GroovyGameGear sure has some balls!

[RandyT]

It never gets old, does it?  

Just thought I would share a photo I took the other day and let folks know that we will be offering some new ball tops as an option for an upcoming stick offering.  These highly polished balls are custom made for GroovyGameGear from material that is hard as nails and virtually indestructible.  I have stress tested these by throwing them against smooth concrete and bouncing them high into the air.  Even that kind of ridiculous abuse leaves barely a mark.

The colors are:

Translucent Blue
Translucent Amber
Translucent Green
Translucent Red
Medium Red
Forest Green
Black
Medium Orange
Pale Yellow
Medium Blue
Medium Yellow
Diffuse Red Translucent
Medium Green
Diffuse UV Reactive Blue Translucent
Clear (may not be immediately available)

All are 1 7/16" in diameter (The size I consider to be the all around best compromise)  They will be offered as an option with a future product, but may be offered separately at some time afterward.

Thanks for looking and apologies for the cheap title

RandyT

[Turnarcades]

Very nice randy. What's the retail on those? More to the point, what would be the price of 4 of these with UK shipping?

[Bender]

I've got to hand it you Randy, you do have great Balls!

[thatitalian]

Argh, Randy! Why do you make me want to buy new stuff everytime you post! Nice!

[Deefish]

Yes, yes, we all agree GGG has nice balls.....

So Randy please give up the goods on when the Electric Ice Lighted Joysticks will get released!!

My CC is getting dusty from not purchasing GGG items!!

Come on and at least give us an estimated drop date for them.

I think they will sell like hotcakes!

Thanks,
Deefish

[ghettodish]

Nice to see other colors besides the blue balls I already have.

[fixedpigs]

Nice to see other colors besides the blue balls I already have.

no pale blue for joust though...

[RandyT]

Very nice randy. What's the retail on those? More to the point, what would be the price of 4 of these with UK shipping?

Overseas shipping with heavier parts is sometimes costly.  These aren't too heavy, but multiples are likely to add up.  They can be put in a padded envelope and sent First Class International, which is a pretty economical way to do it.  Actual shipping costs will have to wait until they are in the store and you are able to get a real-time quote from the USPS.

I haven't really fixed the pricing on these yet, but due to the expense of the specialized inserts, and the fact that they are so hard that they wreak havoc on drill bits, it looks like it will break down as:

$5.95 each for the solid colors
$6.95 each for the translucents

Folks should keep in mind that there are cheaper knobs out there, but these use a quite different material, are totally seamless, and designed to look and feel good for a long, long time.  They can even be re-polished 20 years down the road, if necessary, to bring back the original luster.

I'll try to get these on the store in the next few days.

Randy

[melarky]

Nice to see other colors besides the blue balls I already have.

no pale blue for joust though...

I actually thought the same thing.  I'm excited for the pale yellow for my Joust project, and hope a pale blue comes along some day too, but I'll probably just get a darker blue in the mean time (going to have to finish this joust project sooner or later).

[Turnarcades]

Overseas shipping with heavier parts is sometimes costly.  These aren't too heavy, but multiples are likely to add up.  They can be put in a padded envelope and sent First Class International, which is a pretty economical way to do it.  Actual shipping costs will have to wait until they are in the store and you are able to get a real-time quote from the USPS.

I haven't really fixed the pricing on these yet, but due to the expense of the specialized inserts, and the fact that they are so hard that they wreak havoc on drill bits, it looks like it will break down as:

$5.95 each for the solid colors
$6.95 each for the translucents

Cheers Randy. The prices seem very reasonable and hopefully that will translate well enough to get them to the UK for a good price as last time I ordered I got stung with customs charges.

FYI Randy I've now found out that anything over £35 in value will be subject to VAT @ 15% when it arrives in the UK so may I suggest declaring the package value at cost price rather than retail to help us brits out and maybe encourage a few more to consider US->UK orders. 

[gonen60ss]

Any chance of making a purple one?

Need to finish my tmnt control panel.

thanks

[RandyT]

Any chance of making a purple one?

Need to finish my tmnt control panel.

Yes, actually.  It's one of the next colors I had been thinking about.  I don't want to stock every color in the visible spectrum, but I welcome any suggestions as to what would likely be a popular request.  I honestly hadn't thought about the pale blue for Joust thing.  You could probably still do ok with the medium yellow and medium blue on a Joust-themed cabinet though.

