I just bought a used Mortal Kombat PDP stick and hitting the diagonals is a real pain. The area where 2 microswitches are engaged at the same time is very small/unforgiving, acting almost like a 4-way stick. I added 4 layers of electrical tape around the square actuator which completely fixed the problem 100% by engaging multiple microswitches sooner as I push the stick towards a diagonal. My question is: is there a real/permanent fix for this? Does anyone make an oversized actuator for the Happ or IL sticks?
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Apparently I’m living in the past using American components ;p
ok these are two of the ways to help this. What i call the corner actuation is “wiggle room”, how much the the joystick can move in the corner while still activating both switches. this is whats frustrating about american sticks, because even with IL, i found even the smallest differentiation of height in the shaft can affect wiggle room.
I first tried adjusting better diagonals by trying to widen the edges of the inside hole the actuator rides around. this because from theory this is the part that would wear in an arcade cabinet (hence why people remember them being better because the sticks would be wore in). the down side is that if the hole is too wide the joystick will “catch” the edges when using far throws which feels awful.
but what I’ve also figured out is that you can also adjust the height. the more the actuator is condensed down the less it will travel. So what I’ve done is sand down the pivot cylinder. But YOU MUST BE CAREFUL because if grind down too far the stick will have too much travel. It’s just a little bit of sanding and testing. But if you do go too far, Focus Attack now sells Happ/IL replacement parts including pivot cylinders.
it also helps to get used to the sticks because believe me I know your pain. I’m great with em now but when I started with american sticks I hated em.
I’ve also heard the default sticks in the PDP sticks arent (Tho from pictures I’ve seen it looks like a happ Comp) the best but I’d say just see if you can adjust to the point you’re happy with it.
I say it now, American style parts sucks for anything precision. What American parts excel in is durability.
You want a more precise joystick, go for Japanese or Korean parts
I agree, but what I wanted was the button layout and nostalgia just for playing the old MK games. My HRAP 4 is used for everything else 
I think the J-stick from ultmarc which is a copy of the Sanwa JLW can fit as a reasonable replacement for a American style stick.
Another alternative is a LS-40 with a longer shaft installed
I made a mod for my Happ joystick that made it feel like it had corners. It wasn’t so much making it “bigger” but “more square.”
The actuator has a bevel on four sides of it. I just cut an aluminum block that was a simple 4 sided cube, with the bottom and top being as wide as the widest part of the original Happ joystick. I then drilled a hole as wide as I wanted the collar to be. To make the larger space behind the collar, I put it on a lathe and shaved it. After every pass I’d test it, always making sure to cut too little instead of too much. Once I got something that fit, I just slapped it on there and started to party.
It’s pretty squeaky if you don’t grease it. A quick spray of White lithium grease quiets it right down though.
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Holy crap. I’d love to have a Bridgeport and lathe to do this. That’s pretty hardcore. Nice!
You could easily make a wooden version without special tools though. You just need to make sure your measurements are all on point. cut out the basic shape and use a disk sander to make fine adjustments. You could make the collar and hole with a drill press. The hole in the center is the hardest part. Without that you just have what is essentially a rectangular cube.
Hmmm, I DO have a few 3D printers at work…
In that case this might be something worth checkin out. charliedrums designed a square gate for the american stick.
I ordered one, but I’m not holding out much hope that it’ll be very different than the Happ actuator. I’ll post my impressions
Isn’t that just a normal actuator for the IL EuroJoystick? Not too different from the one on a suzo/happ super.
Yep. Just curious if it’s actually the same size or not. I’m assuming it is
it is about the exact same, but it is made of nylon and will last longer than the happ one
It’s a great idea, the only problem is the actuator spins and isn’t always parallel to the switches. If there was a way to fix that, then this would make the iL EuroJoystick pretty damn perfect, aside from how bulky it is.
I think what I think is the opposite problem: premature diagonal actuation, or can’t find a cardinal conundrum. When Dragon Punching, it picks up the diagonal when I intend to pass it and do straight from forward to down.
Do they make “undersize actuators” for Sanwa with a square/diamond switchable gate?
No, but they make oversized.