nago
Student
Hiya!
Recently, I got my very first cabinet to play TATE mode shmups at home. Now, I am not exactly a newborn babe and my hands tend to cramp during long sessions of holding Shoot + Focus for hours at a time, so I thought it'd be nice to mod my cabinet to allow for pedal controls.
I could have just wired some pedals directly up to the buttons, but I thought this would be a bit too annoying in the event that I wanted to play a different game with a different button configuration, so I thought "I really should have some way to configure this per-game". After a quick think, I realized that what I was actually building was an Adaptive Controller, a la the XBOX Adaptive Controller - so I pivoted my thinking to "Let's create an array of 3.5mm TRS jacks!" now not only could you use pedals, you could use any-old-thing you felt like, and the configuration could be changed just by re-arranging those jacks.
So, a little bit of time in OpenSCAD and KiCad later...
Say hello to my new baby! 23x 3.5mm TRS jacks; ten for each player and one each for p1 start, menu (exA arcadia) and p2 start. Maybe a bit overboard for "I just want to play touhou with my feet", but this is where the inspiration led me, so now it exists
-- the buttons are arranged in a way to mimic the layout of the Vewlix buttons themselves to help suggest what their purpose is (and to avoid having to name and label them, haha!)
Here's the reverse side:
It features two hirose 60pin connectors (the "vewlix G" connectors) -- it's a pass-through device; you connect your I/O board to one port and connect your deck controls to the other port. That way, this device is drop-in and plug-and-play without any complex re-wiring or needing to replace your I/O board or controls. There are also two JST 2-pin connectors that perform the same pass-through for the exA Arcadia menu button. The shell is fully modeled and parameterized in OpenSCAD; I printed it on a 256x256mm Bambu A1 (at a heinous angle with lots of supports, the shell is 284mm wide.)
Of course, you'll need a single new cable to help hook it up; here's my desk while I was assembling it
And here's a few shots of me installing it:
Now, for pedals, I'm using trivially modified foot switch pedals from adafruit; I just solder on TRS jacks onto the ends:
So far so good! I'm now currently working on a "footboard" type of accessory to help tie the foot pedals together to the ground / to the machine so that they could withstand being in a public installation. I'll have more pictures and videos later, especially if there's any interest in this modification out there.
Oh, and here's a shot of the control deck all together:
I have lots of OpenSCAD models and KiCad blueprints I intend to upload under a creative-commons non-commercial license in case anybody would like to make their arcade cabinets more accessible, but I am still actively prototyping and smoothing over some of the rough edges. I will probably be bringing a demo unit with me to MAGFest tomorrow (!) to show to some folks there and see if there's any interest or feature requests and so on. (If you'll be there and wanna check this out, gimmie a shout, let's meet up and chat!)
The modification itself is fairly cheap (comparatively ...); the PCB, jacks and pedals don't cost very much - the biggest killer in price is the Hirose connectors which sell for up to $9 each - ouch, but maybe a decent price to pay for drop-in plug-and-play compatibility. I estimate that the total cost of parts here is about $60,. with about half of that being the hirose connectors. I'm still looking for ways to bring down the cost with either generic IDC connectors or 3D printing shenanigans. I'd like to make this as cheap as possible so the accessible mod is ... accessible.
Lastly, I don't have any intention of selling these for profit (I'm not quitting my dayjob!), but I might sell some at-cost for anyone interested in making their arcades more accessible (if there's interest, I guess?). If you'd like to build your own, I'll happily help you do that - you'll need a 3d printer, a soldering iron, wire strippers, and a crimping tool. If you're handy with a soldering iron, this is e-z p-z stuff, nothing very complex at all. Get in touch below or in DMs and I'll get you started.
Oh, one more thing; since I spent so much time modeling the replacement subpanel and micropanel covers in OpenSCAD, I'll upload those to thingiverse/printables/etc soon, without any of the modifications for the TRS jacks or PCB mounting. I figure those would probably be of interest to people in general for replacing broken or missing covers, or just printing new panels in funky colors and finishes.
Lemme know whatcha think!
