Need some info regarding modding my stick

[Bonus!]

Some months ago I bought a Hori Fighting Stick VX, which was a huge step up from the X360 pad, and almost immediately made me play a lot better. However, I now think that the deadzone of that stick is a bit too big. It feels too "loose". Therefore I would like to replace the joystick with something better.

Here are the questions:

- Seimitsu LS-32 or LS-56?
- what other parts do I need?

This is a picture of the inside of my stick, after semi-detaching the joystick:



I noticed that the joysticks you buy in specialized stores sell that cable separately. How does this one get attached? I didn't want to pull too hard, but is this just plugged into the bottom of the joystick, or how else is it attached to it?

Then, what other parts do I need? I noticed stores sell mounting plates, restrictors, pivots, actuators and whatnot. Which of those do I need?

Lastly, where do you shop? I looked at some previous threads, but some were a bit old. Is http://www.akihabarashop.jp/ still in business? Their site lists a copyright date of 2009. Any other stores I could look into (I live in Europe), besides arcadeshop.de?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!


EDIT:
Here's a post that talks a bit about how easy (relatively speaking) this stick is to mod:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=37805

[beatsgo]

That link you provided pretty much sums what you're looking for, but to answer your question.
-You can use both sticks, but the LS-56 will fit just right on the mounting screws like a JLF stick. LS-32 might require a different mounting plate, but don't quote me on that.
-For this job you need mounting screws, wire cutters, soldering iron, and quick disconnects.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Lastly, where do you shop?

I got the parts for my custom stick from here: http://www.arcadeworlduk.com/

[Bonus!]

Thanks for the input! I'll get an LS-56 then. I don't want to bother with the buttons because I think they're fine. The description in that other post is rather fast-paced. I'd need some more details.

What about these connectors here:



How are they connected to the cables?

Are the joystick and the cable all I need to get started?

EDIT: Now I notice that the standard connectors have 5 cables, not 7 like my stick. How do I solve this issue? Please excuse if my vocabulary is a bit off. In the picture in the first post you see that there are 7 cables coming from the stick, which is different from the standard "5-pin universal joystick cable" you see on every site.

[StarCreator]

You should have 8 cables (signal and unique grounds for each of the four switches) connecting to your stock lever. The 5 pin connector is for PCBs that support a common ground (so only one ground shared by all four switches instead of having a separate wire to each one).

In Seimitsu nomenclature, an LS-56 is the lever with the the switch poles exposed (as pictured, and identical to how the stock lever in your stick is designed). An LS-56-01 mounts the microswitches to a PCB to provide the port for a 5-pin cable.

Since your stock lever doesn't use the 5-pin cable, might as well go for the PCB-less LS-56, and just connect the wires in the same places they're connected now. I'd need to get a closer look at exactly how your cables are connected to the switches in the stock lever to find out what kind of tools you'll need to do this.

[emphatic]

It's easiest to take a photo of each step of the dis-assembly to use as a guide so you won't forget. The wires are soldered onto the microswitches with a shrink tubing covering the exposed wire/solder as to not close the circuit unintentionally. I think the HORI joystick use un-levered microswitches rather than levered ones like the LS-56. If they'd used the same kind, you could just have moved the wired up switches into the LS-56 after mounting it into your VX. It's easier to mount your stick if you remove the switches, and it's less things that can snag on the wires etc considering you're new at this.

[Bonus!]

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

First, here is a picture showing the connection in greater detail:



Emphatic, so I would first have to solder the cables to the connectors, and then do the heat-shrinking. This starts to sound really messy now.

It seems this would require a hot air gun like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Einhell-2000-Wa ... d_cp_diy_1
...but this goes up to 350 or 600 degrees Celsius.

Is there no easier way around? For instance, is there a way to use an LS-56-01, and some kind of adapter. Is there a way to split the five cables into eight for the connector?

It seems that guldberget has done exactly that in the thread I linked in the first post. Here's one of his pictures:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/51/img0537yc.jpg/

[beatsgo]

*Edit: Can't read for shit today*
An terminal adapter would be convinent if you're planning to switch to a stick with a PCB.

[StarCreator]

Can you get a clearer shot of the connector? I'm thinking if those are quick disconnects you can just yank them off and put them onto a PCB-less LS-56, no fuss, no muss.

[emphatic]

Emphatic, so I would first have to solder the cables to the connectors, and then do the heat-shrinking. This starts to sound really messy now.

You can add a 5-pin cable, but you can also use quick disconnects with isolating sleeves:

For Joystick microswitches (.187): http://www.focusattack.com/sanwa-at-187-quick-connect/
Plastic sleeves: http://www.focusattack.com/nylon-187-qu ... on-sleeve/

[Bonus!]

*Edit: Can't read for shit today*
An terminal adapter would be convinent if you're planning to switch to a stick with a PCB.

This might be helpful. Thanks! But could you possibly give me the link to a site where I could buy such a thing? If I google for "terminal adapter", I get results that are related to modems.

[Bonus!]

Can you get a clearer shot of the connector? I'm thinking if those are quick disconnects you can just yank them off and put them onto a PCB-less LS-56, no fuss, no muss.

Here are some new shots. I had a hard time getting the camera to focus properly, but I hope they'll do. Let me know if not. It does seem that there was some soldering involved, though.

[emphatic]

If you take a hobby knife and cut the black shrink-wrap, you'll see the solder underneath it. Take a note of the coloured wires, which goes to the up/down/left/right switch. This is easier if you remove the white restrictor that holds the switches in place and move the lever to see which switches are hit for each direction.



