Thanks to some advice on the aussie arcade forums, I ordered some parts from OzStick here in Victoria. I have placed an order for a JAMMA harness, buttons, Sanwa joystick and a few small bits and pieces for mounting the board. OzStick prices are pretty good, so its worth checking them out if you need parts.
My choice in Joystick was after some research on quality between brands. The most common brands I came across were HAPP, Sanwa and Zippy. The Zippy brand seems to be more of a budget joystick, while HAPP and Sanwa get the most praise. I found Sanwa to be slightly cheaper than the HAPP joysticks, but maybe with further shopping around that price difference could be reduced. Feature wise, the joysticks were basically the same – 4 and 8 way direction support, can swap knob colours and shapes and the ability to adjust the springs.
I went with cheap buttons. There are buttons from HAPP and Sanwa, some with built in microswitches, others without. There isn’t that much difference in price. You are looking at between $1.50 to $5 per button, depending on brand. The good thing is the buttons are easy to replace / upgrade so if the cheap option turns out to be bad, I can always get a better quality brand next time. I’m told the most important factor on the buttons is the microswitches. So you may want to consider getting the cheaper buttons, but better quality microswitches. I should also mention that there are a variety of button types too, round, triangle, rectangle, flat, bubble, dimple, and so on. It’s worth taking the time shopping around if you are after something specific.
The JAMMA wiring harness is a MUST if you are building a cab to use JAMMA boards. The wires are all ready to go. Plug it on the board, then plug all the wires into the buttons, coin mech, power, etc. I came across this JAMMA FAQ which was very useful.