Building your own Defender controls.

[paigeoliver]

Here is a quick tutorial to making your own Defender controls with common cheap arcade parts instead of uncommon expensive Defender parts.

Basically all you need is a Wico joystick. You are going to need the MICROSWITCH type, not the leaf switch type.

Take off the microswitches for left and right and reinstall them backwards, this will help to guide the stick into only going up and down. The rest of the 2-way action will be accomplished simply by cutting a narrow slot in the wood as opposed to a circle.

You will need to chop off the corner of the base where the reverse button pokes through. If using a microswitch reverse button then you can use a holesaw to cut that hole and the button nut will also help hold the joystick down, but it is fine with 3 screws instead of four. You can also add screws on either side of the missing corner if you wish.

[paigeoliver]

Another view, can anyone name the interface I am using from just that partial pic?

[paigeoliver]

Finished product

[Apollo]

Thanks for that Paige. Just wondering if you or anyone has any tips for doing this with a metal panel. At the moment I have a MsPac/Galag 4 way in my Defender panel. I tried just cutting a slot for the joystick shaft but I could see pretty quickly that the steel was going to slice through the joysticck pretty quick so I drilled a normal hole instead. Trouble is now of course I don't have the control that the original had, the joystick wants to go forwards and backwards. Anyone fixed this problem without using a Defender 2 way?

[paigeoliver]

Get the joystick I show in this picture and put a piece of wood behind your panel to space and guide the joystick.

[NoOne=NBA=]

I did basically the same thing with a leafswitch 8-way that I got in a package deal awhile back.

It was a short handled, small ball stick from who knows what.
I trimmed the corner for the reverse button, and mounted it with a slot in the wood that acts as the restrictor for it.

The stick travel matches the two Joust sticks I've got almost perfectly--both fwd/rev and side-to-side.
The ball size, and stick height above the CP, match as well.
I didn't even have to rout for it at all.

[NoOne=NBA=]

I got this stick in a package with 2 Wico 8-ways, and some other garbage sticks.
The whole package cost me about $10 shipped.

Here's a shot of the bottom of my mount.
I sanded the slot on it until it just clears the stick side-to-side, and tapers slightly to the bottom.
The stick has about 1/16" movement to each side, which is about the same as the two Joust sticks I have.

[goofy]

Where are you guys coming up with all these discounted joysticks?  sounds like some great deals.

[NoOne=NBA=]

eBay.

You just have to watch for "diamond in the rough" auctions.
The auction I picked that stick up in also had TWO used (but still decent condition) wico 8-ways in it.
Wico wasn't mentioned anywhere in the auction title, and there were some really ugly sticks in the package, that I think chased some people off of the auction.

That smallish 8-way is the one that SOLD me on the auction though.
I sized it up compared to the Wicos, realized the stick was alot shorter and the ball alot smaller, and thought it would make a great Defender stick.

I didn't want to pay the going price for a Defender stick in decent condition, and most of the "used" Defender sticks are really hammered, and unrepairable, for the most part.
The pivot on them wears to an oval shape, which lets the stick slop all over the place, and the restrictor wears down, so that the stick travels too far up and down.

[paigeoliver]

I didn't want to pay the going price for a Defender stick in decent condition, and most of the "used" Defender sticks are really hammered, and unrepairable, for the most part.
The pivot on them wears to an oval shape, which lets the stick slop all over the place, and the restrictor wears down, so that the stick travels too far up and down.

I'll say. I have a real Defender stick and it has the same movement pattern as an 8-way does now!

[NoOne=NBA=]

I picked my Joust sticks really carefully.

They both had a little wear on the pivot, but I could tighten them up with some mylar tape, and the restrictor parts were in pretty good shape.

[telengard]

I didn't want to pay the going price for a Defender stick in decent condition, and most of the "used" Defender sticks are really hammered, and unrepairable, for the most part.
The pivot on them wears to an oval shape, which lets the stick slop all over the place, and the restrictor wears down, so that the stick travels too far up and down.

I'll say. I have a real Defender stick and it has the same movement pattern as an 8-way does now!

I'm so used to that sloppy feel I probably wouldn't like a nice new Defender joy.  

[whammoed]

If you've go the $$$:
http://www.mantisamusements.com/joystick1.htm

[NoOne=NBA=]

I got my Joust sticks for about $10 each.
They will last me forever, I'm guessing.