2 button joystick ?

[Chilly Willy]

I often use a nail or something similar to make a dimple in the center before drilling. You want something for the drill bit to start in to keep it centered.

[biobern]

Maybe this drill will produce less melting plastic cause it only cuts a circle? 

https://www.idealo.de/preisvergleich/OffersOfProduct/494089_-lochsaege-30-mm-2608584623-bosch.html

[R0ger]

6 hours ago, biobern said:

Maybe this drill will produce less melting plastic cause it only cuts a circle? 

https://www.idealo.de/preisvergleich/OffersOfProduct/494089_-lochsaege-30-mm-2608584623-bosch.html

Maybe with fixed drill, but in hand this drill is totally unusable. It's also somewhat rough, it's usually intended for dry wall.

[Mr Robot]

I did mine with cone drills

 

[Mr Robot]

Not appealing to 400/800/XE/XEGS owners, I think something less model specific might work better

[doubledown]

You can always just buy an existing donor controller/joystick for any system, and replace hardware/wiring as you please (versus trying to find a project enclosure that may work):

 

 

This was originally a Sega Saturn controller that looked like this:

 

 

That way you end up with a good looking controller, and it will be big enough to provide adequate hand/wrist support when playing.  

 

If you're drilling a hole with a hand-held drill (any type of bit) there is always going to be some amount of "walking" of the bit no matter what you do, but a center-punch can help with the starting of your small pilot bit.  I use a CNC we have at work for most of my projects, but for 1 off designs where I don't want to bother to program the CNC, I'll print an actual-size layout template, transfer the hole center points and use an electric/hydraulic knock-out punch for the joystick/pushbutton holes.  

[biobern]

10 hours ago, doubledown said:

You can always just buy an existing donor controller/joystick for any system, and replace hardware/wiring as you please (versus trying to find a project enclosure that may work):

 

 

 

That's great work! How did you do the wooden surface?

Normally, I'd say that modern fighting sticks look too big for our little Ataris. And "just not 80s enough". But this one looks marvellous!

 

Bern

 

[biobern]

11 hours ago, Mr Robot said:

Not appealing to 400/800/XE/XEGS owners, I think something less model specific might work better

Wow! But not an easy printout!

Edited December 2, 2019 by biobern

[doubledown]

2 hours ago, biobern said:

That's great work! How did you do the wooden surface?

Normally, I'd say that modern fighting sticks look too big for our little Ataris. And "just not 80s enough". But this one looks marvellous!

 

Bern

 

For the wood grain CPO...I had used some adhesive-backed wood grain vinyl for another project I did.  So for this one I scanned in at 600 dpi, a large 11"x17" sample of that vinyl, then high resolution photo-printed and heat laminated it.  In my opinion, this donor controller/housing, at approximately 11.75" wide x 9.25" deep, is about as small as I would say is comfortable for a table/lap top arcade stick.  Too much smaller and you end up with something like this:

 

 

...where your hands/wrists/palms have no support, hang off of the edges, or have to hover in mid-air to use.  Not to mention, a little extra size always adds a little extra weight so that the controller doesn't feel so cheap and flimsy.  

[biobern]

1 hour ago, doubledown said:

 

 

 

...where your hands/wrists/palms have no support, hang off of the edges, or have to hover in mid-air to use.  Not to mention, a little extra size always adds a little extra weight so that the controller doesn't feel so cheap and flimsy.  

 

Absolutely right! I don't understand why so many fighting sticks do not mount the buttons near the backside. (there is a reason however not to mount the _joystick_ near the backside, because the case could tilt if you can't use the wrist-rest for some reason.)

[biobern]

The year is 2019 and Atari Defender is playable on the 400 for the first time in history. Or how should you have triggered Smartbomb and Hyperspace in time earlier? With the membrane keyboard? Oh no, for that you need a three-button joystick. Thanks to everybody who made that possible.

 

 

[doubledown]

I like the ColecoVision version of Defender with my Experience Controller:

 

 

Flying/controlling Defender left/right with the joystick is just wrong! 

[Mr Robot]

These single purpose experience controllers are excellent!

 

For the defender one, instead of the two thrust buttons you could have a reverse button which flip flops the function of a single thrust button and mount the reverse next to the stick to make it all even more authentic.

