Well, the aluminum shaft should be ok height wise. You’d probably have to do minimal work on the height. I’m not sure how you’d want to tackle thinning it though. You could file, it would just take longer than filing plastic.
Maybe we just need a shaft system with the same diameter shaft on top that fits a number of different bases… That way accessories can be moved all over. Wouldn’t it be even cooler if that system was easily removable, just sayin’
Hello, interested in the 0.5 mm red actuators. Any idea when you’re gonna be restocked? Gonna make an order for this plus other items when they get in. Thanks!
On order, we are expecting them before Evo. I think everyone was building at the same time, we sold about 100 in a week!
Mesh yesterday
http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/c/153-category/mesh-balltops.jpg
Mirrored ball tops today 
http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/c/154-category/mirrored-balltops.jpg
Things are going to get a bit confusing as people are just assigning brands to these new products. To clarify we are going to call these new balltops Paradise Premium products. These are the EXACT same products being sold as FA Nippon. They come from the same manufacturer and distributor.
Please note that there are two lines of anodized aluminum products available. One is our own custom made and designed set of products (if it has a ball top available, it’s ours only!). We will continue to bring these out as we have big plans for expanding these lines, offering more colors and more products overtime. These are available now.
There is another line that will be available in about 2 weeks. This again is the EXACT same set of aluminum products being branded as FA Nippon. We will most likely label these as a Paradise Premium product also so as to avoid confusion and keep product grouping the same between vendors.
The distributor has asked that we do not use their name or the manufacturers name as branding. We feel this is more confusing to the end consumer but will respect their wishes. However, we will be as honest and open as possible when discussing these products. If a product is designed by us and exclusive to us, we will tell you. Other vendors are in the same position, they need to provide a name for the brand, but can not use the real brand name, which makes things difficult.
We are very proud of the diversity of products on our site, and will continue to offer the widest selection of custom fight stick parts on the market.
How does the new brand mesh tops match to Sanwa colors? I notice there’s a big difference in Yellow to Sanwa and to Seimetsu with Sanwa being darker and Seimetsu being much brighter, and was just wondering on what it matches more closely to.
Hey armi, just wanted to give you a heads up and let you know that I wanted to watch the Uila S-flash YouTube video that you have linked on the product page, but for some reason, it has no video, only audio. I’ve tried on both my phone and desktop, and have used both IE and Chrome to no avail. 
Anyone else having this issue with it?
There’s always going to be problems with color-matching because of a few things –
a) only armi’s in the room with those parts and he’s not going to perceive colors the same way you or I do…
For instance, Seimitsu red is closer to Sanwa vermillion than to Sanwa red. I noticed that but many people still can’t see that difference… they either just don’t care, really, or they don’t the same level of visual acuity I have with regards to color. I never understood why people can’t distinguish between red-orange (vermillion) and darker red but some just can’t…
b) unless the generic brand manufacturer has access to Sanwa’s plastic color mix formula, I don’t know that these meshes will be exact…
Of course, the situation here could be that the Sanwa meshes and generics are actually produced at the same factory and Sanwa’s just charging more for their brand name! Fact: this happens with cornflakes and toasted oats cereals. The difference is that the brand-name producer throws out more “broken” flakes and oats than the generics… (I frankly don’t care but if I have the choice to pay less for the same product and equal quality, I’ll take it!) Generics are generally just as good as brand-names contrary to popular belief – unless they’re really, really obviously poorly produced (like half the food they sell at Big Lots – you find out quickly that there IS such a thing as stale chocolate!).
c) Photography is funny… Lighting, reflection, etc. There can be huge differences how something looks to you in photos and how it is in real life. Happens with prototypes of action figures and final production product, and sometimes with statues although usually you can spot a bad statue from even a prototype shot.
Unless the photos are really bad – and I doubt this – these meshes really do look close to the branded Sanwa product. I’ve seen at least a half-dozen unique photos of this product from at least 3 different websites (I knew about the generics before FA and PAS mentioned them) so I’m fairly comfortable that they’re close matches. I know that I’m still going to buy at least 3 colors of these instead of Sanwa. (There are only two colors you have to buy from Sanwa if you want them – indigo blue and Vermillion/red-orange. The generic manufacturer doesn’t make meshes in those colors. I hate indigo by principle and ironically I actually need Vermillion for a project! Just don’t have funds to buy stuff willy-nilly so it has to wait a bit longer… If armi still has Vermillion in stock, I’ll get at least one from him…) Sanwa tends to overcharge on some things and frankly I could use the $3 for something else I want more or just save the cash difference, period.
