Joystick shaft machining & restoring

[RayB]

Guys: Have any of you out there ever machined an existing joystick shaft? I have a couple Wico ball-tops and the shaft has a smaller part down the way where it fits into the base (and then the upper part is larger). Here's an example:
                         ------------------------------------
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Does that make sense? So I want to make the small part of the shaft longer, which means I have to machine off a portion of the thicker part of the shaft. Any of you ever do something like this? Is it even possible to do without wrecking the plastic ball top in the process?

2nd Q: How do you take a rusty joy shaft and make it nice and shiny again?

[abrannan]

2nd Q: How do you take a rusty joy shaft and make it nice and shiny again?

Mount it in a drill and sand away the rust.  

[menace]

the only way to do that would be with a metal lather with the skinny end of the shaft going into the chuck (the ball top would be destroyed if you put it into the chuck--shouldn't take but 5 mins to do provided you had the right equip.  

As far as making them shiny goes--again stick the shaft into a drill press and use some low grit emory cloth/sand paper or steel wool on the side--be careful not to snag the shaft in your steel wool or you will likely lose your fingers as well as wreck the stick.  this will shine them right up.

[GameDork]

i am a machinist and have access to a few lathes that would be perfect for this.

If you wanted to pay for shipping both ways I would maybe give it a try. If you could scribe a line on the shaft where you need it turned down would be perfect. Wouldn't be no prob.

Brandon

[SirPeale]

2nd Q: How do you take a rusty joy shaft and make it nice and shiny again?

Mount it in a drill and sand away the rust.  

Make sure it's really fine sandpaper.  Then polish it back up with fine steel wool.

[crashwg]

You wouldn't necessarilly need to put the skiny end in as to not destroy the handle...

What you could do is take a piece of rod, drill a hole down the center then cut it in half.  That could be surrounding the larger part of the rod and would protect the ball top.

[NoOne=NBA=]

What is your goal in doing this?

The reason I am asking is that, if your only goal is to make less of the shaft stick up through the  CP, a much easier route to go would be to put a spacer between the joystick and the CP to move the base away from the CP.
That is assuming that they are bottom mounted, of course.
This spacer could be as simple as washers on the mounting screws/bolts, or as elaborate as a fully machined spacer plate.
They would all accomplish the same goal.

The only other benefit that I see to shortening the shaft like you are suggesting is that it will shorten the throw on the stick slightly.
I don't think it will shorten the throw enough to warrant sending the stick all over the country, etc... though.

[RayB]

Once I sand off the rust, how do I protect the shaft? Do I need to add an sort of polish or clear lacquer?

As for NoOne's query:

The reason I am asking is that, if your only goal is to make less of the shaft stick up through the  CP, a much easier route...[snip!]

My goal is this... I have a "special" and rare joystick shaft that fits exactly in a Wico arcade joystick base. The only problem is that the "small" end of the metal shaft is about an inch too short, so it doesn't go in far enough for me to be able to put the plastic spacer and "E" clip on it.

Lathing off about an inch of metal would allow it to slide in deeper and then all would be perfect.

What's so special about this joystick? I can't say until I complete my control panel.   I only have one of these right now and I need to locate a second... and as I mentioned, they are very rare, so the last thing I want is dozens of people on AC bidding up these rare Ebay listings :-)

I promise though, once I complete this part of my project, I'll document it on a website so others can use my idea.

~Ray B.

[NoOne=NBA=]

That makes sense then.
I was just making sure you weren't making alot of work for yourself for nothing.