Articles - Japanese Plastic
"Homemade Wii Gun Shell (Shotgun, phase two)"
by Matthew C.
2007.07.30
View phase:
ONE | TWO
Phase
two pretty much takes the result of phase
one and tries to improve upon it. I had two main
objectives with this phase.
- ONE PIECE & TWO PIECE: Some games/sequences require two distinct controllers. (i.e. The main gameplay of Call of Duty 3 uses the
"shotgun" control well, however there are times when you need two separate devices to control... such as the driving sequences.)
I wanted to make it easy to connect and disconnect the shell during gameplay without taking your fingers off the buttons.
- TWIST: When I created the gun shell in phase one, I didn't line up the Wiimote and Nunchuk perfectly straight. I wanted to be
able to "twist" the two pieces for better alignment.
My solution simultaneously accomplishes both issues. Here's how I did it:
DISCLAIMER: Follow these directions at your own risk. Neither the author of this article nor Yeah Dogg shall
be responsible for any results. Always be safe. Err on the side of caution. Absolutely NO alterations were made to the Wii Remote or
Nunchuk.
Materials used:
- Saw (or similar cutting tool)
- Super glue
- PVC connector / adapter
|
- Dust mask
- "shotgun" controller shell from phase one
|
After making sure the Wiimote and Nunchuk were no where near the work area, the first thing I did was (using the materials from
phase one) cut the barrel into two pieces "width-wise". Each resulting piece is roughly 5
inches (5") long. The most important thing to remember in this phase is to CUT THE PIPE STRAIGHT. (As I'm trying to correct a
misalignment issue from phase one, this is very important.)
After cutting the pipe in two, this leaves approximately the same amount of pipe on either end. The beauty of working with PVC is that
neither end is very heavy as a result.
...I thought about cutting the barrel into three pieces. This would give me the option of connecting the ends and omitting the middle piece,
thereby creating a shorter "handgun" feel... but ultimately, I have no need for this as the "handgun" would use the C
and Z buttons to shoot so I just scrapped the idea for now. Rest assured that if a game is released that gives me the option of using these
buttons as triggers, I'll revisit my idea...
Going to my local hardware store, I was able to buy a one and a half inch to one and a half inch (1½" to 1½") connector / adapter
made of the same lightweight PVC material. The connector / adapter cost me about thirty eight cents (38¢).
With the pipe cut in the middle, the connector fits perfectly inside. And with the two pieces pushed together, the connector simply
guides the pieces into place and disappears inside the "barrel". With this connection, I'm able to twist the barrel to better
line up the Wiimote and Nunchuk. (By the way, if you don't cut the pieces straight, it will become very obvious when you twist them.)
(While I was creating dust, I took the opportunity to enlarge the "cut-outs" I made for the Nunchuk's analog stick and buttons.)
Now that I have my two barrel pieces and my inside connector piece, I took some super glue and glued ONE END (about half) of the inside
connector piece into the freshly cut Wiimote end (opposite from the Wiimote cut-out).
DO NOT GLUE BOTH ENDS of the connector piece.
If you do, you will glue the barrel back together, eliminating the ability to twist, and negating the whole cutting process.
A few companies sell PVC concrete stuff for putting PVC pipe pieces together, but I used everyday super glue. I'm really not looking to
make this gun shell indestructible, plus if I made a mistake, I wanted the opportunity to "break" the pieces apart again.
So with the pieces cut, the inside connector glued, and the Wiimote and Nunchuk replaced... I'm done with phase two! Let's see how the
finished product looks...
The only complaint I have with this new arrangement is when you pull the gun shell apart during gameplay and then have to quickly put it
back together the cord doesn't always want to feed back through the barrel. There are a few ways I can think of to remedy this:
- The first way to remedy this is to place a modest sliding weight on the part of the cord that hangs out of the hole I made for the
Nunchuk buttons. This way the weight will slide forward and back, not getting stuck inside the barrel, but still helping to 'pull' the
cord through. This does not hide the cord inside the barrel, but rather gathers it toward the back of the shell.
- Another way would be to cut a small notch into the 'Wiimote end' of the barrel and have the cord fed through it, looping down and back
to the Nunchuk. This way does not allow me to hide the cord inside the pipe, but it does allow for the quickest assembly/disassembly of the
shell pieces.
- A third way is to cut a notch out of the bottom of the 'Nunchuk end' of the shell. Ideally, this would allow room for the cord to hang
out of the back of the shell and not get stuck when you hurriedly slide the shell pieces back together.
I'm not sure which way I'm going to go, but as soon as I make the decision, I'll let you know and post pictures...
(You can view 'phase two' pictures of my Wii gun shell below.)
View phase:
ONE | TWO
