Made my own ArcadeR Joystick

Zaf · 16 Jan 2023 at 17:44

I've just recently got back into all things Amiga after a 29 year hiatus! Unfortunately all the original joysticks I've manged to get hold of all have one issue or another so been looking at getting an ArcadeR, but all sold out in the colours I wanted. Not letting this deter me I decided to build my own.

The model is by Mikko Leskinen (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:918504) but I've had to remix it to fit the Sanwa joystick (JLF-TP-8YT) and Sanwa buttons (OBSF-30). If you are going to buy a Sanwa joystick, I would recommend getting one without the mount plate, as I ended up rounding off two of the screws and had to use a screw extractor. Also with the joystick, you have to cut off two side lugs/mounting supports to fit.

Next, I'm going to pick the worse original joystick I have for a donor 9pin cable and get it all wired up!

Cyber-Mav · 18 Jan 2023 at 13:26

Nice. What board you using for the controller interface?

Zaf · 18 Jan 2023 at 20:21

It's going to be used with an Amiga so it's just hardwired, I'm not planning on adding quick or auto fire etc so there is no pcb controller interface.

I've just ordered some neon green filament and another joystick + buttons to make a 2nd one

Zaf · 4 Feb 2023 at 19:41

Finally got round to wiring one up

Chris [BEANS] · 3 Mar 2023 at 12:29

This is awesome!!!

is the JLF stock? You may or may not know you can get stiffer springs and an oversized actuator that will change the feel to something much more positive.

My current stick of choice is the Seimitsu LS56, with a short throw mod, but that’s for arcade SHMUPs. Amiga games might well suit a different feel?

Zaf · 3 Mar 2023 at 15:36

Thanks Chris!

The JLF is stock apart from having to cut off the two side lug things. To be fair using Sanwa in general is pretty over kill and expensive, I'm sure a budget arcade stick off eBay would have been fine for my needs lol

Saying that though, I did buy two Zippy joysticks and they are bulkier and the build quality is much much worse. I'll throw them in a cheap arcade setup where space isn't an issue for my boys when they are a little older.