You mean joystick? I wrote a guide in blue text in the original post on page 1 of this thread.
OK, so today I got an SE fightstick, plugged it in, and sure enough, ten minutes later it was sticking and not really moving that cleanly. Thanks to this site, I knew what was up and stopped playing immediately, took it apart, and fixed it. In that few minutes, it had scraped up the PCB pretty bad, but everything was still functional.
(btw, it’s really awesome to buy a new joystick after waiting forever and have it fail right off so you get to void the warranty like 15 minutes after you got it…/sigh)
I just wanted to add a few things to those who might go behind me and do this same thing:
NOTE: I make no claims or guarantees about any of this. While I don’t think anything I did is risky, proceed at your own caution.
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I recommend taking the joystick shaft out of the hosing in order to super glue the washer in place. It makes it a lot easier to work on, and you can clean up the washer and the housing real well before applying the glue. All you need to do that is to remove the c-clip on the bottom of the shaft. The correct way to remove a c-clip is to use a set of “c-clip pliers.” There are other ways (google if you care), but be careful and don’t destroy the c-clip or you’ll be visiting the hardware store. If you do this, be very careful to observe how the shaft and its components are assembled so you can put it all back together.
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The washer can be turned over and fit into its sink two ways. One of the two fit much better for me. Be sure to turn it over until it sinks into the housing as well as possible.
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Since I had the superglue out, and I didn’t have any silicone or anything like that, I went ahead and covered up the places in my PCB that had been scratched off with a couple of dabs. It just needs a very thin coat, don’t dump a big glob on there. If you do this, but sure to let it dry very well before you reassemble the joystick or you might inadvertently glue the PCB to the housing and make it very difficult to pull apart in the future.
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I put a dab of lithium grease on both parts of the spring that connected to the plastic mounts because I didn’t like how it was binding up when the joystick was at extreme angles. After I reassembled, I realized that the gate restricts the joystick from hitting those angles, but I still think it helps lubricate the spring a little bit. If you do this, be very sparing on the grease. It doesn’t take much.
After doing all of that, the joystick plays very nice.
Anyway, just thought I’d share a few things that I think made the job easier and the stick a little bit better. Hope it helps.
All of what you said is 100% accurate, and good advice.
The sooner you can get in and fix up your stick, the less damage will be done to the PCB.
I also have two unresponsive buttons I just whack them with a hammer to get them to work for another couple of hours 
Luckily I opened it up the minute it came in to fix the washer problem and so the joystick works ok.
This is truly the worst accessory i have ever purchased (besides the fufme drive ofc).
to
Hey guys,
I just bought a Fightstick SE PS3. It’s working fine but should I glue down the washer anyway to prevent it from scratching the PCB? I’m not sure if this is the grinding noise everyone is talking about but when I rotate the stick around, the DL (down left) makes a loud click noise. I’m not getting any Sanwa parts till a month.
I bought a standard fightstick about a month and have been playing on it for a while. It was working find and everything but now the clicking on my joystick is getting worse and one of my buttons is becoming stickier.
I want to fix the washer, but I also want to replace my joystick and buttons with Sanwa parts. Problem with this is that LizardLick isn’t taking any orders right now. I think this is the only place you can buy parts online, right?
So my question is, if I do the glue the washer fix now, will I be able to replace the stick with a Sanwa stick later?
I must say my SE (which I have for 4 days) is working pretty oke.
No washer issues or crappy buttons.
I am still gonna replace them for Sanwa parts though.
Yes.
The washer is part of the stock Mad Catz stick.
You replace the whole stick if you exchange it for a Sanwa.
after gluing down the washer, my joystick will not go up or down.
initially it wouldn’t go down. I opened it back up, removed the restrictor gate to double check stuff.
ie: pcb and plug.
and now it won’t register up or down.
I thought it’d be no big thing since I ordered a new JLF from TRNG, but now I gotta wait even longer. = (
back to the gamepad.
