• As part of the relaunch of Skullheart, ALL previous threads have been archived. You can find them at the bottom of the forum in the Archives (2021) section. The archives are locked, so please use the new forum sections to create new discussion threads.

Somewhat of a Pipe Dream (Custom HitBox Question Thread)

A

AmagicalFishy

Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2014
Messages
45
Reaction score
25
Points
18
Age
35
Steam
Dad
Valentine Double
A bit of background: I've recently switched from an xBox controller to the keyboard and I love it. I've only played for about two days, but already have a hard time picking a controller back up. My keys are mapped as closely to a HitBox as I could manage.

This moved me to want a HitBox—but have pretty big hands. I want the buttons to be laid out such that I can lay my hands flat, side-by-side, fingers somewhat spread, and be touching the buttons. From the looks of it, a HitBox is too small (that is, my wrist would have to arch a little, my fingers move closer to one another, and my thumb would have to shift towards my palm). Not only is this a bit less comfortable, but it's a recipe for carpel tunnel. Basically, I want to minimize the movement involved in pressing any given button, and minimize my hands' displacement from their natural position.

I'd have to slowly save the money, but I've been prompted to at least look into building my own custom HitBox, tailor made for my sweet, sweet hands. I've put together a few computers, though doing this seems to have little in common. I've got a few questions, if you folks don't mind:

  1. How much experience should I have soldering and doing all that other good stuff? (Currently, I have zero)
  2. Approximately how much money would it cost assuming Sanwa parts and minimal everything else? (I don't care about aesthetics or weight for now; since everything's buttons, it won't be moving much)
  3. Are there people who would build it for me? (People who won't charge much more than just buying a HitBox, that is)
  4. Is... http://s19.postimg.org/717h14zqr/DSC00962.jpg ... a typical wiring job? Is wiring this as easy as it looks?
  5. To those that have done something like this:
  • How simple was it?
  • How experienced were you when you built it?
  • Did you build it from scratch or mod. an existing fightstick?
  • How much did it cost you?
  • How long did it take?
Thanks to anyone who takes the time to answer.
 
I can't change the title of the thread (as I would like to; could a mod. do that for me? Just remove the part in parenthesis, if you could), but I'm going to change the subject somewhat. I've done a lot more looking around, and decided that I'm going to make a tupperware, HitBox-like Fightstick. The weight of the stick doesn't matter at all, since I won't have a joystick—so it's going to be pure cheapo, baby (except for the internal parts, of course). This will cut the price by like $100. It will probably take a long time to complete, from start to finish, but I'd like to document it here. I've access to a bunch of tools, but I probably won't need to many. I want everything to be solderless.

On the face, I'm going to use 12 snap-in buttons—four for the directions and eight for the action buttons. I'll have the start/select/home buttons on the side (I'll be using it on PC primarily, but it'd be nice to have it function on a PS3/xBox aswell).

Parts List

PCB
Between:
http://www.focusattack.com/akishop-ps360-multi-console-joystick-pcb/
http://www.focusattack.com/phreakmods-cerberus-ps3-pc-joystick-pcb/

I don't have a PS3 or an xBox—I just love functionality. I'll probably go with the latter because it's $20 cheaper, but I'm not going to get the PCB for a while, so who knows.

Buttons
I'm going to go with the Seimitsu buttons, 15 of them (8-action, 4-direction, 2-startselect, 1-home)—from what I've read, they're a bit less sensitive. Probably a 30mm for the up-button and 24mm for the other 14 buttons.

http://www.focusattack.com/seimitsu-ps-14-g-pushbutton-red-black/ (x1)
http://www.focusattack.com/seimitsu-ps-14-d-24mm-pushbutton-red-black/ (x3)
http://www.focusattack.com/seimitsu-ps-14-d-24mm-pushbutton-light-blue-black/ (x2)
http://www.focusattack.com/seimitsu-ps-14-d-24mm-pushbutton-black/ (x2)
http://www.focusattack.com/seimitsu-ps-14-d-24mm-pushbutton-white/ (x1)
http://www.focusattack.com/copy-of-seimitsu-ps-14-d-24mm-pushbutton-white-black/ (x6)

Wires
Buttons to PCB: http://www.focusattack.com/16pc-wire-with-110-quick-disconnect/
Controller to System: http://www.focusattack.com/15-foot-male-a-b-usb-2-0-cable/
What's this used for? http://www.focusattack.com/12-inch-rj45-cat6-ethernet-cable-black/

Other Parts
(To be filled in later)
 
