I have a question about the ASCII optical joystick…
I just received an ASCII Stick FT and the joystick feels very stiff. I already knew about the octagonal restrictor and of course there are no clickity microswitches, but I did not expect it to feel so tough!
I’m used to using Sanwa JLF’s and I’ve tried the Seimitsu LS-32 and the Hori knock-off in the American T5 stick, and I was expecting something that was comparably light and springy. This optical stick feels as tough, if not tougher, than any Happ stick I’ve ever used!
It doesn’t seem like there’s any grinding, the feeling is uniform in all directions, and the inputs register perfectly, but it feels like I’m pressing against hockey puck-strength rubber to move it anywhere! It also might be worth mentioning that the stick doesn’t exactly seem to snap back to neutral when you let go… the throw is so short that it still works just fine, but it doesn’t really seem to center itself quickly.
I haven’t opened the case yet to check it out; if it’s completely messed up I might have to send it back to the seller. I want to know if mine’s broken or not. To anyone who’s used one of these before, is this normal?
I’ll check some of mine when I’m at home after the 9-5 grind, but that does sound a bit odd. I would open it up and check the spring. Off the top of my head, mine don’t feel like that at all.
The precise optical sensors and short engage distance still leave it actually quite useable (which is very impressive to me) so it makes me wonder if it mayyyybe is supposed to be like this…
Compared to any other Japanese stick I’ve ever used though, it just seems wrong wrong wrong.
Sorry for the late reply, was really busy. I only compared a couple of them because I didn’t want to take out my boxed ones, but the DC one (the one that you have) does feel a lot different. It does have a mushy type of feel. I haven’t opened it up, but I probably will today. I’ll update if I do. The ones for PS feel like regular JLFs without microswitches obviously.
No need to open anything special for me. Thanks again for all the help, man!
EDIT: I gave it another feel because I’ve been in denial that it’s really so tough. It’s a huge change from a Sanwa JLF but it’s probably not any tighter than a new Happ Competition joystick… and I think it’s growing on me. :looney:
Ok, so I bought an optical ASCII DC FT stick (here) off paik4life and have made a few mods. Few discoveries in case anyone cares:
Seimitsu balltops fit fine.
If your stick has a mushy feeling like deadfrog’s, just replace the spring with an official JLF spring (got mine from lizardlick). The e-clip is a bitch to get off, but damn did it fix that issue.
I plan on gutting this guy and putting a PSX pcb +Sanwa snap-ins in next week, so I’ll report back. Hopefully the 3.3v will be enough!
Will do :tup: Paik told me putting some new buttons in there is pretty much the same process as the Tekken 5 stick mod, so it probably won’t be that interesting
P.S. Ascii optical is AWESOME. I pray that Sanwa will re-introduce their optical Flash1 line sometime in the future because these things are every bit as kick ass as they say :rock:
Hey dude, were you only interested in the Sanwa Flash or the ASCII clone as well? I’ve never tried the original but I’m actually loving the knock-off more and more as I use it. It’s very awesome.
edit: knock-off is way too derogatory… the ASCII is amazingly high-quality
Dremeling the face button holes sucked. As you can probably see, my alignment is ever-so-slightly off due to the imprecise-ness, but I can’t notice it. The start and select Seimitsu 24mm screw ins for start and select kinda makes it look like my joystick has a face. LoL.
I can confirm without a doubt that a PS1 digital-only pad can sufficiently power a DC ASCII Flash clone. Even works on all my converters!
Difficulty of the mod was quite a bit higher than I originally anticipated. The button holes had to be dremeled quite a bit to allow for Sanwa installation. I also had to dremel away some of the unused plastic bits that held the previous DC PCB in place so the PSX pad could fit in. Other than that it looks pretty swank. I would recommend maybe just taking out the optical mechanism and putting that in your already made case instead if possible. Hopefully these pics and notes help someone!
studtrooper, what in the hell is going on with your wiring, man? Hahaha, if I knew you were going to make a mess of that stick I never would have sold it to you : ) I’m glad to hear it works.
Yeah, that’s what I get when I order a haxed pad and don’t do it myself.
EDIT!!1!: Apparently 3.3v isn’t enough! I guess I got a bit too excited and in my testing last night didn’t notice it. My up directional won’t work and it has a hard time going from direction to direction (like charge moves) really fast. It works fine when hooked to a usb converter (seeing how that is coursing +5v into the pad instead of PS standard 3.3v). Damn. Now I have to buy a $20 voltage converter. Oh well.
I have no idea why some of you are having problems with the ASCII opticals. I personally used one from a DC stick in a PS stick for my friend years ago and there were no problems at all.
I’m guessing that the opticals in the DC stick were less tolerant of a 3.3v connection and the ones ASCII used in the PS1 versions were specifically tested for 3.3v. Ether that or there was an onboard voltage regulator in the PS1 versions (since the DC already uses 5v for peripheral items).
