New installation pics of Tron repro joysticks!

[1UP]

OK, I've been waiting for a set of Tron sticks for about a year, when ArcadeRenovations.com was planning on making a run of them.  Finally, a guy named Tom (N2NEW@aol.com) came up with a mold of his own, and started selling them on ebay.  He seems to be open to direct orders, as I won one handle on ebay, then emailed him to add another to my order...  Note:  the exact color of these handles is very hard to photograph digitally, and even Photoshop can't quite give me the true color of the plastic.  But trust me, they are a very deep aqua-blue, and not nearly as crystal clear as some of the flash-photos make them seem.  As far as I can tell, the actual handles are true to the arcade color.

First off, the grey handles that Happ sells can be bought for about $12 a set -- but they are ugly grey.  Tom's prices may seem high in comparison, but they are about the same or less than what the Arcade Renovations' Tron repros were supposed to be ($65-$75 as I remember.)  It seems like he may be having trouble moving them at his earlier prices, so he's now doing the 2 for $100 deal.  I personally got one blue set off ebay for $65, and ordered a red set by email for $40.  To me, the price seems fair, considering he molded them himself in a very small quantity.

Now whether his pricing seems fair or not is up to you.  Most of the value is in getting brand-spankin-new handles that are the same color used on the original Tron sticks.  I've seen original Tron handles go for anywhere from $19 to about $60+ on ebay, and lots of these are cracked, scratched, or glued.  It's also not a common item to find, and they are usually hotly competed for.  Many times, the halves are mismatched (two rights or two lefts) or they are the Happ grey handles.


The quality seems very good.  His molds have captured minute detail, down to the grainy surface texture, and the non-slip texture of the grip.  He often mentions small "voids" that appear in the plastic.  The voids in my handle were mostly in the thin edge of the male half of the handle, which fits into the female half, so they are completely invisible when assembled.  This seems to be because of air trapped in the very small channels in the mold where this edge is formed.  I can find no voids in any exterior surfaces or visible parts of the handle.  I should also mention that there is a small amount of "flashing" around the straight edges where the molds came together, which is easily removed with a razor blade.



One thing that surprised me upon opening the package was that the two halves didn't mate up properly -- the "female" side of the grip was about 1/8" larger than the "male" side.  I emailed Tom, and he said the difference was due to post-shipping warping of the plastic, probably from the heat of the delivery truck.  Since the handles were recently made, they are more susceptible to heat until they cure fully.  His advice was to heat them with a hair dryer and bend the handle back into shape.  Well, it worked, and both halves now fit tightly together!  Tom plans to start oven-curing the handles in the future before shipping, so this shouldn't be an issue with subsequent castings.  Tom claims that his molds are so good, the halves can be mated to the original sticks perfectly...


When I received the blue handle today, it included a blue molded trigger, and a two-piece machine screw that holds the top together.  Anyone purchasing these will have to order additional parts from Happ, mainly the bracket and return spring for the trigger switch, and the trigger switch itself.  You'll also need to put in some kind of insert in the hexagonal window on the back of the stick, which Happ also sells, in addition to thumb switches.  You may also want to order the screws for all these parts, especially the ones that go through the sticks to hold the halves together.

Most of the replacement parts are pretty cheap adding only $12 or so to the cost.  However, the angular metal shaft that Happ sells, which is what the handles usually mount to, is about $24, so I'd recommend coming up with your own way of mounting this to a regular Happ Super or Competition stick.  I am planning on using the same sticks that are currently mounted on my cab, which use a hollow aluminum shaft to mount the sticks to 2 Happ supers.  I will be bending the shafts slightly to put them in a more comfortable position for upright play.  If you have an original Tron joystick, or a Happ heavy duty 8-way, you should be able to mount the handles with no problems.

To sum up, I think these handles were a good investment, and will look a lot more authentic on my Tron CP than the old Raider Pro grips that I've been using.  Tom seems very open to questions, and even offered to replace my grips free of charge if I was unable to get them back into shape.  As soon as I get my red handles next week, I'll be ordering my parts from Happ, and I'll post more pics as soon as I get them hacked to my CP!