Last edited:
pssst, hey, we dont have a maximum character limit on posts here on this forum, its kinda great, just a heads up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: zarkingphoton
Short answers:
- You'll need a minimal amount of soldering experience. Enough to perhaps solder the your buttons to some wires, and then those wires to the PCB.
- Cost depends on the parts you use. If you're really tight on money, then instead of buying a custom PCB, etc. you might want to consider buying a cheap prebuilt stick that works with your setup, and then tearing it apart and using the PCB, buttons, etc. out of that. No matter what, you're going to have to build some sort of custom case, so remember to budget for that as well.
- There are people that would build it for you for a fee, certainly. For free would be more difficult. Normally I'd offer to do it, but the price of shipping from my corner of the world is probably more than the cost of getting someone nearby to do it for you.
- The wiring job you linked is pretty damn neat, and takes a lot of planning and experience to do something like that. Your first job will probably look more like a rat's nest, but on the upside it isnt' something you can see when the stick is in use.
- FWIW, I use this, which I made myself.
- Re. buttons: You'll get used to whatever you put in there. Sanwa and Seimitsu are the two main brands, but if you're not all that experienced with sticks then you probably won't notice the difference all that much anyway. Sanwas are more sensitive, but that's not something to worry about - they're not so sensitive that would likely cause you a problem one you've gotten used to the new layout, etc.
 
Hey, that's a pretty cool setup. Where'd you get those WASD keyboard buttons?
 
I bought a bunch of cherry MX red switches off of ebay for ~$1.50 each (they're not expensive, but can be a little hard to find), and bought the keycaps from WASD keyboards.

EDIT: Looks like WASD also sells the MX switches here, I just didn't buy them from there because shipping to me from the US can get very expensive even for small items.
 
What's the ethernet cable used for? Is that for a detachable system cable?

Also, all the guides I see for installing a PCB require... mounting it on a current PCB?
 
Last edited:
AmagicalFishy said:
What's the ethernet cable used for? Is that for a detachable system cable?

Also, all the guides I see for installing a PCB require... mounting it on a current PCB?

I don't actually know very much about a lot of things but to the best of my knowledge ethernet cables are used for cheap wires, but I think people only do that if they're a factory or something and they're buying in bulk.

It might be better to use regular wires but someone can correct me.
 
I believe for those custom PCBs it just outputs to both of those sockets, and you can connect whatever cable you want from there.
 
I built myself a custom HitBox-style box not too long ago.

26431bdf8b88f7e0ba3cc73af2aaf4a1.jpg

1ae80597be4a99c05b0048e6168817d8.jpg


AmagicalFishy said:
1. How much experience should I have soldering and doing all that other good stuff? (Currently, I have zero)
With the correct parts, you don't need any soldering at all. Nada. Soldering is important for some of the specialty boards, like LED boards, or if you're going to hack an old controller. Before I bought a PS360+ custom board, I was using an old PS1 DualShock that I had hacked some wires into, as well as a PS1-to-USB converter that I got from RadioShack. It's important to note, though, that if you're using a board that doesn't specifically state that it's compatible with simultaneous opposite cardinal directions (SOCD in the custom board lingo), aka up+down or left+right, you'll need to get a directional scrubber to sort that out for you, otherwise, you'll get weird stuff.

If you do wind up having to sodder, though, it's not that difficult to learn so much as it's a little nerve-racking sticking a red-hot iron into sensitive electronics.
2. Approximately how much money would it cost assuming Sanwa parts and minimal everything else? (I don't care about aesthetics or weight for now; since everything's buttons, it won't be moving much)
That depends on what you make it out of. I can't recall everything, exactly, but here's what I used in mine:

Body: Medium Density Fiberboard sheets from Home Depot, ~$40
Cover: Lexan Plastic Board from Ace Hardware, ~$10
Rubber Feet: Set of 4 from FocusAttack.com, ~$8
Buttons: Sanwa 24mm x 14, Sanwa 36mm x1, ~$3 ea
PS360+ Custom PCB: ~$70
Wires: ~$5
.110" Quick Disconnect connectors: $0.10 ea, need 30
.110" Quick Disconnect insulated covers: $0.10 ea, need 30
Neutrik USB A to USB B pass-through connector: $8
Spray Paint: Primer and Lacquered Black, ~$15

Tools Needed:

Wood cutting stuff, or get Home Depot or someone to do it for you
Clamps
Sand paper
Wire Crimper
Drill
Dremmel
Wood Glue

