Makey Makey Joystick From Spring Door Stop

This instructable is about how to build a 4 position joystick for the Makey Makey, using a door stop string. The metal spring of the door stop is a great conductor and is very flexible. Hook the base up to the Makey Makey's ground and then hook up 4 other conductors to the arrow keys. Then just bend the spring so it contacts one of the conductors and you will complete the circuit and trigger the Makey Makey.

In addition to the joy stick, this instructable will cover how to make a button so you can make a game controller with a joystick and "fire" button.

I've included a pdf of the Adobe Illustrator file that I use to laser cut the controller out of 1/8" thick plywood. You can use other materials and cutting methods. Just make sure they are strong enough to stand up to use.

Supplies

• 3 inch spring door stop
• electrical wire
• metal tape, copper or aluminum
• 1/8" plywood
• metal spring
• glue. I used wood glue, hot glue and super glue
• Optional: alligator clips. You can use the clips that come with the Makey Makey or add clips to your own wire.

You can get the metal tape at a good hardware store. I used copper tape, which I found in the garden pest control section. Its used to keep snails away. The aluminum tape is usually with the ducting supplies like drying ducting.

Step 1: Joystick and Contacts

The great thing about the spring door stop is it comes with a screw in its base to attach it (normally to a wall). Take the base of the controller and screw the the spring door stop into it. You want the screw on the door stop to go through the base and stick out of the bottom. That way you can easily clip the ground wire from the Makey Makey to the screw. I would recommend using a Dremel or other grinder to grind down the point of the screw once its been screwed into the base. That way its not a scrapping/poking hazard.

Next prepare the top of the controller with the 4 contacts for the arrow keys on the Makey Makey. Top has an octagonal hole in the center. Cut four pieces of metal tape about the width of one of the sides of the octagon and tape them to the top, left, bottom and right sides of the octagon. Leave the sides in between blank to provide insulators between the four contacts. To connect the sides of the octagon to the Makey Makey, take some electrical wire and remove the insulation from the end. Tape the exposed wire to the metal tape with another piece of metal tape. Since the controller with get moved around when being used, I recommend gluing the wire down to prevent it from being moved and ripped out of the metal tape contact. I used hot glue to secure my wires.

If your adding a button go to the next step. If not skip to step 3.

Step 2: Making a Button for the Controller

The button for the controller consists of a metal spring, a wood disc and metal tape.

The spring will go thru the hole in the side of the controller. Glue the 2 small rectangular spacers to either side of the hole. Next glue the spring to the inside of the back plate (I used supper glue). This will give it some support. Then slide a piece of metal tape in between the bottom coils of the spring (sticky side of metal tape facing down) and tape the spring to the back plate. Strip the insulation off the end of a piece of wire and place it at the bottom of the spring on the metal tape. Then add another piece of metal tape to attach the wire to the spring and first piece of metal tape. Now insert the spring into the hole in the side of the controller and glue it to the spacers.

Use some scissors to cut a circle about the same size as the wooden disc that will become the button. Cut a circle in the center (and X-acto knife works well for this) that is bigger than the spring and hole it comes out of. Basically a donut of metal tape. Tape the metal donut over the hole in the side of the controller and make sure there is no contact with the spring. The spring is one part of the contact and the metal donut is the other. Take piece of wire and strip the insulation of the end to expose the wire. Use metal tape to tape the wire to the metal donut.

Take the wooden disc and cover the underside of it with metal tape. This next part is a little tricky. Having the center of the disc marked or indented really helps. I engraved a center mark/circle in the wood with the laser cutter. Put some glue in the center of the disc (on the metal tape side) to help hold it in place. Then put strip of metal tape in the top coils of the spring. Place the disc (metal tape down) on to the top of the spring and use the metal tape on the spring to tape the spring to the metal bottom of the disc. Tape and glue will attach it to the end of the spring.

When the spring is up, the metal donut and the button should not be touching. When the button and spring are pushed down the metallic underside of the button should touch the metal donut and complete the circuit. Connect one wire (the spring and button) to the ground of the Makey Makey and the other wire (metal donut) to the click or space control of the Makey Makey. You now have a working button.

Step 3: Put It All Together

Now its just time to put it all together. Glue the sides to the base and then glue the top to the sides.

Now connect it to the Makey Makey. You only need 2 ground connections. One for the base of the joystick and one for the button. Connect the button to the click or space control of the Makey Makey. Finally connect the wires from the top to the up, down, left and right arrow controls of the Makey Makey.

Now bend the door stop spring so it connects with one of the piece of metal tape on the top of the controller. That will activate which ever of the arrow keys its connected to on the Makey Makey. Press button down and that will activate the click or space control.

Have fun gaming.