Swapping HAPP buttons for Sanwa Buttons

[langdonx]

I bought a SlikStik Classic Controller last year (which are now sold as North Coast Custom Arcade's Classic Controller).  It's a great control deck, but after playing on a MadCatz SFIV TE FightStick, I really think I prefer Sanwa buttons over Happ buttons.

My question is, if I want to swap out a few of the Happ buttons on my SlikStik deck with Sanwa buttons (from lizardlick), will I run into much trouble?  Is the wiring much different?  I'm generally a novice when it comes to tinkering, but as long as I don't have to solder very fine points, I should be able to handle it.

Another thing I'm worried about is the size of the drilled holes... will the pre-existing holes need to be cut larger?  Do I need a drill press to do this, or a hand held drill cut it?

TIA!

[Franco B]

The wiring will be exactly the same.

As for hole sizes, your current holes will be 1 1/8" (28.65mm) whereas most Japanese buttons require a hole of 30mm so you will need to open out your existing holes. I wouldn't recommend using a hand drill for this.The best thing to do would be to use a drill press as you suggested.

Line up your hole using a 1 1/8" bit (any type bit will do) and insert it into the hole to find the center. Clamp the workpiece and then use a 30mm Forstner bit to open the hole out. Make sure you have a scrap piece of wood below your CP to avoid blow out.

You could drill a 30mm hole in a piece of material and then use that to template route the holes bigger but I think the drill press would be the easiest solution.

[langdonx]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I'm guessing Home Depot/Lowe's probably doesn't rent drill presses... will have to figure something out if I want to move forward... I could try the hand-held and just glue them back in if I mess up, hehe.

ETA:  Maybe I'll just buy 6 Happ competition push buttons to see how similar they are to the OBSF 30's.

[Jack Burton]

Don't bother with a drillpress for a job so small.   Best tool is this:



Any kind of round wood file will probably do.  Make sure it is a fine toothed one.  It shouldn't take more than an hour or two to round out your holes a little bit. 

HAPP competitions are very different from Sanwa.  They feel almost identical to standard pushbuttons.

Sanwa's are very soft and have a very short engage distance. 

It won't hurt your stick to file the holes out to 30mm.  The old buttons will still fit in just fine if you make sure you screw the nut on tight.

[Chris]

Step bit, perhaps?

[Jack Burton]

I'm not sure that would work on 3/4" mdf

[kowal]

it is for metal only, but  you can taste. buy ver. which has 2 cutting edges
maybe they are from three, do not buy from one cutting edges.

[MrMojoZ]

ETA:  Maybe I'll just buy 6 Happ competition push buttons to see how similar they are to the OSBF 30's.

They feel nothing alike.

[langdonx]

Nice... thanks for all the input.

A fine-toothed round wood file sounds like my best bet.  I think I'll try it on Player 2 side and see how it goes.

Is there a better place to order Sanwa OBSF30 buttons from?  LizardLick is only processing May 11th orders right now, so I'd probably have to wait 3-4 weeks if I did order them Monday.

[jasonbar]

Or maybe use a half-round file, if you find one of a good size/curvature.  Might make your work go faster, but it might also over-file if you're not careful...

http://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/115/gfx/large/4218a16p1l.gif

-Jason

[1UP]

Is the wiring much different?  I'm generally a novice when it comes to tinkering, but as long as I don't have to solder very fine points, I should be able to handle it.

I wouldn't solder the buttons in at all.  Use quick disconnects, they are less fuss, and if you decide you like different buttons later, you don't have to desolder or cut wires again.
 

[jasonbar]

+1 for not soldering your control panel.


Here's a thread on quick disconnects: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=90837.0


-Jason

[langdonx]

My buttons arrived from LizardLick earlier in the week and I finally had a chance to swap them out last night.

I bought this filing set from Lowes, which did the trick.  Thankfully, most of the holes required very little filing.

So I went from this:



To this:



And on the top side:



Since that task really was sooo simple, I want to try doing more now.  In addition to replacing other buttons on the control deck,  I was thinking of going with a square gate on the joysticks.  I ultimately decided that a square isn't going to make playing non-fighting games very much fun.

So I was looking into replacing the bat tops with ball tops, but it doesn't look like the joysticks I have (Happ Competition) can be replaced.  I say this because LizardLick nor HappControls seem to carry ball top replacements for Happ joysticks.  Can someone confirm this assumption?

Thanks again for all the advice!

[EwJ]

So I was looking into replacing the bat tops with ball tops, but it doesn't look like the joysticks I have (Happ Competition) can be replaced.  I say this because LizardLick nor HappControls seem to carry ball top replacements for Happ joysticks.  Can someone confirm this assumption?

See this recent product announcement .
stainless.
discontinued?

[JMB]

Here is another option for ball tops for your comps.

http://www.tornadoterrys.com/surplus.htm

You can't go wrong with either vendor.

[Ginsu Victim]

I was going to suggest Terry's, but I don't see his balltop shafts listed anymore. (I see the complete setups, just not stick only)