An Answer ( sort-of ) and a Question...


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Posted by MameMole on 27, 2000 at 4:46 PM:

In Reply to: Wico leaf-style joystick question posted by Chad Hendrickson on 27, 2000 at 4:13 PM:

Chad,

I have the same leaf-switch WICO's and they seem OK to me (as far as looseness). My "new" sticks are only about a month old. I also have an old 4-way WICO leaf-switch stick that was left in the gutted-out "Gladiator" cabinet that I've since converted to a MAME cabinet; it's much looser due to the rubber grommet being cracked and has deteriorated over time after thousands of 'plays'.

The only solutions I know of ( none are probably GREAT solutions ) are the following:

(1.) PLAY, PLAY, PLAY and PLAY some games in order to break those sticks in! This one might take some time though...

(2.) Order a softer grommet from Arcadesticks.com ( http://www.arcadesticks.com/new_page_15.htm ). NOTE: I would proceed with caution in ordering since I have heard of people having problems receiving their parts lately. I've ordered from them with no problems whatsoever but others evidently haven't been so lucky. Also, $15 for the stupid grommet seems a bit expensive when you can buy an entire stick from other sources for the same or less money and Arcadesticks sells the COMPLETE micro-switch WICO sticks for $18; only $3 more and as far as I can tell they use the same grommet.

(3.) Cut your grommet with a razor blade. Like I said, my old 4-way WICO grommet is cracked in several spots where the rubber has deteriorated and split. You could easily simulate this and loosen up the feel of the stick by slicing the rubber from center hole to outside edge in several spots while being VERY CAREFUL to not cut all the way through the rubber grommet...kind of risky IMO.

(4.) Lastly, you could try and scrounge around local arcades and arcade vendors to see if you could find some worn-out "donor" sticks and transfer the grommets out of them.

As for the question...I was wondering if you ordered your sticks directly from WICO and how much they were? I would like to order some more leaf-switch sticks but WICO's webpage led me to believe that I had to be a business or a business owner if I was to place an order with them.

-Thanks
: I have installed two of the Wico leaf-style joysticks into my Mame cabinet. You can find the item here:

: http://www.wicothesource.com/392.html - It is part number 15-968801.

: I have always thought that leaf-style joysticks are superior to microswitch... mainly because most all of the classic games (pre 1985) used leaf-style instead of microswitch. Therefore, leaf-style is more authentic for the true classic gamer (plus the red ball on top is cool!)

: I love the joysticks but I have one question. Is there anyway to make them looser? They are a bit stiff. I figured that time may have loosened them but it has been about 9 months and they are still pretty stiff.

: Any tips would be appreciated.

: Regards,
: Chad




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