[kspiff]

Hm.. maybe I'll get a set of these for my Gorf joystick.. I wonder if Gorf joys have the same 'soft corners' as Tron joys..?

[Brax]

Well, it sounds like the best option if you're ready to spend the cash. They're certainly not cheap but it'll save you the time if you can't search out the "gems".

I'm curious how they'll look. Please post pics of your hack and final installation when you're done. I'm especially curious how the red and blue will look together. What made you choose the two colours?

[1UP]

Well, it sounds like the best option if you're ready to spend the cash. They're certainly not cheap but it'll save you the time if you can't search out the "gems".

I'm curious how they'll look. Please post pics of your hack and final installation when you're done. I'm especially curious how the red and blue will look together. What made you choose the two colours?

Well, I thought the red ones looked cool too, I thought it would be nice to have different colors for player1 side and player2 side, and the colors differentiate which stick gets used for Tron/DOT!  The red one was cheaper too...  

I will definately post pics when I get things set up.

[Nannuu]

I just sent money off for mine today.  Yeeha!

Thanks for the review!

[radiator]

sounds like a pretty good deal to me

low quantity moulding can be quite expensive, and especially since they needed to be colour matched to the originals: masterbatch (exact spec. plastic that's added to the compound to change the specs. (colour, melt flow, tensile strength etc)) is pretty damn expensive (we're talking 4 figures per ton, not that they'd use that much!) - so 2 for $100 seems very reasonable

[RandyT]

sounds like a pretty good deal to me

low quantity moulding can be quite expensive, and especially since they needed to be colour matched to the originals: masterbatch (exact spec. plastic that's added to the compound to change the specs. (colour, melt flow, tensile strength etc)) is pretty damn expensive (we're talking 4 figures per ton, not that they'd use that much!) - so 2 for $100 seems very reasonable

Except that these were "cast" and not injection molded

Still worth the price to someone looking for one of these.  I'm sure a LOT of work went into making the molds, picking out the right materials and playing with colors to get it right.


RandyT

[spidermonkey]

Kspiff
A Gorf stick will not work well in the Tron light cycle stage because of the open restrictor. This has all been discussed before in great detail. Check the archives and you'll find more then you need to know about this subject. If anybody is thinking of bidding on that DOT control panel on Ebay just keep in mind that even that stick won't work correctlly in the light cycle stage of Tron unless you happen to have the original upper and lower restrictors from an original Tron stick laying around.

[kspiff]

Oh.. OK, darn.. in that case, I may as well leave it as a Gorf stick.. no point in going all the way for something that will still play inferior *shrug*

That or make my own restrictor

[MinerAl]

1UP:

Will you still put the glow wire inside these?

[1UP]

1UP:

Will you still put the glow wire inside these?

I'm not sure yet.  I'll probably be mounting the blue one over the  weekend, so I'll try the glowire to see how it looks.  I may end up adding an actual blacklight or something...

[bdsjake]

1UP: how much taller are the Tron sticks vs. Raider pro?   Reason I ask is I just mounted a raider pro on my cp and am worried the tron stick might block view???

thanks,

[1UP]

1UP: how much taller are the Tron sticks vs. Raider pro?   Reason I ask is I just mounted a raider pro on my cp and am worried the tron stick might block view???

thanks,

It's only about 1/2" taller than the raiders.  I will be angling mine forward a little (like the happ heavy duty 8-way) to make it more comfortable, and also to lower the top a bit so that it can still clear when I rotate panels...

[1UP]

OK, here are some new pics of my installation!  


Here you can see all the parts from Happ installed.  As you can see, it all fits pretty nicely, except for the trigger switch, which has very long contact tabs.  I bent the tabs down so they fit inside the handle.

