/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>347753

Mapping a keyboard controller is a pain in the ass and you need to add diodes if you don't want button ghosting.

If really you want to cheap out you may have an easier time gutting old USB gamepads.

>>347787

The KeyWiz controllers are a decent and less expensive alternative to the iPac, provided you either don't need to remap the keys or don't mind waiting a few more seconds during each boot to reload a custom keymap, since they reset to factory default on power off.

The /diy/ sticky has some links to sites for this.

eg: http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Main_Page

>what controllers would you recommend me getting for it?

If you're building your own cab you may as well make the control panel too. You can buy Happ, Sanwa or Seimitsu arcade parts and mount them to the panel. They're controlled by simple microswitches.

You can either get a purpose-built arcade control board like an iPac to wire those switches to, or if you want to do it on the cheap (an iPac is like $50) you can check your local thrift stores/swap meets for old USB gamepads to cannibalize for their circuit boards.

The microswitches from the arcade controls can be directly soldered to the digital button contacts on the pad (face buttons, D-Pad), then the gamepad will think you're pressing those buttons when you hit the arcade buttons/throw the stick.

>>264245

Nevermind that. A very stupid troll resulted in a very stupid word filter.

Get a decent woodworking router.

Bondo is a better wood filler than wood filler is.

Paint to cover up and seal the wood, but don't rely on paint for your finish. Laminate everything, even if with just cheap vinyl.

The instant two surfaces covered in contact cement touch, they are never coming apart again. Ever.

Plywood and MDF are dimensionally stable.

MDF doesn't hold screws for shit and will soak up gallons of glue or primer.

T-molting for 3/4" wood takes a 1/16" slot cutter.

Sturdy wood construction is too thick for Sanwa or Seimitsu parts without a lot of routing and weakening of said construction. Happ parts are made for mounting to wooden panels.

USB gamepads can be found cheaply at thrift stores and dismantled for their PCB & USB interface. Solder arcade button leads to the button contacts on the PCB to make arcade controls that show up as a game pad on a PC. Only digital buttons/d-pads are useful for this method. Analog sticks on the gamepad are of no use.

>>205503

Only significant difference I found is that the ipac saves custom keymappings to EEPROM so you don't have to re-load them on each startup.

Which isn't really a big deal when you can just permanently remap keys in MAME to match the default, or run the mapping software on boot.

I just can't get over the $60 price tag for what is essentially a $2 keyboard controller with some diodes and input headers.

What I wound up doing for this one budget build was to run wires directly into a cheap keyboard we got from a thrift store. The keyboard itself still worked so it could still be used whenever we opened up the cab.

In most cases the controller inside a cheapy 104-key can actually handle 108 inputs (9 row, 12 col). Some can even do 128 when not constrained by their firmware (8bit register, 2 scancodes per "key"). Just make sure to wire some diodes to your button/stick switches to prevent input ghosting/blocking on the controller. This is vital if you intend to have more than two 4-ways with 2 buttons each.