Korean arcade parts discussion

Quick review plus a few responses regarding questions on the infiltration lever. First thing is the 309 grommets and the infiltration grommets do no work when swapped, the 309 grommets have a thicker middle for the piece the guides the spring, when you put it in a 301 lever the shaft does not clear the actuator enough to put in the E-Clip, even when using quite a bit of force. I tried it both with the spring guide up and the spring guide down, it might be possible to make it work but would take a bit of muscle and i did not have the patience to try and put that much force into it while trying to guide the clip in.

As for the lever itself it is a neat design, but really in the end it does not do anything better than a 309MJ that would make the price difference worth it. The ā€œGateā€ really does nothing because of the actuation distance and even when i forced it all the way to the gate you really do not feel it. I just ended up tiring myself out faster with the 35A grommet on trying to mess with the gate. The actuator has two settings, you can flip it over for a ā€œshortā€ and ā€œlongā€ throw settings. However when i set it to the longer throw the down motion does not return to neutral always, making you ending up stuck in a crouch instead of neutral. It was happening all day in the training room yesterday, i swapped it over to the ā€œshortā€ setting and it did not happen again. This morning i tried the ā€œlongā€ setting again and ran into the same issues.

All that aside i did find doing diagonals a bit easier with the SDL vs 309MJ, however i found myself accidentally inputting down forward instead of forward quite a bit, but i would imagine its just me not having played with the lever enough to be consistent. It was seriously annoying in GG because i play i-no, a down forward vs a forward is a big deal because a down forward motion makes me float higher and basically ruins my combo timings and can get me caught by an anti-air easier. I will continue to mess with it on and off when i am bored but it is not a definite step above any of the other crown offerings, with the golden crown in the works for the 309 levers making me side towards the 309 for now.

Which type of battops fit on the Golden Crown/Golden Fanta shafts? Sanwa LB-30?

Damn people have been telling me this whole time that it was the bushing lol I stand corrected. I haven’t opened my fujin in awhile so I don’t remember hoecbig the bushing is. I’m in the same boat I didn’t get the 15mm actuator. That’s good that it’s better now with the softer grommet.

Yes Sanwa LB-30 balltop/battop will fit the Golden Crown/Fanta shaft.

The bushing in the fujin is 1mm oversized. Grommets do feel slightly stiffer when using the fujin bushing.

I’m in the process of doing what you’re asking. I’ll let you know when I get my 309helpme from fa. I have the 309mj but what to get the 309helpme to see if there are any differences.

@zero_requiem Please let me know. I might get a 309 Help Me soon.

@DJ-Blitz thanks for clearing that up!

@ewgf87 will do man

@ewgf87 @zero_requiem to save you the troube
309FJ, 309MJ and 309HelpMe have identical bodies and actuator/shaft.
The changes are these:
309FJ, 35g grommet, no collar, less throw than HelpMe and 309MJ, makes an inaudible bump when you hit the gate, japanese mount
309MJ 25g grommet, chopped collar, same throw with HelpMe, ā€œbumpsā€ when you hit the gate, japanese mount
309HelpMe 35g grommet, full collar, same throw with 309MJ, ā€œknocksā€ when you hit the gate, korean mount
And then there’s the different switches you might use, but that is irrelevant to the model. all my 309s came with panasonics

A note on the 309FJ, the diagonals are very narrow because of the smaller travel, I believe you won’t even be able to hit them with A2s installed

My opinion on the crown shaft/battop is that it’s very heavy, I suggest swapping it for a sanwa conversion shaft + sanwa battop for a faster lever.
Also, I’m expecting the golden kits in the mail soon, I’ll write a review when I get them.

@wazwuz
The ā€œgearedā€ shaped actuator makes diagonals uniform with single directions. Imo the shape should remain like this.
I’m using the green grommet + 1mm spring. Swapped to the default spring to experiment and I have a feeling that the bigger spring does a separate job except adding tension. It seems to ā€œhold the grommet in placeā€ making the lever much less spongy and wobbly, more so than just adding a stiffer grommet.
If it were up to me, I’d throw away the 0.6mm spring from the set and add something like 1.2 mm.

Bear in mind that 309mj is my first and only korean lever and I’m not familiar with fantas or any others.

Does it matter if it’s the ALU versions or the regular ones?

The plastic bat top is 1oz lighter, so I’d imagine so.

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Does it matter if it’s the ALU versions or the regular ones?

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When purchase new…ALU Battops should come with a extension to fit Sanwa Battops.

If anyone is considering using the golden fanta kit with fujin v2 don’t do it. It’s been awhile since I used that set up but noticed today that the bronze actuators slightly damaged my metal gate that the switches screw on to.

The Infiltration lever is up on Focus Attack now.

Is the Infiltration lever grommet compatible with Crown 309 series?

It uses the same design so yes.

@wazwuz I was trying to install the acrylic switch support and the screws are too long for the mj body. Do I have to drill holes or cut the screws?

On a side note: here’s my last piece of feedback on the golden crown:
I received Panasonic AM5s today along with aluminum bat top. The heavier bat top and the leaf-like Panasonics (they are so very easy to actuate that they add close to no tension) made the lever looser, so I installed the blue grommet (45g?) along with the 1mm spring. This will be my final setup.

When I play I rarely even touch the gate. For those who like to ride the gate - you are pretty much stuck with gersung a2s and largest actuator - I was able to hit diagonals at least semi-consistently and the dead zone was quite big. Other types of switches and actuators make the dead zone quite small.

Just to be clear, are you talking specifically about the plastic spool itself? It looks to me like the 301’s stock 35A and optional 25A grommets are the same ones used in the 309 as they are the same colour. It would also make sense from a production standpoint to share as many parts as possible between models. I imagine getting one model’s grommet to fit in the other is just a matter of exchanging the spool for the appropriate one.