So I just got my Eightarc Fusion Ebony in the mail a couple days ago, and after using it just a few times, the stick squeaks whenever I move it left or down and let it go back to neutral. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this?
You might try spraying some WD40 in it(after removing it from your stick) although I’m not 100% sure if that won’t mess with it. Be careful.
Don’t use wd40. It can eat up certain types of plastic. The same for lithium grease. Their is a special joystick lube that sanwa makes, maybe someone could guide you toward some… if you just have to get something local I think graphite lube (lock lube) will work well…
I thought lithium grease is considered very safe for plastics?
Nope! Lithium grease is beastly for metal on metal where something like WD40 will drip. Hmm like a squeaky ball joint on a car. I put lithium grease on my Yamaha psr-500 synth a few weeks ago because it had a key that felt sticky. It didn’t have any negative effects under the key that I noticed, but on top of the key it ate away the plastic. It took the clear coat off my plastic key and ate up a tiny layer, I’d say a little less than a 16/th of an inch, but it is something I could see and feel.
The reason is that Lithium grease has petroleum in it, which is hell on some plastics. I used to be a store manager of an Autozone and the only products they sell that might work well on a joystick would be graphite lube, (lock lube) which I’d expect to work GREAT in a joystick and to a much lesser degree dielectric grease might work, but I would be wary of it and use graphite lube.
Dow Corning Molykote 44 Medium Grease Lubricant
I am actually having the same exact problem. I just bought an Eightarc Ebony and after 4 hours of use I am experiencing some unusual sounds. In addition to squeaking, it makes a slight crunching/grinding noise.
Never use WD-40 on arcade parts, WD -40 is design to repeal water and break up rust not lubricate plastics.
Don’t use graphite ether. Graphite does conduct electricity which can short out a stick, especially if it gets on your PCBs.
I recommend Down Molykote 44 or Shin-Etsu G-40. armi0024 of Paradise Arcade looking to carry Nyogel 779ZC which is a standard for early arcade sticks.
You want to use a dry silicone grease that is not conductive, and stay away from CPU thermal grease as that stuff acts like glue.
sounds like you physically got some dirt or debris inside the joystick
This would be such an issue since graphite is a dry lube and would not run, drip or get on the pcb. The top of a joystick pcb doesn’t exactly a lot of exposed contacts to short it out anyway. The lubes you mentioned are obviously preferable, but it you need to something and you live in a rural area good luck getting those without ordering them. Graphite lube would be at any parts store or walmart, and probably cost at most $2.49…
>10$
maybe exist something better…
but
molykote>shinetsu
larger speed, small resistance
Actually your DEAD WRONG, Graphite dry lube dose spread, and I seen quite a bit of electronics ruin by graphite in my time.
And even if it does not spread, Graphite conducts electricity, conductive fluid or power in a stick is a very very bad idea.You may as well submerge your stick under water. Conductive glues and lubes contain graphite, the lead in your pencil which is graphite conducts electricity.
There is an actual real reason that Seimtsu, Sanwa, Happs, IL and so on recommend only dry, non-conductive silicone based grease
Such as Shin-Etsu G-40, Dow Molykote 44, Nyogel 779ZC and other silicone lubricants.
Good find for a small cheap container of Molykote.
I do disagree on Molykote being better. Shin-Etsu G-40 and Dow Molykote 44 as the exact same mil specs. The only difference is whose name is on the container.
Let’s neglect that I have built joysticks for myself for years, and used graphite lube with no problems. Let’s not even mention that you are a 2010 member and I used to play Alpha 3 and the CVS series back in the 2000ish era in the arcades and train for hours with an agetec stick on my dreamcast that I put graphite lube in.
Let’s completely forget that most custom joysticks are based on 5 volt setups with low amperage so the chance of this “shorting out” is almost impossible because their isn’t enough current to arc. If you do get something on a joystick pcb that causes a connection to short through the metal contacts showing on the top of a joystick pcb, guess what happens? You get a command. An input on the screen. Nothing nuts happens, nothing burns out.
I’m not telling anyone to pull out the whole pcb like the underside of a ps2 pad and douse it in graphite lube. If it is used responsibly to lubricate the plastic parts on a joystick, it will only get minor residue on the shaft, and it will never creep down or make it to the joystick pcb. Even if it did make it to the joystick pcb, the top side of it only has a few far away and hard to reach places where a short could occur. If you did short any of those contact points, it will not break the joystick pcb, it will just short it out and an input will occur.
