DIY Uzebox / SNES arcade joystick

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danboid
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DIY Uzebox / SNES arcade joystick

Post by danboid »

Uzebox-arcade-stick.jpg
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It didn't feel right using a factory made controller on my DIY Uzebox console so I made this arcade style joystick. I'm lucky enough to work at a university who let me print the case for free so this stick only cost me about £40 to make and I'm very happy with the result! I have also built a Daemonbite SNES to USB adapter which allows me to use it with my PC, RPi, TV box, PS3 etc.

For the case, I printed out the 30mm hole version of this 8 button arcade-style flight stick. You may prefer to print the modified .stl file attached to post #4 in this topic that removes the four unnecessary hexagonal holes from the top of the case.

I also used:

Sanwa JLF-TP-8YT Ball Top Joystick and JLF-H cable - £29

6x yellow and 2x green buttons, 37 mm height for 28 mm mounting holes - 8 x £0.78 = £6.24

Clone SNES pad - £6

If you want to 3D print a bat top handle, download the file here.

If you are making your own handle you will also need a 6 mm (aluminium) nutsert. The nutsert I used is about 17 mm tall and I bought it for 60p from my local engineering supplies store.

Make sure that you use the Uzebox controller test app to test your SNES pad is fully working before you rip it to pieces as not all clone SNES pads are Uzebox compatible.

The fully assembled joystick including screws and rubber feet etc weighs approx 868 grams.

The dimensions of the 3D printed case excluding the height of the stick:

300mm wide x 50 mm tall x 205 mm deep

Uzebox-arcade-stick-guts.jpg
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Uzebox-arcade-stick-pcb.jpg
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Last edited by danboid on Mon Mar 11, 2024 8:20 pm, edited 17 times in total.
CunningFellow
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Re: DIY Uzebox / SNES arcade joystick

Post by CunningFellow »

No. But I have done it on a smaller scale for my development prototype of the handheld
SNES_Cont_On_PCB.png
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Its a very simple circuit. Designing a small PCB would be pretty easy.

Have one 5 way connector to go to the SNES joystick lead. 12 two way connectors - one for each button. Then make or adapt and off the shelf MAME arcade stick.
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danboid
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Re: DIY Uzebox / SNES arcade joystick

Post by danboid »

If you want to 3D print a bat top handle, this is the one I printed and drilled a bigger (9mm) hole in.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5224185

If you are making your own handle you will also need a 6 mm (aluminium) nutsert. The nutsert I used is about 17 mm tall and cost me 60p from my local engineering supplies store.
6mm-alu-nutsert.jpg
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Here's a pic of my joystick with the 3D printed bat top handle attached. I prefer it to the ball handle that I got with my JLF. It was about 1/10th of the price for me to 3D print a handle instead buying one, which would've cost me about £6.
bat-top-uzestick.jpg
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I ended up replacing my 3D printed bat top handle with a commercially manufactured one. The 3D printed one was just a bit too big for my liking.
Uzestick-bat-top-handle.jpg
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Last edited by danboid on Tue Jun 13, 2023 12:57 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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danboid
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Re: DIY Uzebox / SNES arcade joystick

Post by danboid »

You may notice that I printed the flight stick unmodified which includes four hexagonal holes that serve no purpose for us. I have used blender to remove these four holes so you may wish to use this modified .stl file instead if you would prefer to print a case top without those four unnecessary hexagonal holes:

Flightstick_Top_V3_30mm_No_Hex_Holes.7z
(2.35 MiB) Not downloaded yet

Here's how I've positioned the rubber feet. I've used the same size 10 mm diameter x 3 mm tall adhesive rubber feet that I used on my Uzebox.
Uzestick-base.jpg
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You'll notice I've only got 3 rubber feet on the base. This is because for whatever reason the base of my joystick isn't perfectly level and it rocks about a little less if I don't attach a foot in that corner than if I have one foot attached in each corner but YMMV.

Just in case there are any problems with Thingiverse page, here is a tarball of the .stl files used for 3D printing:

Uzestick.tar.7z
(2.32 MiB) Downloaded 26 times
The Brook Wingman looks quite interesting if you don't want to make a USB SNES adapter yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0cUj7WgSzs
Last edited by danboid on Mon Mar 11, 2024 8:21 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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danboid
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Re: DIY Uzebox / SNES arcade joystick

Post by danboid »

I have ordered the components to build my arcade stick. I'm going to print this for the case but in red to match my Uzebox:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5132706

Then wire it up to a gutted clone SNES pad inside.
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danboid
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Re: DIY Uzebox / SNES arcade joystick

Post by danboid »

I had ordered a clone SNES pad off Amazon for this project which arrived yesterday but its going back because it was defective. It didn't quite insert fully into the SNES connector port and it caused erratic behaviour such as resets on my Uzebox when I plugged it in as much as I could so its being sent back.

Today I started printing the base of the stick. It requires 188g (of PLA) and it's estimated to take about 1.5 days to print. The top will take even longer.
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D3thAdd3r
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Re: DIY Uzebox / SNES arcade joystick

Post by D3thAdd3r »

Sweet, I'm anticipating your results :ugeek:
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uze6666
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Re: DIY Uzebox / SNES arcade joystick

Post by uze6666 »

Oh my, that's a big a** joystick you are printing there! Wish I had space for that home.
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danboid
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Re: DIY Uzebox / SNES arcade joystick

Post by danboid »

uze6666 wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 12:14 am
Oh my, that's a big a** joystick you are printing there! Wish I had space for that home.
Yes it is quite hefty! About twice the size of the cased Uzebox.

I was hoping to start printing the top half of the shell yesterday but our maker space didn't have enough red PLA in stock to churn out the beast yesterday so it's going to be be another week or so yet before the stock arrives. I think it needs about 330g of magickal pumpy stuff and it will take at least 2.5 days to print using an Ultimaker 5. I've printed the base.

My joystick arrived yesterday but I think I'm returning it for one with a metal plate. They were out of stock of joysticks with plates when I was ordering but they've got them back in stock now. Otherwise I'd have to drill two new holes in the case which may weaken or damage it.
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danboid
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Re: DIY Uzebox / SNES arcade joystick

Post by danboid »

I started printing the top shell today. That will be done and collected by Friday so hopefully I'll be able to get the joystick assembled and wired up this weekend.
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