EarthwormBen
Newbie
- Credits
- 1CR
I'm currently not an owner of any arcade cabs however I'm a huge fan of authentic fighting, beatemups and some shmups, as opposed to the console experience.
Here are my daily drivers....
The Tekken Stick
So this is the first stainless steel arcade stick I made. It was purchased from an American store known as AFS and I had a custom colour known as 'Lime juice green' applied. In 2016 this was my first adventure to both custom hardware and Korean arcade hardware. The Lever used is a Samducksa 309 Helpme, and luckily has first run parts inside so has value both sentimentally and on the market. A Brook Ultimate Fight board has been added to make this stick compatible at many venues and tournaments, and was built with Tekken in mind due to the ergonomic layout of the 'expanded SEGA 2P' layout and the larger neutral deadzone the lever provides. In the picture all the button buttons are Seimitsu pn-14
Since I have bought this stick I have upgraded the lever to contain a Sanjuks V6 Korean lever, and replaced the buttons with Samducksa 202 mx buttons for faster activation, although the control panel buttons remain Seimitsu pn-14s
The 2D/Retro Stick
Another Purchase this year from AFS, I wanted to create a dual 2D/ Retro stick. The 2D stick fully works atm however I am still waiting for a retro board to finish this off.
This second case features 2 new switches, the first allows for switching between boards, whilst the second is a tournament lockout switch, which only allows the 8 face buttons to be used, stopping the player from being disqualified from a tournament (something I have wanted to attempt wiring in).
The 2D/Retro stick features a Sanjuks V5 lever, however, a squircle neck has been fitted to allow better access to corners, a lighter tension grommet, and Omron A5s have been fitted to allow for faster movements (as opposed to accurate), and a larger actuator has been fitted to give next to no dead zone. This makes playing one of my favourite classics (XMEN: COTA) a joy. Again the main face buttons are Samducksa MX 202s with the control panel buttons being Seimitsu PN-14s
The Collection
So you may have gathered I am no longer a huge fan of Japanese levers, I don't mind using them occasionally but I definitely have a preference for a Korean setup. I recently gave away my collection of Sanwa parts as they were just taking up space and the only Japanese style lever I have left is the sanjuks v3 which is not currently produced as Panasonic stopped producing one of the switches.
V3
As you can see the V3 is very similar to to the Seimitsu ls32 except that actuators are made from acetal and the gates are easily switched out with four screws.
V5
I am currently using the only V5 I have, but the advancement from that is the V5C. This is exactly the same, featuring Omron A6 switches, a very tight chamber for the grommet to compress properly, a tapered neck, and and an acetal body to ensure the dimensions are exact. The only difference from the V5 to the V5C is that the V5C allows for "neck" or "collar" of the lever to be changed in height or shape.
V6
Exactly the same design as the V5 here except for two substantial advancements; firstly a aluminium shaft has been added (which is compatible with anything that uses a Samducksa DX shaft), and the lower half of the lever is now made of machined stainless steel. This brings the advantage of lower centred weight, and also durability (only really noticeable to the top level players I guess). Lastly switch spacing has been decreased... I'm honestly not too sure why this is, maybe this is preference of the creator, although his average English, and my very poor Korean don't make for great conversations.
Fujin V3 w/ F3 mod kit
So this is the Fujin V3, considered to be one of the best off the shelves Korean Levers you can get. The grommet is different as it is made by IST as opposed to Samducksa. It is very accurate although normally comes with a tension grommet so still your arms will hurt. This lever has been modded with an F3 kit to allow it to fit in standard Japanese cases. Whilst I say this one of the best levers going at the moment, personally its a hit or miss lever, and many others seem to agree, it requires either a lot of modding or somebody whom has used a Korean lever for many years to get the most from it.
Samducksa (Crown) 309 HelpMe
This was my first Korean lever, currently in the picture; the original Panasonic switches, and clear tension grommet have been removed so that they do not get damaged with 'like' parts in their place.
So if you were going to buy this lever today would I recommend it? yes... sorta... First of, I was using this lever for two years with Panasonic switches and not knowing how valuable they were, until my next lever came with Omrons, unfortunately today this lever comes with Gersung A3s and whilst the switches are not bad, they are so inconsistent, that you may have to buy 8 switches just to find 4 good ones. Secondly, the spring that's in the picture? just throw it, I have only kept it, as this is a first run lever and I want all the original parts, but now this is a £20-£25 lever and al the spring does is take away from the smooth feeling of the grommet and add crunch into that. Other than that, this is personally the perfect entry level lever in the Korean area.
