I like to play these ways ....

[ericleroi]

Hi all,

Very cool site with lots of people making some great stuff. Very inspiring. Here's some stuff I've made so let me know what you think ....

The last one is work in progress ...

[Tysmyster]

Hey ericlerio,

Great stuff you have mate! You don't mean to say you have actually made your own arcade box and your own arcade joystick did you?
They sure don't look like they were selfmade, looks mighty professional even! Pretty cool that you have space invaders on that box man. I actually saw a row of those little monsters that are the logo of this site these days! Really nice! Do you have a special love for old arcade games that you went so far as to actually have one in your house and to have an arcade joystick like that?

Your cockpit also looks nice so far. You must be pretty good with wood! 

Welcome to the site mate! Thanks for showing your stuff.

[ericleroi]

Thanks for the compliments. Yes, they're all self made and the designs came straight out of my head; I never could follow plans. The joystick was probably the hardest thing to make (in fact I'm still in the process of assembling one for the XBOX 360) as I'd never hacked a control pad or soldered before. The arcade cabinet took some time to complete and I got to learn how to use a router so that I could install the T Molding (the rubber edging stuff on the sides). The silver thing in the middle of the control panel is a spinner and is used for Arkanoid. I even hacked the emulator code so that it would refresh at the same ferquency as my monitor (60 Hz) so everything would scroll smoothly. The second picture shows the illuminated balltop joysticks quite nicely (bling) ....

Hopefully the racing pod will turn out as good as the arcade cabinet. The most difficult thing is getting the paint/finish right.

[Tysmyster]

Cool, so you hooked up a pc to that arcade box and now you're able to play all kinds of games on it? The bling on the joystick sure does look nice yes! I have a lot of faith in the future of your racing cockpit as well.

[ericleroi]

The emulator runs about 5,500 games (a lot of these are clones), everything from Pacman and Galaxian to some of the more intense Japanese shmups such as DoDonpachi. I mounted the screen vertically as that's the orientation that most of the games I like run under. I also mounted a volume control under the control panel for easy adjustment.

I may consider making a cocktail table with a glass top at some point. Fortunately my wife doesn't mind too much and has even said that if I can get the garage converted, I can put all my stuff in there. Then it's time for a Pinball table (no, I won't even try to make one of those) .....

[Tysmyster]

Hey mate,

any updates on the racingcockpit? 

[ericleroi]

Hi,

Yes there are. I've been working hard on getting this finished and am hopefully not too far away now. I had a mini-disaster (now rectified) with the last coat of paint I applied to the outside of the pod but this has now been rectified and I've sanded down the offending/offensive paint.

There's always lots more work than you think putting things together and many little problems to solve along the way. A lot of the work has been structural to make sure the nose section is rock solid. I've also made some slots for the foot pedals, and put some beading on the top and bottom of the front panel to round things off to give it a better overall finish. I've also filled in all the screw holes, put 2 coats of primer and 2 base coats of flat black paint on it. I've also bought a Buttkicker and sent it back for a replacement which has yet to arrive. I've managed to locate a 12cm long table leg which is perfect for the Buttkicker and put this under the seat.

I've enclosed a few pics for you to see the progress.

[SJ_Stein]

That's some quick progress m8, wowsers.. you dont let the grass grow wild now do yah?  hehe


Ehr.. i DO hope you remember to not JUMP into the seat as that Buttkicker mount looks terribly dangerous (without the seat for now that is)


Woof ~ Woof

Ehr.. but the mount should be bolted to the seat then in order for the BK to work right?  as i think i saw it mounted to the base of a normal (rolling) officechair once.

[ericleroi]

Hi SJ_Stein,

I'll try to remember to attach the seat first 

The idea is to bold the seat to the seat stand so that when the Buttkicker is attached to the table leg it transmits the vibtration throught the entire unit. Even with the faulty device the effect was noticable with the seat simply resting on the stand so it should be good to go. It is usually attached to the pneumatic cylinder on office chairs though  .....

[ericleroi]

Another update on the development of the racing pod. The nose section is now complete and I've just started on the seat base. I hope to finish this by tomorrow and then start on the mount for the foot pedals. I'm really pleased with the finish on the pod and will be looking to style it further, as tasefully as possible, with some white vinyl lettering / graphics. I've got to leave the pod to cure for a couple of weeks so this will give me some time to focus on the styling. The finish is a really deep, even, streak-free satin black (although it's actually a matt varnish) so it should contrast with the white vinyl really nicely.

[Tysmyster]

It looks nice and shiny!  Nice rounded edges too. I keep seeing so many of you give so much attention to the finishing and looks. It's really nice. I'm definitely remembering all this for when I'm building my next rig! Not that I have any plans at the moment.

Keep it up mate. Gonna look great I'll bet!

[ericleroi]

Hi,

As well as building the racing pod, I'm also putting together another Joystick for the XBOX 360. I've built the case out of 12mm MDF, Routed the ends (front and back) and spray painted the case and sanded it down more times than I care to remember. The finish is currently matt and I will be finishing it with gloss polyurethane varnish very soon. The box itself is only 44mm thick.

The guts of this are a hacked official XBOX 360 pad and it has all been tested and is working. This was the first time I had attempted any soldering and it was really tricky. I've since done one for the PS2 as shown on my other post and this was much easier. The white stuff you can see on the PCB is hot glue which holds everything in place. Hot glue is great ....

The artwork has been created in Photoshop and I'll probably lose the blue characters in the background. It is from a scanned image from a comic which has then been tidied up over many hours and has also had several filter effects and colour adjustments applied to it. You can just make out the acrylic sheet on the top of the artwork which show where the buttons will go. I have tried to ensure that the character is not obscured by any of the buttons. I've also added my JStix logo to the artwork as well. The acrylic sheet is quite difficult to work with, especially drilling the holes, as it has a tendancy to splinter.

[ericleroi]

Almost done now. I need to resist the temptation to use it and wait for the varnish/paint to cure fully. I'll be starting on the pedal mounts next.

The black foam sheet is temporary and I'll be cutting it to shape and gluing it under the base of the wheel so it won't be visible at all. I also remembered to include a hole for the cables.

[Tysmyster]

The whole thing looks so nice! You really have an unusual design because you cut away a lot of material that you don't need. For instance the sides. This will make it easier to get into and out of I'm sure. Also gives it a fresh and nice look! I imagine it's hard to resist starting to use it now! Gonna be great!

[xTHExSTIGx]

That is fantastic work man, the arcade box and joystick are flawless. you should be making money with talent like that !!!

The cockpit is awesome too, love the attention to detail !

top work