Kind of. This is a weird way of stopping the pivot popping problem but it’s simple, and it works.
What you need:
1/16" thick rubber washer. I used this.
7/16" e-clip
edit: you can also use a solid washer as long as it’s under 1/16". Isn’t as effective though.
First up, remove the c-clip.
Search around and you see lots of people saying that taking the the c-clip off is the worst thing that’s happened to them, but nah. Take some pliers and rip the two tabs on it apart like they’re a dude who got tossed into a crowd in a 70’s zombie movie. Just treat it like the trash it is and it’ll come off.
Put the washer on top of the actuator, put the e-clip on, and there you go. No more jumpy ls-32. If you want to make things easier you can take off the gate and switches so you can pull down on the actuator as you’re putting everything together.
Side effects:
Diagonal edges on the gate take slightly more pressure to hit until the rubber washer gets broken in.
Only works with the throw of the stock square gate.
Anyways this mod doesn’t fix the root of the problem, it just stops the stick from over traveling enough to pop the pivot.
So why not a 1/16" metal washer? Because the reduction in throw wouldn’t let you hit the diagonals on the gate. A rubber washer is a compromise that lets you pop the pivot if you really push, but still lets you hit the corners easily on a square gate.
Anyways I’ve been using this for a week and really like it. If anyone tries this I’m interested to know if it works out, I’m not sure if manufacturing tolerances will even let it work consistently on different ls-32s.
Nice solution,
The other fix I seen in the past was someone replace the whole shaft assembly (shaft, pivot, spring cover, spring and actuator) on a LS-32 with the equivalent parts from a LS-40.
Now that said, I wonder if someone can make a aftermarket pivot for the LS-32?
it makes the actuator closer to the base, leaving less wiggle room, for the spring. reason why the diagonals are stiffer is because at that point, the spring is already compressed to its max, it’s actually in turn stretching towards the opposite end of the direction, from what I notice.
I did not use the washer you suggested but instead hacked up a random hori dustwasher, widened the hole so that the ls-32 shaft could pass.
interesting fix. will test it on actual play in the future
Thinking on the LS-32 hack using LS-40 parts…
What if we clone the LS-40’s pivot (in derlin instead of nylon) but make the inner hole diameter to fit a stock LS-32 shaft?
That’s different than the LS-36 hack.
The problem with the LS-36 hack (which is what replacing the LS-32 shaft assembly with an LS-40 one amounts to) is that you end up with a different joystick. It does NOT perform like an LS-32 after swapping parts… different throw, different feel.
Some of us like the LS-32 pretty much as-is.
I demo’d replacement actuators for the LS-32 recently and I just did not generally care for the way the switch activation was altered. I did not like the larger actuator, period.
Honestly, there are maybe only a few games where I’d definitely rather play with the Hayabusa over the LS-32 otherwise the LS-32 pretty much behaves well enough on most fighting games and other games in general. Sure, it can be tweaked but at what point does tweaking turn a product into something else? The whole Seimitsu LS-joystick line is pretty much like that and it’s gotten confusing as hell but that’s another topic, another line of discussion and company philosophy.
The pivot popping happens but it’s usually a case of people putting too much force on the joystick and overcontrolling it. It happens a lot less when you get used to the joystick. Every control lever I’ve ever used has its performance and personality quirks… the LS-32 is definitely one of the more manageable ones where I’m concerned.
I do agree that the pivot bearing is one of the bigger design faults of the LS-32 but it’s not insurmountable. I don’t think the LS-32 has changed much over the years regardless. I sometimes wonder how the LS-32 might have been altered performance-wise with a different pivot bearing and pivot recess redesign but I have a feeling Hori kind of already answered that question…
Honestly, I don’t think a pivot redesign would solve all the joystick’s issues. There are definitely a few quirks on the microswitch activation but I wonder if those aren’t caused by a combination of the microswitch choice with the gated tabs, the base arrangements of those switches, AND the actuator design of the LS-32. I frankly don’t think the shaft diameter or length makes much of a damn anymore as long as the other things are designed well and the overall balance is taken into consideration. Again, it’s possible Hori already gave at least an alternative solution to that problem – there’s no direct answer until somebody actually tackles the LS-32 directly and that doesn’t involve changing it into LS-44 or something else like Hori’s already done in the past!
