X-arcade issues

[Scotty]

OK, so I have had a Tankstick for years.  No issues.  Works great.   So I ordered a dual stick to use for the 4-way games (Pac-Man, Donkey Kong) etc....   

Two issues.   

1) At first I thought the left stick was not working.   Turns out, it is using the 4 arrow keys for directions.  The Tankstick uses keypad 2,4,6,8 for the directions for the left stick.   Why is this different?   Sure, I could create a new profile and correct it, or remap it in Mame, but why?  Why would they not be identical out of the box?

2)  As mentioned, I was gonna change these to 4-way sticks.  So I open it up and reverse the actuator and try it out, and it is just a little too short to make contact!!  It will touch the 4 switches, but not hard enough to trigger the switch.  Reverse it back to 8-way and all is fine.   

HELP!!!!!!

[woosdom]

1. I believe the older xarcade pcb’s were coded with the num buttons to control movement.  Their newer pcb versions use the direction keys.

2. You could bend the metal pins out a bit. That way the actuator will be touching them earlier and make the switch activate with the smaller side.

[taylor34]

1. I believe the older xarcade pcb’s were coded with the num buttons to control movement.  Their newer pcb versions use the direction keys.

2. You could bend the metal pins out a bit. That way the actuator will be touching them earlier and make the switch activate with the smaller side.

I always had issues with my tankstick suddenly forgetting it was numbers or arrow keys halfway through a game.  It's like the numlock key would inadvertently be getting pressed.  Because of that, I haven't used it much unfortunately.

[woosdom]

I switched the interface out with xin-mo ones on both of my xarcade joysticks.  I got them both cheap but really like them. They can handle a lot of abuse.

[DeLuSioNal29]

In order to convert to true 4-way, I'd swap out the joystick.

You could simply grab this from GGG  but that would require that you have a genuine Happ Super joystick that has the two holes for the screws to mount the restrictor:  http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=71&products_id=310
Unfortunately, XArcade uses Happ Super knockoffs, so the bolt holes aren't there.

My suggestion:  Buy a nice ball top 4-way and pop it in there.  It needs to have the HAPP or IL bolt pattern (don't buy Sanwa or Seimitsu, they will not fit).
Have a look here and make sure you pick the ones that are 4-way and for wood panels:  http://www.tornadoterrys.com/surplus.htm

Good luck!

DeL

[GeoMan]

Replace X-Arcade's sticks with Ultrasticks 360 - you can program them as you want: 2-way, 4-way, 4-way diagonal, 8-way, analog,...