Custom Arcade Stick for the Original Xbox

What if, you could play Arcade Classic Games...
with a custom Arcade Joystick...
...on an Original Xbox.

That was the goal of this project,

not only to have something that worked, but a joystick, with a unique aesthetic... and feel.

In this journey, we will go over the

planning,
design,
woodworking,
painting,
staining,
testing,
wiring,

...and also some mistakes made along the way,

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** PLANNING PROCESS **
************************

The planning process included one analog stick,
and one fully functional analog trigger,

primary control of six-button fighting game compatibility

as well as four button NEO-Geo style control.

In order to connect all the juicy navigation and coin / start buttons,

it was required to manipulate the pads and probe an old XBOX controller to oblivion.

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** DESGIN PROCESS **
**********************

So now that we know the end result and the plan for the project,

let's take a look at the designing process.

In order to make the analog stick and analog trigger protected from dust,

and also to make sure it didn't have exposed connections,

it was required to create protective sheaths.

The process of making 3D models in Blender not only enabled me to visualize the end result,

but also many of the models were used to make resin-based protective sheaths that I later primed and painted.

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** WOODWORKING AND INLAY PAINTING PROCESS **
**********************************************

The woodworking and Inlay painting process was actually the impetus for the entire project.

I wanted to learn as much as possible regarding woodworking power tools for both gaming related and home repair purposes.

The goal was to have a more complex structure of a trapezoid as the base shape for the arcade controller.

After drilling the primary holes, the next step was to use hand chisels for the inlay.

Once the inlay area was chiseled out, I used gold colored paint to fill the chiseled areas.

Now you can see the painters tape is removed and the inlay will contrast even more once we move onto...

...the panting and staining steps.

The core structure consists of two trapezoids to make a pyramid-like box.

The side holes you see here are for the latch system which keeps it securely closed.

Also the small wooden structure in the middle is for keeping the controller brain properly in place.

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** STAINING, LATCHES and HINGES **
************************************

The latches were extremely important, because they keep the lid of the controller box stable.

Since the right hand of the user will be resting on the top, any side to side or vertical wiggling would be unacceptable.

So I decided on using spring-loaded latches that add counter-pressure to the force required to close the lid.

If you have questions regarding this, feel free to leave a comment and I will respond as timely as I can.

Now here you can see the 3D model I did for planning the latches and hinges process.

Since I'm drilling holes and routing I really wanted to make as few mistakes as possible.

******************
** MISTAKE #1 **
******************

...Which leads me to my first little mistake that I made!

You see when I made my holes I was spacing them to make sure they had clearance between each other.

But the button the top-right was too close to the edge of the base to allow the top to close.

My solution was to CAREFULLY use the electrical Dremel tool to create a custom scallop.

in order to create clearance for the button.

SUCCESS!!! What a relief!

I can't wait to put these golden analog sheaths on the top to cover up the wiring I do later!


**************
** WIRING **
**************


If I'm going to make this modular..

I'm going to need some jumper wires to complete the daisy-chains... now where did I put them...

Here we go!

Time to get wired up!

What a nice control stick, lots of work to do still in order to get the brain working.

All the daisy chains required jumper-wire to Happ style connectors in order to stay modular in the future.

So I just made some of my own using a soldering iron and heat system for the insulators.

One important thing is that the pads required daisy-chaining ground for the D-pad and analog buttons.

But the buttons like, A, B, X etc required daisy-chaining power...

this may have been a unique situation for the controller brain that I used,

...but it was worth mentioning because it was very counter-intuitive at first.

Thanks so much for watching and feel free to leave comments or questions. I will try to respond in a timely manner the best I can!