If it is brand new, it might not have the same issues as the older ones. - Madcatz may have fixed the issues in the newer batch or sticks. The stick is supposed to click in each directions. If it is much louder that that it could just be you hitting the edge of the gate a little hard, or it could be the spring making the sound inside the stick. Im not 100% sure.
Do you mean you stick wont move up or down at all? Or do you mean that the inputs aren’t registering/happening in game?
If you can’t move your stick at all. (like you physically can’t move it up and down) you may have got glue somewhere that you shouldn’t have. It seems pretty hard to do that but i guess its a possibility.
If you can move your stick, but it doesn’t register then it could be a few things:
1.) Your sticks PCB could have the traces scratched off, preventing the signal from working.
2.) You could have damaged one or more of the four microswitches on the underside of the PCB. (if the stick still clicks in each directions then this probably isn’t the issue.)
3.) You could have been too rough with the 5-wire cable going from your main PCB to your stick, and you might have caused one or more of the wires to become disconnected. (easy to fix if you can solder).
4.) You could have got glue/dirt/etc on or into the 5-pin connector on either side which might be messing up the connection to one or more of your microswitches.
The stick can move just fine. I can hear all 4 microswitches clicking.
The PCB looks doesn’t look like anything has been damaged.
I’ll check the 5-pin connector again when I get home.
It could be that hopefully, as it was able to register down, but after removing the 5 pin connector and connecting it back it now does not register the down movement.
thanks!
Hmm, I’m not able to find an answer on this thread for a problem I’m having (unless search fails), so if this problem has been brought up before I apologize ahead of time.
So far my stick has been working fine after replacing the parts with Sanwa parts, however recently a new problem has started to show up in my SE stick.
It seems the stick doesn’t function when set to act as the Left Stick, only working when set to act as the directional pad. Before that the turbo didn’t work either, but I somehow fixed that (not that it matters since I dont use turbo). I’m a bit concerned as this may develop into a bigger problem, so I’m wondering if theres anyway to fix this, or could my PCB starting to malfunction?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
I just called madcatz for them to repair my joystick because I didn’t fix my washer earlier (my joystick’s PCB got all messed up and I am not able to go in the down direction even after trying to use the pencil fix).
and they told me that it didn’t matter that I opened it up and I had the option of either sending the whole Fightstick to them and they fix it or they could send me a new joystick with mounting plate and everything. I decided for them to just send me a new joystick.
I also told them specifically that the washer destroyed my PCB and they said that the people who made the washer put the sharp side of the washer on the wrong side and that was the reason why this occured
They also said that the new versions of these joysticks have fixed this problem, though they still said that the washer would be loose, but the dull side would be the side facing the PCB
I also asked about the TE sticks and they told me that they would be able to order through their website sometime in early april
I am still planning on buying a JLF and sanwa OBSF buttons but I am just going to wait until lizardlick restocks
Anyone have tips to remove the joystick from the mounting plate? The screws are pretty much stuck. Pm me how you did it, thanks!
im getting sanwa parts anyway, so does it matter if the washer fucks the pcb up?
I asked this question earlier in this thread and no it does not matter because the
sanwa’s will come with their own PCB
I was wondering about this also, if anyone has some tips please share
a screwdriver and a little elbow grease
So basically we can open it up and it won’t void warranty? Since they will be sending you a new joystick.
Also on another note, lets say we swapped parts, but the issue occurs on the main PCB… that connects everything. Are we screwed?
Those screws are very very bad quality. They will strip for sure. Here’s what you should do:
1.) Take out all the screws you can (even if you can get only 1 out normally, go for it). Save the intact screw and use it as a reference to bring to a hardware store, so you can find replacement screws that fit correctly.
2.) Take the joystick apart as much as possible, take the PCB and put it somewhere safe.
3.) Use an appropriate sized drill and drill out the bad/stripped screws. (try not to damage anything while doing this.) Drill out the bad screws until the plate comes off and clean out the screw holes.
4.) Put in your better screws that you bought from the hardware store.
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Or just order a JLF that comes with a mounting plate.