Dang, that was fast. I already have a volunteer to give up $5 for the cause. Any other takers? Need 4 more.
Well, crap. Site’s going down tonight for a day. If I could get the volunteers together prior to that, I’ll get the stuff ordered and on the way and hopefully get a status update ready by then. Maybe the other material samples will have shown up by then too.
Also, if I have extras, I’d like permission to experiment on a clear one. I want to find a relatively small watch battery, and a small LED. Do I have to say what I’m thinking? 
I figure if I get a battery same size or smaller than the hole for the stick, I can jam that and the LED down the hole first, then set the finsert. Problems are 2 - 1, permanently lit, 2, it needs ground. Now I’m thinking I could ground the shaft. Don’t know if that will actually work or not. If it does, then I could put a switch someplace to kill power to the LED. Slick? I hope so. 
EDIT: What am I thinking? It doesn’t need ground. One led leg gets soldered to one side of the battery, and the other to the back of the battery. Drop in hole, fill with a dab of hot glue, set the finsert. Done.
Okay, wow. I have 2 confirmed, and 1 on the fence. One of the confirmed has even offered to pay the whole thing. !!!
Anyhoo, one way or another it looks like I’ll be doing this today. If 2 more people want to kick in, I’ll take those offers. Once I confirm 5 people or $25 total, I’ll place the order.
I’ve been looking into this recently too - I have an idea i’m going to try out at the weekend and will post the resulsts 
Okay, the size difference I was imagining on the sanwa solid vs seimitsu bubble is just an optical illusion. They’re both 35mm. Okay.
Just a quote from the shipping info I got:
“All orders are shipped FOB Wichita, Kansas via UPS (unless other arrangements are made). It can take up to 4 business days (but usually less) to process all orders (even orders shipped by Air) before they ship.”
Just an FYI. Actual transit time via UPS ground is 1-2 business days to me. So if I place an order today, it may not ship until Friday/next Monday, so looks like worst case scenario would be next wednesday that they come in. Almost certainly the finsert samples will be here before that.
Also, their purchase policy. Hopefully you guys are okay with this. I’m hoping this is all just worst case scenario!
"# Damage: Our products are 100% recycled glass, are not flawless and could break during shipping. Small impact marks should be expected on bulk-packed items, particularly in the larger sizes, and are not considered defects. Your order will be carefully packed to ensure it arrives at its destination in the same condition as it left our warehouse. We cannot guarantee that all products will arrive intact. Damage due to breakage less than $40 will be credited to your account; damage more than $40 will be replaced.
Color Consistency/Clarity: Actual colors shipped may vary from what is pictured due to dye-lot differences and/or your monitor. Assortments rarely (if ever) contain red and an even distribution of color is not guaranteed. Our products will contain small bubbles characteristic of recycled glass - you will not receive flawless, optical quality glass."
Yeah, I’m interested in this too… Cool idea.
Okay, I went ahead and put the order in since we’re going to be blacking out here in a few hours. I’ll post the tracking info on it and pictures as soon as possible.
If you’re doing this, in case PM’s don’t have time to cross, $5 needs to go to my handle at hksilver dot net via paypal.
Shipping from me to you will be addressed as soon as I know what shipping will entail/cost. I’d be guessing at this point, and I suck at guessing.
and…we’re back.
I got money from all but one person, order for parts went out yesterday. As soon as I get a tracking number, I’ll post it here for all curious persons, and I’ll take pics when they arrive.
Just an FYI, I just got a shipping notification. It’s UPS:
1Z66E0470363838633
Looks like the stuff will get here on Monday.
Save a diamond top for me 
I’ve personally played on a metal joystick and I hated it.
The joystick was either too cold or hot. My hands would slip off all the time because my palms would get sweaty. And the joystick felt like a mammoth compared to all the happ sticks that I’ve played on.
Note these are metallic-looking, but not metal. Just FYI. They’re glass.
numbski: someone fucked up my direct-D for this payperiod. I’ll get paid on tuesday ^_^;;;;;;;;;;;;
Been there, done that. NP. It’s $5. That, and if you’re in Vegas, then I know where you live.
Probably not actually. I’m just saying right now I’m just glad I didn’t go over into the red. @.@;;;
Well, like I said it’s not a problem, it’s only $5. Whenever you can take care of it is cool with me. Just don’t pull a Shodokan123 on me.
That said…
Someone made a quip either in this thread or in the custom pcb thread about custom buttons, presumably as a joke. Joke no more.
I’m going to hit the hobby shop later today, with a sanwa button and a happ microswitch. The plan is to see if they have any wodden hole plugs of the right diameter and curvature. If so, then affixing a micrositch to it is trivial. The real tricks are mounting, and getting hte right feel. At very minimum you have to contain the button somehow, and one method would be to pillage an existing pushbutton for its housing, or to duplicate it somehow. This is strictly for those who want all-wood sticks, as I was planning on looking for wooden balls as well. Then if someone wants to stain and laquer a stick, they can do it for the buttons and ball-top as well.
If anyone here is good with metalwork though, I have a request - take a sanwa stick apart for me. Remove the shaft. What I would like is to replica that shaft in polished stainless steel. That requires die-cutting one end, and notching the other. Extra credit would be to either use a tube with a small opening in the middle, or drill a tiny hole down the middle of an existing shaft. The reason for the tube request is that if I can thread pair of wrapping wires down it, then I can put a proper switch to an LED inside the ball-top. Stainless is a request simply because I have this thing against stuff that rusts. Sure, you can use a slip-cover, but why not do it the right way? I suppose if I went to a fabricator I could get a bunch of those made (sans the tube idea more than likely), but if someone here has the tools I’d like to see proof of concept first.
FYI, just check on tracking. They’d be here already if it weren’t a weekend. Definitely coming tomorrow. No word on the finserts though…?
That’ll be good. Without the inserts we’re stuck. I’ll call to find out what’s up tomorrow.
Well speak of the devil:
So I should have everything I need today.
They’re here!
I’m in the process of taking pictures and making sense out of what I need to do next, but here’s a quick overview:
From left to right: A white Sanwa ball top, a clear Seimitsu bubble ball top, and then the newcomers…torpedo metal, emerald iridescent, clearys iridescent, oily amethyst iridescent, and a pink/peach iridescent.
I took several more pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/numbski/archives/date-posted/2007/06/18/
Wow, that didn’t take long. We have our first casualty. I did a pink one first, and the inserts need a 5/16" hole. I already had a 1/8" glass cutting bit here, so I figured I’d run a small hole first, and widen it out with the 5/16" bit. I learned a fast lesson here, which is take it slow, take breaks, and make sure both the ball and bit have time to cool off. I really started leaning into it, and the top shatters, and I now have slightly iridescent hands, with little bits of glass. Ick.
I’ll be fine. I’m going to go to the hardware store later and get the 5/16" bit, and I might pick up another size in-between, and perhaps one smaller than 1/8". You really have to be careful with these things! Don’t try this at home kids. 