Demand for lightup/topfire balltops/bathandles?

[johnnysmitch]

Hey all, I've been working on developing lightup & topfire sticks (here's a link to where I've been showing em' off: http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=21886;start=40 ) - I plan on working on them some more today and tomorrow, and would like to find out what kind of interest there is in the above configurations; I'm contemplating offering some up to those who want them here, and could use the feedback to determine what kind of molds I should make when I make my attempt at casting my joystick tops...  Also, what kind of prices would you guys who are interested be willing to pay - I'm making each of these by hand, and they take time and $$ in materials, so I still need to determine if it would be feasible for me to even offer these up for sale... Thanks all!

[Kremmit]

Definately interested in handles- but which joy base do they fit?  And how secure is the acrylic top?

[SOAPboy]

Definately interested in handles- but which joy base do they fit?  And how secure is the acrylic top?

id also like to see some bats.. id put 2 blue ones on my machine thats for damn sure.. well, maybe id do 1 blue 1 red.. hmm.. well in any case, 2 would be cool assuming they felt ok.. is it possible to "texturize" them like normal bats are?

[willyum]

Definately interested in handles- but which joy base do they fit?  And how secure is the acrylic top?

Dito, same questions for me too. And price.

[johnnysmitch]

OK, to answer at least a couple of the questions here -

"which joy bases do they fit?" - Right now, they're designed around my Competitions, but I'd like to make a version that'll fit both Competitions and Supers (since they seem to be the most popular).  I'll have to get my hands on a Super myself first tho...

"how secure is the acrylic top?" - My plan is to actually mold the top to the stick, which should make it as secure as any other stick.  I currently have the top press-fit on with an o-ring (so I can access the LED more easily), but I'd probably mold it for a final product.

"Is it possible to 'texturize' the bat tops?" - I'm making my molds from a textured bat top, so it all depends on how well the mold will transfer texture... so I'll have to get back to you on that one.

It's still just a possibility that I'll be able to offer these for sale - It takes me a good amount of time to machine the sticks myself, so If I had to personally make each one, I couldn't really sell them for a reasonable enough price to make it worth my while, so I've given one out to a machine shop to get a quote on how much they'd charge to produce a bunch of them for me.  And of course I still have to mold the tops and everything, so it'll take a little while to get the hang of that... If all else fails, I should be able to produce at least the clear balltops like I've shown, if the machine shop's quote is within reason of course.  Thanks for the feedback, and keep it coming (not gonna go through all the trouble if noone is interested!)

[GGKoul]

I wouldn't mind a red and blue ball top one.  But, it'll come down to price.

[Xiaou2]

 Ive been waiting for this for a long time.  

 Id be interested in buying:

 4 bat handles (comps.)
 4 wico 8way balltops
 2 'Tron' or maybe better - 'disc or tron' style knobs that will fit on a slikstik tornado spinner.
  (maybe some nice rasied rings on top for a tron-disc look)
 
 Price does play a part in it... so hopefully it wouldnt be too insane.  Im  sure there would be plenty of orders with several parts each to make up for an affordable price.
 
 Maybe color shifting leds could be added in there.  Whereas one could either wire up a singe color,  or wire all the colors to a controller so as to cycle them, or cycle them based on what game is being used...ect.

[pointdablame]

I would definitely be interested in 2 bat style for comps, and more than likely a ball top or two.

I'll echo that price will determine for sure, but if it's anywhere within reason, I'd take em, espeically if you could mold them or paint them blue.

[RayB]

Maybe I missed this info, but what joystick base assembly would these work in?

See, everyone has been saying that the IDEAL stick would be 4 or 8 way switchable from the top (like the Ultimarc J-Stiks), but with classic red ball-top, and a fire button on top.

Add to this your option for lighting up....

So the point I'm getting at is if you make them work as replacement shafts for Ultimarc's switchable stiks, then I'll be all over it!

[AmericanDemon]

I'd be interested in 4 Balltops as long as they fit the P360s.  Which it sounds like they will.  

Colored:  Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow.

 Keep us informed.

[johnnysmitch]

Maybe I missed this info, but what joystick base assembly would these work in?

See, everyone has been saying that the IDEAL stick would be 4 or 8 way switchable from the top (like the Ultimarc J-Stiks), but with classic red ball-top, and a fire button on top.

Add to this your option for lighting up....

So the point I'm getting at is if you make them work as replacement shafts for Ultimarc's switchable stiks, then I'll be all over it!

I'm currently designing them (and have them working) for Competition bases, as that's what I'm using on my panel.  I also have a T-Stick Plus, which I tried reproducing the stick for, but I can't do threads on a lathe for the life of me, so I was unsuccessful on my first try... I do, however, have a couple ideas to get around it, so I'll keep you posted if I can come up with a good solution - I too crave the elusive "do friggin' everything" joystick that would come about from a hollow-shafted T-Stick...

[GGKoul]

Can't wait to hear more about these.

[ChadTower]

I am very interested in some bat handles and some balltops.

[johnnysmitch]

Hey all, just a quick update to let you know that I'm still working on this project - waiting on a quote from the machine shop by me; If I don't like what they're charging, I'll try a couple others too... seems that there's enough interest in these things that I can put some good effort into getting a good batch of these made.  As far as the colored/molded tops, I'm still going to try to do the molding myself, but I probably won't get around to putting my all into it for a couple weeks, when I have a few vacation days to waste on it... If all else fails, I have a plastics company near me that I can go get quoted at too... Thanks for all the feedback - as always, keep it coming!