FA: (Not mine!) 4-way joystick??? cheap...

[tmasman]

Joy stick f/ auction on ebay, cheap...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this a 4-way Wico?
It could be the stick Centsible is selling, but I believe their ball-top isn't so shiney...

Some of you might be interested in this...
Wico's 4-ways had the gray base & it definately has the leaf switches...

It might be worth asking the seller...

[RetroJames]

I have a couple of 8-way wicos w/ a black plastic base.  Around the shaft  on the base it clearly says WICO corp, pat pending etc.  Also the leaf-switch holders, in fact the whole base is molded plastic.  Not sure but I suspect this is not a wico.  

[jcoleman]

Definitely not a Wico.  Wico leaf switches snap in, they are not screwed to the plate.

I think Wico four-way bases were gray, though.

[HagHore]

Too late to see the pic but I'll make a comment anyway.  The grey (and black) Wico's have an octagonal bottom and as far as I know the switches snap in.  However, they may have made some that screw in as the instruction sheet for installing/removing switches have a comment "if your base has the snap in switches."  The sticks from Centsible/QuarterArcade have a round bottom and non-shiny balltops.

[spidermonkey]

Yep, dedicated Wico 8-ways were black and dedicated Wico 4-ways were gray. Both sticks used the same cylindrical plastic switch actuator. The only differences were #1 the color (obviously) and #2 the dedicated 4-ways had a diamond shaped restrictive hole (where the shaft passes through) to keep the actuator from hitting two switches at one time which would cause a diagonal movement. The Wico 8-ways had a round hole which did allow diagonal movement. I use the words "did" and "had" because neither stick is made anymore so if you are lucky enough to find a new one it is either "nos" (new old stock) or its a cheap knockoff of the original and most likely doesn't feel half as good so watch out or you may get stuck with a cheap repro if you don't know what to look for. Notice how I keep saying "dedicated" I say this because Wico later made things a bit more confusing. They came out with a replacement leafswitch stick which was black in color and WAS actually a standard 8-way stick but they sold it as a 4-way/8-way stick because it came with two different size actuators that could be switched for 4-way or 8-way movement. The 4-way actuator was designed in such a way that even without the restrictive diamond shaped hole it did a somewhat acceptable job of mimicing a real 4-way. But if you jammed the stick into a corner hard enough it would unfortunately make contact with two switches and cause a diagonal movement. And of course the larger actuator was used for 8-way gameplay. They came out with these all in one sticks so that operators only had to stock one type of stick which made it more versatile but feel wise it was inferior to the earlier dedicated models. Don't get to excited because even these are no longer made. My advise is if you wan't a real 4-way Wico then look for the gray base. Why? because the black "all in one" sticks will only confuse you. Unless of course you can find a new one that has both actuators in the package.Because if it doesn't and you don't know how to tell one actuator from the other then chances are you will get burned. Wether they're dedicated or the covertable type, 8-ways far out number the 4-ways anymore.
Welp, there you have it. I know most of the veterans around here probably know most of this but there seems to be alot of new peeps around here so this message is more directed towards them. I hope I cleared up at least some of the confusion.

[spidermonkey]

Ok I'll "try" to keep this post a little more brief. For those of you who like the feel of the old Wico leafswitch sticks might I suggest what Paige Oliver calls "The Wico Microleaf" joystick. Its a perfect name because while the stick does infact use microswitches it still uses the classic return to center rubber bushing instead of a spring like Happ and most joystick manufacturers use now a days. I have a few of them and with the acception of a minor clicking from the microswitches they feel VERY similar to their leaf switch predecessors. If you're using a wood control panel you'll probably hardly hear the clicking anyway. I'm willing to bet that if you had a pair of ear plugs in you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between an original leaf switch stick and one of these. Thats how close they feel. These sticks used a round actuator for 4-way and a square actuator for 8-way. Just for the record neither of these actuators are compatable with the leaf switch versions. The bad news is that just like any good joystick Wico made it was discontinued a couple years back. Most of Wico's product line is now made by a company named "Suzo".  Good joysticks in their own respect but different none the less. So if you see  one of these earlier Wico microswitch sticks pop up on Ebay don't be afraid to buy one because they are very nice sticks. Especially if you're looking for the reliability of microswitches but still want that spongy retro feel of the old school Wico sticks. They almost always came with a black ball top and the rubber bushing and base are the same ones that were used on the earlier leafswitch models. The only differences are that they use microswitches and the plate that screws on to the bottom of the base which was slightly altered to accept microswitches instead of leaf switches.
Alright, so much for short and sweet but I hope this was a good read at least.

[HagHore]

Actually the Wico all-in-one 4/8 way sticks also came in grey, I know because I have 3 of them.  I'm guessing the difference between the black all-in-ones and the grey all-in-ones are the black ones had both the .5" and .6" actuators in the box and grey ones only had the .5" (.5" = 4 way, .6" = 8 way).

And I completely agree on the Wico microswitch sticks, I snagged a bunch of them off ebay and they feel just like a Wico Leaf stick, and with cherry microswitches you can barely hear them.  Most of mine have the black balltops but I did manage to snag a Wico microswitch with a red balltop off ebay for 6.95.  I'm not positive but I checked the part number of my red microswitch stick against the internet price list that Wico has listed on their website and it shows up  on there, $12.99, part number is 15-945401 for those interested in trying to acquire some.