Here's a list of the required parts and their prices:

Item#, Description, (Qty) $PriceEach
43-0013-00  2-56 X 3/8 SCR SLOTTED ROUND HEAD MS ZINC PLATED  (4) $0.28
95-4278-00  SWITCH ASSY DA3 TRIGGER  (2) $2.40
90-1012-00  SCREW,#4X3/4 PHIL.PAN HD SHEET METAL TYPE AB  (4) $0.36
96-4101-00  TRIGGER SWITCH BRACKET HD J/S  (2) $4.41
50-8357-00  SPRING RETURN F/TRIGGER SWITCH F/ ANALOG JOYSTICKS  (2) $1.52
95-4400-06  THUMBSWITCH ASSY,BLK, DA3  (2) $10.49
96-2542-02  BACKPLATE HD J/S BLACK 2 HOLES  (2) $2.30
Order Total: $44.80

As you can see, the thumbswitches were by far the most expensive item, even more expensive than the whole trigger bracket/switch/spring assembly!  Don't ask me why the small pushbutton that screws onto a standard cherry microswitch is so expensive, but I had to have them...  

You'll also need the screws that mount the trigger spring to the bracket, but Happ only sells them in lots of 100, for about $14.  I only needed 4 of them, so I bought the same thing at Home Depot (#4-40 x 1/4" pan head zinc machine screws) for $0.87 for a bag of 10.


Before you can mount the trigger bracket, there's a thin post in the way that you'll need to cut.  Cut off about half of the post, and you'll be good to go.


Happ sells an angled metal shaft that the handle mounts to.  This shaft is too long to be able to mount it to a Super or Competition stick without it being too high above the CP.  The shaft also costs about $24.   I made my own shaft from a 1/2" x 3" plastic sprinkler riser.  I bent the hollow aluminum shaft that I had been using to mount my old Raider Pro handles, and bolted them inside the riser.  I then cut an angle at the bottom of the riser and slid a Happ Super shaft-length spacer onto the aluminum shaft.  I also cut about 1/4" off the bottom of the shaft-length spacer to lower the sticks so that they ride just about 1/4" off the top of my CP.  This helps keep the sticks from hitting the bottom of the monitor glass when I rotate my panels.


Last, I slid the usual Happ wedge-shaped spacer (the one that goes into the top of the Super base) onto the shaft, drilled a 7/64" hole thru the spacer into the aluminum shaft, and tapped a cut piece of a nail thru the hole to act as a rotation restrictor.  The nail fits into a slot cut into the hole in the top of the Super joystick's base, so that the Tron stick can not be turned around backwards, but it can still be pushed in any direction freely.  The nail must not be put too high on the wedge spacer, or else it may pop out of the slot when the stick is pushed down...1/8" from the bottom of the spacer is about right.  Also, the nail should protrude no more than 1/8" out from the spacer, or it will rub on the main spring inside the joystick base.  If it is much shorter, it will not stay in the slot.


Looking good so far!  I'm really glad I decided to go with the two colored sticks.  The red looks good next to the red buttons, and the blue looks nice next to the illuminated blue trackball.

So, maybe this was an expensive project, but I'm really glad that I was able to get brand new handles, with no cracks, wear, or tear.  The Tron shape is instantly recognizable (my coworker knew right away what they were when I got them   ) and are definitely classier than the Raider Pro handles.  I probably won't be adding glowire inside these babies, they look good as they are.  I may possibly add a small blacklight and additional Tron artwork to the splash panel for added authenticity.  I will most likely get one of Oscar's new DOT spinner knobs to complete the look, and possibly one of his up/down spinners to go with it...  

[Spaced Invader]

Man, that looks good! You got me drooling!  

[Frostillicus]

I think the red complements the blue perfectly - I think it would be hard to walk by that machine everyday and resist the urge to just grab both sticks.   Very inviting.  Like walking by a spinner and giving it a whirl...cause it's cool  That looks very professional as usual 1UP.
 
You might have mentioned it and I missed it, but did you put a stronger spring in for the handles or are you just using the same bases from before?

[1UP]

I think the red complements the blue perfectly - I think it would be hard to walk by that machine everyday and resist the urge to just grab both sticks.   Very inviting.  Like walking by a spinner and giving it a whirl...cause it's cool  That looks very professional as usual 1UP.
 
You might have mentioned it and I missed it, but did you put a stronger spring in for the handles or are you just using the same bases from before?

Same bases.  The springs don't feel real stiff with the longer handles, but it doesn't really bother me...  The springs inside a Super are already huge, I'm not sure where I could find springs the same size that are any thicker...

[Aceldamor]

That's really sweet 1UP....I'm a big fan.

