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| Leaf spring switches...where'd they go? |
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| Kremmit:
Centsible Amusements sells leaf parts. Joystick sized leafswitches Thin leafswitch holders (wood panel type) Translucent leaf buttons Regular Leaf Buttons Strangely enough, they don't seem to have regular, button-sized leafswitches, just the ones for joysticks- or at least I'm not seeing them. The ones Quarters is talking about from Bob Roberts, with the one side longer, are the ones for buttons- and no, those don't work with Wico sticks, they're too long. The ones Centsible sells are the right length, but I notice they don't have the protective white plastic layer, so I don't know if they'll work right with a Wico either. But you really don't have to replace the leafswitches if they're just a little bent up- just get some needlenose pliers and straighten them out! Then clean the contact points (pinching a wet business card between the contacts and sliding the card back and forth is the way the operators did it) and you'll find the old ones play just fine. |
| erictrumpet:
I see Centsible Amusements sells leaf joysticks as well -- $10.99, imported from China. Are these any good? http://www.centsibleamusements.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=415 Eric. |
| Quarters:
Thank you Kremmit. Good info and link. |
| RandyT:
I need to chime in on this one. :) I built a control panel in the 80's for use with my Coleco and Atari systems. It used leaf switches for everything because those were all there were at the time, or at least what were commonly used. They were a serious pain in the ---. The contacts would corrode. If you had them set for "hair trigger" that meant that the metal flexed a long way for a full button depress, which led to bent and out of alignment contact points. After a while, they started clicking because the contact points became almost impossible to keep aligned and they would slide apart and "click" on each button press. Like Ahigh said, when they are new. they are great. But my experience was that they weren't like that for long. Now, about microswitches. They come in about a hundred different styles when you consider the number of manufacturers there are of these things. They have varying pressure levels and mechanisms for actuation. So obviously, you would want to use the ones that most approximate the feel of the leaf. That means a low actuation pressure and short throw (most of them are short throw.) So, you say you have that and it's still not as good? Well, the reason for that is the fact that even the mushiest of microswitches (which seem to be the Cherrys sold by HAPP) require a fair amount of pressure to actuate, more than the average leaf switch which amounts to almost no pressure before actuation. Which brings us to the solution to the problem (or at least a very good substitute for one.) The main reason the two feel so different from each other is the fact that one of them has extra spring tension before actuation that the other one does not. So the solution is to simply remove the spring from the button and let the internal spring of the microswitch do the work. This also decreases the throw of the button, at least in the case of the HAPP and IL designs, as it eliminates the .030" space between the actuators of the button and microswitch. It may not be for everyone, but everyone who is not happy with the micros should at least give it a try. I will never go back to leaf switches after the headaches I had with them. One last thing; in a game like T&F, where accurate alternation is as important as speed, isn't being able to know for sure that you have made the press, through the tactile feedback and/or "click" of the microswitch, a good thing? RandyT |
| Level42:
--- Quote from: erictrumpet on December 23, 2005, 02:17:14 am ---I see Centsible Amusements sells leaf joysticks as well -- $10.99, imported from China. Are these any good? http://www.centsibleamusements.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=415 Eric. --- End quote --- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!! DO NOT BUY THEM !!! They are complete rubbish !! Check out my (and others |
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