Suggestions for stripping a bat top shaft?

[Justin Z]

Hmm . . .  That sounds weird.  But you guys know what I mean.  Any suggestions for removing the plastic from the joystick shaft so I'm left with only metal?

[BobA]

Burn the plastic off?

[(+_+)]

Be careful with that. I almost hacked the pad of my thumb off doing that. I thought it would be easy, but man is that plastic ever resilient. I had this crazy notion that I'd build my own Flight Stick. I ended up cutting my hand pretty badly, extremely frustrated, 30 dollars poorer (because I scrapped the joystick handle and ruined the $20 flightstick that I was hacking. To make a long story short, I ended up buying the real one for $150 dollars from Happ. 

[RayB]

You want to circumcise your joystick?
 

Anyways, I guess throw it in a fire....... ??

[Green Giant]

I have an idea for you, try tossing the stick in a pot of boiling water, minus the electronics.  Then stick it in the freezer.  Hopefully the freezing and heating will weaken the plastic or at least the bond.  It shouldn't affect the metal, but I have no idea really.

[NoOne=NBA=]

Very controlled use of a Dremel tool.
Cut it way down, and then use a screwdriver to break the plastic apart.
You don't want to go all the way to metal with the Dremel, or you'll leave a score mark on the shaft.

[shardian]

Care to supply your reasoning as to why you are doing this? Maybe we could point you in a less destructive direction.

[RayB]

I have an idea for you, try tossing the stick in a pot of boiling water, minus the electronics.  Then stick it in the freezer.  Hopefully the freezing and heating will weaken the plastic or at least the bond.  It shouldn't affect the metal, but I have no idea really.

I doubt that would work. If it's a Wico, the plastic is injection molded to the shaft (no glues). There's probably indentations in the shaft to hold the plastic there.

[Green Giant]

I have an idea for you, try tossing the stick in a pot of boiling water, minus the electronics.  Then stick it in the freezer.  Hopefully the freezing and heating will weaken the plastic or at least the bond.  It shouldn't affect the metal, but I have no idea really.

I doubt that would work. If it's a Wico, the plastic is injection molded to the shaft (no glues). There's probably indentations in the shaft to hold the plastic there.

Heating might cause problems then, but the freezing just might work.  Get it nice and cold, maybe use salt and ice to really drop the temp.  Then get a big hammer and try to shatter the plastic.  It really all depends on the joystick handle material.  Most plastics they use probably aren't designed for freezing temps so it might work.  Freezing might also shrink it enough to pull out the plastic, assuming it isn't in any grooves or indentations.

[Justin Z]

Care to supply your reasoning as to why you are doing this? Maybe we could point you in a less destructive direction.

Sure.  I have several bats I'm not using now because I replaced them with lighted balltops, and I want to use them for something, so I'm going to attempt to hack a tron-ish looking flightstick to it and then use it with an 8-way base.

[lanman31337]

I used 5/16th brake line.

[Justin Z]

That's an interesting thought.  Did you have to carve out a notch to fit the E-Ring into it?

[(+_+)]

Care to supply your reasoning as to why you are doing this? Maybe we could point you in a less destructive direction.

Sure.  I have several bats I'm not using now because I replaced them with lighted balltops, and I want to use them for something, so I'm going to attempt to hack a tron-ish looking flightstick to it and then use it with an 8-way base.

That's exactly the reason I tried it. If it doesn't affect your budget much, I'd just bite the bullet and get the Happs version of the Tron Joystick. It's black though and very well built.
I used to fight having to pay for the real parts, like hacking keyboards and the like, but the finished product doesn't come anywhere near the real thing.

[lanman31337]

That's an interesting thought.  Did you have to carve out a notch to fit the E-Ring into it?

No, I used a hose clamp on the bottom.

[More Cowbell]

That's an interesting thought.  Did you have to carve out a notch to fit the E-Ring into it?

No, I used a hose clamp on the bottom.

Brilliant!

[Justin Z]

That's an interesting thought.  Did you have to carve out a notch to fit the E-Ring into it?

No, I used a hose clamp on the bottom.

Brilliant!