Here are my daily drivers....
The Tekken Stick
So this is the first stainless steel arcade stick I made. It was purchased from an American store known as AFS and I had a custom colour known as 'Lime juice green' applied. In 2016 this was my first adventure to both custom hardware and Korean arcade hardware. The Lever used is a Samducksa 309 Helpme, and luckily has first run parts inside so has value both sentimentally and on the market. A Brook Ultimate Fight board has been added to make this stick compatible at many venues and tournaments, and was built with Tekken in mind due to the ergonomic layout of the 'expanded SEGA 2P' layout and the larger neutral deadzone the lever provides. In the picture all the button buttons are Seimitsu pn-14
Since I have bought this stick I have upgraded the lever to contain a Sanjuks V6 Korean lever, and replaced the buttons with Samducksa 202 mx buttons for faster activation, although the control panel buttons remain Seimitsu pn-14s
The 2D/Retro Stick
Another Purchase this year from AFS, I wanted to create a dual 2D/ Retro stick. The 2D stick fully works atm however I am still waiting for a retro board to finish this off.
This second case features 2 new switches, the first allows for switching between boards, whilst the second is a tournament lockout switch, which only allows the 8 face buttons to be used, stopping the player from being disqualified from a tournament (something I have wanted to attempt wiring in).
The 2D/Retro stick features a Sanjuks V5 lever, however, a squircle neck has been fitted to allow better access to corners, a lighter tension grommet, and Omron A5s have been fitted to allow for faster movements (as opposed to accurate), and a larger actuator has been fitted to give next to no dead zone. This makes playing one of my favourite classics (XMEN: COTA) a joy. Again the main face buttons are Samducksa MX 202s with the control panel buttons being Seimitsu PN-14s
The Collection
So you may have gathered I am no longer a huge fan of Japanese levers, I don't mind using them occasionally but I definitely have a preference for a Korean setup. I recently gave away my collection of Sanwa parts as they were just taking up space and the only Japanese style lever I have left is the sanjuks v3 which is not currently produced as Panasonic stopped producing one of the switches.
V3
As you can see the V3 is very similar to to the Seimitsu ls32 except that actuators are made from acetal and the gates are easily switched out with four screws.
V5
I am currently using the only V5 I have, but the advancement from that is the V5C. This is exactly the same, featuring Omron A6 switches, a very tight chamber for the grommet to compress properly, a tapered neck, and and an acetal body to ensure the dimensions are exact. The only difference from the V5 to the V5C is that the V5C allows for "neck" or "collar" of the lever to be changed in height or shape.
V6
Exactly the same design as the V5 here except for two substantial advancements; firstly a aluminium shaft has been added (which is compatible with anything that uses a Samducksa DX shaft), and the lower half of the lever is now made of machined stainless steel. This brings the advantage of lower centred weight, and also durability (only really noticeable to the top level players I guess). Lastly switch spacing has been decreased... I'm honestly not too sure why this is, maybe this is preference of the creator, although his average English, and my very poor Korean don't make for great conversations.
Fujin V3 w/ F3 mod kit
So this is the Fujin V3, considered to be one of the best off the shelves Korean Levers you can get. The grommet is different as it is made by IST as opposed to Samducksa. It is very accurate although normally comes with a tension grommet so still your arms will hurt. This lever has been modded with an F3 kit to allow it to fit in standard Japanese cases. Whilst I say this one of the best levers going at the moment, personally its a hit or miss lever, and many others seem to agree, it requires either a lot of modding or somebody whom has used a Korean lever for many years to get the most from it.
Samducksa (Crown) 309 HelpMe
This was my first Korean lever, currently in the picture; the original Panasonic switches, and clear tension grommet have been removed so that they do not get damaged with 'like' parts in their place.
So if you were going to buy this lever today would I recommend it? yes... sorta... First of, I was using this lever for two years with Panasonic switches and not knowing how valuable they were, until my next lever came with Omrons, unfortunately today this lever comes with Gersung A3s and whilst the switches are not bad, they are so inconsistent, that you may have to buy 8 switches just to find 4 good ones. Secondly, the spring that's in the picture? just throw it, I have only kept it, as this is a first run lever and I want all the original parts, but now this is a £20-£25 lever and al the spring does is take away from the smooth feeling of the grommet and add crunch into that. Other than that, this is personally the perfect entry level lever in the Korean area.
