Arcade Stick Etiquette - please read. I had to repair my stick due to negligence

Regional Matchmaking Northwest
1

A minor repair, but nonetheless avoidable.

There is a small rubber guard where cords meet controllers, I believe it’s called a stress relief (pic). As noted, this part of the cord needs to not have stress on it.

I know a lot of us grew up wrapping cords around controllers tightly to keep them neat and tidy. This is NOT GOOD FOR THE CORD. Cords are meant to be moved but not to be tightly wound like this.

I really don’t mind lending my stick out. What I do mind is when I lend it out and it is returned with the stick wound up around the stick, like the top left of this picture. I know it’s in good intention but I have never handed someone my stick with the cord like that. See the bottom right for a better idea - the figure eight. Not nearly as much tension there.

Here is what happened to the stress relief on my stick. Blurry pic but you can see that it had split open. Inside, the wire was frayed and getting worse and worse. I think it was the ground(?) to the wire? The cord is not meant to exposed like that, either way.

I’d like to kindly request that nobody ever tautly wrap the cord on someone’s stick like that in the future. :angel:

Do what you want to your own stick, but please be courteous if you are using a stick that is not your own. If you can’t wrap the cord without putting a bunch of tension on it, don’t wrap it at all.

With some help, shrink tubing, a heat gun, some zipties and 2 sets of hands I’ve gotten it under control (and now the cord has some slack to be pulled on to help prevent further damage).

On top of the figure eight suggestion (which doesn’t quite stay put without a twist tie of sorts), here is how I wrap my cord on my stick.

Long story short, think twice about how you handle people’s belongings please. I once wanted to blow up on somebody at Zach’s for picking my stick up by the stick. No, you do not GRAB THE BALLTOP AND LIFT A HEAVY OBJECT BY IT’S MOST DELICATE PART. You can reach down a few more inches and grab the base.

This has been a public service announcement and I just don’t want anyone else’s stick to get damaged in any way. Think before you act upon someone else or their belongings. Thank you for your time.

2

^^^ one of the reasons why i dont let most people use my stick. even though im guilty of doing this to my own stick… xD thanks for the info elias.

3

Interesting. I am guilty of doing it the wrong way - I’m going to try it your way Elias next time.

I think the worst is when you scrunch up the cable and put it in that little cable storage area in the TE, it’s just gross.

4

Well I should clarify - you can wrap it like that but just leave a few inches of slack around the top and then wrap the rest lightly and it’s all good.

I think the TE box thing seems kinda cramped for a cord too. :lol: <3 my SE.

EDITO: Yep, I learned about cords from SNES/NES pads too that ended up frayed at the top and eventually broken.

I’ll give you one that’s what she said. Gotta pick just one.

5

I’ve gone through many NES and SNES pads winding cords that way, fraying lots and lots of wires in the process. My older brother worked at an old FunCo Land (before Gamestop bought everyone) and he taught me the ways of winding cords around themselves to prevent wear. Been doing that ever since.

I can put a “Thats What She Said” somewhere in your post, Elias. :rofl:

6

actually that space in the TE is perfect for the cable. i worked with all sorts of cables through college and learned proper ways of wrapping cables up. that figure 8 or accordion method is perfect and the part of the cable that goes inside of the actual case of the TE is protected by the space’s natural limiting of the angle that it can be bent when putting the cable in. and i been pro at wrapping controller cables since psx, come see me.

7

harharharhar

8

Goddamn whores always fucking up the arcade sticks.

Be it at Silver Coin back in the day on the Marvel machine or a random Tekken Tag cabinet at Tacoma Mall there is always someone who will just abuse arcade parts (TE Sticks included).

Who grabs a fucking TE stick by the damn ball top? I could understand if like my sister did that shit cus she would have lno idea what a arcade stick is, lol. I’m assuming this individual at least knew how to spell TE Aracade Stick?

9

oic. I’ve never owned a TE so I don’t put people’s cords in their boxes. (That’s what she said?)

A good analogy, you wouldn’t want to do that either!

10

I try to make it a point to really try and put the TE cable back in the space on anyones stick. I always do it to mine and I am also bothered by people who wrap the cord. (Also, I hate when I try to put someones in the compartment but due to them wrapping it around their stick it doesn’t like to fold back into a nice compartment sized space.

11

Good information Elias. I cannot count how many times I have lent out controllers (tekken) to have them come back to me wrapped up past the minimum bend radius.

Never lending out my stick again after my TE stick got ruined at Bloody Knuckles. wear and tear is expected but the thing had only been used maybe 10 times and now the left directional works 33.3 (repeating) of the time.

12

This is actually a non-issue for TE sticks because the hole for the cord to travel through the compartment is the extra space you’d wanna create when wrapping it around the TE. Also, I’m pretty sure a Sanwa stick is more than durable for lifting it from the ball top. I’m pretty sure way more stress is actually put on the stick when in normal use, especially since lifting it up only puts about 10lbs of pressure on that point.

With that being said, if I borrow someones stick I’m not gonna be an asshole and wrap it that way or lift it from the ball top.

You’re probably just unlucky with this one. At least this is an easy fix as you just have to order a specific part and drop it in.

13

Double post

14

i agree with cords, but they are easy to soldier back on so not too much issue.

I also feel that too many players blame sticks. ITS NOT THE STICK, IT IS YOUR OWN SHITTY EXECUTION!
DONT BLAME THE STICK. LOOK AT YOUR COMMAND INPUTS!! MACHINES DONT MAKE MISTAKES PEOPLE DO.

If u think sticks are delicate, I urge u to open the stick up, and take it completely apart.

I am sure u will discover that sticks are VERY durable. Its not some fragile magical components inside. Its strong ass metal, and very durable plastic.

if you think your stick is damaged, its most likely wear and tear. u should try replacing springs, microswitches before trying to blame people for fucking up sticks.

Airthrow/julian should post up some truth.

15

easy solution, install a neutrik adapter.

though I’m not going to disagree with the OP as I’m pretty lax about loaning my sticks out. on a couple occasions I have witnessed some just down right asshattery on peoples parts, nothing that would “break” a stick but just totally unnecessary. if a friend loaned you their car would you take it to a parking lot and do neutral drops until the transmission fell out? or smoke the tires until they were blad?

yeah sticks are durable, but that’s not excuse to not treat someone elses with respect.

16

I loan peoples sticks all the time and do neutral jump fierces. Is that the same?

17

wuzzat?

Exactly.

18

Can you tell me how to fix this, I read your post but it didn’t explain how to fix it. I didn’t see this thread and wrapped it around and now it’s broken.

19

Best way to probably do it IMO, is cut cord, desolder from main PCB, and replace the cord.

20

No not at all, I don’t advise cutting the cord unless it’s truly very frayed. I didn’t see his post but he pm’d me.

And to make this post have meaning, I used heat shrink tubing around the cord, and… you guessed it, used to heat to shrink it (heat gun). Then threaded the cord further into the case, and with new zip ties arranged the cord to be as tensionless as possible resting inside the stick.