I built an arcade stick out of Happ Parts about 7 years ago for DC. It collected dust for a number of years, and I just busted it back out a few weeks ago.
It still works perfectly, with the exception of "down" on the joystick. It is a Happ Ultimate, I have tried swapping out the cherry switches, but still nothing.
Here's the weird thing, it works if you pull the joystick down just far enough to hear the switch click, and you can hold it there and it will work fine. But, if you pull the stick farther than that, it stops working. Does anybody have any idea at all why that would happen? It makes no logical sense to me, since the switch is depressed during the whole down-stroke.
It's driving me nuts, I obviously can't play any games like this. Any ideas?
DIY arcade stick troubleshooting
Since you determined that the microswitch isn't at fault, inspect the actuator and see if there are any dings or dents in that. Perhaps while it was in storage it took a hard hit and caused the actuator to deform. I have one from a Comp that was dinged and now has trouble performing smooth sweeping motions due to catching a dent. More than likely it's catching the dent and causing the nipple on the microswitch to depress at an angle.