries to a disassembled PCB: you'd need to get a 2xAA battery holder (for instance, from an electronics shop) and solder it to your controller, and mount it in some way where the batteries would be easily changeable. But hey, go for it if you want; I've seen a couple of people making wireless arcade sticks when I was looking on the Internet for info. It's certainly possible.

    edit: and in fairness I got the breakout box idea from this old site.

    Daedalus on
  • EgoEgo Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Daedalus, just to comment on the cyanoacrylate problem with bonding the PCB and home-made standoffs, I bet it'd work if you moistened the PCB ever so slightly where it was being glued. Whenever that stuff doesn't work for me, a lack of moisture always ends up being the problem.

    Looks slick :). Makes me want to take apart one of my PC controllers and do an arcade stick.

    Ego on
    Erik
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Ego wrote: »
    Daedalus, just to comment on the cyanoacrylate problem with bonding the PCB and home-made standoffs, I bet it'd work if you moistened the PCB ever so slightly where it was being glued. Whenever that stuff doesn't work for me, a lack of moisture always ends up being the problem.

    Looks slick :). Makes me want to take apart one of my PC controllers and do an arcade stick.

    I'd try, but the standoffs are in a position that makes them hard to get at while the PCB is partially glued (as it is now).

    I'll probably leave it as is until (unless) it breaks.

    Daedalus on
  • wallakawallaka Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Daedalus wrote: »
    The bigger reason is that wireless pads for the Xbox 360 are really fucking expensive, as because of Microsoft's lockdown, the only ones you can buy (that aren't shaped like guitars, natch) are Microsoft's first-party pads, at $50 apiece.

    Ebay is your friend on this one, if you trust it. Plenty of brand-new Microsoft wireless pads for $25-30 shipped. At least that's where I got mine. Yours looked orders of magnitude easier to solder to, though. Definitely a factor worth looking at.

    wallaka on
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    First of all, great job to everyone building sticks in this thread - they look great!

    I've been looking into doing this myself, and am currently trying to figure out how to build/obtain a case, because my apartment simply has no room for woodworking tools. I did however see one stick on the SRK forums built from an old chessboard, so this weekend, I'm going to go scouring for existing box-like structures that might be modified to this purpose.

    Second, I just want to note to the Op, and everyone else, to only work with MDF in an open, well ventilated area. The dust contains some pretty nasty stuff that you don't want to be breathing.
    Wikipedia wrote:
    Safety aspects of MDF

    When MDF is cut, a large quantity of dust particles are released into the air. It is important that a respirator is worn and it is cut in a controlled and ventilated environment. It is a good practice to seal the exposed edges to limit the emissions from the binders contained in this material.

    Formaldehyde resins are commonly used to bind MDF together, and testing has consistently revealed that MDF products emit formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds that pose health risks at sufficient concentrations, for at least several months after manufacture.[4] Whether these chronic emissions reach harmful levels in real-world environments is not yet fully determined.

    Houn on
  • EgoEgo Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    That warning reminded me of all the times I've worked with melamine-coated MDF (if the word 'melamine' sounded familiar to you, that's because it's the compound they keep finding in food from China.) Now I might have to make a white-mel arcade stick, just cause it'd match the 360 so nicely.

    Ego on
    Erik
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Question:

    Pretend you're a guy that's never done any woodworking before. Now pretend that you want to build an oak box for an arcade stick. Now pretend that you have no power tools.

    Obviously you'll have to buy a drill. Is this something you would attempt with a hand saw?

    Houn on
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Houn wrote: »
    Question:

    Pretend you're a guy that's never done any woodworking before. Now pretend that you want to build an oak box for an arcade stick. Now pretend that you have no power tools.

    Obviously you'll have to buy a drill. Is this something you would attempt with a hand saw?

    I'm a guy who had never done any woodworking before this.

    And I started with no power tools.

    I borrowed a drill from a friend, and it took me a couple of days of trying with a hand saw to realize that the project would suck a lot less if I bit the bullet and bought a powered circular saw. And I was working with pine and MDF, not oak! I found a cheap one for $40 from Wal-Mart. Get one that plugs into the wall; batteries don't last long in saws.

    and you might need extra oak, because if you've never done woodworking you will almost certainly fuck up a couple cuts. Make sure that when you accidentally destroy something, it's a piece of wood and not a finger. It would suck to build an arcade stick but lose some of the fingers needed to use it in the process.

    Daedalus on
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    I'm a fairly careful and precise guy, so while I doubt I'd do it perfect on the first try, I probably would get pretty close. I really have nowhere to put or use a circular saw, though. :P

    Houn on
  • wallakawallaka Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    I second the plug-in part. As a rule, battery-powered tools suck. Except for drills.

    wallaka on
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Houn wrote: »
    I'm a fairly careful and precise guy, so while I doubt I'd do it perfect on the first try, I probably would get pretty close. I really have nowhere to put or use a circular saw, though. :P

    Well, neither did I. In the end I clamped the pieces to a spare piece of furniture (I'm not sure what this thing is exactly, it's somewhere between a nightstand and a table) and just used the saw in my apartment. Just make sure to vacuum up the dust afterwards.

    Daedalus on
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Yeah, I pretty much have the kitchen table is all, hehe.

    So, what are some good measurements for a stick? How deep does it need to be? I'm seeing about 2"? How about surface?

    Houn on
  • ImprovoloneImprovolone Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    You can do it with a handsaw, but it will take a long time. Ask your friends, you might be surprised who not only has tools but woodworking experience.

