Joystick Mod Question

Plague · Post by **Plague** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 8:08 am

One of the reasons that I quit playing D3 was the fact that I was wearing through hat switches in 4 weeks, then having to wait two weeks for a replacement (despite my replacement plan from Circuit City). So after getting bored with all the groundpounders and beating Freespace a few times, I figured I'd give D3 a try on a new config (putting the slide on the keyboard this time). It was so... incredibly... backwards to me.

So I get this idea. What is 8-way and designed for gaming abuse? A D-pad. How hard would it be to replace the hat switch on the Freedom with one?

WarAdvocat · Post by **WarAdvocat** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:15 am

Plague, were you sliding 2 ways or 4 on the Hatswitch?

I'm still playing around with configurations due to hat switch fragility. Currently I'm playing w/ 2 different configs. One is kind of exotic & has all slides on the keyboard. The other is the standard WASD FPS-style config...with slide L/R on KB (A&D) and slide U/D on Hat.

Plague · Post by **Plague** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:35 am

I was sliding 4 ways. I could've tried something like that, but for the most part, the up and right switches on the hats are the ones that are blown.

Anyone know if my idea is feasible?

FunkyStickman · Post by **FunkyStickman** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:16 pm

I think you should buy another $10 joystick, and use them both. Since I've been playing with my Playstation dual joystick, I've been tossing around the idea of getting two sticks (like two Cyborgs) and using both at the same time. My current config gives me 4 buttons on each stick and a HAT on one, with the Cyborg 290 (or similar) I could use 6 each, plus HATs on both. Plus, how bitching would it look to show up at a LAN party and pull out TWO joysticks, and then proceed to school people...

Naaah. Would be cool, though. I find using two sticks makes switching slide directions a little slower, but much smoother. It feels like I can "flow" better than on/off slide controls.

But hey, try anything. You never know.

Plague · Post by **Plague** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:37 pm

That would be pretty cool... but that's not the point of the thread. I'm trying to keep my current config and get rid of the annoyance of being without a stick for two weeks (and no, I don't have a Best Buy close... and CC sucks).

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 2:37 pm

On the Freedom stick, the thing which wears out is the actual plastic toggle which activates the HAT switches: not the switches themselves.

The HAT toggle has 4 splines which press against the switches, and the switches have ceramic caps which gradually wear away the thing plastic splines until there is so much plastic missing that it won't activate the switches.

This means the best way to "fix" a Freedom stick is to disassemble it and grind down the splines in the area where they wear against the switch caps.

Now, take four very small piece of stainless steel wire, approximately 2mm in diameter. Straighten them and use super-strength araldite (You'll want a two-part epoxy resin for this) and glue them into ground-down spaces such that they are the same height as the original splines.

You might have to grind down some of the glue in between the plines if you use too much glue.

Reassemble the device: now you have stainless steel rubbing against ceramic - and this won;t wear out in a hurry and no need to change your config!

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 2:37 pm

*double post*

Plague · Post by **Plague** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:18 pm

Dang. If I'd known this a year ago I wouldn't have quit. Now I'm gonna suck. Thanks anyway Mobi!

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 2:27 am

Another thing is that you have to check the solder connections of the switches themself. They tend to be crap (supposedly Logicrap changed the process but I wouldn't believe it). If a solder points starts to give out you will still get a contact if you push the hat a bit harder. This force required increases over time until you finally break the hat assembly.

Once you fixed the hat setup you'll deal w/ worn out pots on the stick tho -- the Freedom used to last longer than a 3DPE (~3 months vs. 1-3 weeks).

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 5:54 am

buy crap, get crap, eat crap...

nothing like buying joysticks that have a rated life of less than 6 months... not for me

Try some quality gaming equipment that lasts for years and quality parts when you need them.
you also want to talk about programming