All in all, you're looking at some $150-$200 just for parts. I had to borrow woodworking tools from a friend for this, but if you have the tools available, more power to you. You can cut costs by repurposing the PCB from an old PS1 controller, or a MadCatz SE (which I did after my friend got me a TE, since the SE parts are all fake, anyway).
3. Are there people who would build it for me? (People who won't charge much more than just buying a HitBox, that is)
Is... http://s19.postimg.org/717h14zqr/DSC00962.jpg ... a typical wiring job? Is wiring this as easy as it looks?
If I'm not mistaken, Shoryuken.com has a pretty established stick-building community. You can ask around over there. And yes, it's really as easy as it looks. With a good Custom PCB, you'll have screw-connections on one end of your wire and .110" Quick Disconnects on the other. On the other hand, if you're hacking a PS1 board, your wiring is going to be a big mess of sodder, hot glue, and rubber bands... although the buttons are still connected with the easy-peasy .110" QDs.
4. To those that have done something like this:
  • How simple was it?
Super-simple, it just takes time to draft out the schematics and make sure everything will fit. I actually cut the box a little too thin and had to bend all the connectors on the buttons, but it works. It's all about taking the time to do everything properly.
  • How experienced were you when you built it?
Zero! I had never cut wood before. I had a little soddering experience for the controller hacks from prior shenanigans with console modding. My friend's dad helped me cut the Lexan, though, 'cause he didn't trust me to do it, haha.
  • Did you build it from scratch or mod. an existing fightstick?
Built from scratch using parts stolen from an old PS1 Dualshock and a PS3 MadCatz Street Fighter 4 SE
  • How much did it cost you?
About $200, give or take, but I spent extra on a nice PCB and buying a lot of extra stuff to make sure the wiring looked nice in the end.
  • How long did it take?
Maybe a couple of weeks of hour-a-day work to get the frame together. Another week to wire it up... It was the damned painting that ended up taking the most time, like two months. Why did I need it to be shiny? Sigh.
Thanks to anyone who takes the time to answer.
Anytime, broski, I'm happy to help.
 
Last edited:
Awesome. :D Thanks for your answer. I think in total this'll cost me around $100—but I'm using tupperware as a case. :)
 
Your main cost will be in the PCB if you're not doing anything fancy with the case. If you're happy to spend that much then the PS360 should do what you want, but if you're on a budget you should also be able to pull all of the hardware out of a brawlstick (retails for $30-40) and use that instead.

Also note that official hitboxes use 24mm buttons for the directions and 30mm for the moves.
 
Vadsamoht said:
Also note that official hitboxes use 24mm buttons for the directions and 30mm for the moves.
The official Hitbox uses 24mm for everything except the Up button.
 
Huh. I thought it was different. Oh well, my point was simply to list what HB uses so that if the OP had tried one they could make sure to get the same size.
 
AmagicalFishy said:
Awesome. :D Thanks for your answer. I think in total this'll cost me around $100—but I'm using tupperware as a case. :)
Make sure your Tupperware is reasonably strong and thick. Sanwa snap-in push buttons have certain thicknesses that work best, which you should look into (maybe yank the buttons out of a friend's fight stick to see how the buttons look). If the snap-in buttons won't fit, you'll have to use Seimitsu screw-in buttons.

If you don't mind getting a little fancy, you can get a piece of Lexan from Ace Hardware or Home Depot and ask if they'll cut you a piece that fits over your tupper-box. I think I used a 3/16"-thick piece, but it's been a while. You can screw it over your Tupperware and revel in the awe and confusion you cause in your friends and adversaries.
 
That's a good point. For mine, I used 3mm-thick acrylic and the buttons fit snugly.
 
Ooh, boy! Good luck putting that bad boy together--I look forward to seeing your Tupperware box, haha!

Transparent electronics are the coolest.
 
Success!

Buttons1_zps3fff5673.jpg


I spaced the buttons specifically for my big-ass hands—the layout is identical to a hitbox, except everything is spaced so that my hands aren't scrunched up so tightly.

Also it was half the price!

Buttons4_zps9ba87711.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Vadsamoht and Icky
AmagicalFishy said:
I spaced the buttons specifically for my big-ass hands—the layout is identical to a hitbox, except everything is spaced so that my hands aren't scrunched up so tightly.

Also it was half the price!
I love everything about this. I just got a hitbox, and it's like the thing was made for prepubescent children.
 
It's... Beautiful. How well does it hold up to use?
 
I used it for a few hours last night and I loved it.

It's awesome. :)

I played on a keyboard before, so it took like 6 minutes to get used to it. It's way more comfortable!
 
I'm glad to hear that! Unfortunately for me, I got so used to playing Skullgirls as an 8-button fighter that my Hitbox doesn't feel intuitive at all--I keep getting my fingers tied going for those diagonal assist calls. I started as a Keyboard Warrior in GGXX, though, so I'm gonna rock the Hitbox in Xrd... once the LE finally shows up. Sigh.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back