Could 3D printing be worth it for Star Wars yoke?

[ledzep]

One of the coolest but least useful controllers out there is the yoke for the old Star Wars/The Empire Strikes Back vector arcade games. S.T.U.N. Runner and a few others used versions of it. It's bulky as hell and has a shitload of parts. Finding a used one is a pain unless you have lots of money but buying one for something other than restoring a Star Wars cabinet removes one more working yoke from the pool for restorers.

 

I was thinking that 3D printing might solve this issue. I've seen online cheap replacement designs in the past (one using PVC pipe) but they require a hodge-podge of parts, they seem fragile and I hate making something like that out of wood. I was thinking about a design that would be 3D printed plastic for the main body. Obviously the gears and tubing shouldn't be 3D printed simply for strength. But would it be worth it to try printing a version of the yoke that would be roughly half scale (less bulky)? I was thinking that the width (the placement of the grips) would be roughly the same as the arcade version, but the box could be smaller and shallower and the base could also be smaller. This could be designed as a tabletop controller (for game consoles) and also a different base for MAME control panels (especially those "try to fit every possible controller onto the same control panel" layouts).

 

I don't own a 3D printer nor have I ever tried to 3D print something like this. Do any of you out there have experience with 3D printers to be able to say if something like this would even work/be worth trying?

[+pboland]

One of the coolest but least useful controllers out there is the yoke for the old Star Wars/The Empire Strikes Back vector arcade games. S.T.U.N. Runner and a few others used versions of it. It's bulky as hell and has a shitload of parts. Finding a used one is a pain unless you have lots of money but buying one for something other than restoring a Star Wars cabinet removes one more working yoke from the pool for restorers.

 

I was thinking that 3D printing might solve this issue. I've seen online cheap replacement designs in the past (one using PVC pipe) but they require a hodge-podge of parts, they seem fragile and I hate making something like that out of wood. I was thinking about a design that would be 3D printed plastic for the main body. Obviously the gears and tubing shouldn't be 3D printed simply for strength. But would it be worth it to try printing a version of the yoke that would be roughly half scale (less bulky)? I was thinking that the width (the placement of the grips) would be roughly the same as the arcade version, but the box could be smaller and shallower and the base could also be smaller. This could be designed as a tabletop controller (for game consoles) and also a different base for MAME control panels (especially those "try to fit every possible controller onto the same control panel" layouts).

 

I don't own a 3D printer nor have I ever tried to 3D print something like this. Do any of you out there have experience with 3D printers to be able to say if something like this would even work/be worth trying?

 

I don't own a 3D printer either, but a buddy of mine does. From what I've seen it do, only printing the handgrips/buttons of the yoke makes sense. The rest would be much easier (and stronger) if it was made by traditional means. Meaning wood, metal pipe etc. If you think about it, only the outside of the yoke needs to look like the star wars yoke. With that in mind, it's just a matter of making a control that turns two pots.

 

Of course if a person is using Mame to play Star Wars, you could just use an analog PC joystick. Which if you think about it, it makes more sense to use a flight stick since that's what was used in the movies. Just a side thought.