Finished the holes for the main 40 buttons.
All that is left is to drill holes for the encoders and remaining 3 buttons. Then, the solder work.
New buttons came in today!
Test mounting
Looks great! I’m sure its going to look bad ass when it’s done.
Subscribed.
Really interesting thread. Would love something like this for Tpro2.
Do I see some Seimitsu clear plunger in there? Thought about adding LEDs to them? It’s quite an easy mod.
I’m planning on working with the leds in some fashion. I will take a look at this mod for the button as well.
I have started the wiring and the process of removing the surface mount leds.
I have also installed some plastic spacers on the bottom of the board to give it space from the bottom of the enclosure.
Sweet looking stuff there Jason!
Can’t wait to see the outcome.
might save a lot of soldering by using the same ground on all the buttons.
you only have to solder the “signal”-wire to each button, and daisy-chain the ground through all the buttons. might come handy with that many connetctions 
the ground is already built into the board.
all the modification is doing is relocating the buttons from the board
i agree.
in most cases the buttons (the original ones) only close the contact between ground and power. the ground is the same for every button, only the power changes. therefore you can use the same ground on each button, and only have to solder the specific power to the specific connections.
just like the buttons/switches S1-S4 on this schematic:
they all unse a common ground.
hope i helped you out, mate!
btw: you solution is totally working, you just might save some time soldering and a couple of meters of wire 
thanks for the tips.
Update:
I’ve finished the fabrication of the enclosure. I’ve decided to keep the encoders down to 1 for now. The other change is a removal of a button, making the final count 42. I will still wire the two encoder and single button space for a future modification.
I am guessing the wiring will be a little tight in the finished project. But, I am optimistic it will all go together. All that is left is to sand down the box and do a little refinishing. Then, wire everything up. The clear arcade buttons will also have led installed under them so they will light up.
That came out pretty sweet.
should be nice once i smooth the rough spots
I’m starting to finish up the project. I just finished painting yesterday. I decided to go with a different idea instead of working with the wood color. After a final button alignment, I just need to pickup some heatshrink tubing from the hardware store and I can start wiring everything up.
Good call on painting! looking good!
I think spraying the case was a good decision. It really compliments the arcade buttons now.
Looks like a quality a piece of gear to me Jason - well done
Please post up a vid of it in action when it’s all wired up 
Once everything is wired up and tested, I will definitely make a video of the controller in action.
That’s really hawt. O.o
Yup, painting it was the correct decision. Looks good.