Modded iCade Core with side buttons

Turbine said:

The only thing that was bothering me about fitting the Sanwa's is there's no lock-ring to keep them in tight.

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If you carefully cut the holes the correct dimension then the Sanwa's pop-in mechanism works perfectly. I used a 1" spade drill bit to create the holes then slowly enlarged with a dremel sanding accessory bit. I only let the dremel go for a few seconds then stopped to compare the hole size to the sanwa button. I kept repeating for a few seconds at a time until it was just enough to pop the button through the hole. Sanwa butttons also come with lock rings if that's your preference (OBSN-30). You also have to be sure that the lock ring can attain a tight grip on the plastic (it's not as easy to do as it is with wood).

Wouldn't it be a good idea to reverse the nudge buttons? I believe in TPA nudging left means you're actually nudging the table to the right, in order to move the ball left. That means to slap save you'd have to hit the nudge button on the left side and the flipper on the right, which is the reverse from how it's done in real life.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here planning to do this myself so I'd like to get my info straight before I do.

FarSight will soon be adding an option to allow users to choose normal or inverse touch nudging.

My problem is that after a year of doing it "wrong", it's gonna take a bit of getting used to going back to nudging the "correct" way. I know, I'll be able to choose, but no, I must go back.

Fungi said:

My problem is that after a year of doing it "wrong", it's gonna take a bit of getting used to going back to nudging the "correct" way. I know, I'll be able to choose, but no, I must go back.

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I was thinking the same thing. Now my instinctual nature is to do it the ''wrong" way after over a year of mental training doing it backwards. With the iCade it will be easier to go back to doing it the right way since it's a physical button.

I'm still struggling to find suitable wire and crimping spade connectors. I've been to 2 local hardware shops and asked and they both were useless not helped by me not really knowing what I was asking for.

I have managed to get hold of, the spade bits, torx bit, sanwa buttons and power switch. I also have a soldering iron though I'd rather not use it.

So wire. What are the key words to search for that will help me find what I need? Ditto the connectors.

Tim Thornton said:

I'm still struggling to find suitable wire and crimping spade connectors. I've been to 2 local hardware shops and asked and they both were useless not helped by me not really knowing what I was asking for.

I have managed to get hold of, the spade bits, torx bit, sanwa buttons and power switch. I also have a soldering iron though I'd rather not use it.

So wire. What are the key words to search for that will help me find what I need? Ditto the connectors.

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female quick disconnect:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104017
There are many variations available. For this project you only need the female but many stores sell them in packs forcing you to also purchase male.

hookup wire:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2049743&znt_campaign=Category_CMS&znt_source=CAT&znt_medium=RSCOM&znt_content=CT2032227
Any 18-22 gauge should be fine. Your local hardware stores should have both of these as they are very common items. For the wire you can ask them to cut the wire to the length you need instead of purchasing an entire spool.

I just got my buttons and the 30 are silent and the 24 is regular but, still in the box, they feel about the same. Probably attempt the mod tonight and might reverse the nudge as suggested. Even though the option is coming to reverse, as long as it's optional, I might as well have it setup correctly now. I also assume they'll have complete button mapping for the iCade coming too. Might be interesting to setup the joystick for nudging especially if they add forward nudge.

Looks like I was shipped the wrong parts and the 24 white is a 30 silent so I didn't install the special buttons. Having the side buttons is so much better and I think any lagged felt with the stock unit is caused by the hard to press buttons. I'm happy with the silent buttons.

I'm surprised I got mine working. Not very good at this kind of thing and didn't have dremel, so sanding out the holes took forever after the 1" holes were made. Also one of the security torx stripped, so took me forever to figure out how to remove it. Eventually drilled a starter hole in it and then the torx gripped.

I went back and did some testing for lag after someone else said they noticed it. I swear I can't detect any. I was thinking of uploading a 20 second video demonstrating that there isn't any lag.

So you're saying they shipped you two 30mm buttons instead of 24mm? Are you going to go back and install them later on? Also, what did you use to widen the holes (since you didn't use a dremel)? Some other people here might find the information useful.

Glad to hear it worked out and you're happy with it!

