[ Previous 5 Sites | Previous | Next | Next 5 Sites | Random Site | List Sites ]

site map

Site Home
About the Site
Wrongcrowd.com Home

PSX Joystick Project
Playstation Joystick Page 1
Playstation Joystick Page 2
Playstation Joystick Page 3

Saturn Joystick Project
Saturn Joystick Page 1

PSX GunCon Pedal Project
GunCon Pedal Page 1
GunCon Pedal Page 2

More Info
Parts Suppliers
Tools
Soldering (for all projects)
Which Controller to Buy
The Home Arcade Shop

You Don't Know Jack Game Show-Style Controls for your PC
YDKJ Project Page 1
YDKJ Project Page 2
YDKJ Project Page 3

Your Projects
Readers' Projects

Links & More
Cool Arcade Parts!
Links (1/30/00)

Guestbook
Sign My Guestbook
View My Guestbook

Getting Started

First, get together all the parts and tools you'll need. See the Parts page for more details on suppliers.

Parts List

• 1 normally-open 1/8" phono jack (a couple of bucks for a 3-pack at Radio Shack)
• 1 cable - Radio Shack sells a 6' cable that has bare wires on one end, and a dual-connector (AKA monophonic) 1/8" phono plug at the other. This is what you need, and it's about $3.
• A couple of feet of fine, stranded wire (you can cannibalize a SCSI or IDE ribbon cable)
• One industrial foot switch, such as Conntrol International Inc. catalog number 862-1000-00

Tools & Supplies

• Power drill
• Small Phillips screwdriver
• Allen wrench set (may not be needed depending on what kind of foot switch you get)
• Dremel tool (or some other way to mill away a small amount of plastic; you may even be able to use a sharp hobby knife and a lot of patience)
• Multimeter (for checkng continuity of circuits)
• Soldering iron (low-wattage)
• Rosin-core solder

Opening the GunCon

Remove all the screws from the GunCon. One screw is shorter than the others; it is located on the trigger guard. Remember that when you reassemble the controller. Take the top half off (be careful that the lens doesn't fall out) and set it aside.

Initial Connections

You need to wire the 1/8" phono jack to the small PCB that has the GunCon's buttons on it. First, strip and tin the ends of two 6"-8" lengths of fine stranded wire. Again, a pair of wires peeled off of an old SCSI or IDE ribbon cable works well.

Wiring overview


Remove the button from the PCB near the front of the gun. It lifts right off. Flip the PCB over so you can see the "A" terminals. Solder one of your wires to each joint, as shown here.

PCB connections closeup


Use the multitester to verify that there is no connection between the button's two terminals after you have wired the jack to the PCB. You don't want a short there.

Next, connect the other end of the wires to the jack itself. The jack should have 3 metal tabs sticking out of it. Two tabs are short, and have a small hole in them. One is longer, and has no hole in it. You want to solder your wires to the two small tabs with holes - 1 wire to 1 tab (which one is unimportant). No connection to the large tab is required or desired.

Use the multimeter to make sure that the two small tabs are still electrically unconnected. They should only be shorted when either the foot switch or button A are pressed.

Installing the Jack

This is the trickiest part of the procedure. Having access to a Dremel tool (or a similar gadget) will make this much easier. At the very least you will need a power drill with a 1/4" bit to drill the jack hole.

Pull the grey cable out of its guides and lay it aside so it won't accidentally get hit by the drill. Now, using the photo as a guide for placement, drill a 1/4" hole in the but of the GunCon. Don't reassemble the gun; keep the halves separate so you can move the grey cable out of the way of the drill bit.

Jack closeup


You may have to twirl the drill bit around in the hole to widen it slightly so the jack fits. Test the fit by trying to slide the jack in from the outside of the gun. You want it to fit very tightly; you should just be able to snap it into place in the hole. Of course, you have to remove the screw-on retaining ring before you can install the jack. Make sure you don't lose it because you'll need it later.

Once you have the hole drilled, it's time to get out the Dremel. You can easily see that there is not quite enough room inside the gun to put the jack in. That is easily remedied with a few strokes of a Dremel cutting bit. Use a carbide cutting tip, at a low speed.

Jack placement inside the GunCon

If you set the speed too high the plastic will melt as well as being shaved away, so go easy on the RPMs.Carefully mill away the plastic near the jack hole until you can fit the jack all the way inside. Pop it into place. Plug the cable into the jack, to make sure that you can insert it all the way. If there is some plastic in the way of the tip of the plug, mill it out with the Dremel. If you place the jack according to the photo, you shouldn't have a problem with this anyway.

At this point you should have the jack, wired to the button's terminals, firmly set into the base of the GunCon. Lay all the wires back into their tracks; find a way to route the jack's wires so they don't interfere with anything. If you used narrow wires, like the kind you can scavenge from a computer ribbon cable, you can lay them in the track inside the trigger guard. When everything is back in place (including the lens) reassemble the gun. Remember the short screw goes on the trigger guard. The last thing to do is screw the retaining ring onto the threads on the jack. Make it as tight as you can. If it seems loose you might want to use some thread locking compound on it.

Wiring the Pedal

If you order the same pedal I used (Conntrol International Inc. catalog number 862-1000-00) it should come un-wired. A wired version is available, but I do not know what kind of connector it has on it. It's probably bare wires, and you'd have to put a 1/8" mono phono plug on it. Since the plug gets a lot of wear, I suggest getting the unwired footswitch and using the Radio Shack cable as I did.

To prepare the foot switch, you have to take it apart and solder the bared ends of the Radio Shack cable to the switch inside.

Light-duty industrial footswitch with attached Radio Shack cable


Use an Allen wrench to unscrew one side of the pedal's hinge. You can then take the top off and see inside. Feed the bared wire ends through the hole in the front of the pedal. You may have to remove the L-shaped metal bit that sits right behind the cable hole to get the cable inside. That's OK.

Footswitch hinge closeup


Solder the bared wires to the connectors indicated in the photo below. If the switch in the pedal does not look like the one in the photo, you'll have to experiment with the multimeter to discover which two contacts will be closed when the pedal is stepped on. It's important that the circuit is normally open, not closed, or the Playstation will think the "A" button on the gun is down.

Inside the footswitch


When you have attached the wires to the switch, put the L-shaped bit back. It will seem to pinch the cable leaving the pedal. That's OK, the cable can take it. The L-thing seems to be there so that if you pull the cable the strain isn't on the solder joints, which is a good idea.

Start Shooting

Reassemble the pedal, plug it into the jack on the gun and go to work! Stepping on the pedal is the same as pushing the gun's A button, and the A button on the gun still works. Have fun...