Joystick Identification & refurb help

[wonderalex]

Hey there,

While cleaning up a box of old arcade parts I got when I bought my stripped Robotron cab I found 2 pairs of joysticks, I could use some help identifying and refurbishing them.

I believe the leaf-switch one (Joystick-2.jpg) is a WICO, but the other has me at a loss - it's a mico-switch based model but I've never seen one like this.

[EDIT] Gotta love Google's Picture Search - I found that the other joysticks are WICO's too - NOS (not sure what that means), do I need to worry about the rubber grommet?

They don't seem to be in bad shape but I'd like to clean up the shafts and maybe replace the ball-tops. Any suggestions on the best way to do that? Buy new or clean?

Since I'm doing a MAME conversion of an old cab I'd like to re-use as many old components as possible - in your opinion - which should I use for a MAME-conversion?  I'm leaning towards the microswitch ones, I'm not sure how the leafs will play with the "newer" games.

Any input from more experienced builders would be appreciated.

Be seeing you,

WonderAlex

[severdhed]

NOS means New, Old Stock.  these stick are no longer produced, so if you get one that is NOS, it is new, but from a long time ago.

personally, i had a NOS 4way wico leaf joystick and i couldn't stand the way it felt.  it had a very stiff feeling to it.  i prefer the light quick feel of a Sanwa or Happ stick over these, but i'm sure some people are just the opposite.

[mrclean]

If it's for MAME I'd say go with an Ultimarc U360 ( http://www.ultimarc.com/ultrastik_info.html ), If it's for a dedicated game such as Robotron 2084 you should use the 4'' Wico leafs. In terms of replacing the rubber grommets they are usually inexpensive and should be done since the older ones 25-30 years old depending on wear generally need to be replaced. If you want to clean the wico shafts to look like new toss them into your chuck of your drill, spin the drill and hold a sponge / magic eraser type.

before cleaning:


after cleaning:

[mytymaus007]

If your into retro games keep the Wico's. Most retro games used them, so it will be more authentic.