10 July 2014

[Tech] Smallest Controller Yet!

I started and finished in one day... Well, almost. It was the plan,
but it took another day because I put it off halfway through to complete a different project.

So yeah, the orange stick was a compact stick made for the purpose of portability and for
plug & play on my computer. So why did I make yet another tiny stick? It was a novel idea
I wanted to try a while ago. The plan was to make a mini controller, one so small it could
be worn it on a lanyard. It would be so portable it could be stored underneath my computer
desk and have easy access to it should I want to play a few NES games during break time.
That was the original idea, and here's where it arrived.



I wanted to build what is more like a scale model of a full-size joystick you'd find on the market.
Length-width ratio of the standard sized controller would be maintained, meaning the joystick
and buttons would also have to be tinier too.That proved to be difficult as physically smaller
joysticks weren't available. Even those little game units you plug into the TV to play a retro
game had large joysticks. So I thought of manipulating the framework of the case so that
the Sanwa JLF will have a shorter shaft. Finding buttons wasn't a problem though.



It totally looks like it's set up for fighting games, but it's really just for light use mainly on OpenEmu (NES/SNES) and PCSX.
I also sought the opportunity to finally give bat tops and the Neutrik adaptor a try.



It's a small one. Like with the Terumi stick, this one was also made from an artist's panel, 6" x 12".
I could've went with a 6" x 8", but I wanted the extra room for a carrying handle.



This time, I went with mixed colours on the buttons. I wanted to do this for a long time. Those 4 buttons were selected and arranged
to match the face buttons of a Playstation controller. It would've been an 8-button joystick, but unfortunately the Dualshock 3 PCB I
had leftover was only wired up for 6 buttons, and I was not about to plug in 22-gauge wire into a tiny 20-pin slot a second time.
Thank goodness it didn't become an 8-button layout, because with the space for the handle slot, there was practically no room left!



This would be the first stick where I didn't have the all the extra space to be carefree with wiring.



Here's that handle I spoke of. The bottom panel had been cut short so I could do this:



I did it last time on the Kemonojo:



It was such a success I had to do it again. Unlike it though, I did not conceal the interior, meaning whenever I activate any
microswitch on the joystick, the audible "clicks" come straight out of that opening. Fun times are to be had.


Did I meet my goals? Let's review.
The case is super tiny. Check.
It can play on the console and computer. Check.
I can hang it up instead of leaving it on the floor. Check.

Everything works. Thankfully I did not need to pair it up via Bluetooth, because with no battery pack, it's impossible to do.
Now all I have to do is figure out how to get it to connect reliably with OpenEmu. These two don't seem to get along very well.

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