Seimitsu LS32 in Blast City, can it be done easily?

[kamiboy]

I finally decided to splurge a bit on my Blast City and as per the internet ethos decided to go with Seimitsu sticks instead of the Sanwas mine came with. Big mistake I quickly discovered upon trying to mount them. Seems in terms of dimensions they are very much incompatible with the stock control mine came with, which is the kind that has what looks like an S-plate already built into the insides. I thought the S plate of the LS32 I got would fit right in, but it is way too large for it.

I have been googling around a straightforward answer is not forthcoming. Mind you, I do not want to spend a fortune on a new control panel, and I get conflicting reports on whether there is a universal mounting plate that will actually solve my issue. It seems even if a mounting plate could help, there is the issue of the LS32 being mounted further back than intended which would make the stick shorter.

So, anyone here who has actually managed to mount a Seimitsu LS32 inside a Blast City control panel that is designed for Sanwa sticks, or should I see about sending these back to the seller and give up on the dream combo everyone is raving about?

[Sumez]

Funny enough I made a similar thread when I wanted to get a Seimitsu stick in my Astro City (a LS-56 though). Can't remember Blast City control panels, but I think they are similar, right?
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=58798

Ultimately there was no issues at all, it's just a question of getting the right mounting plate - I'm pretty certain I ended up using the VF plate I brought up myself.

[Rastan78]

You could get the NT shaft to lengthen the 32. Or just a Seimitsu with longer shaft like 70, 56 or Nobi. I think the new SEL-70 is great for shmups. Also now there are so many mod kits and parts for the Sanwa JLF you can turn it into pretty much whatever you want should you want to go down that rabbit hole. No reason you absolutely have to go with LS-32 IMO.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I have LS-32s in my New Net City. Same thing, they're intended for Sanwa. You just need to get an adapter plate. Note that even with an adaptor plate they'll sit slightly lower in the cab than Sanwas would, but not by more than 5 mm at most. They're perfectly playable like that (I had a friend get to 2-5 Hibachi in DOJ and he didn't complain about the sticks ). The only issue I've had honestly is they're just barely too short to comfortable wineglass style grip where your fingers go under the stick, at least not if you have big hands. If you grip the stick with your hand over the stick, you'll have no issues using a mounting plate to fit them in.

[Rastan78]

https://arcadeshock.com/products/seimit ... t-ls-32-38

This is the NT shaft for LS32

[kamiboy]

Funny enough I made a similar thread when I wanted to get a Seimitsu stick in my Astro City (a LS-56 though). Can't remember Blast City control panels, but I think they are similar, right?
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=58798

Ultimately there was no issues at all, it's just a question of getting the right mounting plate - I'm pretty certain I ended up using the VF plate I brought up myself.

Yes, the mounting on your Astro seems to be identical to my Blast. Looking at the VF plate I am a bit surprised it works, I need to go home and have another look, but to my eyes the mounting holes seem to be lined up with where the four screws on LS32 are placed, but on the VF they are further away.

As for why it has to be LS-32’s, well, because that is what I bought. Sending them back for a refund will cost me the shipping, which is quite expensive in Denmark. I wish I had known beforehand so I could’ve gotten all the right stuff from the same place from the get go.

[Rastan78]

Vf plate won't fit bc it matches 56 holes which is a compact stick. Look for something like this:

https://paradisearcadeshop.com/products ... pter-plate

[kamiboy]

Yeah, I was afraid of that. I had seen a universal plate mentioned some places, but could not find it for sale anywhere in Europe. It is available in the US, but the shipping alone will cost more than what I gave for both sticks combined, and when the friendly local import office is through with it that premium will have been doubled. I guess my best bet is to just bite the bullet and return the sticks, then get a pair of LS 55-01's that come with the VF plates by default. That would work right? What is the difference between the 55 and 32 anyway, I only got the 32 because some forum thread mentioned those as a dream combo with sanwa buttons.

[Rastan78]

What about
https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/products/ ... ticks.html

[kamiboy]

Ah, yeah, that should work, I think. The shop carrying would have been perfect pre-brexit. Alas that little folly lumps the UK in the same bucket as North America and Japan, the bucket of places to avoid purchasing from, especially anything in a low price range, since import duties will triple the retail price. Fortunately a shop in France is carrying what looks to be the exact same item on eBay. I'll give it a purchase, along with some shaft extenders also available there, fingers crossed.

[Sumez]

Probably a good idea to have some shaft extenders around just in case. I bought one along with my LS-56 for the same reason, but ended up not needing it. If I can find it, you could have it for free, but I don't know when we're gonna meet up next.
Although the base of the stick is slightly lowered, it's actual perfect as it is. It's the more shooter specific Seimitsu model due to its shorter throw distance, but it's in my P1 slot and I've used it for pretty much anything I play on my cab. I love both that and the LS-32. My LS-32 however is in fightstick where the base of the joystick is almost flush against the surface of the chassis.

[kamiboy]

Actually, I already ordered the shaft extenders along with the plates. They were not that expensive, so no real loss I suppose. I'll see which way I prefer it. The short throw distance is what I am a bit weary of losing with the extenders, since a longer shaft means the tip has to move more to reach the same location at the base. I guess I'll just have to try and find out.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

The metal shaft extenders you can get suck, they raise it far too much.

@SFKhoa may have a 3D printed solution he can direct you to that might work, I know he suggested it to me.