    Improvolone on
    Voice actor for hire. My time is free if your project is!
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Hmm.

    Should I try to build a box first, then order the parts to drop in, or should I order the parts, drop them in a cardboard box so I can see how everything fastens, then design my box to match?

    Houn on
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Houn wrote: »
    Yeah, I pretty much have the kitchen table is all, hehe.

    So, what are some good measurements for a stick? How deep does it need to be? I'm seeing about 2"? How about surface?

    If you're using a Happ joystick you will need at absolute minimum 2.5" between where the joystick mounts to the underside of the control panel and the bottom panel, or your joystick won't fit. Sanwa joysticks are smaller than Happ joysticks, though.

    You can usually find detailed measurements of the individual parts on the manufacturer's web page. At least for Happ stuff, anyway; the Sanwa website is probably all in Japanese.
    Houn wrote: »
    Hmm.

    Should I try to build a box first, then order the parts to drop in, or should I order the parts, drop them in a cardboard box so I can see how everything fastens, then design my box to match?

    this. It's good to get a feel for how far apart everything needs to be spaced and all that.

    Daedalus on
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Yeah, I'm kinda leaning towards the Sanwa JLF with an octogon gate. I really need to just head down to Gameworks and play around with a bunch of sticks, find one I like the feel of, then see if I can determine which stick was put in that cab.

    Houn on
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Well, nevermind. Lizardlick is pretty much out of everything right now, and won't be taking new orders until April. Akihabarashop closed until the 23rd.

    Guess this is suddenly a popular hobby. Oh well, Maybe next month.

    (Or maybe I should just not bother and save the cash, hehe.)

    Houn on
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Yeah, when SFIV came out everyone was suddenly out of stock of everything.

    You can still buy parts direct from Happ, if you don't mind American parts.

    Daedalus on
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    I'm not a fan of bat sticks, and the HAPP switches seem excessively tall, so I was leaning towards the Japanese brands.

    Houn on
  • DocDoc Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2009
    Houn wrote: »
    I'm not a fan of bat sticks, and the HAPP switches seem excessively tall, so I was leaning towards the Japanese brands.

    http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=47066.0

    I have gone through him twice now, and it's been great with sub-retail prices and really fast shipping.

    Doc on
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    I stopped by Gameworks tonight and sat down at the SF4 Cabinet. Sanwa JLF stick and 30mm Buttons. I liked the feel of the stick and the buttons, but not the square gate - I kept jumping when trying to just push left or right.

    So, I think I'm going to go with the same, but add in the octagon gate.

    (For the curious, I got owned by a pretty good Ken who'd been sitting at the 1p spot for awhile.)

    Houn on
  • blklightning21blklightning21 Registered User new member
    edited March 2009
    Hi all, first i have to say that this is all so amazing. this thread has been so helpful its just great. I've noticed that everyone is making their arcade sticks out of wood and i was just wondering if there was a reason for that because i will be starting my arcade stick in a couple of days when my parts get here and i was gonna build mine out of a plastic gun case. i dont really have a place where i can do woodwork (apt complex). Im not too in depth with all the technical lingo i was just wondering if any1 could help with the size of the wire i would need and where exactly i solder the wire for the directional pad are they really obvious spots.(sorry i havent gotten my controller yet to look at the pcb so sorry if that question is really noobish and irrevelent) Any help would be greatly appreciated just contact me at
    blklightning21@googlemail.com

    blklightning21 on
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Everything you ever wanted to know about joystick building, including PCB diagrams:
    http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick.html

    Houn on
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    STICKBUILDERS ALERT:

    akihabarashop.jp is open and taking orders again. If you were looking to buy parts to build/mod a stick, now is the time.

    Houn on
  • shadydentistshadydentist Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Starting to throw my parts together.
    This is my PCB, from a Mad Catz wired 360 controller. Mucho gracias to Daedalus for helping be through this process. Only notable difference, I added some hot glue to keep the solder joints from taking too much stress.
    CIMG0203.jpg

    This aluminum box will eventually be the case. As you can see, I've marked off various layouts, but eventually settled on a modified Hori layout.
    CIMG0204.jpg

    Until I finish machining the aluminum, the parts are kept nice and comfy in a spare shoebox.
    CIMG0205.jpg

    More to come as I progress.

    shadydentist on
    Steam & GT
    steam_sig.png
    GT: Tanky the Tank
    Black: 1377 6749 7425
  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Lookin' classy, dentist. I like the metal box. I think the next stick I make will have a metal panel, though I might use wood for the rest of the box.

    Daedalus on
  • DocDoc Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited April 2009
    I just finished my second stick. It's stained oak, with three layers of clear coat.

    eda3ce36086841eeaafdbcd57543b331.jpg

    Doc on
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    That's a nice lookin' stick, Doc. Can't wait for my parts to show up. I suspect it's going to be some time yet.

    Houn on
  • ViscountalphaViscountalpha The pen is mightier than the sword http://youtu.be/G_sBOsh-vyIRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    um, WOW. Very nice doc. I like how you did the black and white theme with the buttons and meshed that pattern into the background art.

    Viscountalpha on
  • langfor6langfor6 Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Doc (or anyone qualified), how hard is the woodworking for a stick? That is the thing I'm most worried about. I've done some soldering in the past, and always much around with electronics, but actually building the case seems like it will be the biggest challenge for me.

    langfor6 on
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