Changing an arcade stick PCB (PiCade builders etc input very welcome!)

I have an old PS3 Fightstick that, after a bit of research, it seems won't work on the PC, even with Motionjoy and the like. I'm loath to throw it out as there's nothing actually wrong with it and I do have a few games on PC that would benefit from using it.

It appears that it's possible to replace the PCB on a stick and leave the rest of the item as is, in effect doing a brain transplant! However, I have no idea which PCB to buy and I don't know where to start! Is there a bog standard USB arcade stick PCB (preferably with no soldering!) that would be recommended to a novice stick or PiCade builder?

It's not something I've tried before. Motionjoy drivers are horrendous and I ditched them after they installed a load of malware on my system. Try the SCP drivers, which are much nicer and might work for you.

Beyond that I'm afraid google is all I can suggest. I know Ad7 built a Picade so he might be of more help.

Ad7 wrote:Paging Ad7 to the thread. Ad7 to the thread please.

I have no knowledge or experience, but I would guess a 360/xbone board would be a good bet - windows just recognises them as an xinput 360 controller and you're good to go.

When I made my cabinet, I used something like this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zero-Delay-A ... SwPcBbMTXQ

Was really simple to set up on a raspberry pi so I'd imagine windows would be even easier.

Trelliz wrote:I have no knowledge or experience, but I would guess a 360/xbone board would be a good bet - windows just recognises them as an xinput 360 controller and you're good to go.

I did see a knackered Xbox controller in the Cash Converters near my dad a couple of weeks ago (wonky analogues) so was considering picking that up today to try your plan out, but someone had got to it first - I think the board might be a funny shape from a quick Google as well so it'd probably be hard to mount.

Rex Kramer wrote:When I made my cabinet, I used something like this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zero-Delay-A ... SwPcBbMTXQ

Was really simple to set up on a raspberry pi so I'd imagine windows would be even easier.

That looks spot on! Assuming the buttons aren't soldered on in the stick I've got...

Cheeky Devlin wrote:It's not something I've tried before. Motionjoy drivers are horrendous and I ditched them after they installed a load of malware on my system. Try the SCP drivers, which are much nicer and might work for you.

Beyond that I'm afraid google is all I can suggest. I know Ad7 built a Picade so he might be of more help.

Ad7 wrote:Paging Ad7 to the thread. Ad7 to the thread please.

I'll try them as well before doing anything hardware based.

Cheers all!

Which stick is it? And what buttons? In my ADcade I used a generic usb board that cost about £10, it came with all the wires to quickly mod up the stick (although I swapped to new buttons).

Here is my arcade build thread with the parts detailed, and here is the board I used:

t:i-convert-my-old-ion-icade-into-a-bartop-raspberry-pi-powered-arcade-machine-how-to-guide-inside

I went for a 'Zero Delay USB Encoder PC to Joystick 2pin + Happ Push Button For Arcade MAME' from ebay.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zero-Delay-US ... xykMpTHzJU

Ad7 wrote:Which stick is it? And what buttons? In my ADcade I used a generic usb board that cost about £10, it came with all the wires to quickly mod up the stick (although I swapped to new buttons).

Here is my arcade build thread with the parts detailed, and here is the board I used:

t:i-convert-my-old-ion-icade-into-a-bartop-raspberry-pi-powered-arcade-machine-how-to-guide-inside

I went for a 'Zero Delay USB Encoder PC to Joystick 2pin + Happ Push Button For Arcade MAME' from ebay.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zero-Delay-US ... xykMpTHzJU

It's this one (Cex link as Amazon links send me to the app)
https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id ... =SPS3HORE1

Have you opened it up to see what the connectors on the stick and buttons are? If not, do that and post pictures here.

Looking at this video, the stick is a sanwa one so that's a good start https://youtu.be/zNOE95P4lYY

I'm away for the weekend but I'll be able to crack it open next week (assuming the SCP drivers don't work, but judging from the forums I've checked that's unlikely). Will post photos as I go!

If it's anything like the icade, swapping bits is a piece of piss. That board I got is plug and play, not soldering or drivers needed.

SCP should work, that’s what I use to get my DualShock 3 working on my computer. As I understand things it tricks the PC into thinking you’re using a wired 360 pad.

The board seems to be soldered on :evil:

This is officially now more hassle than it's worth, and seeing as Cex will give me folding money (not far off what I paid for it if I recall) I think I'll cut my losses.

Making a stick doesn't seem that hard though, seems to just be PCB + buttons + stick + case. Perhaps I'll give that a go sometime...

Cheers for all the advice

Just break the solder then...

Ad7 wrote:Just break the solder then...

It's soldered on in place of any screws it appears, and each face button is soldered on individually which makes me think that it's actually a connection as well as a structural thing. I don't have a soldering iron and I don't want to buy one for a small project like this so I'd have no way to fix it back on again.

I did try to sell it to Cex a few years ago but I was only offered a penny by their system so I kept hold of it. I was shocked when I linked to it earlier and found out it was actually worth something again.

Shame, but as you say you may as well flog it.

Ad7 wrote:Shame, but as you say you may as well flog it.

Yeah, I was thinking it'd be quite a fun and chunky first controller for my son to use when he got into games, but I may still put one together when he's older. Haven't the time for a project which takes longer than half an hour at the moment...

YouTube

You might just about be able to reflow the solder with a hairdryer to pull the board/switches out.

Post it to me and I'll do it in about 10 minutes with a desolder pump.

I could also mill some kind of template to hold the buttons in place after they've been taken from the board, but if I were you I'd cut the traces on the PCB connecting the buttons and then solder in breakout cables to each pin to connect each one to some other board. That way the buttons will remain secured, as you say they are each held in place mechanically by that big pin in the middle. This also has the benefit of being potentially reversible.

Green Gecko wrote:You might just about be able to reflow the solder with a hairdryer to pull the board/switches out.

Post it to me and I'll do it in about 10 minutes with a desolder pump.

I could also mill some kind of template to hold the buttons in place after they've been taken from the board, but if I were you I'd cut the traces on the PCB connecting the buttons and then solder in breakout cables to each pin to connect each one to some other board. That way the buttons will remain secured, as you say they are each held in place mechanically by that big pin in the middle. This also has the benefit of being potentially reversible.

Sold it this morning but I really appreciate the offer!

YouTube

No worries

Changing an arcade stick PCB (PiCade builders etc input very welcome!)

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