IMPORTANT INFO
Keep in mind 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.
All work seen to this point has been done in a span of 7 days.
I AM ALSO NOT DONE WITH THIS PROJECT YET!
There are still many small things to be done. As I make new replies with significant updates, I'll update this main post for easy reading.
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)
What: Revitalizes and Improves 11 Madcatz Tournament Edition and 2 Madcatz Special Edition arcade sticks
When: Tuesday, October 7th - Thursday, October 16th
Where: Mostly my back patio at HQ in Phoenix (and in Google Hangouts with the SRKTT crew)
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. They needed to be cleaned out and have new artwork. 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.
NEW ARTWORK CREATION
I also wanted to attract attention from attendees who may not have normally been interested in arcade sticks or fighting games by doing custom artwork from some of pop-culture's best characters using whatever artistic skills I've learned over the years with Illustrator and Photoshop.
Still have 1 or 2 TE artworks to do and still have 2 SE artworks to do. They'll be added later.
REMOVED PREVIOUS ARTWORK
The previous artwork was all done via LamiLabels, and after 3+ years, they started to peel off and no longer reflected the games being played on them.
Example photos of old artwork installed via LamiLabel:
DISASSEMBLY FOR TE STICKS
Removed balltops/buttons/shaft covers/dustwashers/back panels/front panels.
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.
DISASSEMBLY FOR SE STICKS
Removed balltops/buttons/shaft covers/dustwashers/back panels/front panels.
REMOVED TURBO AREAS & PCBs
Removed the plastic encasing for the Turbo/Home areas on the sticks and removed the PCBs from those plastic turbo areas to use later
REMOVED SHELLS FROM MIDDLE TE BASES
MODIFIED MIDDLE TE BASES
To fit Neutrik USB adapters inside the cord compartments
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
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.
PADHACKING TIME!
Padhacked three 360 Madcatz Brawlpads
Padhacked two XBoxOne Controllers
INSERTED PCBs INTO TE BASES
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.
Wiring goes from the PCB to the bottom of the quick disconnect (QDC) terminals.
INDIVIDUAL STICK DETAILS
PS3 TE PCB - Tactile switch installed for home, USB Neutrik adapter added.
PS3 TE PCB - Tactile switch installed for home, USB Neutrik adapter now installed (pic not showing USB Neutrik)
PS3 TE PCB - Tactile switch installed for home, USB Neutrik adapter added.
PS3 TE PCB - Tactile switch installed for home, USB Neutrik adapter added.
PS3 TE PCB - Tactile switch installed for home, USB Neutrik adapter added.
360 Brawlpad padhack - Tactile switch installed for home, USB Neurik adapter added. Screw terminal added for joystick plug.
360 Brawlpad padhack - Tactile switch installed for home, USB Neurik adapter added. Screw terminal added for joystick plug.
360 Brawlpad padhack - Tactile switch installed for home, USB Neutrik adapter now installed (pic not showing USB Neutrik). Screw terminal added for joystick plug.
360 4716 pad from some old stick - Tactile switch installed for home, USB Neutrik adapter now installed (pic not showing USB Neutrik). Screw terminal added for joystick plug. RT and LT need to be inverted to work properly on this pad and I don't have the equipment to do so yet.
360 Rock Candy padhack - Tactile switch installed for home, USB Neutrik adapter
Empty shell that will be 360 Rock Candy padhacks with everything done. (Both are done, but pics only of one so far directly above this one)
INSTALLED TACTILE SWITCHES AND NEUTRIK USBs IN SE STICKS
INSTALLED ART PROVIDED VIA @d3v ON SE STICKS AND WIRED THEM UP
Parts came in from PARADISE ARCADE SHOP!
Still plenty to do including:
1 - Get the 10k resisters to invert triggers for the 4716 padhack (already have hex inverters via @Gummo )
2 - Get plexis and artwork and install
For now, anything in workable condition will be put back together with just the blank panel and used until the artwork is in.