@fateXd2 I love my wife, and you guys should too, but you can’t have her Here is what Susan did to answer your question… before you even asked
http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/2088-thickbox/yellow-mesh-ball-top.jpg
Plus if you click the accessories tab on the product page, you will see a quick list of products that match
@Playdoh003 I will check, email me directly armi0024@gmail.com and I can answer you questions. Susan has been keep up with the shop but my hours have been a bit insane since last Thursday. I’ve cleared 80 hours with 3 over nights in the last 6 days, so it’s been a bit busy here.
@georgec but there is not stale chocolate in our packages! Just fresh Hawaiian macadamia nuts covered in chocolate! As you say, these are very close if not exact. What impressed me was the color combinations with the mirrored ball tops. It is a lot about lighting, which is why we combined the multiple products into one image for each ball top.
George, let me know what you think about color matching these
Let me know what you guys think! Now I just woke up from a 6 hour nap… I need to list those mirrored ball tops and fix a few upright arcade games, see you all at EVO!
On an off topic note… how can you not love Susan, she looks so cute in wedding dress getting ready to play pinball!
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/7920_629235195658_7237704_n.jpg
will you have other insects ? i’d be interested in getting one with a Bee or Wasp inside it :v
its funny too about the product naming I agree, ive seen the same products from 3 other stores, and they all have a different name for it haha… weird, i dont really know how this market works, point isits good that these things are widely available now, such a huge difference in the arcade machine hobby these days that it was just 1-2 years ago.
The mirror balltop looks pretty close in all honesty but it may also be because it’s a mirror in the first place! LOL Kind of heart not to color-match… That is DEFINITELY golden-yellow! Very nice lustre. So that’s where the Fort Knox gold went!
(FYI for non-Americans: It’s been rumored for years that the gold depository at the famed Fort Knox facility has been empty for years… The story is that the American government traded it for collateral/credit of some kind! Sounds insane but it’s far from the strangest rumor I’ve heard. Last “public” visit by a politician accompanied by media was in the 1970s. – Sheesh, so much for vigilant oversight! – There are other TRUE, confirmed stories that are weirder!)
As for the meshball itself, I’d still have to see it in person to be 100% sure. Right now, to my eyes it looks a bit lighter (closer to a Seimitsu yellow than Sanwa yellow) but I think that’s an optical illusion due to the mesh overlay itself rather than the core, underlying plastic. It’s possible that the white ink used in the mesh is stronger than what I’ve seen in the Sanwa meshballs where the ink/mesh pattern stands out stronger in the darker colors of the mesh line: red, grey, and black are particularly “strong” meshball colors. White does tend to “heat” colors up. (For those that don’t know – white is actually “hotter” than yellow in nature. That’s been measured in experiments with flame. That mesh pattern seems particularly strong… One of my complaints about some of the Sanwa meshballs has been how light and indistinct it appears on some colors (White, Yellow).)
In my case at least, the picture kind of validates the decision to go after a yellow mesh when the do-re-mi comes my way…
But yeah, Seimitsu colors tend to cooler (lighter) than Sanwa colors… and when I started this hobby seriously it was a primary source of complaint I had about Seimitsu button and balltop product. I prefer Sanwa balltops partly because of the “stronger” plastic color. Seimitsu has also had more shades of plastic colors, period, too, but at least a half-dozen of those were limited editions runs for balltops and buttons. It was announced recently that a few of those colors were reinstated for at least the PS-14-G(?) and PS-15 buttons.
PS-15, btw, is actually a great button after you remove the original PS-14-D microswitch and swap in an SW-68 microswitch… It’s by far the easier button to do this on by virtue of the fact that you do NOT have to remove the button from the faceplate to do switch swap-outs. It has the most easily removable plungers of all the Sanwa and Seimitsu buttons I’ve used; it lacks the bottom half that makes plunger removal harder in the other buttons. (Still feels like hitting a brick, though, when you use the stock Seimitsu microswitch, though! It lightens up considerably and becomes more comfortable… Not quite as sensitive as a Sanwa button but close.)
