Hori fightstick 1 worth restoring?

bytestorm · Feb 17, 2015

I have bought 2 neo geo hori fighsticks that are rusty, scratchy and squeaky..

Are the sticks, and stock buttons that good that they are worth keeping and try to lube em up and clean? Or should I change them, remove the powder coating and give em some new sticks and buttons + some nice paint/art and 2 fresh mesh baulwZ?

If the sticks aren't worth saving, wich is the best replacement? JLF+octa?

Give them some new paint would be nice but the red start/select buttons + 4 red turbo switches ain't going well with many colors...

All tips are welcome!

Thanks!

UPDATE..done
http://1drv.ms/1IZkBck

GadgetUK · Feb 17, 2015

I would say yes, restore them! Do what you've suggested, get rid of any rust, clean up switches etc, remove the powder coating - sand them down and respray them a nice colour =) Wouldn't mind seeing how you progress with these! Wouldn't mind doing the same thing myself at some point.

ggallegos1 · Feb 17, 2015

I've never owned one but I hear nothing but praise for these.

Pics of their current condition would be awesome, but I'd definitely try fixing it before discarding it.

bytestorm · Feb 17, 2015

Ok, nice to hear the original sticks are worth the trouble

. As it is now, they are unusable since they are really not smooth.. quite hard to move and definitely very used. And both shafts are rusted

..

I wonder if I could change the color of the start and select + 4 turbo buttons with paint, and still have then fit the small holes? Prolly not... but the red really doesn't go well with other colours :/

When I talk about changing sticks I just want to make clear that I only mean the joystick inside the hori.. I would never throw the whole fighting stick

.

Karou · Feb 17, 2015

what about that vinyl dye people restore cabs with? could he do his switches with that? Black would cover red wouldn't it? do they come out so he could? maybe even manic panic hair dye would take on them and be permanent enough? what about rit dye, that'd be the cheapest...I can't remember, but I think maybe it doesn't work though? sharpie?

pics now before you start?

bytestorm · Feb 17, 2015

I will check the options. Hmm.. the base is all black, and the metal plate holding the stick and buttons all black too with a big hole in the middle, .. I didn't check them for quite some time now since this project was put on hold due to house renovations. But now I will take them both out and open them and take a closer look on the damage and rust. I will take pics before doing anything at all, since before and after pics are really nice to watch when it's done

. (If I manage to do a nice job that is...) hahaha

Hopefully I can take the first stick apart tomorrow at work. I will update this thread with pics as soon as I get it open

MidnightMonkey · Feb 17, 2015

You can send me one, I'll restore it. But ima keep it.

aha2940 · Feb 17, 2015

I have 2 of the the Hori stick II. AFAIK, they are the same, but the buttons on II are all gray instead of red. The sticks are very nice for all purpose of gaming. Whether you play Garou, Pulstar of Puzzle Bobble, the sticks perform great.

Regards.

xsq · Feb 18, 2015

Yeah, the stock stick is alright on these. I would still replace it with a JLF or LS32 if you're going to go through the troubble of repainting etc. (both of those are way better than the stock).

The buttons are only avarage IMO, put some nice Seimitsus in there

Also what Gadget said: pictures!

Xian Xi · Feb 18, 2015

Fuck yes. Restore them and mod them.

bytestorm · Feb 18, 2015

Xian Xi said:
Fuck yes. Restore them and mod them.

I have some spare seimitsu buttons and a ls-56 I think.. but I have no clue witch stick would fit best and feel best in this one. hmm
is the ls-32 a good neo geo stick?

Atro · Feb 18, 2015

xsq said:
The buttons are only avarage IMO, put some nice Seimitsus in there

Also what Gadget said: pictures!

I tend to disagree here!

Seimitsu for sticks, Sanwa for buttons

bytestorm · Feb 18, 2015

Doing some more searching I realized that it's prolly just a question about wich one the specific user prefer.

I guess I'll just pop in what I have for the moment and see what I think about it

.
Just hope I don't need to Dremel or such inside.. that's such a pain and never gets perfect.

Atro · Feb 18, 2015

bytestorm said:
Doing some more searching I realized that it's prolly just a question about wich one the specific user prefer.
I guess I'll just pop in what I have for the moment and see what I think about it .
Just hope I don't need to Dremel or such inside.. that's such a pain and never gets perfect.