I got my own partial answers on the LS-32 base situation after buying two short-shaft Zippyy joystick clones late last year. The Zippyy’s use cheaper, alternate microswitches and these definitely feel softer than the Matsushita/Panasonic switches the LS-32 uses. They’re harder to activate IMHO and you definitely have to be more “abrupt” and controlled with stick inputs. When I demo’d the LS-32 replacement actuators on a Zippyy, I liked the feel even less than I did on the LS-32. Neither actuator in this case was useable on a clone stick with softer switches…
Funny thing is that I’ve also placed LS-32-01 substrates onto the Zippyy clone base and the Zippyy, clone or not, definitely handles differently than the LS-32 with the same switches. IF I weren’t convinced by the situation with the Zippyy switches already, I was even more convinced after that test that there are definite quality issues with the plastics used in the Zippyy joystick. I don’t think the Zippyy actuator is as good as the stock Seimitsu LS-32 actuator for sure, and didn’t care for the softer Zippyy spring, either. I’d say there are at least a good 2-3 parts in the base and shaft assembly of the Zippyy (spring, actuator, spring holder, pivot{?}) that make it inferior to the LS-32 as a fighting stick…
Injection molding isn’t as expensive as it used to be. You can have a mold made for significantly less that what I was originally led to believe. Do you think that there would be a market for an LS-32 replacement pivot?
IF there are enough people that think it’ll make a difference AND the part doesn’t cost that much, sure!
Look at the aftermarket for JLF parts out there…
The LS-32’s the number two joystick after that one and even though there is a huge drop to the number two slot, that’s still a lot of joysticks.
At the very least, it’s an upgrade option. I don’t think it’ll turn the LS-32 into “Super-Stick” by any means but if the part doesn’t disintegrate or crumble, or grind itself into dust it should be fine.
I’m not sure that I buy the pivot bearing as the source of the popping. It could be something with the design of the (base) space it goes into. I haven’t experienced popping like that on the JLF, LS-40, LS-58, or the Hayabusa so this is definitely an “LS-32 thing.” The pivot bearings on most of those joysticks aren’t much different from the LS-32 other than maybe size differences in two of them (JLF, LS-58) and the ridging on the JLF-like Hayabusa pivot bearing. The Hayabusa pivot bearing also slides into a V-shaped valley space unlike the other joysticks that have cup-shaped valleys in the base for their pivot bearings. That’s a significant difference there as well as the plastic and ridges the Hayabusa pivot bearing uses…
I never had issues with the LS32 and the pivot popping issue. Ive felt it afew times when i first started playing on the 32 many many moons ago, but either i dont hit it hard enough or im just used to it and dont notice it. Im the kind of guy that keeps my sticks stock. Ive tried afew spring etc in other sticks just for shits and giggles, but stock form is good enough for me. Aside from swapping the c clip and making shaft covers for the ls32.
Id be interested in the after market pivot just to see how it makes the ls32 perform. As of late ive been playing more on ls40 and ls32 and my ls56 has kinda been on the backburner.
It’s hard to tell from the pictures on slagcoin, but the ls-32’s actuator looks more angular than the jlf and ls-40’s. I could see that causing popping problems.
The ls-36 mod uses the ls-32’s housing, so I don’t think the housing the problem. Haven’t tried that mod though.
I’ve never encountered huge problems with the LS-32 aside from a certain amount of mushiness in the microswitches… that only seems to pop up in certain games like Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD. In other games, that problem doesn’t seem to register as much.
My own LS-32 mods are limited to making shaft covers from JLF CD shaftcover kits, removing the C-clip and replacing that with 3/8" E-clips (although 7/16" E-clips work fine as well), and going back and forth between spring mods with 1, 2, or 1-and-two-halves of an LS-32 spring. On most of my LS-32-01’s, I’ve also gone ahead and cut a notch in the side of the secondary restrictor gate (in the two-way restrictor border) so that I can remove the PCB without having to unscrew the secondary gate ALL the time. It’s a minor mod for convenience’s sake but saves on having to take out two screws every time I want to remove the PCB! Without that cut in the secondary restrictor gate – which I never use but is still useable after that slight mod(!) --, one of the PCB base screws gets covered up by the plastic.
I settled on one-and-a-half spring mods after a while when I felt much more than one spring affected the LS-32’s performance too adversely. I definitely feel that it needs a bit more than stock tension, though.