~~nago
Recently, I got my very first cabinet to play TATE mode shmups at home. Now, I am not exactly a newborn babe and my hands tend to cramp during long sessions of holding Shoot + Focus for hours at a time, so I thought it'd be nice to mod my cabinet to allow for pedal controls.
I could have just wired some pedals directly up to the buttons, but I thought this would be a bit too annoying in the event that I wanted to play a different game with a different button configuration, so I thought "I really should have some way to configure this per-game". After a quick think, I realized that what I was actually building was an Adaptive Controller, a la the XBOX Adaptive Controller - so I pivoted my thinking to "Let's create an array of 3.5mm TRS jacks!" now not only could you use pedals, you could use any-old-thing you felt like, and the configuration could be changed just by re-arranging those jacks.
So, a little bit of time in OpenSCAD and KiCad later...
Say hello to my new baby! 23x 3.5mm TRS jacks; ten for each player and one each for p1 start, menu (exA arcadia) and p2 start. Maybe a bit overboard for "I just want to play touhou with my feet", but this is where the inspiration led me, so now it exists
-- the buttons are arranged in a way to mimic the layout of the Vewlix buttons themselves to help suggest what their purpose is (and to avoid having to name and label them, haha!)Here's the reverse side:
It features two hirose 60pin connectors (the "vewlix G" connectors) -- it's a pass-through device; you connect your I/O board to one port and connect your deck controls to the other port. That way, this device is drop-in and plug-and-play without any complex re-wiring or needing to replace your I/O board or controls. There are also two JST 2-pin connectors that perform the same pass-through for the exA Arcadia menu button. The shell is fully modeled and parameterized in OpenSCAD; I printed it on a 256x256mm Bambu A1 (at a heinous angle with lots of supports, the shell is 284mm wide.)
Of course, you'll need a single new cable to help hook it up; here's my desk while I was assembling it
And here's a few shots of me installing it:
Now, for pedals, I'm using trivially modified foot switch pedals from adafruit; I just solder on TRS jacks onto the ends:
So far so good! I'm now currently working on a "footboard" type of accessory to help tie the foot pedals together to the ground / to the machine so that they could withstand being in a public installation. I'll have more pictures and videos later, especially if there's any interest in this modification out there.
Oh, and here's a shot of the control deck all together:
I have lots of OpenSCAD models and KiCad blueprints I intend to upload under a creative-commons non-commercial license in case anybody would like to make their arcade cabinets more accessible, but I am still actively prototyping and smoothing over some of the rough edges. I will probably be bringing a demo unit with me to MAGFest tomorrow (!) to show to some folks there and see if there's any interest or feature requests and so on. (If you'll be there and wanna check this out, gimmie a shout, let's meet up and chat!)
The modification itself is fairly cheap (comparatively ...); the PCB, jacks and pedals don't cost very much - the biggest killer in price is the Hirose connectors which sell for up to $9 each - ouch, but maybe a decent price to pay for drop-in plug-and-play compatibility. I estimate that the total cost of parts here is about $60,. with about half of that being the hirose connectors. I'm still looking for ways to bring down the cost with either generic IDC connectors or 3D printing shenanigans. I'd like to make this as cheap as possible so the accessible mod is ... accessible.
Lastly, I don't have any intention of selling these for profit (I'm not quitting my dayjob!), but I might sell some at-cost for anyone interested in making their arcades more accessible (if there's interest, I guess?). If you'd like to build your own, I'll happily help you do that - you'll need a 3d printer, a soldering iron, wire strippers, and a crimping tool. If you're handy with a soldering iron, this is e-z p-z stuff, nothing very complex at all. Get in touch below or in DMs and I'll get you started.
Oh, one more thing; since I spent so much time modeling the replacement subpanel and micropanel covers in OpenSCAD, I'll upload those to thingiverse/printables/etc soon, without any of the modifications for the TRS jacks or PCB mounting. I figure those would probably be of interest to people in general for replacing broken or missing covers, or just printing new panels in funky colors and finishes.
Lemme know whatcha think!
~~nago
