Thanks John. You may want to just create another thread since this got derailed before it had a chance.
Well that legitimizes it, it’s being manufactured by Happ, so it pretty much is an upgraded (2011) version of the original. They do own the original tooling (mold), so they can do what they want. I would have to imagine there is some royalties that must be kicked down (on the backend) to Sanwa if it keeps that in.
Ah, so it is ‘official’ after all.
What are the odds, considering Toodles’ recent resurrection of the device. Now it all depends on the final price…
Ok so I’m not sure what happen here. This tread has got way out of control. I expected to have question about performance and build quality, not who’s name is on it. If it was a knock off don’t you think they would have left the branding off. I also stated that this was made from the original molds. Only the owner of those would have access to them. I hope Rollie’s post will put this to rest and we can get back to the important stuff… and Talk about the Tech.
Change it back because it is not a replica.
I could spend forever replying to every comment, but this particular one bugs me…
Trust me I have no disrespect for Toodles and his Spark. I’m a big fan of his products and his skill. but what Toodles made was a replica… not a Original re-manufactured. So I’m sorry that you took that comment out of context and I hope that it is all now cleared up.
^ Thanks to ponyboy’s statement above clearing some details up, yes.
Ditto thanks for clearing that up ponyboy, good luck with this. Now we have more choices, comment redacted.
Sweet! Thanks for clearing that up Ponyboy. Congrats on the deal, always good to see more competition on the field.
I am so going to be picking one of these up as soon as they become available. I miss the whisper-silence of optical parts.
I am also excited. Who am I kidding, I don’t have time to mod sticks. But it’ll be good to see more options for more people. I’ll be sure to buy one to put away in a box 
lol
Not gonna lie, after reading through everything being said, I’m super excited that this joystick PCB is coming back, especially with that transparent blue shaft cover and FLASH 1 dust cover? That’s just way too cool! Thanks for keeping us posted on this punkpc. And to ponyboy and Mr. Happ, I really can’t wait to see the final product! 
Hope you start taking pre-orders soon.
Added info on Gate testing because I have had a few people ask about it.
Since I’ve never seen one of these before, is it an analog joystick? I’m assuming it would require a custom PCB to register itself as one.
Curious, how do these fare when placed in a case that has lit buttons? If I put a large light inside of my cab, would it affect the ability of this to work?
How long do these sorts of products last? Optical sensors, from what I’ve seen, need to be cleaned every so often to ensure they are always working correctly.
I’d not analog – it’s standard 8-way inputs, but it’s done through optical interrupters rather than switches. This means you get no clicking switches, AKA 4 less mechanically moving parts to fail. Optical joysticks have their advantages and disadvantages, but they’re cool nonetheless.
Having never worked with a Flash1 myself, from what I understand they’re fairly robust. Each sensor is binary (either it’s blocked or it’s not blocked), so you don’t really have to worry too much about cleaning (there’s no “lens” involved, really – just an LED and a photoresistor or similar). It’s unlikely that dust within a joystick would cause any performance degradation – you’d have to cake it on pretty thick to make a difference. As for internal lights, the black cover serves to keep a fairly narrow sensor, and to block out extraneous light, but on top of that I’m fairly sure they use IR led’s/sensors for this – unless your lights are emitting IR or near-IR light, you’ll probably be fine.
If I got anything wrong there, I trust that someone will correct me – most of my understanding of the Flash1 is from secondhand knowledge and assumptions, not proper research since I’ve never really planned on using one myself (though they are quite awesome).
Thanks for the info! That does sound neat.
I’d be concerned about tactile feedback; although, seems like a lot of people like leaf-switches too so maybe it’s just me.
Don’t think this was asked, but will this stick work off 3.5V (i.e. PSX voltage) and/or 5V (i.e. USB voltage)?
Good question Kikimaru, most of us assume because the original molds are used on the Flash 1 (2011) is the same specs as the OG Flash 1and run off +5v.
Testing today for PSX Voltage.
Ponyboy
ponyboy, this is more of an aesthetics question than anything else, but will this reproduction FLASH 1 PCB also include the following:
- The tiny yellow DC5V+ and the red FLASH 1 stickers that are on the black housing
- The bigger FLASH 1 sticker that came with the original run
- The two rings (the clear plastic one and black rubber one) that were meant to be inserted between the PCB and the JLF main body
That’s all; hope to hear back from you all soon. :tup:
When does the Rollie Electronics scanline generator come out? /totally kidding
-ud