Saulabi thread

Tech Talk
1

Saulabi thread

First:
The main authority about Korean arcade parts on SRK is Laugh.
http://forums.shoryuken.com/member.php?u=18843

Saulabi is the best known joy stick from Korea.
From time to time there pops up a Saulabi topic on Shoryuken - Home.
I would find it very handy if it was in one topic so I made this topic to show some Swords(wo)man love.

Why should you get one?

  • They are easy to obtain.
  • They are generally inexpensive.
  • You maybe like the joy stick.
  • You might like the button lay-out.
  • You want the casing for a modification project. (Saulabi modding tutorial by Laugh.)

Official Korean website:
???

Joy stick
It uses a MyoungShin Fanta joy stick.
It is a joy stick with a rubber bat top and no restrictor plate so you can make a circle.
Korean joy sticks use a rubber ring instead of a spring
so that is where that wine gum feeling comes from.

However they put in one randomly so you can either end up with a stiff one or a more looser one.
You could get one with micro switches,
which makes the clicking sound
or one with leaf switches.

For example the one I have gotten originaly is pretty good:
Saulabi SPS-1000 Original Joy Stick

It can be easily replaced with a better Korean joy stick by just unscrewing the stock one and screw in the new one.

** Buttons **
The stock buttons are good enough already but they feel quite hollow.
They are flat or flat and steep off diagonally
Their diameter is 28 mm (twenty-eight millimeters).
They are stuck to the printed circuit board which is floating. (Buttons on printed circuit board.)

They can easily be replaced with Crown buttons.

Might you decide to replace them,
you will have to replace them all,
because Crown buttons are longer.

To remove the stock buttons you you will have to de-solder
the points from the bottom which is the best and safest way.

Crown CWB 203 A

The Crown CWB 203 A might be easier because they have prongs that you can bend to make it fit
and let the printed circuit board hang like it did with the stock buttons.

Alternatively you can add quick-disconnect terminals to the Crown CWB 203 A.
Crown CWB 203 A with quick-disconnect terminal

Crown CWB 203 C

Wire up the buttons.
Crown CWB 203 C wired.
You can solder them directly to the printed circuit board.
The “L” shape is the ground.

I decided to keep it modular and wired the buttons and the printed circuit board separately and connect them with a barrier strip.
Wired printed circuit board.
Printed circuit board and buttons connected.

I tried to daisy-chain the ground but that did not work on my printed circuit board.

What I used to solder is:

  • Soldering Iron 30 Watts (thirty Watts)
  • Soldering Wire 60/40 Sn/Pb
  • Stranded wire AWG24

There is no clearance for the screws when using Crown CWB 203 C.
Screw clearance.
A tip I got from Laugh is:
Put the screw there and screw the button in to the screw.

Casing
Measurements: L 38 cm * W 21 cm * H 09 cm (According to Saulabi.)
The top panel is slightly angled to match Korean arcade cabinets.
Base bottom measurements: L 28.5 cm * W 17.5 cm

**Opening up the Saulabi. **
Pull out the four rubber feet at the bottom and unscrew the screws.
From stock you will see a weight plate at the bottom. (Metal weight plate screwed on bottom.)
The rest is on the top panel. (Inside of top panel.)

Saulabi Joy stick versions:

There is no easy way to see what kind of Saulabi it is.
There are several colour schemes.
You could look at the connector to see for what system it is.

PlayStation and PlayStation 2

  • SPS-1000
  • SPS-1000 Vibration ([media=youtube]BmeKY5L_NMI[/media])
  • SPS-3000

Button Placement:
Select Start
L1 [] /\ R1
L2 O X R2

It seems that most do not work with a PlayStation to Something Else converter,
or it works partially.
The MayFlash X-JoyBox (PlayStation to Xbox converter) seems to work with it.

PlayStation 3

  • 4K (Works with the PC Plug and Play.)

Button Placement:
Select Start
L1 [] /\ R1
L2 O X R2

PC

Button Placement:
9 10
5 6 7 8
1 2 3 4

The PC versions needs the Saulabi Keyset program to work.
Original: http://www.isaulabi.com/Saulabi.exe
English language Saulabi Keyset program by Xorcist: Saulabi_English.zip

Where to get them:

Please inform me about things that I need to add and incorrect statements that needs to be corrected and things like that.

Now let’s play powerful games and enjoy fancy look of the joy stick!

2

:tup: Nice thread. Very informative. Maybe this will increase the popularity of Saulabis and Korean parts in general. I wish I didn’t have to sell mine, I no longer have Powerful Game :sad:

3

Saulabi Online Black Stick

Hey brotha thanks for the invite to the thread. Nice job :tup:
I personaly have the Saulabi Online Black Stick and would recomend it to anyone looking for a stick for PC. The first awsome thing is that there is no converter needed so you don’t have to worry about delay. That was one of my big fears in deciding on which would be the first real stick I own.

Next is the slanted surface. It’s a slightly slanted surface ( not much ) but it makes the stick all the more confertable.

Button layout : I am a pretty big person so my hands are big and I found the layout PERFECT
for doing Lariats with Geif.