 

Having said all that I don't see how a controller for a single Coleco game fits a thread about the creation of Atari controllers with more than one button. 

[doubledown]

In reference to bioberns Defender post, and just being cheeky.

[+playsoft]

I was able to turn my Sega Mega Drive control pad into a 3 button joystick by (1) swapping around the wires from pins 5 & 7 so that +5V is taken from pin 7 on the A8 (2) removing the 74HC157 multiplexer (3) making the appropriate jumper connections between (what were) the multiplexer inputs and outputs.

 

Note this is an original Sega Mega Drive 3 button controller model number 1650 made in China. I also have a model number 1650-50 made in Malaysia but that is different inside, the wires would be harder (for me!) to swap and the chip is surface mount.

 

This is what it looked like before:

 

 

 

And after:

 

 

It may not work with all the JOY 2B+ hacks because I get small values when buttons B and C are not pressed (5 and 3) and those hacks may be looking for 0. However it does work with the 2 games that I have done, Scramble and Moon Patrol Redux which support Sega and/or JOY 2B+ (since I am more forgiving with my checks).

 

Edit: Just tried the hacked version of Defender and it works fine! As does the hacked version of Dropzone.

 

[Mr Robot]

This case is coming along slowly, I'm working on lots of other projects so it's not happening at any speed. Ready for a test print now at least.

 

[biobern]

2 hours ago, Mr Robot said:

This case is coming along slowly, I'm working on lots of other projects so it's not happening at any speed. Ready for a test print now at least.

 

 

Looks like a very useful case. Flat, small, ergonomic hand rests, pinball buttons. Everything done right! What is the size please? I'm curious about your results.

Edited December 13, 2019 by biobern

[Mr Robot]

44 minutes ago, biobern said:

What is the size please?

 

[biobern]

23 hours ago, Mr Robot said:

 

Thank you. Everything very reasonable. But wouldn't it be better to have a smaller distance between the 3 buttons? And do you have enough hand rest if you use the pinball buttons? Maybe you should change the 143mm to something like 170mm?

 

Bern

[Mr Robot]

15 hours ago, biobern said:

Thank you. Everything very reasonable. But wouldn't it be better to have a smaller distance between the 3 buttons? And do you have enough hand rest if you use the pinball buttons? Maybe you should change the 143mm to something like 170mm?

 

Bern

First test print, took 36 hours, the case is 3mm thick to give it the required strength so it's a slow printout. 

 

You are right, the buttons are too far apart, the ones I put in the case I got from China are a much more natural position and there needs to be a larger palmrest area. That will probably push the print time to 48hrs, not including the bottom panel.

 

[biobern]

1 hour ago, Mr Robot said:

You are right, the buttons are too far apart, the ones I put in the case I got from China are a much more natural position and there needs to be a larger palmrest area. That will probably push the print time to 48hrs, not including the bottom panel.

 

Yes, 48 hours. I'm used to this from my Felix printer. Still worth the effort, right? Maybe a bit more heat to the bed than usual to get more stability. Assumed you can heat up you bed at all. Position the 3 buttons closer to the back side and maybe resize the case to 210x170 and everything should be fine. As I said somewhere: Mine is 190x140 and it's a bit to small. ? 

 

 

[Mr Robot]

Well it seems a bit wasteful of space and filament but we shall see. I've got a test print running, 1 outer layer 10% infill 120mm/s 11hours to go. It'll be weak but give me an idea of size and comfort.

 

[biobern]

12 hours ago, Mr Robot said:

Well it seems a bit wasteful of space and filament but we shall see. I've got a test print running, 1 outer layer 10% infill 120mm/s 11hours to go. It'll be weak but give me an idea of size and comfort.

 

 

Looks very good! I hope the flipper buttons do not collide with the screw holes.....

 

Bern

 

[Mr Robot]

5 hours ago, biobern said:

I hope the flipper buttons do not collide with the screw holes..

This is not my first rodeo

 

I'm waiting for the snow to clear before I trust Ameren to keep my power on for the time it will take to print a final piece.

[biobern]

Great! That's it! One last idea: I'd double the second fire button with up/jump/thrust and the 3rd fire button with down/duck/shield/hyperspace. So you can master non patched jump'n'runs _and_ Asteroids-like games better. You'd only need one 6-pin-switch for that.