I'll have to order some of those bad boys when I get the chedda  

[Tommy Boy]

VERY nice look.   I think it was well worth the investment of time and money.  Thanks for thoroughly writing it up, as usual.

Would these things work with OSCAR's restrictors?  I'm thinking of the Tron cycle stage or Vindicators.

[1UP]

VERY nice look.   I think it was well worth the investment of time and money.  Thanks for thoroughly writing it up, as usual.

Would these things work with OSCAR's restrictors?  I'm thinking of the Tron cycle stage or Vindicators.

I'm sure restrictors would work, they're just Happ Supers.  But Tron actually used an 8-way stick with less sensitive diagonals.  Some folks have suggested competition sticks.  Another possibility is to bend the switch actuators so you have to push farther to get in the corners.

[Sasquatch!]

Wow.  I was skeptical about these at first, but seeing the pictures of your installation has made a believer out of me!  VERY nice job!

[Tommy Boy]

VERY nice look.   I think it was well worth the investment of time and money.  Thanks for thoroughly writing it up, as usual.

Would these things work with OSCAR's restrictors?  I'm thinking of the Tron cycle stage or Vindicators.

I'm sure restrictors would work, they're just Happ Supers.  But Tron actually used an 8-way stick with less sensitive diagonals.  Some folks have suggested competition sticks.  Another possibility is to bend the switch actuators so you have to push farther to get in the corners.

Yeah, I've read the many threads on Tron stick issues and remedies.  I just thought that a restrictor would get the job done for the light cycles, then could be quickly removed for the other stages.  It would be cool to have 4-way trigger sticks for Vindicators too.  Even though you're using a super base, I just thought that the diameter of the shaft spacer on your hack might be too large to work correctly with the restrictors.

[Frostillicus]

Actually, it looks like the diameter of the joystick shaft would be too large for Oscar's restrictors.  I have a set, and they are clearly made for a standard diameter.  Anything wider than that standard diameter would probably not fit all the way into the 4 directional corners.

Maybe Oscar could machine some custom ones for you...

[REBIRTH]

Awesome job 1UP!

[1UP]

Actually, it looks like the diameter of the joystick shaft would be too large for Oscar's restrictors.  I have a set, and they are clearly made for a standard diameter.  Anything wider than that standard diameter would probably not fit all the way into the 4 directional corners.

Maybe Oscar could machine some custom ones for you...

Well, the spacers I'm using ARE the standard Happ spacers!!  The photos on Oscar's site show the restrictors being used with the standard Happ "shaft-length" spacers.  That is all I am using, so there should be no problem using these sticks with them.  I don't happen to care for the look of restrictors though, (they don't give an authentic look) unless they can be hidden underneath the CP and permanently installed...

[AlanS17]

If you've got a steady hand you could probably fashion your own restrictor by cutting out a diamond in the plexi/lexan covering of your CP. Plexi wouldn't hold up so well, but lexan would work like a charm and probably even get smoother with time and some good pounding that joystick into position.

[Wienerdog]

1up,
Is there anything in particular about the Raider Pros that you don't like (other than the lack of authenticity that you are going for in your spinning control panels)?

[Brax]

1up,
Is there anything in particular about the Raider Pros that you don't like (other than the lack of authenticity that you are going for in your spinning control panels)?

Clicky buttons!!!!! Besides that, there's nothing at all wrong with the way they work. It's just your own personal preference.

[1UP]

1up,
Is there anything in particular about the Raider Pros that you don't like (other than the lack of authenticity that you are going for in your spinning control panels)?

Really REALLY clicky buttons!  I mean enough to wake the downstairs neighbors!  

[Wienerdog]

Really REALLY clicky buttons!  I mean enough to wake the downstairs neighbors!  

Okay, but all you do is wake up your neighbors before you play and accuse them of making some "clicky" noises that are keeping you from sleeping.  Tell them you will call the police if they don't stop.  Then go back home and play for the rest of the night, they won't bother you.

I see your point though, I'll have to look into replacing those buttons if I use the Raiders (I like the feel of them though).

[Aceldamor]

I've seen the Raiders modded with cherry microswitches.....shouldn't be too hard to do.