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TRON joystick shafts for 49way/Super/Competition! Spider Kits are coming!
Sasquatch!:
Guess I might be the first guy to make the leap, since I'm in the process of ordering one of these right now. :) Granted, it's for a Competition and not a 49-way, but I'll sure to post my findings!
(BTW 1UP, check your email if you haven't, por favor.)
1UP:
Got your email, reply sent! ;)
BTW, I should have some info on price and specs on the spider kits this weekend.
NoOne=NBA=:
--- Quote from: 1UP on April 02, 2005, 02:17:50 pm ---BTW, the site says they mount in a 1/2" hole, which is smaller than the holes in the Happ plates, so they should work in either pre-punched or blank plates with a little drilling.
--- End quote ---
Mine would fall completely through the stock holes in a DOT/Xeno stick.
That's why I had to make my own plates.
I'm not sure if Happ is using the same holes, or not; but, if they are, the RS buttons won't work in the stock holes.
The stock hole on my DOT plate is 5/8", and the outer cone on the RS buttons is just a hair over 1/2".
I don't think they have much of a lip on them, so the 1/2" hole may be proper for them.
1UP:
When I said the button shafts were smaller, what I really meant was larger... :-[ So the RS buttons are larger around than the holes in a Happ thumbswitch plate. Make it a little bigger and they should work, or there are always the blanks. Good thing I just bought a 1/2" bit.
In other news, I just received an old Williams 49-way from Lilwolf, will do some playing around with it. One thing that seems promising: The spacing of the mounting holes on the spider plate look to be the exact spacing of the screws holding the bottom of the Happ 49-way together. A longer set of screws and a repro of the old plate would make mounting a stock spider to the Happ stick quite easy. The only problem is the small size of the hole in the center of the spider.
I also received today a repro spider (home molding job) that has no metal inserts as the NOS ones do. It is very stretchy (easily stretches to 200% of its normal length without stressing) but seems stiffer than the NOS spiders, which might make them well suited for the extra leverage exerted by the Tron shafts. The center hole is easily stretched over the shaft of a Happ 49-way without any major distortion, so I will have to do some durability testing to see how it holds up.
One drawback to the repros is that they have a LOT of bubbles in them, which could turn into tears pretty easily. I think the best approach will be to have new ones cut from solid rubber with a CNC water jet as I had first planned. I will also look at prices for injection molding, but the setup tooling on molds tends to be high.
1UP:
Ok, looks like the spider kits are going to be a reality! The spiders will be made of a durable rubber, injection molded with metal inserts. The plate will be mountable on a Happ 49-way with included hardware, and will not change the joystick depth. Will work with or without the Tron shaft. Spiders will also fit an original Williams 49-way with a different center insert (provided). Pricing will be close to my previous estimate. More info and prototype pics to follow...
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