IMPORTANT INFO
This project is not intended to make super wiring and was done in mass with the intention of quality, by the book wiring, that will be reliable over a long period of time.
The majority of this work was done in roughly 7 days. The remaining pieces of work spanned a rough estimate of 10 weeks.
If you have questions regarding any specifics I have done with this project, feel free to ask in reply. If you have basic questions like how to padhack a 360 Brawlpad or other questions that may have been answered a million times elsewhere on the forum, I suggest you read the stickies or visit the following thread:
Absolute Question and Answer Thread (ASK YOUR QUESTIONS HERE!)
INFO BASICS
Who: FrankCastleAZ (with the company of fellow SRKTT members in Google Hangout on occasion)
What: Revitalizes and Improves 11 Madcatz Tournament Edition and 2 Madcatz Special Edition arcade sticks
When: Tuesday, October 7th - Thursday, October 16th (first 7 days) and roughly 10 weeks for finishing touches
Where: Mostly my back patio at HQ in Phoenix
Why: The sticks have been heavily used over the last 3-4 years at events and conventions around the Southwest US with AZHP Gaming and were in desperate need of TLC. Two of the 11 TE sticks were previously padhacked with a PSX pad for PS2 support. Seven of the 11 TE sticks were stock PS3 TE PCBs or had a Toodles Cthulhu installed. The two SE sticks were TvC sticks previously modded with padhacked Gamecube controllers and Sanwa JLF and OBSF products. All of them needed a complete overhaul of cleaning, rewiring, new artwork etc.
GOAL: To take a 11 Madcatz TE arcade sticks and 2 Madcatz TvC/SE arcade sticks and revitalize them with a good clean, a rewire, new parts, new artwork and other general improvements. This will attract attention from event attendees to arcade sticks and fighting games who may not have normally been interested.
PREVIOUS ARTWORK
PREVIOUS FINAL PRODUCT
NEW ARTWORK CREATION
GOAL: To attract attention to arcade sticks and fighting games from attendees who may not have normally been interested by doing custom artwork from various popular pop-culture characters using whatever artistic skills I've learned over the years with Illustrator and Photoshop.
DISASSEMBLY FOR TE STICKS
REMOVED TOP BASE SHELLS FROM MIDDLE BASE SHELLS
REGLUING OF ALL TE NUTS
The fact that the nuts come loose on the TEs are the ONLY drawback of the TEs IMO. Nothing a little extra glue won't fix.
MODIFIED MIDDLE TE BASES
To fit Neutrik USB adapters inside the cord compartments
INSTALLED NEUTRIK USBs IN TE STICKS
Added Netruk USB adapters in cord compartments
INSTALLED TACTILE SWITCHES IN TE STICKS
Added a tactile switch in the cord compartment to use as a Home/Guide button on all TE sticks - Big thanks to @deserada for the idea for the tact switch! :-)
A simple small drilled hole allows the button to barely stick out and be noticeable, but the thickness of the plastic where the hole is drilled allowed that particular tact switch to be easily pressed without causing too much force on the switch itself which is only hot glued in. I chose to hot glue due to the lengthy cure time I would have had to deal with when it comes to resin or bondo or whatever. I'm not concerned about the strength and am fairly confident that they'll be just fine mainly due to the actuation point and force required to press.
REMOVED TURBO AREAS & PCBs
Removed the plastic encasing for the Turbo/Home areas on the sticks and removed the PCBs to use later
MODIFIED SE BASES
Dremeled out interior of SE bases and made holes in back in order to fit 24mm buttons for Start and Select and added small hole for tactile switch for Home/Guide button
USB NEUTRIK ADAPTER AND TACTILE BUTTON
Installed USB Neutrik Adapter and tactile switch for Home/Guide button
PADHACKING TIME!
Padhacked three Madcatz 360 WWE Brawlpads, two Official XB1 Pads, and two PDP RockCandy 360 Pads (one pictured)
INSERTED PS3 & 360 PCBs INTO TE BASES AND WIRED UP
Soldered to the home contact on each of the PS3 TE PCBs and mounted all Padhacked 360 PCBs and PS3 TE PCBs inside the cases.
Made individual short length USB wires to go into the interior of the Neutrik USB jack and soldered the ends on each PCB.
All button wires go from the PCB to the original Madcatz quick disconnect (QDC) terminals.
INSERTED XB1 PCBs INTO TvC/SE BASES AND WIRED UP
Mounted each XB1 padhacked PCB and soldered wires directly to screw terminals on buttons. Will likely switch to screw terminals in case of needed button swap or eventual artwork swap.
BUTTONS CAME IN (ALONG WITH OTHER PARTS FOR OTHER PROJECTS)
Buttons came in from PARADISE ARCADE SHOP alongside other various parts for other projects including our Sega Blast City cabinets. Link to that project coming soon
LED USB CABLES IN MULTIPLE COLORS FOR INSTALLED NEUTRIKS
Since all arcade sticks have Neutrik USB adapters (USB B to A), color coded LED USB cables that match the artwork were ordered.
TE SCREWS IN MULTIPLE COLORS
TE screws that use a 2.5mm hex key with slightly smaller profile than the stock Madcatz TE screws that used a 3mm Hex key
INSTALLED BALLTOP/BUTTONS & ART PROVIDED VIA @d3v ON TvC/SE STICKS
INSTALLED BALLTOP/BUTTONS & ART ON ALL TE STICKS
Plexi and artwork for 10 of the 11 TE sticks as well as my personal TE stick are complete. I cracked one of the old plexis I had so there's 1 more stick (Akuma 6 button) I can't complete until I get a new plexi.
Photos aren't the best due to lighting/dust/camera.
Plexis I've had for a while, and brand new artwork is via Art's Hobbies at www.tek-innovations.com . Art has supplied the FGC with plexi since 2009 and everyone should show their support for his longevity and excellent customer service and buy from him. :-)