[kamiboy]

Yeah, the 1.5 cm they extend the shaft with did sound like bit too much. I think I’ll just see if I am comfortable with the stock length, it prolly is not that bit a deal.

[Sumez]

Otherwise you could try getting an LS40 or 56 as well. Having an extra 32 around is never a bad thing

[kamiboy]

I dunno, i feel like what set out as a bit of sprucing up of ye old cab has already cost me the original price if the cab itself.

Getting stuff for this thing is absurdly expensive. Just a few cables to enable six button support almost cost me a 100 Euros. And the new buttons, sticks and extra associated expenses for the plates cost dearly as well. And the less said of the Mistercade I decided I suddenly wanted over the RGB-Pi that was already in it, the better.

Of course I still need to get cap kits to replace all the old, probably never replaced caps in the PSU and monitor. Once those expenses are added I have certainly spend more than the original price of the cab on just a bit of sprucing. None of it actually needed, mind you.

[NoAffinity]

I dunno, i feel like what set out as a bit of sprucing up of ye old cab has already cost me the original price if the cab itself.

Getting stuff for this thing is absurdly expensive. Just a few cables to enable six button support almost cost me a 100 Euros. And the new buttons, sticks and extra associated expenses for the plates cost dearly as well. And the less said of the Mistercade I decided I suddenly wanted over the RGB-Pi that was already in it, the better.

Of course I still need to get cap kits to replace all the old, probably never replaced caps in the PSU and monitor. Once those expenses are added I have certainly spend more than the original price of the cab on just a bit of sprucing. None of it actually needed, mind you.

Aren't candy cabs fun? I'm in the same boat on my aero city. Have certainly put more into it at this point than the original price I pad for it. But oh do I love playing on it.

Well, I dont really have anything useful to add to the topic, just some commiseration.

[kamiboy]

Well, I might as well add the final addendum to this topic that often is missing in online forums, the conclusion. The plates arrived, and after some effort I managed to get them to sort of fit. The thing is the LS32 is simply too large, as others have pointed out, so even with the adapter plates getting them to fit is not straightforward. In the end I had to cut away a bit of plastic from them to be able to screw the plates into the cabinet, and even then it was very fiddly. I only realised the cutting was necessary for the 2nd player stick, and as such I am pretty sure the 1st player stick screws are now horribly stripped, fixing the joystick permanently to the machine. Oh, well, I have no intention to switch them out.

The sticks don't feel very different to me at all, to be honest. In addition, the problem I had, with some inputs being a bit flaky, some repeating, was not solved by the switching out of the buttons and sticks, so either this is an inherent thing with Arcades or it is the hardware I am using inside, though I did switch that around as well.

The recap remains, and on the topic of sunk cost, well, in my case I wish I used my cab more often to justify the price of all these upgrades. Not to mention the effort.

I am dreading the recapping of the monitor the most, I hope I don't have to take out the CRT from the cabinet in order to remove and service its board, I really, really hope I can just take it out from the back somehow. But the longer I look at it nestled in there, the more convinced I am that I will have to do the very risky removal operation.

[Sumez]

The sticks don't feel very different to me at all, to be honest.

From what, though? From Sanwa JLF? In that case, no, both are high end all-round sticks and some of the best you can get, so there should be no massive advantage to changing.
Personally I like LS-32 better than JLF, but both are great. The only reason I keep one JLF in my cabinet is for TGM, which benefits greatly from the diamond style restrictor.

In addition, the problem I had, with some inputs being a bit flaky, some repeating, was not solved by the switching out of the buttons and sticks, so either this is an inherent thing with Arcades or it is the hardware I am using inside, though I did switch that around as well.

Curious what exactly you're experiencing? Repeating inputs on joystick motions? That sounds really odd, I'm not sure how that would even be possible unless both the old and new joystick somehow has a microswitch with the same defect.

[kamiboy]

The problem was one press would manifest as two, and sometimes presses would not register. First I thought it was dirty contracts, so I cleaned them, then I thought the buttons and stick were worn, so I swapped them out, but the issue was still there. This was a problem in the RGB-Pi I had before, and also saw in the MisterCADE I just got. In the mister you can adjust an option for polling frequency to be 1000 per second or some such, which I think helped.

It might be a problem that only manifests itself in emulation, and might not be on real arcade boards, of which I have none. I do have a Neo Geo 1 slot though, I should hook it up and see if I still see similar issues there.

I have hear of this issue before in a different context, it has a name, where like, a trigger signal is not inherently binary but kind of bounces, which results in ambiguity. That being said, this was never an issue on console joypads, so I don't know why it would be with microswitches.

Could of course also be due to several other things, such as the wiring, or the cab internals, maybe the PSU, who knows, it could be anything. What it is though, is annoying. I am not used to inputs being flaky like that.

[Sumez]

It might be a problem that only manifests itself in emulation, and might not be on real arcade boards, of which I have none. I do have a Neo Geo 1 slot though, I should hook it up and see if I still see similar issues there.

You probably should. I have never experienced issues like that on any arcade cabinets I have played, and I've played a lot. I've had it happen with worn microswitches, or at least some OBSF pushbuttons, in which case it was just a question of replacing that button.
Going back to TGM, that's a good example of a game where your run would be completely ruined if something like that happened even once. It's absolutely not acceptable for arcade games

Would be interesting to pinpoint where the issue actually is.