Where does oscar hide the...

[monkeybomb]

four way restrictor plates.  I want some but where do I get them?  I can't find them on his site.  Do you buy them ore is it a tutorial?

thanks

[SirPeale]

AFAIK they're discontinued.

[albarellij]

Has anyone tried fabricating their own restrictors out of metal or acrylic or something?  I'm going to attempt this myself, once my joysticks and buttons get here.

[GGKoul]

If you email Oscar directly he may have some restritors but no mounting plates.  That's how I got mine.

[OSCAR]

Sorry, discontinued and out-of-stock.  Earlier this year I was looking at bringing them back, but I've been too busy to do anything with them for the past 6 months.


GGKoul - Yes, I did keep some for you, but that was because you emailed me regarding them before they were out of stock and I saved you a couple.  That was the only reason you got yours so long after they were discontinued.

[Wiss]

Oscar,

If you do begin manufacturing the restrictor plates and mounting plates, give me a PM if you would be so kind.  Thanks.

Dennis

[GameDork]

If Oscar would supply some drawings, I could possibly make a few sets in the near future, after I finish some the brackets that I'm making for crashwg.

[GameDork]

OSCAR?!?! Would you release some drawings?

[Nephus]

is there anywhere else to find these restrictor plates (or something similar)?  An even better idea would be to beg and plead with Oscar to make another batch.

[OSCAR]

No, I will not be releasing the fabrication drawings.  At least not yet.

Here's the scoop...

The most basic reason for them being discontinued is due to the amount of work they were to finish, put the kits together, and ship.  Truth be told, the restrictors were an incredible success and I was shipping orders for them every day right up until I discontinued them.  I knew my summer was going to be very busy with my real job and I just didn't have time to offer both the restrictors and the spinners, so one of the product lines had to go.  And since Andy and Randy both started offering a real switchable joystick prior to me discontinuing the restrictors, it made my decision much easier.  Granted my restrictors were a different approach than a true switchable joystick as they allowed the use of very popular joysticks such as the Happ Super & Competition and Wico leaf joysticks to have actual restriction, but the end result of the different products were essentially the same; to be able to change an 8-way joystick to true 4-way action without getting under the control panel.

Earlier this year I was messing around with a redesign of the restrictors that would eliminate a lot my "busy" time with them; basically just take them out of a box from the fabricator and package them up for individual orders in the manner of other resale products.  However, the pricing I got back from a couple fabricators was prohibitive compared to the prices of the switchable joystick options currently available.  I have been meaning to revisit the restrictors and try some more tweaks to the design to make them more economically feasible, but I just haven't had the time to do that yet.

I did get some very enticing quotes on the restrictors from overseas fabricators, but I just could not bring myself to send work overseas, even though quantities I'm talking about are very insignificant when compared to the big picture.  Nothing to do with the restrictors, but just to explain my position on this...  At my day job I work closely with many different fab shops in the Detroit and other locations in the U.S. and Canada, and I am fortunate enough to have the authority to say who gets awarded contracts for my projects.  Just today I sent $30k worth of metal fab work to a small shop up in Alpena, MI.  Due to the schedule of this project, I could have sent this work to one of our contacts in India for easily half the cost, but I just just can't do that when I'm also talking to Michigan fabricators who are starving for work.  Its decisions such as this that land my butt in a VP's office more frequently than I would like, but they still keep me around anyway.  

Anyway...  I am still *trying* to do some things to bring back the restrictors in such a way that doesn't require as much of my time as they used to, but I'm not sure when that will be just yet.  At such time when/if it becomes painfully obvious that I will not be able to do this, then I will release all the fabrication drawings for the details.

I hope this very candid explanation of what I did and am still trying to do, right or wrong, shows why I am not currently selling the restrictors and also why I am reluctant to release the details at the same time.

[Nephus]

thanks for the explaination.  I'm really hoping that you find a place that can fabricate them cheaply for ya since I don't want to use a switchable joystick for various reasons.

[GameDork]

That sounds fair, please let me know if you would like to release them, I would be able to make a few sets for people that need them. ( I myself, don't have any use for them and to make it clear, I wasn't trying to make a profit from them, just help my fellow BYOAC'ers out)

Brandon

BTW OSCAR, what kind of volume were you looking to have produced?