I’ve seen all kinds of awesome and unusual joystick tops on custom sticks online; are there any online stores that sell stick tops other than the traditional Sanwa and Seimitsu tops that everyone sells?
Google says: “no”.
As a matter of fact, when you use the search parameters “Sanwa Seimitsu tops”, your SRK post comes in as the no1 link.
I checked google myself before posting and came up empty. I’ve seen tops that are shaped like 20-sided dice, tops that have the Street Fighter 2 fireball icon in them, etc. but I’ve got no clue where to track them down.
Well the 20 sided dice one, I’m sure somebody took a drill bit and then screwed an insert into it. They are probably custom made 1 time projects.
I keep a close eye on custom sticks, and anytime I’ve ever asked where someone got a custom ball top, it was always a special thing where they had it custom made. I’ve never heard of 3rd party ball tops, unfortunately. There is currently someone in the process of making some really nice looking custom marble/swirl/pearl designed ball tops in the Trading Outlet. I’d suggest you contact them ASAP since we don’t know how many he’s going to make. Any time a community member starts a project it could be something where they make only about 100, or it could end up being successful enough for them to make 1000s.
I was going to suggest the same guy doing the marble tops but I couldn’t find him in the Tech Talk area…
(NOTE: Thread listed here for Custom BallTops in Trade Outlet – ENJOY!
http://shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=235704 )
Lots of threads about custom ball tops in the Tech Talk if you use the Search function.
Ultimately, the problems with custom ball tops and bat handles are going to be
a) availability – like Clembo said, many of these are limited production runs;
b) price – ties into the production run and materials used;
c) size and balance.
Point c) is pretty important. Sanwa and Seimitsu have been making arcade parts for decades.
Most modders have a few years at most with regards to customization. If you’re only going to change buttons, springs, the PCB, or artwork, that really won’t affect the joystick balance.
A heavier, larger handle could potentially alter your joystick performance. Too heavy and it could break something over time, too.
I’ve played with solid colored and transparent Seimitsu and Sanwa ball handles with no problem. I know they’re basically the same mass.
I’m not so sure about custom handles, though. My concerns would be durability (unproven in many cases) whether they upset the stick “balance” as it were.
In spite of the limitations of colors and art schemes, I kind of prefer sticking to the proven equipment as it were…
I’ll say this for custom production ball handles… For my money, they don’t get much better than the Seimitsu bubbletops. Personally, I think the red and light blue look best. I wouldn’t bother with the clear one unless I were doing a custom light-up mod with it; most of the other colors are fairly weak or look piss-colored in my opinion. The bubbletops are one of the few Seimitsu items I like better than the Sanwa counterpart (in this case standard solid colors… although I prefer solid-colored Sanwa ball tops to Seimitsu solid colors. Regular solid color Sanwa parts are more saturated than Seimitsu parts).
As for meshballs, they are insanely priced, I agree, but they are limited production and at least don’t look cheap. The mesh on all my meshballs has been consistent and well laid. I don’t like hearing about the changes in manufacturing for the most recent meshball production batch and am glad I got the colors I wanted last year! They (Sanwa) recently played around with some of the colors and changed the meshes for the second time and no sir I don’t care for it! LOL
Do you really think that a heavier/lighter ball top would have much effect? Obviously size would make a comfort difference, but I think that for MOST people weight is negligible. Let’s say that it weighed 10 grams more. How much pressure do you think people apply when they play on a stick (consider that sticks are designed to withstand abuse from even the most stupid customers who slam the stick in all directions). Do you really think that the 10 grams would make a difference in feel and/or durability? I’d definitely say no to durability, unless you know something I don’t. The feel could make a difference if you have a light touch on the stick perhaps, but I think it wouldn’t matter much.
Consider this, Sanwa also makes 45mm ball tops. These are surely MUCH heavier than any other custom ball tops. Also, they make bat tops too. The bat top would make the length of the stick longer which would increase the amount of torque on the lever (I believe I’m using the right words, it’s been a while since physics). I think that these factors pretty much disprove the durability theory, because I doubt Sanwa would offer such things if it seriously hurt the durability of their parts. As I said before, comfort is a subjective thing, so I won’t comment there.
Overall I think perhaps you’ve overestimated the significance of ball tops on the joystick. I believe other factors greatly mitigate any difference in ball tops. However, I’d be open to discuss anything about it that would tell you otherwise.
I have a heavy glass balltop and it definitely changes the feel of the stick. It is a similar feel to using a much lighter spring, but it also increases the effort required to move the stick back to neutral or to the opposite side. It is over twice as heavy as a standard Sanwa balltop.
If you’re only talking a few grams difference, I doubt you will notice anything. Sanwa and Seimitsu balltops already differ a bit in weight, depending on the model. Here is a breakdown from my blog post on balltop weights:
Seimitsu LB-30: 17g
Seimitsu LB-35: 25g
Seimitsu LB-39: 30g
Sanwa LB-35: 27g
Sanwa LB-35 mesh: 27g
Sanwa LB-30-N: 29g (32g with adapter)
Sanwa LB-45: 52g (55g with adapter)
FWIW, I don’t normally use the glass balltop. It is just too heavy IMO. Looks pretty though. 
I also made a skull top for my stick, but decided not to mass produce them because the time involved in scupting one was not worth what people are willing to pay for or expecting, and also they are uncomfortable.
So the bat tops (with adapter) weigh 5 grams more than the standard Sanwa balltop; has anyone noticed a difference in how the JLF spring responds to the bat top? 5 grams is roughly 1/100th of a pound, which doesn’t sound like much weight, but then again we are talking about a precision instrument.
I recently switched a balltop to battop on the JLF in my TE stick and I can notice a difference. It’s slight, but I can tell. I have a LS-33 spring that I was thinking about adding to the stock JLF spring, but I haven’t decided if I’m going to yet or not. Just need to play on it some more and make a decision. On another note, I really like the feel of the battop. If you are used to Happ stuff it definitely helps.
Absolutely correct, I have noticed the exact same thing with my custom balltop. I suppose a few grams won’t make a noticeable difference but anything more probably will. Be sure to check the weight and ‘effective’ dimensions of the balltop when making sth custom, in order to retain the proper ‘feel’ of the stick.
How much does a Sanwa shaft cover weigh?
The spring feels noticeably lighter with a bat top, but the important difference here is the increased length of the lever.
My scale shows 2 grams; it doesn’t measure fractions of a gram, which would be more useful at this scale. But shaft weight is going to matter very little because the weight is evenly distributed across the lever, instead of plopped at the top where it matters, like a balltop.
Does this lead to a slower return to neutral that could effect performance, or is the difference negligible?
MaskedRider Balltop
My custom balltop. Made by taking a PEZ dispenser head, and filling it with hot glue and sticking the nut in it. Works great, wish I had a better nut though (the one I got only goes down halfway).