Snap-ins are just about to be plugged! No dremel needed or whatsoever. 30mm buttons that is!

You just need to connect the wiring/solder.

bytestorm · Feb 18, 2015

But I do wonder.. maybe I should try and make my own top metal piece? I mean, I don't really like that turbo button switches section in the middle tbh. .. that could be an option actually.

Or I could maybe do something about that hole in the middle perhaps.. dunno what but hmm.. well might put up some "before" shots of the first stick tomorrow! At least 1 of them was not that bad I remembered it to be, but still needs lots of love .

Xian Xi · Feb 18, 2015

Atro said:
Snap-ins are just about to be plugged! No dremel needed or whatsoever. 30mm buttons that is!

You just need to connect the wiring/solder.

If you do it right then you can just solder them into the existing board, I've done it with both Sanwas and Seimitsus, of course there some slight modding needed.

http://instagram.com/p/x0bULnpYoL/?modal=true

bytestorm · Feb 18, 2015

Xian Xi said:
If you do it right then you can just solder them into the existing board, I've done it with both Sanwas and Seimitsus, of course there some slight modding needed.

http://instagram.com/p/x0bULnpYoL/?modal=true

Nice

! the difficult will be for me to decide on wich stick to use. Buttons will be seimitsu though. The turbo functions card.. is it even used in any game?

Xian Xi · Feb 18, 2015

bytestorm said:
Nice ! the difficult will be for me to decide on wich stick to use. Buttons will be seimitsu though. The turbo functions card.. is it even used in any game?

The Unibios only adds turbo to some games but others can benefit from the turbo function. In this stick I used a JLF, someone said that there is a seimitsu stick you can use where you don't need to drill the front plate.

Yodd · Feb 18, 2015

Atro said:
Seimitsu for sticks, Sanwa for buttons

I concur with this.

kraquepype · Feb 18, 2015

broken said:
I concur with this.

What's the difference? I jumped on the Sanwa stick bandwagon a while ago but never thought about it before.

xsq · Feb 19, 2015

bytestorm said:
But I do wonder.. maybe I should try and make my own top metal piece? I mean, I don't really like that turbo button switches section in the middle tbh.

Jup, I've thought about that too. I'd place start and select on the "shoulder" of the stick case somewhere (so not even on the plate), so they are completely out of the way... If you do end up making a custom plate please hit me up... I want one as well :glee:

kraquepype said:
What's the difference? I jumped on the Sanwa stick bandwagon a while ago but never thought about it before.

google it. There's about a million threads about the different sticks one can use... most people go with JLF or LS-32. This is a good intro site. The best way is to try them out yourself.

Atro · Feb 19, 2015

kraquepype said:
What's the difference? I jumped on the Sanwa stick bandwagon a while ago but never thought about it before.

Shorter throw, faster response to neutral position. It has been said a zillion times already

@Xian : you are right about the soldering, but some buttons ( brands ) don't have the connectors placed exactly the same way.
So they might need wiring instead of direct pcb soldering.

bytestorm · Feb 19, 2015

Aw man.. mine were screw style, not snap in hahaha . But might fit anyway. Just the stick part is bothering me.. I have one seimitsu stick that says ls33 on the pcb but I know it's not a ls-33.. 56 maybe . Might the easiest stick be ls-40 perhaps? I would really like to avoid the Dremel and drilling.

Took some photos today and started with the bottom plate. The top plate was not as bad as I remembered it to be. But you will have a look and see what I am talking about. Might not repaint it.. hmm

Well pics coming later tonight!

bytestorm · Feb 19, 2015

Here are some shots! Please let me know if you rather see a link to another webpage with album or something, if linking all these pictures makes it difficult to follow?

I took it apart and removed all powdercoating from the bottom plate, and all rust. Still its kinda dirty because my hands were dirty as hell hahah, well, it doesnt matter.
But the top plate were not that bad, but what do you all think? keep it even thou the powder coating is cracked, or repaint it? Repainting it will prolly add ALOT of time because decidint on color and art/text will take a while to decide. Or I could just make a new one, but then I would like to remove the turbo section in the middle....

WARNING! Huge pics

Spoiler: