Shopping for a compnents to make a flight stick

[50tbrd]

I'm looking to make my own Flight Stick/Flight yoke. Shopping around for arcade parts I found a number of places with decent prices, its the shipping that's crazy. I thought about doing a top fire joystick but flight sticks are cheaper, more compact and have 2 buttons on the stick for more functionality.

Amazon has the best price including shipping. 26.83 total.
www.amazon.com/Arcade-flight-Joystick-joystick-buttons/dp/B00F1YQ5HW/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A33WPOT6J1JNQR

The same stick, the same company but more expensive shipping from their website. 32.00 total
www.paradisearcadeshop.com/imported-joysticks/299-import-flight-stick.html

Holand computers has a better price, shipping wasn't bad but then they add an addition shipping and handling charge of 2.00. 27.80 total but they did offer local pick-up if you happen to be in the north.
www.hollandcomputers.com/store/pc/Arcade-flight-yoke-stick-Joystick-eight-way-joystick-with-two-fire-buttons-and-firm-grip-p8069.htm

Groovy Game Gear offers a decent price with a slightly different design. 27.57 total.
groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=399

[50tbrd]

Received my flight stick today. All flight sticks linked above are the exact same model. Groovy Gear just shows a different angle. Now I'll make my controller....

[50tbrd]

Done, for the most part. I still want to set up a switch so I can make either of the top fire buttons 3 or 4 and I want to make a sticker for the top. This controller is awesome. I love it. My new favorite controller to use.

[kokovec]

Very nice!
I really like the style of the joystick.
Reminds me of the ones I used in the 80's with my C64.

[gliptitude]

Excellent! I guess this is maybe a tiny bit wider than the GCE control panel? .. Can you give some size reference?

[ledzep]

Nice! Did you price out analog sticks, too? Would be great to get a couple analog sticks with top buttons for a dual stick set-up (Battlezone!).

[50tbrd]

Custom arcade style analog joysticks are pricey. There's pretty much no way around it. I believe that I've come up with an inexpensive analog controller substitute though.

Dual digital joystick is doable. That's my next project.

This is exactly as wide as original GCE joysticks. I used an 8x6x3 project enclosure. Radio Shack part number 270-1809.

[vectrexmad]

May 21, 2014 0:04:20 GMT -5 50tbrd said:

Custom arcade style analog joysticks are pricey. There's pretty much no way around it. I believe that I've come up with an inexpensive analog controller substitute though.

Can you give the part/model number for the analog controller substitute please or did I misunderstand?

[50tbrd]

I will be modifying another analog controller. It took me a lot of searching to find a solution which fit most of my criteria but I think I've found it. I just need a little more time to work everything out. Hopefully, within the week I will post all the details so the entire community can benefit.

[ledzep]

What about the idea of using two Kraft Premium 3 joysticks?

thumbs1.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mjk7WnSeEHdOl-7oPqV1I8Q.jpg

They're analog, they have 2 (or 3?) buttons on them and one of the buttons is on top of the joystick. I don't think they're too expensive and it looks like it would be possible to buy a couple of them and wire them into a dual-stick analog controller. Probably with two 9-pin cords to plug into both joystick ports but the point is that you would have a dual joystick with buttons on the tops. Would be great for Battlezone or Black Widow conversions but could be used for other things like vector conversions of Robotron and Space Dungeon or games that originally had joystick/spinner controls, maybe. And new games, of course.

[50tbrd]

Kraft, IBM, Vintage PC, and Tandy all had that same style analog 2 or 3 (with top fire) buttons. This is the solution that I am currently working on. I've been able to pick them up as low as 10 or 12 bucks with shipping but a lot can be had for under 20 bucks. Some of the nice features of these controllers are that most have the option to disengage the spring return which gives a very fluid range of motion and they all come with a thumb dial (some even an extra knob) for each axis which is nice for games like Hyperchase and Vector Pong. There is plenty of room to add buttons and wiring inside the case. I'm currently working out the wiring so it functions properly.

[50tbrd]

The Kraft analog controllers seem to function strangely no matter what I did but I maybe someone with better electronics knowledge just needs to look into this. There seemed to be a delay.

I did make some stickers to finish up the design for my Flight stick. This will do at least until I make a full sticker. I doubted it the Sniper and its nice for shooters like NELS.

[TrekMD]

Looks awesome! Nicely done!

[mountaingoat]

Very nice work!

Where did you get the cable?

--MG

[50tbrd]

I'll look at the bookmark and see if its still at the same price but they were the cheapest you could possibly find for brand new extension cables.