[Tech] Creamsicle-Themed Ministick

Despite the same conventional method of building yet another joystick, I always aim to overcome a new challenge. Previously, I've been carrying a large bag to transport the Kokuju controller to a local scene. It has worked just fine, and no large problems have ever risen. Then it got me thinking "wouldn't it simply be better if the joystick was more portable? More smaller? A joystick controller doesn't need to be as big as it is." That is true. I have seen pretty of smaller custom controllers before and decided this would also be a great excuse to finally try out a MC-Cthulhu circuit board. This PCB has been developed by a member of the fighting game community for modders such as myself. It's small, can be used on multiple consoles without the need for adaptors and drivers, and it doesn't require any soldering. It's extremely user-friendly and it's modular and expandable for those who want to do more than just the basics.







At first I planned on vacuum-forming a sheet of white styrene over an 8x10 inch artist's panel, followed by vacuum-forming a thicker sheet of acrylic on top. The ideal image was a clear-coated orange and white case all shiny like an orange creamsicle in a bubble. The vacuum-forming didn't work out as I thought it would, so I went to making walls, a top and a bottom panel to wrap around the panel. I've made the acrylic stick using the exact same method, and like it, its structure is frail. I've accidentally broken the case numerous times during construction because epoxy can only do so much for you. This wouldn't be the case had it been an opaque material as I wouldn't have to be concerned about maintaining defection-free transparency. I've also overestimated the buffing wheel. I believed it would be able to take out scratches made throughout building, and it seems that it has barely done so. The results were not as spotless as I wanted, but many lessons were learned.