“When all you have is a 3D printer, everything looks like… filament… or something.”
Now that Act 1 of the Hack Like Heck competition is over, it’s time to get hacking! Since this is my first time doing a build like this, I wasn’t sure exactly where to begin. So I (somewhat arbitrarily) chose to start with the controls.
Before getting into the actual build, I spent quite a bit of time planning and procuring the parts I thought I would need. This includes a bag of cheap tactile switches and a USB joystick encoder. My thought process was something like:
switches + USB encoder + 3D-printed parts = mini arcade joystick
Seems sensible, right? Well, not exactly. I should have listened to the other, more experienced community members who realized that great controls are essential from the start. That is to say, a functional joystick isn’t necessarily a good joystick.
I started by downloading and printing some free models. They did technically work, but the plastic-on-plastic feel was weird and kind of squeaky. I added some silicone lubricant but it didn’t help. I tried various modifications and even made some of my own designs from scratch, but I wasn’t really satisfied with any of them. Also, the switches were a bit too noisy and had too much resistance.
A graveyard of failed joystick attempts
So I took a step back and thought about my favorite gamepads and what I like about them. I came up with a set of criteria for the joystick:
- It has to be reasonably priced. Sure, I can tear apart a PS4 or Xbox One controller, but do I really want to spend $40 for $5 worth of parts?
- It has to have a stick that I can easily convert to a classic arcade-style joystick.
- It has to be comfortable.
- Due to time and budget constraints, it has to work with USB directly, or the USB encoder I’ve already purchased.
In the end, this is what I decided to use:
No official GameCube controllers were harmed in the making of this build.
This third-party wireless GameCube controller has a decent feel, but the signal cuts out intermittently which makes it pretty much worthless. I was happy to sacrifice it for this project. There are two analog sticks. Unfortunately, this controller is not USB-compatible, and my USB encoder only accepts digital inputs. Is there a way to convert the sticks from analog to digital without extra hardware? It turns out there is!
It’s working! It’s working! The modded GameCube stick
If you want to see exactly how I did it, watch for my project video to be released on April 4.
Note: Don’t worry if you don’t have a GameCube controller to spare. The final project uses a similar analog stick that I found on Amazon and will include in the parts list for the build.
After wasting a lot of time going down the wrong path with tact switches, it’s great to have found a better alternative. I know that having solid controls will make this device much more enjoyable to play.
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