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Robotron Joystick Replacements |
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chadsarcade ![]() Senior Members ![]() Lord of Vectors (tm) Joined: 02 Feb 1999 Location: Lancs Status: Offline Points: 6113 Feedback: 5 |
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Euro Robotrons didn't use Wicos, thet used a pretty unique stick centred by means of a ball bearing on a spring at the base of the shaft. They had a large cylindrical part in black plastic above the mounting plate which mounted through a large hole in a piece of 3/4" ply attached to the underside of the metal CP. This plastic bit sat flush with the surface of the CP - hence the holes for the sticks on these are larger than you'd usually see. They were attached by screws to the plywood from the bottom hence you don't see any bolt holes through the metal CP. Chad Edited by chadsarcade - 15 Jun 2012 at 1:25pm |
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MOS ![]() Newbie ![]() Joined: 14 Jun 2012 Location: Stockholm, SWE Status: Offline Points: 20 Feedback: 0 |
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So these monsters are the originals!? Even though we could see the big holes in all 3 CPs, we still ruled them out as being the originals. It’s such an ugly solution, it just couldn’t be the original set-up! But are you sure they weren’t bolted through the CP? Do you have a picture to back it up? Our 3 CPs all have 8 holes around each joystick. The Up-Down-Left-Right holes fit with the 4 holes on the “monster-joystickâ€, whereas the diagonal holes fit with the traces of a joystick mounting plate (?) with a suspiciously “WICO-ish†look to it. Compare it to the WICO centering grommet in the middle which I put in for reference, and you see what I mean. These trace marks we thought were from the first joystick assembly. They look like – maybe - they could be after some sort of different WICO joystick model, i.e. different from the ones in US Robotron, after which the trace marks would’ve been rectangular (3†x 3.5â€). Oddly, the “ugly-sticks†were in when I bought my Robotron in 1987. This also seemed to corroborate that they were joystick model #2 in succession. I bought my Robotron from an operator, and he bad-mouthed the joysticks, I remember. They were broken, so he threw in a pair new of micro switch sticks (and a second broken pair of the ugly ones). In the picture you can see the bigger rectangular outlines after them. Oddly #2: Why is the plywood exactly as thick as on US Robotron? It makes me think they wanted to use the WICO 4†sticks, like in US Robo. And the “ugly-sticks†does not level with the CP - the “hockey puck†is 2 mm above the CP surface. Why not have a slightly thinner plywood from the beginning, and make them level? Still kind of strange, this, I think. Edited by MOS - 15 Jun 2012 at 5:53pm |
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chadsarcade ![]() Senior Members ![]() Lord of Vectors (tm) Joined: 02 Feb 1999 Location: Lancs Status: Offline Points: 6113 Feedback: 5 |
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Those are the ones. I'd forgotten they had a round body too. It's been 10yrs since I had a euro Robotron here (I have a US one now) so you're probably right on them being mounted through the CP. The wood was likely to stop the CP flexing during frantic games ;)
I think 3/4" ply is just a common size. The start button you have there matches the ones I had too - black surround with a yellow button. I replaced them with translucent blues and put one of the yellow ones on a Euro Joust as I recall.
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tb lilley ![]() Senior Member ![]() ![]() 5 Star Joined: 08 Jul 2010 Location: Sheffield Status: Offline Points: 6253 Feedback: 5 |
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Yeah, those are definitely the original sticks. Only had four holes though when originally fitted:
![]() The sticks on mine where long gone (pic above not mine). So I'm using wicos. From a purist point of view the originals would be better ..... |
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MOS ![]() Newbie ![]() Joined: 14 Jun 2012 Location: Stockholm, SWE Status: Offline Points: 20 Feedback: 0 |
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O.K. - that settles it for me.
And I think I'll do what you did - make a completely new CP and put in a pair of WICOs. Playability first (and looks). But the building conservator in me will save the original CP + joysticks for posterity (a "reversible alteration").
But the Euro repro overlay: do you know where I can buy it, or who used to make/sell them?
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DEFENDER: 999.975 pts (Blue Roms / max difficulty: 99-99 / Bonus ship level: 10K)
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Thebouncer ![]() Newbie ![]() Joined: 09 May 2012 Location: Glasgow Status: Offline Points: 20 Feedback: 0 |
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I have a spare set repro that I had for my smash tv
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