Arcade Stick Buildlog: Part 2

In the last episode of Arcade Stick Buildlog, we cut out and sanded the main body and clear acrylic cover.

Last Episode of Arcade Stick Buildlog...

Now, it’s time to finish the rest of the outside of the arcade stick.

First, I marked out where all the buttons and stick would go, using a slagcoin template.

Holes Ready To Cut

The masking tape is to make sure that the acrylic doesn’t crack.

I also decided that I would try cutting the main body and the cover at the same time. So, I measured both out and clamped them together. Hopefully, the masking tape on the main body acts as a kind of spacer for the hole saw.

Go get out your manly drill and attach your hole saw to it. You’ll need a 30mm (1-3/16″) one for the button holes and a 24mm (15/16″) one for the rest. Don’t forget to buy a pilot bit for the hole saw to attach to.

If you’re in Austin, I got mine at Breed’s. They’re ACE brand.

Make sure that there’s something nice and solid to brace the acrylic against before you start hole sawing. I used some phonebooks (actually DigiKey catalogs… but whatever).

Hole Sawing

I found it easier to actually cut the holes in reverse. That way, you’re melting through the acrylic rather than actually cutting it. Less chances for cracks or weird stuff.

Hole Sawed

After you cut a few holes, make sure to empty out your hole saw. You’ll notice rings of acrylic stuck inside.

I just pried them out with a screwdriver. Be careful though. Or, for stubborn ones, just unscrew the hole saw from the pilot bit and empty it out that way.

Hole Saw Sawed

After cutting out the holes, I made sure they were aligned correctly using the buttons that will go in later. I used a 24mm button in place of the stick.

Testing Hole Placement

After this, I started to make 2 wood blocks that would enclose the main body. The wood blocks are about 10″ x 1.25″ x 1.75″

My first plan was to cut a solid wood block to spec. But, without any serious wood working tools, I found that cutting the block lengthwise would be nearly impossible.

Eventually, I decided that it would be much simpler to take 2 blocks that are 10″ x 1.75″ x 0.62″ and glue them together.

First step is to take a plank of wood and cut it into 4 blocks that cut them into 10″ planks. I used a miter box and hand saw to do this.

Sawing Wood Planks

I then used my Dremel Oscillating Tool to trim the planks down to spec.

Trimming the Wood Planks

Then, I used some wood glue to glue the planks together and clamped them together. Let it sit overnight.

Gluing and Clamping Wood Planks

I used the scraper on the oscillating tool to remove the excess glue after it was dry.

Scraping the Glue

Then, get ready to spend a few hours sanding the wood down to fit in your main body. I used 60 grit most of the time to shape the wood block. Test it against the main body often to ensure that it’s making the shape that you want.

Sanding the Wood Block

After finishing the wood blocks with 120 grit and lighter sandpapers, I set the blocks aside to drill and stain later.

Next is to drill and countersink holes in the main body for the stick. I punched small holes in my paper template that correspond to the mounting holes in my LS-32.

Stick Holes Template

Make sure to measure this out multiple times to ensure accuracy. It is the joystick after all, so you don’t want to have it tilted or anything.

Stick Holes Ready to Cut

I used a #12 countersink bit to drill the holes in the main body. Again, go in reverse to melt the acrylic rather than trying to cut through it.

Countersink Stick Holes

The point of going through all this trouble is to ensure that the screws that mount the stick are flush to the main body. That way, they don’t interfere with the art or the acrylic cover.

Mounted Stick

I did a similar process with a #6 countersink bit (because I also used #6 screws) with the acrylic cover in order to drill the screws that would mount the acrylic cover to the main body to the underlying wood block.

Acrylic Cover Mounting Holes

Countersink Mounting Holes

I did this because I wanted the screws that mount everything to be flush with the acrylic cover. The screws I used were black flat top #6 – 3/4″ screws.

I drilled holes for the mounting screws normally in the main body and the wood blocks. Only thing is that I went in reverse as usual for the main body.

Mounting Complete

Next is to cut out the holes in the top for the Start/Select/Home Buttons and the Neutrik RJ45 Jack for the detachable cables. All of these are 24mm holes.

I marked everything out on masking tape, as usual. Be sure to have something to brace everything against, like a thick DigiKey catalog, in my case.

Top Buttons and RJ45 Jack Ready to Cut

I put the buttons in to test the alignment and to check hole placement.

Testing 24mm Button Alignment

In the case of the Neutrik RJ45 Jack, you also need to drill 2 very small holes (the holes need to fit #4 screws) for the screws that connect the jack’s faceplate to the jack itself.

Neutrik Jack Holes

After this, I decided to work on the back cover to the arcade stick. Originally, I was just going to cut out a matching sheet of black acrylic, but I decided that that was boring.

Instead, I decided that a metal back cover like on my Mayflash would be much cooler. It would give the arcade stick some heft and I get to play with metalworking.

I originally tried to cut the metal with a Dremel, but that didn’t go too well. It turns out that for simple work like this, metal snips are actually much easier.

So, I went to Home Depot and picked up a sheet of sheet metal and some metal snips.

First, measure out the dimensions for the back cover and mark it in the metal using an awl.

Then, it’s simply a matter of carefully snipping away at the lines you made. It’s actually a hell of a lot faster and straighter than trying to do it with my Dremel.

Snipping the Sheet Metal

After cutting out the back cover, I finished the edges using the sanding head of my Dremel. This part is important since the edges are probably going to be pretty sharp until they’re sanded down.