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Author Topic: Children and 2 way joysticks == Bad combination. Any suggestions for repair?  (Read 2588 times)

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MonitorGuru

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Well, it had to happen...

My cousin brought his family to stay the night on the way through town last night like they do about 3 times a year. They have a 5 yr old, 3 year old and 1 yr old. The 5 yr old boy loves playing my games and the 3 yr old girl has to "be in the action" at the same time.

Long story short, but just like every time before, no matter how many time you tell them, do NOT push up and down, both with Bubble Bobble and Galaxian, what do they do???  Constantly hang and press up and down (standing on a little step stool as well)

Tonight, I was moving the Galaxian parts out of my Galaga cab that is finally going to become a Galaga, and moving Galaxian into a just finished hand-built copy of an original Galaxian cabinet.

While I was testing the game out.. I feel the joystick is extremely "sloppy" and almost moves as much up and down as it does left and right. (well not quite, but it definitely moves up and down which it never did before)

Luckily the Galaxian is a special 2 way, not a plastic-restricted 4 way converted to 2 (like the Wico's in the Bubble Bobble) and has stood up to this type of abuse.. until now.


Any ideas on how to fix this?  It appears that the shaft with the larger cylindar at the bottom has ground/widened the U bracket it sits in.  I suppose I could get someone to weld it on but then it no longer spins freely in the holder and probably would be more apt to break/bend something in the future.


I think I need to make new control panels to slap on when kids are here... make Galaxian and Bubble Bobble more like the original Space Invaders (or Asteroids)...  a button for LEFT and a button for RIGHT... nothing to be bent or broken and no tempting to go up and down for the children.

Lesson learned :(

SirPeale

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I'm only familiar with Galaxian joysticks, is the Galaga one similar?

ChadTower

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What kind of two way is it?  Who made a stick that can't stand up to 3 and 5 year old home use?  I don't want to ever have one, so if you could let us know who made it, that would be helpful.

SirPeale

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Chad, it's likely the factory installed one, which is specialized.

And your kids have never hung off your joysticks?  Not even once?

On a 4/8 way,hanging off it wouldn't be *too* bad, because the unit is built to go in all those directions.

On a two way it's not.  Dedicated two-way units are far simpler than their multi-direction counterparts.

I had to rebuild my two way with JB Weld because it looked like someone hit the stick really hard and broke the stick mount.

ChadTower

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ah... actually, I doubt they have hung on the sticks.  The only one of my games that they use that has sticks is the POW and they don't like that much.  They're all about The Shadow now.

SirPeale

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ah... actually, I doubt they have hung on the sticks. 

Are you talking about your own kids?  Because I've seen my *own* kids hang off the sticks on my machines.

Heck...once, when I turned my back my two year old climbed on the glass of my Galaxian conversion, and was using the joystick to hold himself up.

ChadTower

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Yeah, I'm sure it could happen, just haven't seen it.  It's pretty hard to hang on the stick of a Space Duel.   :)

My 6 year old barely wants to play, anyway, he wants to go around back and look at the PCBs and wiring. 

I didn't realize the OEM sticks were victims of that, I'll definitely be aware of that going forward.

Hoagie_one

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First thing you need to do is to beat the children.

Then buy a new stick while listening to the sickinly sad cries of delight coming from the blistered bottomed children.

nostrebor

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I just performed a very robust repair for Williams 2-ways. It is proving to be a long term fix as well.Unfortunately, I have been too busy to pull it back apart and document.

How much like a Williams stick is your 2-way? If they are similar, I might be able to help you out.

MonitorGuru

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This was a Galaxian stick in a galaxian control panel (in a galaga cab).. It is the same as a Galaga 2 way.  It is totally different from a Williams 2 way (ala Defender) (Williams ones are simpler and have heavier gauge metal and don't appear to suffer from the same problem)

I can post pics later.  The intent is that the shaft was always meant to spin (whereas the Williams one was welded so it couldn't), but only go left/right.  Unfortunately the hole it was in now is made larger by rocking it back and forth (up and down) so it moves considerably in the direction it is not intended.

It has a bigger base than the top and slides in from the bottom when assembled.

I suppose I could just weld it in place and problem fixed, but then it doesn't spin anymore.  I think they intended for it to spin because the ball has a burried set screw with a larger opening, and if you spin it you can keep your finger from resting over the hole/being irritated by it.

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SirPeale

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Ah, I get it now.  Sounds like what happened to mine.

I just took JB Weld and wrapped it around the post to fix it.  Likely that's your best solution.

That is, IF it's what I think it is.  Can you post a couple pics?

nostrebor

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Yup, different problem than the Williams sticks. I have never laid eyes on one of these, so here is a shot in the dark (pics would be handy ;))

Is the block that the stick goes through substantial enough to drill through? You could chuck in a drill press, and drill oversize. Then sleeve the hole with a steel/bronze/delrin/etc. bushing. I would want the bushing to be an "interference" fit in the block, and the new hole would be a "slip" fit for the stick to rotate in. I took my stick to True Value and dug around in the hardware drawers until I found sleeves/slilck pins/etc. that would work, then I matched the drilled holes to the new parts.


OldSchool79

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Yeah I always imagined my cabinet would be invincible to children... oh, how I was wrong.

<insert signature here>

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This for sale on ebay in the UK if its any help.
I didn't touch it....honest!