soldering stick

Placebo

Basically i cut open my hrap2 in hopes of connecting the wires up with a wired 360 pad, i have both, [OPEN actually] but i never got arround to soldering it, the points are too small and i fear il probably wrecked the pad as they are hard to come buy, so does anybody know any hardware/fixers that would solder it for me?

thanks

L31mr0d

not really on topic, but that image reminded me of this

"HADDOCKEN"

K.O.Kiki

What brand of joypad are you using (Microsoft/Madcatz?)

Placebo

official ms, dont think it is common ground.

L31mr0d

do you have a soldering iron?

also, are these solder points throughhole or surface mount?

Also, the cable you are trying to solder to the PCB, is it multi-strand? (if so, thinning would make the whole process a lot easier for you)

Placebo

cable is similar to one that comes in those sticks, only , most solder points are big, i need to scrub off some black stuff [sand paper?]
but theres one ground point that is tiny and its between two other points, which the wire cannot touch, and since it will be my first time soldering, im expecting huge blobs !?

K.O.Kiki

Ok, is it

or

??

Secondly, PUT THE SANDPAPER AWAY!
At most, you'll need to gently scratch away with a scalpel tip or jeweler's screwdriver.

As for the soldering part, what I do (works 99% of the time) is to:

• Use stranded (NOT solid!) wire --- old ATA cables are great for this.
• Heat up your soldering iron.
• Now, melt the solder onto the wire so that a tiny, pinhead sized amount is left. Trim away any unwanted cable (and even unwanted solder)
• Finally, touch the solder pinhead to your soldering point, and gently use the soldering iron's tip to melt the solder pinhead.

If you've done it right, the solder point should be strong enough.

witnessmenow

why use stranded cable? I bloody hate soldering the stuff! I thought something more along the lines of kenyar would suit this job better?


Im actually doing a bit of soldering to a 360 controller soon so I'll let you know how i get on

Placebo

Thanks , its the 2nd one but see on the far far left, the middle little silver , i need to solder wire to that without it touching the other two?

thanks

K.O.Kiki

@witnessmenow: For PCB work you should ALWAYS use stranded, NEVER solid (unless it's really thin, IIRC 26AWG or higher).
The reason is that with solid, you run a much higher chance of accidentally pulling on the cable & then ripping the soldered contact off, as it has less give than stranded.

@Placebo: Just "tin" the wire (coat it with solder), leaving a tiny blob of solder behind.
Trim the wire so that it's just the blob (again, pinhead-sized or smaller), then put it on the contact.
Secure the wire to the PCB with electrical tape, and VERY CAREFULLY use your soldering iron to melt the solder blob onto the contact.
Test.
Repeat if necessary.

*note* This works for me most of the time; if anyone has a better method, please post!

*edit*
Oh yeah, I honestly would consider getting a Madcatz 4716 from Argos instead.
Much simpler PCB, nice big soldering points, common ground.

witnessmenow

The probem with doing a small bit of soldering is people normally buy irons that are far too big!

Thats acutally a relatively easy point if you have the right stuff. Do you have an iron already? Unfortunatly its pretty tough to buy decent irons in this country. Mine is an adjustable solder station from dealextreme


Maybe somethign like this. Its hard to tell without actually seeing it but you are looking for one with a small pointed head. @£;16 expect to pay over €25 for it here though

This one here looks interesting too. It has changeable heads so one of them will be what your looking for. For what you are getting its much better than the maplin one at €35, but if you are only going to use it for this you might be better off getting the maplin one.

If you get into a bit of bother you are best off backing away form it for a while for two reasons:

1) Calm yourself down

2) Give the board time to cool down. If you heat solder pads too much you could end up lifting them(taking the metal away, not good!)


I'd love to give you a hand with it but im actually up the walls for the next month and I'm never in Dublin. If you have any questions feel free to ask and i'll do my best to answer and keep us posted how you are getting on!