And yes, Susan does look cute getting ready to play pinball! Speaking of which, has anybody else tried the demo for the digital “Star Wars” pinball game on PSN? It is very slick… One of the best pinball themes I’ve seen in a long while. Sharp graphics, excellent animations, and ultra-clear sound FX, recreated dialogue, and music from the movie and TV series. It’s the first Star Wars product in a long time – aside from the LEGO Star Wars games – that has really impressed me.
Original Trilogy fans will really like that pinball game.
It is a shame, though, that real-life pinball games are a dying breed relegated to the nostalgia and retro-childhoods of serious collectors… They used to be around everywhere during the heyday of arcades!
Relegated? Are you calling me a dinosaur George Right now I’m within 10 yards of three working pins… soon to be 4. Hmmm when I finish re-arranging maybe I should enter the snap-back photo contest!
Hibachi, spiders and scorpions to start, check out the facebook page!
Armi just wanted to say thank you. The IL 2 RGB’s work great. just wish I could program this damn Sparky to work correctly LOL. I’ll try to get in contact with 32 because ver3.0 is a mess.
@armi0024 - Susan likes pinball? She’s a definite keeper then. 
BTW, no worries or rush about the Uilas… I recently got the Sparky from FA for a future custom build that I’ll be putting together. Jaleel mentioned in his thread earlier that he won’t be selling any after depleting current stock, due to the fact that they are discontinued. He speculated that you might be designing an updated one? Any info on that?
@wigsplitter take pictures and share! glad you enjoyed them.
@playdoh003, she’s for sure a keeper, she and Tyler both play, got to start them young
We have a whole new LED system we are working to release. The coding is done, the LEDs are done, the cabling is ordered, the boards are designed, and… they just aren’t assembled. We are digging around seeing if we have any more parts for the PWM and if we do we may drop a few more on the market. We are pretty excited about this new LED board though, completely changes how we do leds and allows for the integration of LED joysticks!
Nothing wrong with being a dinosaur… It just shows you have taste!
As for me, I just don’t have the room for these T-rexes and fortunately they’ve gotten much better at emulating pinball characteristics digitally.
Definitely going to buy the Star Wars pinball packs on PSN, though… I’m very impressed by the demos but hate the time limits! Some of the best PSN stuff are the retro- and simple gamepacks as opposed to full-up games that tax the PS3. Pac-Man tournament edition is a mild update of the classic game but very addicting and still very playable… There are many, many games I just touch a few times and never pick up again. I’m still playing Pac-Man, occasionally Donkey Kong and Atari games over 30 years after I first played them in the arcades!
I’d much rather that they leave the real-life pinball designs out of the programmed versions. Too many copies tends to destroy the collector’s market as I understand it and virtual shouldn’t cross over with real-world too much… I want to see new pinball designs as much as new fighting games in addition to re-releases of classics.
@GeorgeC - Actually, I like the idea that the real machines are being virtually preserved… I mean, it’s not like millions of them are around, and they will definitely not last forever. I’m sure that those who have played the actual machines will always nitpick about how the real machine does this or does that while the virtual one doesn’t, but I for one can appreciate the hard work that FarSight has been doing… I’m proud to own all tables released so far on iOS, PS3, and PS Vita! I’ll also probably continue to get them on PS4.
If they fulfill the promise of a “Cabinet mode” for the PC version, builders will rejoice!
I would love to send you a pic but you would not see any lights because the board is not allowing me to config it. I thought the sparky was suppose to let you do all kinds of stuff and all Im able to do is hit a button and the LED’s lights up. Truly disappointed with the sparky but love the IL2 RGB’s, much better thank the original ones. I was thinking about getting a tootles FGWigget but since you’re coming out with your board, I’ll wait on that. just let me know when it comes out. Will it be compatible with PS360+ ?
Anyone going to Evo interested in us bringing our new line of custom Seimitsu gates for testing?
We have custom gates for the LS-32, LS-40 and LS-56
Also we are making a list of items to bring to Vegas and will have items available with special pricing… here’s the list, what else do you want to see?
I’m down for a Korean shaft, and if there’s an ls-32 circle gate in the works, that as well. Are you guys running the booth primarily to show off the new stuff, or are you going to be selling general parts as well? I Look forward to seeing you guys there.