How To: build a cheap/quick cps2 kick harness

Mikeosoft

Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2010
Messages
53
Reaction score
2
Location
California
hi i made this tutorial a few days ago while i made a cheap kick harness to test out for fun. Let me know if this is helpful to anyone! I had tons of these useless FDD floppy drive cables, was going to throw them away when i realized they resembled a kick harness connector.

Disclaimer:
I am not responsible for your arcade gear if you mess up. Don't take on something you can't do, that means you need to start off easy and work your way up. While I find this kind of wiring very simple, we are dealing with old technology. It's important to take your time and be careful and double/triple check everything. If nothing more than it's good habit for the harder stuff that comes later on in life. Please don't damage your stuff and I am not responsible for any damage to your stuff if you follow my guide. Its just that, a guide to guide you, and you need to take responsibility if you mess up, not me. That said enjoy this guide and let me know if there should be any changes.

IMG_20110425_143115.jpg



Parts required:
1 Floppy drive IDE FDD connector
18 or 20 gauge wire (I like 20 some despise anything smaller than 18 though)
Soldering Gun
Solder
Electrical tape
Sharpie or other pen

Optional:
6 position male interlocking molex connector
or if you want to go directly to your buttons on your control panel some button leads


Step 1:
Source an FDD cable connector one like here:
IMG_20110425_143135.jpg


See there is one that is keyed, do not use this one it will not fit into the cps2 connector… Here:
IMG_20110425_143235.jpg

top = new cps2 kick harness
middle = one fdd connector to AVOID
bottom = our cheap one we will make


Take the bottom one and take out a file and file down the sides like so:
IMG_20110425_143552.jpg

IMG_20110425_143606.jpg
 
Be careful and make sure you do not go too far and expose the pin inside like I did here:
IMG_20110425_143654.jpg

IMG_20110425_143740.jpg

NOT GOOD! But will still function sufficiently

Be sure to file back the bump in the top like this:
IMG_20110425_143705.jpg

IMG_20110425_143727.jpg
 
Also if you file too much you'll notice the back of the connector will start to fall off. Like so:
IMG_20110425_143925.jpg

IMG_20110425_144158.jpg

Do not take alarm, this is normal. I threw mine to the side and focused on the even square edges. If needed you can superglue the back piece back on, but trust me it's strong enough to hold on without it. I superglued mine just for the hell of it but I got my fingers covered in crappy superglue so I don't suggest wasting your time. Like this:
IMG_20110425_143938.jpg

IMG_20110425_144843.jpg

IMG_20110425_144939.jpg
 
Work at it until your connector fits snug into the cps2 mobo. Be sure to take your time and don't force anything. After every fitting be sure to check for bent pins and be sure not to bend any by inserting the connector incorrectly or forcing it where it doesn't want to go in.
IMG_20110425_143903.jpg

IMG_20110425_143844.jpg



Step 2:
Once the connector sanding is finished, and everything fits, it is time to decide which way you want your connector to fit. Make sure you identify a direction from here on and stick to it. Otherwise the pins will be off. Once you choose a direction of insertion, mark it on the connector like so:
IMG_20110425_153350.jpg



Step 3:
Carefully cut off the connector about 6 inches from the connector edge.
Like this:
IMG_20110425_144535.jpg
 
With the connector cut, begin cutting between the wires. Like this:
IMG_20110425_144410.jpg

IMG_20110425_144554.jpg


You will need the following pins:

9, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23

these pins correlate to the top connectors on your harness:

when plugged in we will focus on the top row, these are the odd numbered connectors starting from the left 1,3,5,7,9 etc.… we want to count 5 from the left this is #9. The pin directly in the middle on the top is pin 17. These are good pins to remember as reference points.

In order to isolate the corresponding wires I used a safety pin and inserted the needle into the holes and stripped back the wires and tested for continuity with my multimeter. Here's a pic:
IMG_20110425_145403.jpg

IMG_20110425_150011.jpg


Then I cut away the unnecessary wires and left the wires that correlated to the pins mentioned above. That left me with this:
IMG_20110425_152939.jpg
 
I used neogeo.com member Xian Xi's pic as a reference for me to work back from. His webpage is here, it's under 2:
http://www.jamma-nation-x.com/jammax/multikickharness.html

it's a very helpful website and has aided my throughout my arcade and neo geo tinkering over the years. Definitely check it out.

Mark off with tape and a sharpie or pen which wires are which pins. This will help you later:
IMG_20110425_152939.jpg

IMG_20110425_150800.jpg



Step 4:
Decide how you want to solder your connector harness to your buttons and which buttons you will need.

Since I wired my kick buttons to a common ground I didn't need the two grounds for pins 33 and 34. Also I didn't need the volume up pin 32 and 31 since the volume buttons are also located next to the test switch on the cps2 hardware instead. I like that better, but that's just my style.

I grabbed my molex connector and 6 wires of non-matching colors.

I took a drill and gripped the wires in the drill and turned it to bundle the wires together. This works quickly and holds everything together and looks good.
IMG_20110425_162600.jpg


Grab your soldering iron and solder the molex pieces to the wire.
IMG_20110425_153723.jpg

IMG_20110425_162600.jpg
 
Crimp the molex pieces after soldering to be safe and work on connecting them to your harness. I made the following diagram on what I used:
diagram.jpg



Step 5:
Solder, assemble, test, retest, and test once more to be sure!!! Once everything works, you can make a small loop over the soldered wires to take any strain off the soldered wires.

Finally use some electric tape to tape over the soldered wires to prevent wires from shorting together.

Here's the result:
IMG_20110425_170527.jpg


ENJOY SOME CPS2 FIGHTING GAMES MOFO! While you wait for your real harness to come in the mail or enjoy playing and saving 15 bux by building your own.

Sorry for breaking up into separate posts, but the tutorial is picture heavy and this site only lets you post 5 img tags at a time! hope the mods dont mind...
 
Back
Top Bottom