Joysticks with fire buttons

[Brad Lee]

What are my options for joysticks with thumb or trigger mounted fire buttons?

Obviously there is the Tron-style, and also on happ there is a top-fire Super
Is that it?? There's got to be more..

I'd like to go with T-sticks for my main 2 joysticks, but for games like Assault or Battlezone, it'd be nice to have a trigger button available

(These 2 especially rock on my current setup, using a playstation2 pad, dual sticks and a trigger:)

[MinerAl]

Along these lines...  I'm curious about the joysticks on Tron cocktail cabs.  I've only seen ebay pictures, but they look to be Pac Man style ball tops with a small round button on the front of the ball.  Is that an acurate description?  

Seems like an attractive compromise stick style, especially for cocktail cabinets.

[Tiger-Heli]

What are my options for joysticks with thumb or trigger mounted fire buttons?

Obviously there is the Tron-style, and also on happ there is a top-fire Super
Is that it?? There's got to be more..

I'd like to go with T-sticks for my main 2 joysticks, but for games like Assault or Battlezone, it'd be nice to have a trigger button available

(These 2 especially rock on my current setup, using a playstation2 pad, dual sticks and a trigger:)

You could also just use a cheap PC flight stick or there are guide to hacking these to a Happ Joystick:

OSCAR http://www.oscarcontrols.com/projects/triggerstick.shtml has a write-up on building a trigger-fire joystick using a Wingman Warrior joystick and a Happ Ultimate joystick.  The biggest drawback to his project is that there
is no rotation stop to keep the stick from turning.  But . . .  1Up http://www.1uparcade.com/projects-trigstick.html has a modification that provides a rotation stop for the project.  1Up also has a conversion using a Raider
Pro Joystick and "Glo-Wire" but it's not written up yet!!!  Stay tuned.

Gaming Technology Xtreme (Retropolis?) http://mamecheats.fateback.com/tutorial.htm  has a write-up on using a Raider Pro joystick and a Happ Ultimate joystick.  His project uses a removable shaft for the trigger
stick.  I personally do not really like that idea, but his method of controlling rotation is very unique and does not add any depth to the overall project.

[Brad Lee]

Come to think of it I have seen something like this, not particularly the tron cocktail though.

Standard balltop stick with maybe a 1/4" button right through the top

Maybe for the next version... Find a joystick with a removable ball and dremel out the inside to put the guts of a mini-pushbutton(I've got a few of those on order so I can check sizes) and wires thru the shaft, but you would need a hollow shaft.. Sounds like a consideration for the next one

[menaz]

Wico has a joystick w/ a thumb button. Not sure if that is what youre looking for. But to me it seemed handy as a block feature for Mortal Kombat  

[creepfactory]

I put the Happ 8 way in my cabinet with a top fire red button, the stick is molded different than a regular stick. Battlezone ROCKS with it! And it even adds a whole new play style to ANY shooting game. Zaxxon is perfect with it too, and the cool part is, it is still very Joystic like so games like Street fighter play with it fine also. I never thought about it but yea maybe use the fire button for block in SF.

[shaunti]

I have a love for assault myself.

I have a friend with a metal machine shop and we have made a mod to the Happ super 8-way stick and the Happ "Spy hunter" pistol grips.  It requires grinding and threading of plastic and metal parts.

I'm still setting up my website, but please look at these.

http://www.arcadiasystem.com/controllers.html

These are the real Tank grip type joysticks.  It is excellent for Assault.  It's also good for Vidicators.

Notice on my control panel I have a spinner in position next to the right hand joystick.  This is great for Tron.

I plan on selling these, yet I have not worked out the right price model.

You can basically get a right and/or left hand Trigger grip with thumb switch.

Please reply with what you think of these and what kind of price you think they are worth.

Thanks.

What are my options for joysticks with thumb or trigger mounted fire buttons?

Obviously there is the Tron-style, and also on happ there is a top-fire Super
Is that it?? There's got to be more..

I'd like to go with T-sticks for my main 2 joysticks, but for games like Assault or Battlezone, it'd be nice to have a trigger button available

(These 2 especially rock on my current setup, using a playstation2 pad, dual sticks and a trigger:)

[Tiger-Heli]

Please reply with what you think of these and what kind of price you think they are worth.

Thanks.

Those look awesome!!!  Great idea!!!

Price is always the difficult part.  I checked and Happs wants $23.10 for each grip assembly and regularly $13.90 for the Super (on sale for $7.99 through 12/15/02).  www.therealbobroberts.com will have better prices, but I haven't added shipping, so you're looking at basically $40.00 in parts each.  And then your labor is worth something.

I don't see how you could sell them for less than $50.  OTOH, I don't know how many people would go much higher than this.  I would think $75 would probably be a max figure.  (The main competition with these is the top fire super joystick for $31, or building your own from a Super and a Flightstick for roughly $25.)  I realize this has an extra button from the top-fire and is more professional looking than the flight stick, but I don't know how much additional people will be willing to spend, given that you usually still have other controls to buy also.

Just my $.05

[shaunti]

Thanks.  You can see why they would get to be expensive.

I was thinking around $70 for a single side order or $130 for a lefthand-righthand pair.

I paid over a hundred for a new trackball and mounting plate..So I guess this is not an unrealistic price.

 

[kspiff]

Do you think you might sell just the joystick shafts? I already bought myself 2 L/R grips and 2 supers, but am having a hard time finding something perfect to use for the shaft.