RandyT

[cmoses]

Randy,

Any pictures of the Diffuse UV Reactive Blue Translucent under some UV light?  I assume that it glows?

Thanks

[RandyT]

Any pictures of the Diffuse UV Reactive Blue Translucent under some UV light?  I assume that it glows?

Yes.  Not quite as brightly as our Tron handles, but close.  Photos under UV are tough to do on the fly, but I gave it my best....

.....

Keep in mind that this is not internally illuminated.  It is all from external UV.

RandyT

[Deefish]

Ok, looks like either my question got lost in the mix or Randy wants to keep mum. I will ask again.

When is GGG going to start selling the Electric Ice Lighted Joysticks?

Thanks for all the great products!

Deefish

[RandyT]

When is GGG going to start selling the Electric Ice Lighted Joysticks?

The real answer to that one is "three months ago"

We have been offering them upon request, and regularly to our panel builder customers.  RGB is not yet available, however.

If you are looking for a mono color lighted variety, drop me an email.

RandyT

[TPB]

Also expect to see these shown as options in future products.

?? ...

GroovyGameGear.com will soon offer it's own 49-way unit. It will be based on the opto-mechanics of the HAPP/Midway sticks, but with a number of custom parts designed specifically for the home arcade enthusiast and GP-Wiz49 interface. Did we mention it will also have a ball top?

http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65&products_id=189

[Visitor Q]

Those balls look so good I could lick them!

Too Much?

Come on they look like suckers.  hahaha suckers!

[massive88]

I dont know how popular it would be, but I would like a clear smoked ball top for a controller Im building.  So that it would look tinted black when not lit, but then be able to light up with an LED.

[ark_ader]

Overseas shipping with heavier parts is sometimes costly.  These aren't too heavy, but multiples are likely to add up.  They can be put in a padded envelope and sent First Class International, which is a pretty economical way to do it.  Actual shipping costs will have to wait until they are in the store and you are able to get a real-time quote from the USPS.

I haven't really fixed the pricing on these yet, but due to the expense of the specialized inserts, and the fact that they are so hard that they wreak havoc on drill bits, it looks like it will break down as:

$5.95 each for the solid colors
$6.95 each for the translucents

Cheers Randy. The prices seem very reasonable and hopefully that will translate well enough to get them to the UK for a good price as last time I ordered I got stung with customs charges.

FYI Randy I've now found out that anything over £35 in value will be subject to VAT @ 15% when it arrives in the UK so may I suggest declaring the package value at cost price rather than retail to help us brits out and maybe encourage a few more to consider US->UK orders. 

Isn't that illegal, unless it is for personal use?

[RandyT]

I dont know how popular it would be, but I would like a clear smoked ball top for a controller Im building.  So that it would look tinted black when not lit, but then be able to light up with an LED.

This is on the list also, but at the moment, as a test.  The problem with these types of things is that getting the mix right is very difficult.  It may never light up well, because unlike white, which reflects light, black will absorb it.  So no matter what, the light inside will be reduced before exiting.  The key will be finding a compromise that still looks dark, but is transmissive enough to light up reasonably well.

And yes, we need to keep things legal for declaration purposes.  I'll try to look into the allowable definitions of value, but I tend to think that it would be retail in the case of a retail sale. 

RandyT

[deepblue]

Damn Randy - my wife is already unhappy with the amount of money I've spent on the arcade...and now this. I was looking for these months ago!

I assume these balltops will fit the standard U360 shaft?

[RandyT]

Damn Randy - my wife is already unhappy with the amount of money I've spent on the arcade...and now this. I was looking for these months ago!

I assume these balltops will fit the standard U360 shaft?

I can only assume they will, if they have a standard 6mm thread.

RandyT

[Ummon]

Compare his sizes mentioned with the Sanwa sticks, forget which one. Ask Andy. Wait, I think there's shaft info (um, heheheh) as Ultimarc.

[Blanka]

The US Mail flat rate international envelopes don't care about heavy balls. I guess you can put quite a few of them in those envelopes. They are also popular for transfering american motor parts to Europe.

[Blanka]

FYI Randy I've now found out that anything over £35 in value will be subject to VAT @ 15% when it arrives in the UK

Vat is no problem, you get it refunded as business. Import tax is the only thing that you really have to pay for. And that limit went up quite a bit for the EU.

[TPB]

Isn't that illegal, unless it is for personal use?

I don't think it's a problem.