For a while, I was upset that Seimitsu didn’t make shaft covers for the LS-32 but went ahead and crafted them for my own hardware. I’ve done mods of mostly standard solid black JLF-CD shaft cover kits but after Sanwa introduced transparent plastic covers I did three of those. I probably won’t do more than a few more shaft cover mods in the near-future seeing as I am probably buying Hayabusa’s as my favored replacement joystick from here on out. The H-stick feels like a tweaked LS-32 to me at any rate with none of the vices I encountered on the JLF and LS-32. The H-stick is definitely ultra-convenient with its compatibility with aftermarket JLF parts; that means no more shaft cover modding necessary since all JLF shaft covers will fit the H-stick as-is.
Seimitsu is introducing shaft covers for new-production LS-32’s later this year… presumably the dustwasher will either be the same as the dustwasher used for the LS-40/-55/-56/-56/-60 joysticks or a new design; the existing bare-shaft LS-32 dustwasher is too narrow to fit over a jacketed/slip covered shaft. It’ll be all-black AND only black plastic I bet. Knowing Seimitsu, you’ll have to buy new LS-32’s with the covers installed and it’ll be a while (if ever) before they sell them separate… It’s too little, too late for the rest of us who already modded JLF covers for their LS-32’s!
Regardless of what people feel about the pivot or not, it’s always interesting to tweak a stick. I mean, why not?
For a pivot you don’t even need to have it injection molded, you can get those easily cut using something like a lathe. You could even 3D print them. I fully agree with @Darksakul on this, if the LS-40 pivot works in a 32 then all you’d need to do is make one designed to work with the 32 shaft and get it cut out of delrin.
I remember now derlin is one of those plastics that works well with tools.
Make a derlin or even aluminium actuator on a lathe wouldn’t be so hard even if it is for a test batch.
new spring base, add a metal washer in there too. imo those are the attributes of what makes a JLF feel as smooth as it is, if it can be somehow achieved on an ls-32, then whoot.
another issue is the LS-32’s “cam housing” itself, its not a smooth curve, there’s a bend to it near the bottom, kinda funky.
I have plans for metal washers in Seimitsu sticks. One thing I’ve noticed in my comparisons of JLF vs Seimitsu is that not having the washer means fine plastic dust gelling with the lubricant grease and making a mess around the pivot and lower shaft. The metal washer would stop the two plastics from grinding on each other. I notice this more in the 56 though.
I think the spring holder is probably fine. It just needs the washer. Hayabusa washer is the same size as the plastic on the 40 and the JLF is the same size as the 56. Not sure about 32.
That reminds me, yet another part not the same between Hayabusa and JLF. Washer.
The LS-32’s (naked) shaft is quite a bit wider than the uncovered LS-40 shaft.
I doubt you can use the same metal washer on the LS-32 shaft… I’d wager that the metal washer hole would have to have a wider diameter. The basic LS-40 shaft assembly parts just don’t fit onto the LS-32 shaft with the exception of the shared spring design.
The LS-32 shaft diameter is the big reason why the Seimitsu shaft covers for the LS-40/-55/-56/-58 don’t fit onto the LS-32 shaft. The plastic of the LS-40 type shaft covers is too thin to file down to fit the LS-32 but is adaptable to fit the JLF (which also has a thinner ‘naked’ shaft than the LS-32). The LS-32 type dustwashers themselves are easily adaptable to the LS-40 type shafts… (The dustwasher of the LS-40 is the one thing that has a wider diameter [hole] than its LS-32 counterpart.) You just have to file away some of the inner ring’s plastic. The original LS-32 dustwasher mold only had to be mildly altered to produce the dustwashers for the shaft-covered LS-40+ series joysticks.
A shaft-covered JLF is slightly wider than the LS-32 and the shaft plastic itself is significantly thicker than the LS-40 type shaft cover which is why it was possible to mod JLF shaft covers to fit over the LS-32 shaft. You still have to shave off a significant amount of the internal shaft plastic – 50% in my experience – to fit the JLF shaft onto the LS-32 and even then the height has to be reduced 3/16" to fit the short LS-32 shaft. The pivot area on the shaft is lower on the LS-32/closer to the balltop handle thread screws on the LS-32 than it is on the JLF. Of course, that point’s moot for new LS-32 buyers now that Seimitsu is introducing official LS-32 shaft covers later this year.
My bigger complaint about the LS-32 is the horrible dead zone wiggle room. I mean, on a fresh JLF, you can’t move the shaft by blowing on it, but on a Seimitsu stick, you can.