EDIT: @ Kokiki : Kenyar is super thin and very flexible single core, its what you'd use to install mod chips

EDIT:EDIT: sorry it should be spelt kynar

L31mr0d

yeah what Kiki said can work. Also, OP that solder point looks fine, if you do what Kiki says (thin the stranded wire before soldering) there shouldn't be any chance of accidentally soldering to the adjoining solder points.

Use something to secure the wire and pcb in place before soldering, so that you merely have to touch the soldering iron off the wire to press it into place.

I use one of these for solder work, you can pick them up cheaply in maplins.

But on occasion I've just taped down the PCB and wire in place and then soldered that way

Placebo

thanks yall
is this the pcb
http://slagcoin.com/joystick/pcb_diagrams/360_diagram4.jpg

for

http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=30001&catalogId=1500001501&langId=-1&searchTerms=MAD+CATZ


the directional pad wires seem to be going all over the gaf?
why is there two grounds?
directional joy only has 5 wires coming out of it [i think]

K.O.Kiki

Nope, the current Argos ones are a variation on Madcatz Late 4716:
http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/pcb_diagrams/360_diagram3.jpg
which is common-ground (1 ground).

However, the actual ground point has been moved (just have a look, should be clear enough).

Placebo

since each stick button has 2 wires, do i have to join them all then connect to button ground?

K.O.Kiki

That works; just make sure you connect to the same tab on each microswitch (e.g., only the outside tab).

Placebo

ok think il just get the argos pad,
what a waste of a few months.

how do i identify that the wire is stranded

chopperbyrne

This is why I stick to converters!

Placebo

ps2 to 360 ? dont think theres any good ones

animaX

Placebo wrote: »

ps2 to 360 ? dont think theres any good ones

There is the Max Shooter by Mayflash. Works well but is not compatible with the HRAP 2

Placebo

i have my hrap 2 working.
thanks ciaran


Watch out world.

Time to up my game and learn sf4

K.O.Kiki

LOL just sent you a PM for help -- turns out I didn't need to!

Placebo

best place to get semistu [sp?] buttons?

Dreddybajs

http://www.arcadeshop.de/
http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/orderseimitsupushbuttons.php

Both of these places are fairly reliable afaik

K.O.Kiki

I roll with ArcadeShop.DE
IMHO best seller in Europe.

Oh yeah -- whatever you do, DON'T BUY Seimitsu PS-15 (Short) buttons, they feel horrible due to using a Seimitsu 24mm microswitch instead of Seimitsu's 30mm.
I thought they were OK at first, but as soon as I switched back to PS-14/Sanwa OBSFs... my god.

animaX

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I roll with ArcadeShop.DE
IMHO best seller in Europe.

I find them a bit slow though. Starcab delivered faster for me (although their delivery cost was higher)

Placebo

well hrap 2 only fits 30mm,

i need snap in's, looking for luminous, but they only have screw in's in arcade shop. Starcab only has plain colours

K.O.Kiki

Luminous?
Well, ArcadeShop do Seimitsu PS-14-K (translucent) snap-ins.

Anyway, you can use screw-ins on HRAPS, only prob is they usually cost a few cent more than snap-ins!

Placebo

think screw'ins have different connector things,
thanks for link, found it, trying to get pink, out of stock :pac::pac::pac:

K.O.Kiki

Nah, screw-ins have the same microswitch, just are held in the panel by the screw ring rather than the tabs under the bezel.

Placebo

have u tried screw in's on a hrap2 type interface, apparently its a bit fidgety, might require some sanding..

K.O.Kiki

I put screw-ins in my last HRAP1 verA mod, required just the tiniest amount of filing IIRC.

Placebo

nice, what did u file it with ?
i had to solder some of the plastic on my stick to get the wire through, im not made for hardware !

bush

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I roll with ArcadeShop.DE
IMHO best seller in Europe.