I know from experience, when I've ordered products from the U.S., and they specified a wholesale value on the declaration (the value specified was significantly less than what I paid ... it was obviously the wholesale value).

And these were purchases from a well known, well established, medium sized business.  So it's evidently their standard business practice to specify the wholesale value on the declaration.  It's to their customer's benefit for them to do this (providing it's permissible by law, as appears is the case).

Regarding the value of goods shipped, the only time the U.S. government would care, would be for BIG DOLLAR shipments, costing in the thousands (ie, sending jewellery through the mail), which would be scrutinised to see whether it's a form of money laundering.

But for small value shipments, why would they care ?  It's not as though they levy an "export tax" on the value of goods sent.

Obviously the foreign country where the goods are being received would prefer to have the retail price specified, to levy their import duties.  But the taxes charged by foreign governments would be of NO CONCERN to the U.S. government.  And U.S. companies only to need to abide by U.S. law - they are not bound by the laws of foreign jurisdictions.

[Visitor Q]

Suggestion....

Why not make these in bat tops as well? No one really has done it so you could be the first!

[RandyT]

Why not make these in bat tops as well? No one really has done it so you could be the first!

Bat tops would require a whole different process, so they wouldn't be the same.  But I have been looking at a few ways to make replacement bat tops.  Just none that have been as economical, unfortunately.

RandyT

[Deefish]

Awesome thanks for the answer Randy. I shot you an email through the GGG website.

Cheers,
Deefish


Quote from: deefish on Yesterday at 10:10:58 AM
When is GGG going to start selling the Electric Ice Lighted Joysticks?

The real answer to that one is "three months ago" Wink

We have been offering them upon request, and regularly to our panel builder customers.  RGB is not yet available, however.

If you are looking for a mono color lighted variety, drop me an email.

RandyT

[Level42]

How about an all white one ?

[mrclean]

So these balls fit U360's ??

Did anyone make a longer shaft for the u360?? I want it longer then the longer one offered by ultimarc 10mm more isnt enough I want it to be about 3/4 of an inch longer because mine is on wood with plexi so my u360's sit too low for me.

[wooowman93]

those are some nice balls, especially the black one

[Visitor Q]

those are some nice balls, especially the black one

Your sick! 

They are nice though... 

[Ginsu Victim]

those are some nice balls, especially the black one

Your sick! 

They are nice though... 

I saw that as a serious post.

[SodaPopinksi]

These look great, I was wondering does the diffuse translucent red look nice lit with a red led? I asked vesuvius to make me a few regular translucent red balltops a while back and they look awesome, look even better in person, like jools even, as I'm sure your r b g y ones do as well. If you wanted to light the translucent ones though there's nothing to diffuse the led. I would bet the 6mm threaded red translucent ones would be great for fighting stick fans especially, they kinda fill a gap in the seimitsu product line, as they don't make red bubbletops. A suggestion I have would be "white" 6mm balltops (like the ones used on your rgb led balltops) for those fiddling with jlf/u360 led mods. Just bought my first ledwiz by the way, can't wait to see what it can do.
 

[RandyT]

These look great, I was wondering does the diffuse translucent red look nice lit with a red led?
.....
A suggestion I have would be "white" 6mm balltops (like the ones used on your rgb led balltops) for those fiddling with jlf/u360 led mods. Just bought my first ledwiz by the way, can't wait to see what it can do.

The diffuse translucent red actually looks quite good when lit, and we have sold a few dozen lighted sticks using them already.  It's hard to make something that appears "glassy" when not lit, yet still illuminates well when it is.  The diffuse red and blue can be seen as a  very good compromise in this regard to satisfy both desires.

I haven't yet decided whether to make the ICE style balls available as a separate item.  They are more specialized, and therefore more costly.  If I do decide to, then there will likely be a premium on the cost to reflect this.

But I will add a standard white ball to the list of possible future colors.

RandyT

[mrclean]

Now PLEASE just make a longer shaft for my u360! that's 3/4 of an inch more then the stock shaft. These balls fit the u360 right ?? also my Wico ball tops seem larger then my current u360 ball top.. Randy are yours the same size as the standard wico ball tops ?

[Ginsu Victim]

Now PLEASE just make a longer shaft for my u360!

You really should be asking AndyWarne at Ultimarc about this, not RandyT.

[mrclean]

i suppose your right... but andy does offer a 10mm longer shaft which isn't long enough, at least not for me on my wood panel.