Materials needed for a metal control panel?

#1

Hello. I’m planning on building an 2 player arcade stick with an Astro City layout (2L12B) and template, but with eight buttons per player and for use with the PS2. However, the astro city CPs on sale atakihabara shop and lizard lick only have six buttons per player, and the Saturn Virtua Stick Pro is way too expensive (plus making it work for PS2 is too much of a hassle without gutting the stick). Because of this, I wish to make a metal Astro City panel of my own (as authentic to the real deal as possible with shape, seimitsu buttons, ect). I already have the template and graphics, but I don’t know what material the metal control panel is made of, or how to go about finding the tools needed to shape such material. Would anyone who owns a 2L12B CP or has experience with metal CPs help me out? Thank you :).

On a side note, if anyone knows where I can find an astro city bezel case, I would greatly appreciate it.

#2

Just curious. Why 8 buttons?

#3

Good question. To make a long story short, it’s for functionality and Neo-Geo games.

For me, having all possible buttons at my disposal is very important so that the rare game that does utilize eight buttons is fully playable for me. Also, if for some reason I would rather have less than eight buttons, I can always use cover holes, which is much more practical for me than having to drill extra buttons in on a pre-made CP if it were the other way around. That’s one reason I will love the TE stick and that’s why I’m making an eight-button layout.

#4

Good point. I totally wasn’t thinking about Neo-Geo games and their four button layout.

#5

you should buy the astro city panel in the for sale section and then just build a box around it.

#6

You MIGHT be able to straight up buy one from a member of the build your own arcade controls forums.

There used to be a member named richardp there who made 8 button replacement CPs for candies. Somebody might have bought an extra one and be willing to part with it. Can’t hurt to ask:

forum.arcadecontrols.com

#7

goto the junk yard and find one of those signs

dont steal that stop sign that’s next to your house.

#8

opips2 did that. Though it was actually a ‘Handicapped Parking’ sign IIRC…

#9

I see :…so does this mean that I can’t just buy the metal needed to make my own CP? If not, I’ll definitely consider finding one of those signs from the junkyard lol. Are they the same depth as an actual CP?

#10

I have a spare 2-player sega panel. It’s a former BlastCity panel and is missing half of it’s overlay (I tried to remove it in favor of a new one but gave up). I’ll let go for $50 shipped

#11

Yes, you can just go buy the metal for your panel. I picked up mine at a local fab shop, cut to size, for about $8. I bought aluminum because I wanted to polish it, but you can use steel as well. You could also use stainless, but I don’t recommend it. Stainless is very hard to cut and will wear out your drill bits, and hole saws.

Look in your phone book for a fab or a welding shop. Call them, if they don’t have it, they will know where you can get it.

#12

Do you mean that it’s the shape of the panel without the button holes?

Either way, I’d still like to make my own if possible so that I could save some money.

However, what I would like buy if possible would be the plastic surround for the panel, like this one:

If it’s for a reasonable price, I’ll definitely consider purchasing one. However, I don’t have 15 posts yet, so I won’t be able to reply to PMs until I do so.

On another note, I might have a metal panel at home I can carve out. I’ll go check to see if that’s so.

#13

Awesome! Thanks a lot for the info DevilsFang. I just needed to know what and where to buy the materials. I’ll definitely do that.

All I need now is the panel support and I’m ready to get to work on my custom Astro City for the PS2. Woohoo!

#14

Have you seen this thread…
http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=159603
:wgrin:

Anyways, I’m betting, that in order to make a panel similar to an authentic sega panel, it’ll cost more than $50

The material, tools, custom bracketry is all $$$ and I can guarantee it won’t match sega’s dimensions.

#15

I saw that thread. Awesome stick! However, is an Astro City bezel really $90?! That seems really expensive. I wish there was one selling for cheaper, as that’s the exact case I need to mount my custom panel on to. I’m looking for a bezel that’s more in the 50$ range. Again, awesome job on the stick.

#16

It’s rare to get apart from it’s whole cabinet so, for the money…

Anyway, I may get a hold of a HSS-0130 8-button top panel in a few, so I’ll keep an eye out for you.

g’luck

#17

No problem. Thanks!