(^^You remove to "lid" by pulling the tabs that point downwards, away from the center of the joystick)

If you decide on using quick disconnects rather than the 5-pin harness, know that the ones I linked to are very easy to apply to the wires. Just remember that if you're using sleeves, these need to go on the wire before you attach the quick disconnect, and before you crimp the connector, check that you've put the sleeving on the wire the right way!

Tip: You can have your stick connected to a computer with the game controller settings open and check functionality for each wire by joining a coloured (function) wire's quick disconnect with a black (ground) wire's quick disconnect and it will light up in the settings screen in your computer so you know that there's contact between the wire and the quick disconnect.

Tip: You don't need an expensive crimp tool, I use a wire cutter when I crimp my quick disconnects. I used to use a crimp tool, but it felt very heavy and clumsy. It was crimping my style.

[beatsgo]

*Edit: Can't read for shit today*
An terminal adapter would be convinent if you're planning to switch to a stick with a PCB.

This might be helpful. Thanks! But could you possibly give me the link to a site where I could buy such a thing? If I google for "terminal adapter", I get results that are related to modems.

Sorry about that. Sometimes I mix up terms, but it's called a terminal strip. They're pretty easy to find, go to a local electronic hobby store or online just typing in "terminal strip electronic".
Either a normal 5-position terminal strip or euro style version should do for you. Just be aware it's hard to find 5-position euro terminal strips, but you can cut/snap one into two seperate strips with varying number of positions.

[Bonus!]

Thanks for all the replies, guys! I now thought about it and came to realize that it's too much of an effort to mod this stick right now. The problem is that I have almost none of the required tools at home, the exception being a screwdriver... I did save this page, though, and will hopefully come back to it one day. Man, it sucks not having hardware skills or any tools.

I still want to play with a Seimitsu stick, though, and did some further research. It does seem that the Hori Real Arcade Pro, like this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hori-Officially ... arcade+pro has a standard 5 pin connector, so in that case it would be as simple as removing the old joystick and putting in a new one, and an LS-56-01 would be the only thing I needed to purchase, right (EDIT: ...and a P=40 mounting plate)?

Here's a link to a French page with some screenshots:
http://www.studiosushi.com/tutorial-hor ... v3-sa-mod/
..and a relevant image:

[StarCreator]

Mounting plates are going to be the tricky part, especially as most Seimitsu levers like to be mounted almost flush to metal (unlike Sanwa levers which are mounted about a centimeter underneath) - if the mounting plate already welded to the metal doesn't fit, you're out of luck. The only stick I know off the top of my head that guarantees compatibility with the LS-32 (I know nothing about the LS-56) are the MadCatz FightStick line, which have mounting plates specifically designed to accommodate it.

[Bonus!]

Every time I think I'm closer to a solution, I'm getting more bad news it seems. However, the following does sound promising:

Seimitsu's "SE P=40" mounting plate is considered by many players as the company's most versatile plate. This plate will attach to a wide variety of case mounts such as:

Hori Real Arcade Pro (HRAP) 3 SA/SE
HRAP V3/VA SA
HRAP 3 and licensed HRAPs such as the Arcana Heart joystick
Qanba™ Q4RAF
MadCatz™ TE
The P-40 covers mounting points of the LS-58-01, LS-56-01 (as used to mount LS-56-01 in HRAP 3), and possesses the same screw mount positions utilized by the Sanwa JLF TP-1.

http://www.focusattack.com/seimitsu-ls- ... late-p-40/

[Bonus!]

After doing more research online chose to order a BrawlStick, which I will equip with some quality components.

[emphatic]

After doing more research online chose to order a BrawlStick, which I will equip with some quality components.

Great choice, very easy to mod!

[Bonus!]

I hope it'll be as easy to mod as the tutorials say.

I'm going to order an LS-56-01 with an octogate plus Seimitsu buttons. According to online sources, I can use Seimitsu PS-14-K or PS-15. Is there a noticeable difference? PS-15 are thinner and minimally cheaper.

[StarCreator]

Any reason you're going octogate? Try as I might I can't do better than despise the things.

I wouldn't use PS-15 buttons unless you have no other option. The only stick I use PS-15 buttons in is my Soulcalibur 2 stick, and you can definitely tell them apart from typical PS-14 buttons (and not in a good way).

You can use either snap-in or Seimitsu screw-in buttons with the Brawlstick by the way. There's a clearance issue using a Sanwa screw-in on the button closest to the lever but this isn't an issue with Seimitsu parts.

[Bonus!]

Thanks for the info on the buttons. I'll cross the PS-15's off the list then.

Any reason you're going octogate? Try as I might I can't do better than despise the things.

A lot of people seem to recommend them. I read a few accounts where people said that it made the LS-56 feel even tighter. So you think the standard square gate is fine?

[StarCreator]

All an octogate does is artificially restrict your movement further than what is strictly necessary to protect the microswitches for 8-way operation. The list of games that are designed around its use is very, very small, and for the most part it will only hamper proper execution. If you really want to judge it on your own you can, but it's not something I would ever spend extra money on.

[emphatic]

The octogate is really a cheap addon and personally, I love it. Especially for games where you often end up riding the gate, like in Out Zone. The LS-56 is really good stock too, but it's nice to have the octogate at hand to avoid the constant guessing on whether it's better or not. It's up to personal preference I guess.