💾 Archived View for shit.cx › tech › hardware › 2022-05-11-arcade-stick-junior captured on 2023-04-26 at 13:00:58. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

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Arcade Stick Junior

2022-05-11T21:37

My nearly four year old daughter has started enjoying video games. Lately it's been, Barbie - The Princess And The Pauper. The arcade stick I made last year has allowed her to play (a control pad was too awkward) but it has some serious problems; mainly that it's way too heavy. It constantly slides from her lap and she accidentally presses the buttons at the back when pulling it back on. She is also confused by the number of unused buttons. For her, almost everything about it is wrong so I've been making her one of her own.

I modelled the designed of the last controller on a solid-body electric guitar; a slab of hardwood with a cavity routed out for the electronics. As you'd expect, it was heavy. Around 2.5KG. This time I've made a dovetailed carcase from pine which is both strong and light.

I used a plywood top because it is very stable (doesn't expand or shrink in the weather) allowing me to glue it directly to the carcase without risking damage. I put a strip of hardwood around the perimeter of the ply to both hide the ugly end-grain and to protect the vulnerable corners.

The same Sanwa JLF joystick was used, but I opted for three 24mm Sanwa buttons (rather than 32mm) arranged in a single row. My daughters hands are too small to span three full-size buttons without looking down and I hope that smaller buttons will be easier for her. I also added three even smaller buttons for Start, Select and another to enter the Emulator. Those are on the top rather than the back so she can see them.

Again, I'm using paint. Lots of people seem to prefer the wood grain to be visible even when it shows terrible woodworking beneath. I'm not very tolerant of bad joinery so unless I want to put in the effort to make it presentable, I'll hide it. For me, it's freeing to do the woodwork knowing that none of the work will show. Joints can be a little ugly and tear out doesn't matter. It also allows design choices that prioritise strength over appearance like putting a hardwood edge around the top — I knew that the colour mismatch wouldn't show.

Its now just about finished. I just need to paint the base cover and the plate holding the USB port. I'm quite happy with the result. It's light (700g), shiny, easy for her to use and she loves it.

But, again I damaged the paint. This time in three ways. I really am cursed. I put the buttons in to show my daughter before the paint was dry enough. It stuck to the underside of the button and tore off when I removed the buttons again to polish it. Then I squeezed it too hard in my vice while removing the excess paint to fit the USB plate. The paint had cured for almost a week at this point, so I thought it would have been okay. And then I also dropped the soldering iron on it. It melted right through the paint.

But oh well. I'll be good at this once I've made all the mistakes.

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