Sunday, May 31, 2009

Home-Made IIDX Controller - Getting the Parts

Finally decided to start on building my home-made IIDX controller with actual SANWA buttons that will light up when pressed and also a turntable following the dimensions of the arcade machine. I will be using two 2nd-hand KOCs and ripping their PCB to do this project as I have no idea how to build my own turntable circuit.

I decided that I'll first make the circuit to allow the buttons to light up when pressed, just like in the arcades. Only after this is done will I start on the box itself.

Getting the Parts

Getting the parts was the "fun part". Overall, I had made countless trips to Sim Lim Tower to finally get all the parts I needed, so much so that my darling YY got impatient a few times . So the last few trips to SLT were made without her to spare her the boredom.

Actual SANWA buttons used in arcade machines, ordered through my friend's friend in Japan. About S$30 each. OUCH. The square buttons for Select and Start cannot be found and I read from somewhere that they are out of production! =( So I replaced them with another brand of square buttons (not in picture). Much cheaper (~S$3 each) but it is obvious that the quality is not as good as SANWA's.

This circuit, found off the internet (URL lost -_-) uses diodes and will allow the SANWA buttons to light up when pressed. There is another circuit that uses transistors to do the same job but I prefer this as I found it easier.

Above circuit stated 12V, so I went to buy 12V wedge-based lamps for the buttons (pics to be uploaded later). $2.50 each. Yeouch! Wallet pain...

Some of the other miscellaneous parts I bought for this project. Connectors, diodes, wires etc. Initially I decided to use an external power adaptor to power the lamps so I bought the input/output power jacks as well (top right hand corner).

With everything set, it is time to start work!

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