Joystick Dead Zones

[bkenobi]

I have LS-30 joysticks in my cab and really like them EXCEPT that they aren't that responsive in the corners.  Well, I guess I should say that they take more force to get to the corners than the sides which is sometimes difficult to deal with (Qbert is not that fun).  So, I was looking around to see if there was an alternate restrictor gate that could be used when I realized that the real problem is probably the dead zone of the stick.

When I move the stick from the center to a side, it takes around 3/4 of the throw before the switch activates.  I haven't really paid that much attention to the dead zone in the past, so I was curious if getting switches that actuate quicker would improve the feel or make things worse?  Alternately/additionally, I am thinking about looking for switches that take less force since that might help too.

Anyone with LS-30's out there have an opinion?  How do other sticks compare when it comes to the dead zone?  I know this is something that the SFIV crowd has been playing around with for a while with all of the Madcatz mods, so it seems like this should be an easy question to answer.

[Franco B]

I have some LS-30s but I have never had them hooked up so I can't tell you what they feel like compared to other joys.

I can tell you that you can reduce the dead zone by increasing the size of the actuator by wrapping it with electrical tape or layers of heat shrink etc etc.

Just to double check, we are talking about the SNK LS-30 rotary joystick here?

[bkenobi]

Yup, the SNK yellow topped rotaries that were in Ikari Warriors among others.  Although there were only a few rotary games, a rotary stick was one of my requirements when I first started.

When you say "increasing the size of the actuator", do you mean the stick or the microswitch?  The stick has a round shaft with a plastic shell around it that actually makes contact with the switches.  I was sorta thinking that if I found a plastic disc that fit, I could slip that over the shaft and increase the size slightly.  That sounds similar to what you are saying, yes?  That might work, but I was hoping for something more "arcade quality".  Swapping switches would be a more permanent fix that wouldn't be as prone to maintenance.  I could certainly try tape or heat shrink, but I don't think they would last very long.


Second question...not nearly as important to me...
The other thing I was wondering is about 4-way operation.  Since this has a square restrictor gate, that is located on the top, can I simply block off the corners physically to make it a 4-way stick?  I was thinking some kind of device that dropped pins into the corners to keep the stick from actuating both direction switches at once.