Stock Stick : the stock stick was decent enough to increase my play ability by a whole lot after macking the switch from pad to stick. My opinion is it is awsome for 360 characters / good for Shotos / but a little to big of a throw for charge characters.
The stick makes NO clicking sound when moved around and has a good amount of resistance
but definetly not enough to rape your hand. I have big hands and I hold it my pinky tucked under and the rest of my fingers wrapped around the stick and it fits in my hand so it reaches the top of my index finger.

Finding Angles : Only problem I’ve had is to find downback on both sides but not consistently.
Think of it more like during a match I didn’t concentrate enough to pull a little more at an angle
and just kinnda relaxdly pulled almost downback and didn.t block. Top corners I have had not a single problem. My prob. with downback is pribably due more to the fact that I hold the stick in my lap in all kinda postions. Like I have my feet kicked up or just stining straight up.

Stock Buttons : I made the mistake of SLAMMING out lariates. My shit arrived March 16th,
Jab button broke on the 26th of March. Keep in mind I was SLAMMING Lariates.
They don’t feel stiff or loose. They are responsive enough so that I learned how to Kara cxl
and Super cxl in ST with.

Well that is my contribution to your thread brotha. It’s more of a personal experience and not as tech savy as your post but I’m new to sticks and the terminology used. I wrote my post this way because when I was trying to decide which stick to buy I wish someone would have wrote a post like this for the “stick noobs”

Ok now you mentioned two methods for swapping buttons. My question is what is teh difficulty involved ( keep in mind I have no electronics knowledge and completely new to sticks ) and is it safe to attempt to "pull of the PCB " since it’s soldered on.

If you have the time could I please request of you some step by step instruccions on swapping out the buttons. For now all I wanna do is change the position of one of the far right buttons to the far left since it’s an 8 button stick.

Thanks again for the invite. Sanjuro the Ronin and EvilSamurai might wanna take a look at this thread too.

4

I believe you can simply pop new arcade grade Crown buttons right into the pcb with no soldering as the buttons are actually not soldered to the pcb but have their quick disconnectes inserted into a slot on the PCB. You should search tech talk for more info. As for replacing the stick, all you need is a screwdriver and you simply unscrew the stock stick, remove the quick disconnects from the switches, screw in the new stick, and attach the quick disconnectes to the microswitches on the new stick. You should contact laugh if you want to get new buttons and a joystick for your Saulabi as he is basically the go to guy for Korean parts.

5

If it is so tight that pulling does not work, do not do it, it is dangerous.

De-solder the two buttons that you want to swap.
Currently I do not have pictures of something being de-soldered.
First you put on de-soldering braid on the contact point
then heat it up with a soldering iron.
The contact point should be loose after that.

If you do not feel comfortable doing this let someone do it for you if it is possible.

6

They all should be replaced then because of the different heights of the stock buttons and the Crown buttons.
The thing is that the stock buttons are really tightly attached.
The Crown CWB 203 A still has prongs that do not fit directly on the slow disconnects from the stock buttons.

7

thank you for this

8

ok I guess djfrijoles will want Crown CWB 203 C buttons then if he does not want to solder.

9

Great!

Actually the Crown CWB 203 A , the snap-in buttons would be easier
since you need to solder on the C version.
The prongs from the A version could be bend a little to make it fit
and keep the hanging printed circuit board system.

11

I saw it here:

I can not read Korean so I am not sure about the name.
I am even thinking about an April fool’s joke.

If I would get that one everybody would leave my joy stick alone.
That is why I have pink memory cards.

12

this shits top tier. i would give you rep if i could. good job Takahashi0.

13

Thanks James123!

14

Ok today is April first and a second button just broke =(
Now I don’t have Forward kick so I’m outta teh fight for a bit.
Mr. Laugh I will be hitting you up for an order as soon as I get teh soldering tools. Looks like I will be forced to learn how to solder after all.

I guess this establishes just how shitty teh stock buttons really are because I took extra care not to bang out moves after the first button broke. So any one considering this stick be sure to keep that in mind.

15

Dude I was thinking of starting this type of topic just a few days ago. Glad you beat me to it and saved me all the work >_<. Plus you know a ton more than me, lol. I was just going to start with basics and edit it with information as it comes.

Good shit, Takaashi0 and laugh!

16

I never had problems with the stock buttons.
They just feel hollow to me.
They where still working when I replaced them.
I used the stock buttons for two years.

Thanks vpt_whatup!

17

Must have been the original banging I did that weakend them then. I should mention that if I had the chance to pick a stick again I would pick the Saulabi all over again.

18

Does anyone do modding for those so I can use them on a Xbox 360 (like the VSHG)?

19

Maybe someone can pad hack a Xbox 360 controller for you:
Trading Post

You could try a pad hack yourself:
The “padhacking” thread.

It probably looks similar to this one:
HOWTO: Mod VSHG single switch PS3 / X360

You probably can attach the Xbox 360 controller printed circuit board under the Saulabi printed circuit board.
There are large solder points accessible from there.

At the moment of this writing I do not have access to Microsoft Xbox 360 equipment.

20

Thanks for all the info, I am pretty new to the world of arcade sticks so that helps.

21

… Only 33k for the stick? which is like $US 35 ??! hmmm… Can someone confirm?