question reguarding wico leaf switches from 8-way joystick those "white tabs"

[mrclean]

OK so on the Forum GinsuVictim provided me with a wico stick and threw in some leafs with it which has these white tabs to i guess better help active it when moving the wico joystick. So i went and ordered brand new leafs from Bob Roberts and they didn't come with the white plastic tab pieces, I tried installing them onto the wico base, and they didn't fit correctly and the joystick didn't really make any contacts with the new leafs. So how do i remove these white tabs and utilize them with the new leaf switches ? Or did i order the wrong parts, or need other parts etc. ??

Here is what im talking about:


Ones on the top are the ones that Ginsuvictim sent me ones on the bottom are from bob roberts

[SirPeale]

The leaf switches you got from Bob aren't for Wico sticks.

You can't get Wico leaf switches any more, unless you look really hard.

What's wrong with the leafs you already have?

[mrclean]

They have soddering on them and i want to use .187 quick disconnects

I see i can just literally pull out those plastic tabs, but they won't fit bob roberts ones, the holes on bobs leafs are too tiny to fit the male end of the plastic tabs

[polaris]

looks to me you could get the 'sodder' off quite easily, with a 'soddering' iron

[mrclean]

I don't own a soddering iron, can i sand it ?

[SirPeale]

I wouldn't.  Get yourself a soldering iron.  You can find really cheap ones, but if you're going to be in this hobby for any length of time eventually you'll solder stuff.  I'd get a decent unit.

[leapinlew]

I wouldn't.  Get yourself a soldering iron.  You can find really cheap ones, but if you're going to be in this hobby for any length of time eventually you'll solder stuff.  I'd get a decent unit.

Totally agree.

Just spend the $15 on a cheap little solder kit. Watch some youtube videos and you should be good to go.

[mrclean]

I saw this will this work ?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062745&cp=&sr=1&kw=vacuum+desoldering&origkw=Vacuum+Desoldering&parentPage=search

[shardian]

The chinese knockoff 4-way leaf joystick switches work great in a real wico. I had to transfer 2 because I broke the fragile connector blades on the original. You basically just snap the white thing onto the new leaf switch.

[Kevin Mullins]

I saw this will this work ?

No, not by itself.
You would still need a soldering iron ..... the thing that actually gets hot.
Just get you something like this to get started:
Soldering Iron Kit

I broke the fragile connector blades on the original.

One good reason I would recommend soldering the wires to the switches.
The "blades" on the Wico's aren't designed for quick connects really. They are too thin and are easily bent or broken while trying to push a spade connector onto them.
Not that it can't be done .... but sucks when you do happen to mess one up.

[ChadTower]

I have some flipper EOS switches that look damn close to the Wico switches I keep meaning to try out.  

[Kevin Mullins]

Wouldn't surprise me if they were damn close.... could be all kinds of leaf switches from pinball machines to choose from and try out.

[ChadTower]

Yeah... I held them up to real ones the other day and they were the same length.  One tab was longer for actuation a bit farther out but that could easily be clipped off as the extra length is beyond the contact.  It's possible that the arms were thicker and thus harder to bend, though.  I may give it a test while I'm rebuilding the stick on my Berzerk in the near future.

[mrclean]

just curious about what people think of the knock off wico's such that on lizardlick or bob roberts site the one thats 11-12 bucks ?

Lizard Lick::

Since Wico is long gone, this Made In China knock off is as close as we can get, without charging an arm and a leg. Can be used in 2, 4 or 8 way operation, but you probably already figured that out... Available in any color you want, as long as it's red! Please note: new stock has a black base!

[kayoteq]

Yeah, I just de-blobbed a bunch of leafs today. Doesn't take a minute to do. reflow the rest around the tab you can't get, let it cool, and
test a connector on the tab to make sure it will fit post-deblobbing.

About $20 at the radioshock will get you set up. Bob has them as well.

Don't forget the desoddering iron as well. Either the heated one

 or the simple suction thingy

will work fine. The blue suction one is what I prefer for most things.. one less heated item to worry about,
and there's never a stable way to set the hot one down it seems.

A soddering iron with the stand (and often adjustable wattage)
is a bit more, but you have a more stable place to put the iron between tasks.