I'm drooling on myself here; this would make my dream Assault setup a reality..  

E-mail me if you want.

k-spiff

[gtjoe]

For custom shafts, you may want to email n2new@aol.com
He makes custom shaft replacements and posts on ebay

I think he does do some custom work for the arcade community.

check this out for his previous offerings
http://tinyurl.com/31ue

If he is willing to make them, buying the super js and the grips may be a great solution.

[AGarv]

Ok ok, I'm finally going to spill my guts.  I'd been planning to unveil this along with the other wonders of my mame cab, but being as the cab has been done for a year and I've still not set up a site, I'll fill you guys in on my ultimate top-fire joystick.

Remember the old wico "command control" joysticks for the atari 2600, the one's with the red handle and white fire button on top?  When wico claimed to be using arcade quality parts, they weren't joking. The command control joystick shafts, springs and even e-rings EXACTLY match those of the wico arcade ball top leaf switch joysticks, and are every bit as sturdy.  So there it is; buy a ball-top wico command control along with a standard wico leaf switch joystick, and you've got an authentic, versatile, super heavy duty top fire joystick that was originally intended to be used to control arcade games, not a toy grabbing metal claw.

As for trigger (not top-fire) joysticks, I have two very similar to the above assault controls, except that mine use happ universals as opposed to supers; IMO makes for easier mounting and quicker switching from 4 to 8 way.  The shafts are nut drivers; I just shaped and drilled the plastic handle of the nut driver to allow me to attach the tank grips.  I experimented with steel brake line for a while, but had trouble attaching it to the grip.

Making the shaft was a major pain, especially given that I didn't have a dremel tool at the time; I think if you sell just the shafts you'll have enormous demand.  IMO selling the entire joystick wouldn't net you many sales, but you could of course offer both. Most of the people you'd be selling to are already at least marginally do-it-yourself types, and may flinch at paying $130 for a pair of hacked joysticks.  I'm sure however that you'd have steady business with selling shafts.

If not you, then Oscar should look into adding that to his product line.  Costs would be ($4 nut driver + $.50 in screws + labor). Shipping would be almost nothing, and I'm sure people would be willing to pay ~$15-$20 per shaft.  Pretty nice markup.

Garv

[rampy]

garv.. that's not a bad idea.... why do I sense a sudden stampede search on ebay for "wico atari" or the like...

rampy

[shaunti]

Do you think you might sell just the joystick shafts? I already bought myself 2 L/R grips and 2 supers, but am having a hard time finding something perfect to use for the shaft.

I'm drooling on myself here; this would make my dream Assault setup a reality..  

E-mail me if you want.

k-spiff

Ya..The only problem is I don't think Happ will sell just the shafts for super8 etc.. joysticks.

I can have the grinding and threading done to shafts that people would ship to me and them ship back.

The problem is all of the shipping overhead costs.
For just shaft work it would be around $15 just for a single shaft or $25 for a pair plus the shipping.

I can get the price down from the metal shop if I have more shafts at once to do work on.

If you can find a local machine shop to do the job..See what they would charge.

I don't have the CAD file yet for the exact dimension and locations of the thread holes.  The trick is to have the shaft grinded down to fit in the slot of the pistol grips.  Then you thread two holes on each side of the shaft to fit button screws in to tighten the pistol grip to the shaft, but don't over tighten!

Plus the shaft leaves just enough room to maneuver the joystick with the pistol grip on it.

The drawback is the joystick must be mounted from above the control panel, opposed to underneath.  The wires to the thumb and trigger switches need to come through the hole on the joystick mount that is right next to the screw hole.

Some day I'll post the details of my project to the BYOAC web site.

But once they are installed it is just like the Assault cabinet!

Simply let me know if you want to try the shaft only work.

[Tiger-Heli]

Ya..The only problem is I don't think Happ will sell just the shafts for super8 etc.. joysticks.

Here's the page with the part no. for the shafts: http://www.happcontrols.com/joysticks/super_joy_e.htm, I don't know if they'd sell them individually, but they do have $25 minimum order.  Or you could try the ball top shafts from the guy on E-bay above (but they're almost as much as the joysticks).

Plus the shaft leaves just enough room to maneuver the joystick with the pistol grip on it.

The drawback is the joystick must be mounted from above the control panel, opposed to underneath.  The wires to the thumb and trigger switches need to come through the hole on the joystick mount that is right next to the screw hole.

If the super shaft is hollow, couldn't you run the wires through the shaft?  The bigger problem looks like the handle is mounted too close to the base to clear the panel wood.  The design looks good mounted from above, though.  

[shaunti]

If the super shaft is hollow, couldn't you run the wires through the shaft?  The bigger problem looks like the handle is mounted too close to the base to clear the panel wood.  The design looks good mounted from above, though.  

The shafts for the super 8-ways are solid steel with the hard plastic bulb on top as the handle.  Unless that changed recently.

I searched on that part number and found no listing.  If you notice in the picture of the exploded view, the part number has a little *.  ?  I don't know what means.
Parts not sold separately ??

Ideally, yes I would buy the shafts in bulk and then just supply any orders.  That would save a lot of shipping and overhead.  I should try to contact Happ about this.

[kspiff]

I'm pretty sure that orders for individual parts can only be ordered over the phone.. you should call them and inquire about the shafts.

k-spiff

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it <typing from work  >..