I ordered the concave buttons that Fungi mentioned so I'll be trying those out later this week when I receive them.

I order 4 30mm for flipper and nudge, which i installed. Then the special where supposed to be 24mm but are also 30mm. So I'm saving as a spare or maybe see if I can swap most used top buttons. I hardly play Black Knight and never Harley, so it's no big deal without the specials on the side.

To expand the holes, I originally used a round medal file that I think was designed to sharpen chain saw blades. It's didn't work that great since it diameter was too small. So then I just took sandpaper and wrapped it around a AA battery. I'm sure not the smartest idea and could have found something similar in size to work. But I would say it took over 10 minutes per hole to sand out to fit. So I was happy not to install the special buttons.

Besides giving a more natural feel, the biggest advantage of using the iCade with side buttons is how quick you can access the nudge buttons. I didn't mind using the flippers on the touch screen but was very awkward to use nudge. Shake was even worse than tapping. So hopefully I'll see all my scores going up. I also find I have better timing with actually buttons than the touch screen since your finger are resting over the buttons and your hands don't block any of the screen. I was hoping Star Trek would remove the trigger icon when iCade is active.

Yeah, I'm hoping they can fine-tune some stuff in future updates, like removing on-screen buttons if an iCade is detected (and actually detecting the iCade instead of an in-menu option).

Gord Lacey said:

Yeah, I'm hoping they can fine-tune some stuff in future updates, like removing on-screen buttons if an iCade is detected (and actually detecting the iCade instead of an in-menu option).

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I didn't think of removing on-screen buttons when an iCade is detected. That would be really nice if FS implemented it!

Today I received my order of the concave buttons (GoldLeaf Pushbuttons) that Fungi mentioned. I ended up purchasing four of them to replace my current Sanwa flippers and nudge. I only had to cut down the ends of the buttons used for nudge. To cut off a portion of the ends I used my dremel tool with a plastic cutting accessory. A small hacksaw will probably work also. For the flipper buttons I was able to maneuver the terminals and rotation of the buttons so cutting the ends of the threads wasn't necessary. It's a much tighter fit than with the Sanwa's. Also, it was a little extra effort to make sure none of the wiring was pushing against the button terminal which impedes the button functionality.

So now I've tried three sets of buttons for the flippers/nudge on my quest to find out which I prefer the most:
1) Sanwa Silent 30mm (OBSFS-30)
2) Sanwa 30mm (OBSF-30)
3) GoldLeaf Pushbuttons

... and it's GoldLeaf Pushbuttons for the win! I'm sure that everyone doesn't have the same tastes but I prefer these. Obviously, they're concave so they have more of an authentic pinball feel and I'm happier with the responsiveness of them. I don't know if it's a placebo effect but my first two games with the new buttons resulted in new Top 5 table scores. My daughter also got a new high score with them on her first game with them.

I'm still using the Sanwa 24mm (OBSF-24) for the two "Special" buttons.

If anyone is interested here are two sources to purchase the GoldLeaf Pushbuttons:
Ebay (Located in USA/Ships Worldwide)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/390530267146

Ultimarc (Located in UK/Ships Worldwide)
http://www.ultimarc.com/goldleaf.html

Ultimarc charges WAY too much for shipping. Stick with the ebay ones. Same stuff.

Fungi said:

Ultimarc charges WAY too much for shipping. Stick with the ebay ones. Same stuff.

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Got mine from the eBay seller. Purchased Monday morning with standard shipping and arrived Wednesday morning. Oklahoma to California.

I just ordered some. So other than having to cut off the ends, do these just fit in the same size holes or do they need to be widened? Just want to know what I'm in for.

iamoneagain said:

I just ordered some. So other than having to cut off the ends, do these just fit in the same size holes or do they need to be widened? Just want to know what I'm in for.

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They are a little bit smaller than the holes I created for the Sanwa 30mm. Since GoldLeaf are screw-in they work fine with the existing holes.

There were a couple of comments from people that were unhappy with lag time using iCade for TPA. They might have been in a different thread. I'm not noticing any lag on my unit so I thought I'd upload a real quick video to demonstrate. In the video I mashed the flipper button hard so you can easily hear button presses.

Nobody building a pin cabinet yet?