Hand-Candy and UltraStik

[tebrown]

I have a couple of UltraStik 360's with the front-mount restrictor plates with extra long handles.  I ordered some hand-candy ball tops from groovy game gear because they had the color I wanted. The problem is that the hand-candy tops don't thread the whole way on the shaft of the UltraStik. They are both 6mm and it threads on about half way, but that's about it. I think my only option if I am set on using the hand-candy tops is to saw off part of the threaded piece on the UltraStik shaft, or am I missing something?

[bgmagic]

This is hilarious!!!!  I had the exact same problem last week when I received my Hard Candy tops.  They will thread on but you need to use a lot of force.  The threads inside the Hard-Candy balls have a notch (vertically) on each side and the threads are tapered inwards (look at the gap towards the opening and see how its closer together in the middle of the ball).  You need to apply enough force to bend the two parts apart.  I put all 4 of mine on earlier with this method:

Take a piece of rubber ( I cut a finger off of a rubber coated cotton glove) and wrap it around the joystick shaft (you would scratch the pretty bad of you don't).  Hold it really tight with a pair of pliers or vice grips.  Then thread on the ball.  Once it is on you can unscrew it and see that the gap in the threads is a little bigger from the shaft separating them apart.  The ball should go on a little easier when you put it back on.  You won't hurt anything, the threads are 6mm for the ball and the shaft its just really tight at first.  I was really worried thinking they wouldn't fit but they do, no problem.

Here was my post from last week asking the same thing until I figured it out:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=113486.0

towards the bottom.

[lilshawn]

the issue both of you are experiencing has to do with the type of tap they use to cut the threads.

as you can see, the #1 type has a long area where it first starts to cut the threads a little more each time... problem with the balls is the bottom of the hole is reached before the threads are cut to their final size... if they went with a #3 type, it will cut all the way to the bottom.

[syph007]

Yep, same problem here.  I ended up getting the seimitsu ones from lizard lick.  They thread on perfect and are much nicer.  I was very disappointed with the hand candy, in both color and quality.

http://www.lizardlick.com/Seimitsu-35mm-Bubble-Tops_c_219.html

[tebrown]

Wow! Thank you SO much for the information guys. I think I could learn to like it here, a lot

[RandyT]

The Hand Candy ball-tops are indeed fully threaded, and are designed to be snug.  If they go on easy, that means they come off easy, which has been a big complaint with some of the other balltops.  The issue is that not all 6mm shafts are threaded the same way.  Some fit tight, and some not so much.  We don't ream out the threads because we don't want them to loosen while in use.

If the shaft you are trying to use the Hand Candy balltops on are tight, you can use a 6mm tap to open them up a bit.  I don't suggest that you go the full distance of the thread.  You want the last few threads to be left tight, so that the ball does not come off during play.

Also, we do not cut the threads.  The balls use a threaded insert, specifically designed for this purpose.

RandyT

[tebrown]

Thanks Randy.  The more I thought about this, I remembered there was a screw on the bottom of the shaft on the UltraStik's that I can use to keep the thing from rotating. Now, the top fits snug and doesn't come loose. Great design. Thanks!