Refurbishing old Ball Tops

[AmericanDemon]

I have in my possession 4 colored wico ball tops.  Each is in decent shape.  A little rust on the shaft and some discolorations on the balls but nothing major.  No nicks or such.  

I was wondering if anyone on this forum had refurbished these type of joysticks to an almost like new state.  I really want to use these sticks as replacements for my P360s.

[OSCAR]

Sure, I do this all the time.  Unless you get NIB sticks, you are almost certainly going to find them with varying degrees of rust and/or stains on the handles.  I use an 8" buffer to take care of that.

In the below pic, the left wheel (which needs to be replaced) is a fine abrasive buff which is very similar to one of those green scrubby pads mom used on the dishes.  That wheel takes all the rust and stains off the handle like they weren't even there and leaves a satin-like finish.  The right wheel is a flannel buff that I use to polish the top and handle to a like-new finish.  For the flannel buff I use different types of polish which I buy in sticks that look like enormous crayons.

[Grasshopper]

All of the Wico balltops I've obtained have been scratched at least to a degree, even the NOS ones. It appears that Wico's quality control was a bit iffy.

What I do is put the Balltop handle in a drill. I then start the drill and polish the handle with some cloth dipped in the paste you use for getting rid of minor car bodywork scratches. After a couple of minutes they look fantastic.

Someone here mentioned that toothpaste works just as well but I haven't tried this.

[Kremmit]

Until I get a bench grinder like Oscar's, I'm still stuck with the drill trick.  
 I've seen several people mention putting the handle in a drill and using stainless wool to get off the rust.  I tried that, and found that it did remove rust, but also scuffed the underside of the ball to a dull haze, so watch out for that.  

Grasshopper:  Which car stuff did you use?  The stuff sold as "Rubbing Compound", or "Color Magic", or what?  Did it affect the balltop plastic at all?

Anybody/Everybody:  What are you using to polish the knob plastic?

[Grauwulf]

If you have access to one you can also use a drill press instead of a drill. That's what I've used in the past to polish trackball rollers and it give you a lot more control than trying to use just a regular old hand drill.

[Grasshopper]

Until I get a bench grinder like Oscar's, I'm still stuck with the drill trick.  
 I've seen several people mention putting the handle in a drill and using stainless wool to get off the rust.  I tried that, and found that it did remove rust, but also scuffed the underside of the ball to a dull haze, so watch out for that.  

Grasshopper:  Which car stuff did you use?  The stuff sold as "Rubbing Compound", or "Color Magic", or what?  Did it affect the balltop plastic at all?

Anybody/Everybody:  What are you using to polish the knob plastic?

Can't remember what the stuff was called. Anything designed to get rid of scratches should do the trick.

With regards to your final question, I actually used the paste to polish the plastic. In my case the plastic was scratched but the metal was ok. It would probably get rid of rust as well but would presumably take longer.

[AmericanDemon]

I appreciate all of the help guys.  

[paigeoliver]

All of the Wico balltops I've obtained have been scratched at least to a degree, even the NOS ones. It appears that Wico's quality control was a bit iffy.

Also realize that not all Wico sticks are actually Wico sticks either, this was a very popular stick to make knock off copies of. They still make knock off copies today (worst ones ever, apparently).