ebay: 161 joysticks of different variety....

[Zakk]

Fortunately, NASA did send a realtor and some guys with funny hats to keep things entertaining. 

Is that the realtor or the guy with the funny hat?

[missioncontrol]

I see a pinball leg there!

William's Space Shuttle

[davieboynj]

guess I may be biased

damn, some of my faves:

competition pro 5000
Mindscape Power Player
epyx whozamawhatzit?

I modded my competition pro 5000 so that it has one of those emulators inside of it...  kickass!

[missioncontrol]

I modded my competition pro 5000 so that it has one of those emulators inside of it...  kickass!

got more details? I've got a few Competition Pro's sitting around that I might have to mess with....

[RayB]

The Epyx 500XJ actually would be great for a bar-top or other small cabinet where one wants a smaller than normal joystick. It's microswitch based, so if you already like clicky joys, it will be no different.

The Wico joys use the exact same quality shaft/handles as their arcade counterparts. The only difference is a slightly longer shaft. Inside, they use the exact same rubber grommets as the arcade ones. So next time you see one of these joys selling for $1 in some used goods store, remind yourself that people sell replacement grommets alone for something like $10.

The rest however, is pre-manufactured, and not worth much. 

[davieboynj]

got more details? I've got a few Competition Pro's sitting around that I might have to mess with....

1. take apart the joy
2. trim off any extra piece of the actuator that you can, then shorten the base of the shaft by the same amount (this will provide clearance for wires and the circuit board).
3. notch the shaft so that you can put the c-clamp back on. 
4. remove the guts from an activision/namco/C64 (crap) joystick
5. drill holes into top of joystick for additional buttons needed (get a couple small buttons from radio shack)
6. insert guts into bottom of Comp Pro 5000 (i used industrial adhesive to stick it to the bottom)
7. Drill a small hole in the bottom to plumb to a battery connected to the bottom (you can use either cell phone batteries, or a 4 x AA pack also from RS)

Strangely i didn't  take a picture of the finished product.  Sometimes i blow my mind.