I don’t feel the need to reply to you again if you can’t stomach advice from someone that was a DC/AC electrician at a shipyard who also used to wire dreamcast PCB’s into P360 setups. That meant finding and testing pcb leads such as a constant 5v and random buttons all without a do it yourself guide to go by…which meant “gasp” a lot of “shorting things out” to find certain inputs. Nothing ever broke…
And I worked on engineering equipment for the US Marine Corps, I did everything from automobile electronics to rebuilt an engine on Caterpillar D10 bulldozers, I repaired water pumps, boat engines, fuel dispensers, did some welding and machinist work, rebuilt a generator with nothing but JB Weld, bailing wire, a flatten coffee can and duct tape, can tear apart and put back together a M-16A1 rifle in seconds, dabbled in some electrical and network line work. I also wired dreamcast PCBs into tri-mods, I had modded Dreamcast Agetec sticks, I modded SNES sticks, I modded sticks no one else would mod, I wired quad-modd sticks before, modded SNES pad to work on the PS3, did dual-stick mods, beta test alot hardware and games and refurbish many game consoles, some had to be complete rebuilds.I know how a multimeter works and how to probe around a PCB, and “Read How-to-guides?” I wrote How-to-guides on Tech Talk, Instructibles and even iFix it. I seen things break in ways MIT students say should be impossible to do so.
All I know you are lucky your graphite use did nothing, but I seen also what happens when things go wrong, I understand how even the smallest amount of voltage can kill a PCB.
It is one of the first things taught in the A+ certification for computers.
We can play who has the biggest dick game all you want. The fact of the matter is graphite lube has no place in a arcade stick. What is pissing me off is that you are offering bad advice that could get someone else to ruin there arcade stick.
Oooooookay. How about this for an alternative, get some Super Lube synthetic grease with Syncolon. It’s $5 at a local hardware store, for 3 oz which is more than enough to last a lifetime. SAFE FOR PLASTIC. It’s the only good lube I’ve found that’s available locally, and it’s dielectric so your PCB’s will be safe.
There really isn’t a big dick game to it. I did a lot of other things I don’t care to mention. The point is that you blurt something and act like it is the gospel truth and said graphite lube will ruin a pcb. I brought up valid points saying it wouldn’t ever make contact with a board, and even if it did it would only make contact with the joystick pcb in a freak chance and not cause any harm. I’ve been there done that on multiple occasions for the past decade and never had an issue. So their are obviously exceptions to what you claim as impossible. You claim it runs, that’s news to me. It practically adheres to the plastic it’s applied on. It doesn’t drip out of lock cylinders or get on keys every time you use the lock, so why would it get on the joystick pcb?
A quick google search comes up with these quotes…
“Graphite has advantages in situations where wet lubricants might not be practical, such as where ELECTRICITY might be a hazard.”
“When the liquid evaporates, it will leave a thin layer of pure graphite to lubricate the surface. Graphite grease in the form of graphite lubricant is designed to stick to a surface.”
I never claimed that it was the go to lube. I am just trying to point out that I have plenty experience with it, never had problems and it will work fine if you are in a pinch.
the same how Coca Cola and Pepsi…
for me is not the same
shinetsu is clearly thicker and less slippery
this is not big difference (to giving advantage on gameplay) but it is perceptible
offer molykote is large maybe exist better silikon than medium44
my distributor does not import small tin and tubes… only 500g-1kg
No hard feeling or anything. You got the brunt of me reading some very very stupid statements on the internets, including the “LOTR is a rip off of Harry Potter, Princess of Mars rip off Star Wars and Dracula ripped off Twilight”. We all know the LOTR series was wrtiten before JK Rowling was born, Princess of Mars is a almost a 150 year old book, and Marry Shellie’s Dracula was written in Victorian times based on a legend of a actual person from the middle ages I just know some poor sap is going to read the graphite lube thing, go crazy with it and wonders why his stick is brunt out. Then that guy is going to post in Tech Talk my stick don’t work, all I did is lube up the joystick with graphite.
Trust me, if you know what you are doing it work in a pitch, I know alot of quick fixes, many are only meant to be emergency fixes only. Like using beer in your car radiator, panty house for a timing belt, chewing gum gaskets, water for lube in a differential, stuff that works for the 3 to 5 miles it take to get to a actual repair shop.
don;t waste your literary talent
Completely off base now, but some ghetto fixes sound terrible and they actually work long term. I had a Cressida for $150 that ran strong for a year or so, well it always had a front crank seal leak, but I didn’t feel like investing time in a $150 car. I put in random stop leaks and it never fixed it. It was bad enough that in my daily 90 mile drive the car would lose 2-3 quarts of oil (I had tons of oil for free, it was throw away and I was the store manager) Well, my crazy ass uncle was like, “put a small can of brake fluid in your car, it’ll seal those gaskets” I put a can in, it worked perfectly, and I drove the car for about 2 years daily after that incident.
I will say I’m an idiot and you can’t put power steering fluid in a clutch master cylinder. I learned that the hard way.