T5 hori stick modding and mounting sanwa stick

Tech Talk
1

hi im new to arcade stick modding but i have fair amount of experience with electronics modding/soldering and i was wondering how hard is it to mod a t5 stick. i love the feel of the stick and its the perfect weight and size and the fact that its for the ps2, but i want to get a sanwa stick into it, however it looks like some of the sticks need to be mounted by drilling holes through the top, and the hori has a metal plate…is there another way of mounting it or am i SOL?

and it seems like the buttons are soldered onto a PCB, would i just have to desolder them and wire up new buttons to the contacts, or could i just drop new sanwa buttons in and itll fit?

2

All you have to do is remove the mounting plate from the sanwa stick (jlf sticks, at least) and mount the plastic base to the metal plate. you’ll have to find appropriate screws/bolts for the job, but it isn’t difficult at all.

As for the buttons: Yes, they have to be desoldered from the board if you wish to replace the buttons. I would suggest using snap-ins if you have them and replacing the PCB, because you’d either put serious tension on the board when you put the buttons in or you’d have to file down/bend the contacts on the microswitches to fit the buttons in.

I’m still using a T5 with sanwa buttons and stick to this day on my 360, for reference.

3

awesome thanks for the speedy reply…yeah ive been searching everywhere for information on the t5 hori and i havent found too many people that use it and the sites i did find said that to mount the sanwa id have to drill holes into the metal…which didnt really make too much sense to me lol. and just to make sure, you mean that for the sanwa buttons id have to desolder the existing buttons, and solder the new buttons into the contact points?

4

Modding = tech talk. Try checking out the stickies and searching.

5
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You don’t HAVE to drill out the existing T5 joystick mount but IF you do, it opens a larger number of joysticks which CAN be used on that particular base.

It’s best to use stock FLAT mounting plates with hanging screw threads/‘flush rivets’ if you ever mod the faceplate. Having those threads makes it possible to mount any JLF or Seimitsu series joystick the right depth beneath the faceplate. Use spacers/washers to adjust the shaft length (above the faceplate) correctly. That way, you don’t have the shaft length issues.

The JLF is the only joystick that I’m aware of that can be used with the existing welded American T5 mount. Beware of 2 issues…

  1. You can’t keep the inner dustwasher with the existing mount; only the external JLF dustwasher that covers the shaft hole (unless you keep both dustwashers outside the shaft hole); the inner dustwasher WILL grind between the T5 joystick mount and upper plastic body of the JLF otherwise;
  2. Sometimes the JLF shaft/shaft cover can and WILL grind on the T5 faceplate’s shaft hole. You may want to grind/file the shaft hole larger in the future if and when you decide to get a plexi cover. I’ve had at least 2 JLF shaft covers grind against the shaft hole in the past prior to faceplate mods…
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thanks for all the help…and i knew no matter how much i searched and looked around(cuz i honestly did tons of searching including the intro thread) i was gonna miss a thread that would answer all my questions lol

and thanks georgec i think im just gonna go ahead and drill it…i need to a router and a drill eventually anyway especially cuz i wanna put buttons on the side for pinball games lol