Wico leafswitch joystick actuator identification

[spidermonkey]

This was being discussed in Timoe's thread titled "[US-CA] Wico 8-way actuator trade for 4-way" in the "Buy & Sell forum but I didn't want to hijack his post so here are the size differences for Wico 4 and 8-way Wico leafswitch joystick actuators. If you're having problems with your Wico 4-way hitting diagonals on occation then you might want to make sure that your stick has the correct size actuator on it because it seems that there are *alot* more of the larger 8-way actuators floating around then there are 4-ways. Many operators didn't really pay attention to what size actuator they used when repairing or replacing a joystick on a game. I say this because I've bought several 4-way Wico leafswitch joysticks on Ebay and quite a few had 8-way actuators on them which causes 4-ways to not be as precise. Apparently operators used whatever they had in order to quickly get the game back in "money making" condition. Alright enough babbelling,here's the sizes...

A Wico 8-way actuator has an outside diameter of 5/8"

[RayB]

Cool info! Turns out I have a 4-way actuator on one of my 8-way bodies (not in use, so it was no biggie).

[quarterback]

So, just to be clear, the 4-way actuators do not have any kind of step-down at all?

[spidermonkey]

That's correct Quarterback. The 4-way actuator has a 1/2" o.d. from one end to the other.(no step down) I now know the reason why the 8-way actuator is stepped down to 1/2" on one end. It's because that end of the actuator fits up into the shaft hole of the joystick about 5mm. The little spring that slides on in front of the actuator keeps it from sliding up any further. You'll notice that if you slide the larger end of the 8-way actuator on first you will find that if you move the joystick in a given direction the actuator will jam up against the wall of the shaft hole before its able to depress and fully engage the leaf switch.This is because there isn't enough clearance between the actuator and the shaft hole that surrounds it so it has to have an o.d. of no more then a 1/2" on that end. I'm probably confusing some people due to my lack of explanation skills. Probably the easiest way to understand what I'm trying to explain is to temporarily put the actuator on backwards and watch the top of it while moving the stick in whatever direction and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.

[Kremmit]

Hey, found a pic on Ebay that shows both:

[Kremmit]

So I guess the answer to replacement 4-way actuators is just finding some tubing/pipe with the same inner and outer diameters as the skinny part at the top of the regular 8-way actuators.  Or getting somebody with a lathe to turn an 8-way actuator down.

Ray, bust out the Legos!

[spidermonkey]

Yep those are it. I was at lowes today looking through all those pull out metal drawers that are filled with all sorts of specialty hardware and I found two whole drawers full of nylon spacers/bushings. I saw some that looked mighty close. I plan to go back along with both actuators and see if I can match something up. If I can't then I'll be heading over to the plumbing section to check for plastic pipe or maybe the plastic tubing thats used to run water lines to dishwashers. There's gotta be something there that will work. I have a feeling its gonna be one of those visits where I'm just gonna have to go up and down every isle and see if something catches my eye. It won't be the first time I used this method especially when searching for game cab building materials.

[quarterback]

I was at lowes today looking through all those pull out metal drawers that are filled with all sorts of specialty hardware and I found two whole drawers full of nylon spacers/bushings.

When I got my Perfect360 Wico add-ons, I searched for a replacement for the black actuator that make the  the 360s work.  I was unsuccessful.  I can't remember now, but I think the 360 actuator is the same size as the 8-way (except it's black instead of white) but I wasn't able to find something that matched the size.    But I'd love to find out if there is a hardware store 'replacement'

[Thenasty]

I done something similar and could'nt or did not see PLASTIC version but this might help you in search, I ended up using a COPPER TUBING for WATER, if I remember correctly it was for the BATHROOM faucet thing.

[Kremmit]

I have a feeling its gonna be one of those visits where I'm just gonna have to go up and down every isle and see if something catches my eye.

There's another way?  Madness!

[Timoe]

Anybody have any luck with this?

[Timoe]

I found the 4-way actuator at home depot.  It will require a little trimming, its about 1/8" too tall but otherwise perfect.

Thank you very much for the information.

[leapinlew]

I found the 4-way actuator at home depot.  It will require a little trimming, its about 1/8" too tall but otherwise perfect.

Thank you very much for the information.

Timoe - can you tell me where you found this part and what it was?

[Timoe]

white plastic "spacer"  found in the nuts & bolts area in one of the pull out drawers.