Tutorial: Ultimarc Mag-Stik Plus Microswitch Upgrade

[Darkfall]

Hi, guys,

I performed a microswitch upgrade on the Ultimarc Mag-Stik Plus to reduce some of the noise it makes with the stock microswitches in it. I ended up replacing the microswitches with 20mg versions from Paradise Arcade. The noise difference was dramatic! Plus the joysticks seemed to be smoother - a nice bonus.

Here's a YouTube video that might help you get an idea of the difference in noise you can expect:



When the new microswitches arrived, I noticed that I needed to swap the little lever on the Ultimarc microswitches over to the new 20mg microswitches, and thought maybe it'd help someone if I documented my work. It's a simple process, but it helps knowing that you're not going to break anything once you've seen the process done step by step with photos.

Here's a shot of the unmodified Mag-Stick Plus, just for reference:



The first thing we need to do take out the 4 screws holding the existing microswitches in place, and remove the switches. This requires a #2 philips:



Here's the stick with all 4 of the microswitches removed:



Now to crack open the stock switches and take the level out. This is easily done with a small flat blade screw driver. Just pry into the seam on the switch and work the cap off. It's best to put the switch on the bench, then push downward with the screw driver (so you don't end up stabbing yourself in the hand), while wiggling it a little bit to work into the seam. You don't need to open the switch completely, if you don't want to - the level will slip out once the seam is open about 2mm or so. You may also find it easiest to find a spot in the seam that already has a bit of a gap you can use to get a head start - that was the case with many of my switches:



Here we are with all 4 switches and the removed levers:



We need to open the new microswitches now. I found the easiest thing to do was to take advantage of the holes for the levels to push the cap off. I slid the cap off slowly, so I didn't end up flinging it off all of the sudden and have microswitch guts everywhere that I'd have to re-assemble. A few extra seconds here will save you some pain:



Here's the switch with the cap off:



Now we can place our lever into the switch (second spot from the actuator on these switches) and put the cap back on. It only goes on one way, and you probably need to hold the lever until it has the cap most of the way on to ensure it fits into the little pivot holes in the switch:



Here's the switch re-assembled. Click the switches as you go to ensure they move as smoothly as they should to check your work. Do all 4, of course.



And finally, screw the new microswitches back onto the joystick body, then move the stick around while watching the microswitches to ensure it looks like everything is engaging properly.



That's it! Have fun.