Oh yeah -- whatever you do, DON'T BUY Seimitsu PS-15 (Short) buttons, they feel horrible due to using a Seimitsu 24mm microswitch instead of Seimitsu's 30mm.
I thought they were OK at first, but as soon as I switched back to PS-14/Sanwa OBSFs... my god.

Ive got the ps15 and I think they are fine. I deffo perfer them to sanwa, I find them way too sensitive and I dont like the way the button goes down under the rim when you press them. Maybe I should have a look at the ps14. In what way are they better than the 15s?

K.O.Kiki

I found with PS15s that you have to press them TOO hard to register, and it really screwed up my execution for cr.HP-> Roll & hit-confirm cr.LK/MK/HK -> Roll.

Maybe that's just me though.

*edit*
No wait, everybody who tried my stick hated them too, haha! :pac:

bush

So they are somewhere inbetween the sensitivity of sanwa and ps15 then ye? Sounds good.

Can you buy the 30mm microswitches and stick them in the ps15?

Dreddybajs

Yeah I seriously hated those buttons Kiki. :pac:

joconnell

Just curious folks - is the difference a quality or price one with these custom sticks? I think my r2 might be going in my ps3 pad (which is ****e for charge characters anyway) so I was half thinking of getting a stick - is this worth the hassle over a madcatz stick? It's been bugger ages since I was in an arcade so I can't remember which feel suits me best. Are there any retail places in dublin that sells sticks? Also are the cheaper ones just pure muck in the first place?

Dreddybajs

Basically the Madcatz SE is alright and great when modded, the TE is great, and the Hori EX2 (fighting stick 3 for the PS3 or whatever it's called) is the cheapest and bottom of the barrel, and basically the worst stick you can get that's still usable.

K.O.Kiki

bush wrote:

Can you buy the 30mm microswitches and stick them in the ps15?

I'll have a look tomorrow, should have some PS-14s + 15s lying around so will see if the microswitches are compatible.

joconnell wrote:

Just curious folks - is the difference a quality or price one with these custom sticks? I think my r2 might be going in my ps3 pad (which is ****e for charge characters anyway) so I was half thinking of getting a stick - is this worth the hassle over a madcatz stick? It's been bugger ages since I was in an arcade so I can't remember which feel suits me best. Are there any retail places in dublin that sells sticks? Also are the cheaper ones just pure muck in the first place?

You might be like Doom then, who grew up on iL/Happ sticks -- very stiff, bat-top style monsters.
IMHO the only things separating a Madcatz TE & a custom stick are the components' feel (TE is all-Sanwa, quite sensitive, custom is whatever you want), and the physical layout.
But for a first stick, I'll always recommend a Madcatz SE -- cheap enough, good size, easy to mod/sell on.

K.O.Kiki

OK, did some quick testing:

• Seimitsu PS-14 microswitches (PS-14G) WILL NOT FIT in Seimitsu PS-15 buttons.
• Sanwa OBSF-30 microswitches (SW-68) WILL FIT in Seimitsu PS-15 buttons.
• Additionally, Sanwa OBSF-30 microswitch WILL FIT in the original buttons from Saulabi joysticks.

bush

Cheers, thats wierd that sanwa fit.

K.O.Kiki

Yeah, the PS-15s are huge in comparism to the OBSFs.


*edit*
The PS-14Gs are huge. Crap.

joconnell

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

You might be like Doom then, who grew up on iL/Happ sticks -- very stiff, bat-top style monsters.
IMHO the only things separating a Madcatz TE & a custom stick are the components' feel (TE is all-Sanwa, quite sensitive, custom is whatever you want), and the physical layout.
But for a first stick, I'll always recommend a Madcatz SE -- cheap enough, good size, easy to mod/sell on.

Yep - myself and doom kicked each other around for a good few years "Clicky" sticks were always fierce exotic! Shall look up an se so - anywhere in dublin city that stocks em?