Top Fire Joystick - seeing if anyone interested....

[moloch]

I am going to have access to a lathe soon and I will be modifying some WICO command and control joystick shafts that can then work in a standard WICO base and offer top fire buttons. If I were to make a lot of these would anyone be interested in them. RayB had made some of these a long time ago.

I will also be looking into making a shaft with top fire ability that will fit the standard Happ style joysticks.

Just wondering what the interest in this would be and I will post as soon as I have some prototypes up and available.

[specfire]

Well,

Check out these two threads from last summer.  I don't know what happened to conceit68 but the project seems to have died.

"Topfire vs. Trigger...Need some opinions..."http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=38715.0

"Topfire Ball/Battops..."http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=38307.0

FWIW, I would like to see a trigger style bat or ball top for a P360 like a Tron cocktail Trigger stick.

Specfire

[moloch]

I have one of the tron cocktail stick and I paid about $50 for it. It is a lot easier to make a top fire then trigger, but even with that said I will look into how to make a trigger.

Thank you for showing me the poll.

It looks like all of these topfire sticks fall off the radar. I am wondering if they get too expensive of what.

I have a stack of Command and Control sticks that I am going to have to modify no matter what and I have access to this lathe starting in about a month.

I will continue posting here with updates.

[moloch]

Just as a side note the P360, Happ Ultimate, and Competition use the basic same shaft dimensions, so if I can make a ball top fire for one it will not be tough to make one to fit any of them.

I do not have a P360 but I do have a lot of Ultimate and a few Competition sticks for comparison and sizing, but based on everthing else Happ's does I am pretty sure that the dimensions are the same for the P360.

[markrvp]

The P360 shafts ARE NOT the same diameter as other Happ sticks.  They are the same diameter as WICO shafts as the P360 was originally a Wico product.  Dimensions for several shafts is in one of the threads linked above.  Conceit68 got married and that was the end of that. 

[psychopanda]

I just bought a topfire from Happs, since they have a sale on them. But if I'm not happy with the feel of it, I might be in looking for a better one soon.

It seems alot of people are disappointed with those joysticks in general or maybe it's just the topfire joysticks that companies are putting out? From what I remember, I liked topfire joysticks as a kid but wasn't as crazy about trigger joysticks.

[RayB]

  Here is what his top-fires could look like:


Note: Those two are Command Control shafts I modified to fit a Wico joystick base. They are mounted to a 3/4" thick control panel. They are usable for trigger games, but on the short side. Ideally they would be best if mounted to a metal control panel.

Moloch, I hope you don't mind me posting this. 

PS: You can also make em fit Happ Super bases.

[RobotronNut]

It looks like all of these topfire sticks fall off the radar. I am wondering if they get too expensive of what.

i've never used a top-fire, but they just seem cumbersome to me. they don't seem like they'd be very good for trigger games, because your thumb is not as agile as your trigger finger. and you can't grip the ball top when you're pushing the button, so you have to grip the thin metal shaft.

they also don't seem like they'd be very good for non-trigger games, because you have the button sticking into your palm.

i've always thought of them as a compromise made to save money, rather than a really good solution for any given application.

i think the happ 8-way flight stick is the perfect solution, although admittedly expensive. and it is the only solution, as far as i know, if you want to play discs of tron, which requires both a trigger AND a thumb button.

the tron cocktail seems like a decent second-best, because it appears to work well both for trigger games and as a plain joystick.

[Kremmit]

Just as a side note the P360, Happ Ultimate, and Competition use the basic same shaft dimensions, so if I can make a ball top fire for one it will not be tough to make one to fit any of them.

I do not have a P360 but I do have a lot of Ultimate and a few Competition sticks for comparison and sizing, but based on everthing else Happ's does I am pretty sure that the dimensions are the same for the P360.

The P360 shafts ARE NOT the same diameter as other Happ sticks.  They are the same diameter as WICO shafts as the P360 was originally a Wico product.  Dimensions for several shafts is in one of the threads linked above.  Conceit68 got married and that was the end of that. 

Ultimates are also not the same size.  They're noticeably smaller than any of the others.  Supers, Competitions, and Reunions are all the same diameter.  Ultimates don't match anything but Ultimates.  P360 match Wicos.

[quarterback]

FWIW, I think this joystick shaft measurement info (and other joystick measurement info) would be great addition to the Wiki once there's a concensus.

I know there have been threads in the past where differenc joysticks have been measured using everything from a ruler to calipers.  But a definitive "this is how big/long it is" (insert crass comments here) comparison of what shafts work with what bases, including the aftermarket shafts, would be tres helpful, IMO

Just as a side note the P360, Happ Ultimate, and Competition use the basic same shaft dimensions, so if I can make a ball top fire for one it will not be tough to make one to fit any of them.

I do not have a P360 but I do have a lot of Ultimate and a few Competition sticks for comparison and sizing, but based on everthing else Happ's does I am pretty sure that the dimensions are the same for the P360.

The P360 shafts ARE NOT the same diameter as other Happ sticks.  They are the same diameter as WICO shafts as the P360 was originally a Wico product.  Dimensions for several shafts is in one of the threads linked above.  Conceit68 got married and that was the end of that. 

Ultimates are also not the same size.  They're noticeably smaller than any of the others.  Supers, Competitions, and Reunions are all the same diameter.  Ultimates don't match anything but Ultimates.  P360 match Wicos.

[RayB]

i've never used a top-fire, but they just seem cumbersome to me. they don't seem like they'd be very good for trigger games, because your thumb is not as agile as your trigger finger. and you can't grip the ball top when you're pushing the button, so you have to grip the thin metal shaft.

they also don't seem like they'd be very good for non-trigger games, because you have the button sticking into your palm.

The buttons I put on mine are pretty low profile. They are rounded and stick up only 3/16th". Causes no problem at all. I've been playing alot of Robotron with em, and I don't even notice them there.

As trigger sticks, they aren't ideal, but it's a great compromise for a small control panel. There is no other way to play Tron for example (one hand on the stick, one on the spinner... there'd be no other way to fire, unless you had a foot pedal!)

[RobotronNut]

The buttons I put on mine are pretty low profile. They are rounded and stick up only 3/16th". Causes no problem at all. I've been playing alot of Robotron with em, and I don't even notice them there.

As trigger sticks, they aren't ideal, but it's a great compromise for a small control panel. There is no other way to play Tron for example (one hand on the stick, one on the spinner... there'd be no other way to fire, unless you had a foot pedal!)

i can see that they'd be a good compromise for saving space (and money).

it still seems to me that the tron cocktail stick would make that compromise even better, because it would be better as trigger stick and still just as good as a plain joystick.

it may not be possible to make one as inexpensively as a top-fire, though, because it would have to be restricted from rotating somehow.

i hope you won't be offended by my musings here. i haven't used any of the sticks in question, except the trigger stick. i'm just on an on-going quest for wisdom, knowledge, and the truth...

[RayB]

it still seems to me that the tron cocktail stick would make that compromise even better, because it would be better as trigger stick and still just as good as a plain joystick.

Yes, you are right. It would be the ideal.