Fixing Up some Fight Stick Neos

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I’ve never been a fan of semitsu, they just don’t feel right to me. But the best part of arcade hardware is that it’s all preference
 
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separate the grounds accordingly so the inputs don't conflict, there's a reason for it to be the way it was originally. When there's a common ground line which is most of the time, you can daisy chain grounds all day but when you have different diodes between ground lines and what have you they are "separated" and thus the need for separated ground lines for your buttons. Hope that helps.
Thanks for the explanation. I probably should’ve known better but at least it’s an easy fix. Had to reopen it anyway cause I forgot to tighten down the ball top
 

shadowsfollow

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^ Nice, you know, if you wanted to get ambitious in the future, sanding and painting that top should be a breeze. I've seen some real nice projects done with them.

I’ve never been a fan of semitsu, they just don’t feel right to me. But the best part of arcade hardware is that it’s all preference

Yeah, it's all a matter of preference. In my case I like having different setups. Not just Seimitsu and Sanwa, although my favorites, I like other stuff too, Korean hardware is fun to tinker with, american style stuff is also a fun time. So much stuff out there to just settle in one camp.

Thing is, I used to prefer Happ/IL over everything because it's what I knew to be the best in the arcades at the time, then I got into Sanwa and didn't care for anything else. The problem was when it was time to play on different hardware competitively I was a wreck. Most Neo candies use Seimitsu hardware, same for old Sega cabs and so on, so I decided to do one setup with Seimitsu just to see what the deal is and that was the gateway to other hardware. I feel playing with a variety of hardware made me more versatile as a player and more appreciative towards the engineering of it.
 
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I’ve never felt that there’s a “wrong” controller or hardware to use, just preference. The only reason I don’t use the Neo Geo CD pad, which would normally be my ideal controller, is because they break too frequently.
 

shadowsfollow

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I used the same grease I use on levers for the Neo CD Pads and it made a real difference. If proficient with soldering one could replace the D-pad switches, I need more practice for that project. The powder found inside them is due to the friction between the 4 directional actuators and in time the grit get's in the switch making it less snappy.
 

NexusX

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I used the same grease I use on levers for the Neo CD Pads and it made a real difference. If proficient with soldering one could replace the D-pad switches.

The problem is that the CD pad microswitches are not an off the shelf part. I have experimented using a few different types and sizes as replacements but they never feel the same. Best You can do is take 2 broken ones and make a working one out of both of them. At least you will have replacement parts if it goes out again.
 
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The problem is that the CD pad microswitches are not an off the shelf part. I have experimented using a few different types and sizes as replacements but they never feel the same. Best You can do is take 2 broken ones and make a working one out of both of them. At least you will have replacement parts if it goes out again.

It also doesn’t help that they wear out quickly. I’ve never been a fan of arcade sticks personally, neo geo is the only time I ever use them solely because of those damn micro switches.
And layout wise, I find the two rows much easier to use when playing KoF
 
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Virus has really delayed any work on this for a lot of reasons.

How did you mod the bean?
24 mm sanwa snap ins(the start and select ones are clones). Also a lil joystick extension and a red ball top. I was trying to use the original start and select buttons but I muffed up the board so had to go with plan b. It’s a pleasure to use now for beat em ups and run n guns.
 
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Update!
It’s been forever but the sticks are finally done.

003D4062-1E5C-4C5C-8617-2FF8B1CE1D17.jpeg

I didn’t have another yellow button, which is why the Neo 1 has two green buttons. The biggest challenges was properly measuring the holes for the sanwa stick to fit in since I only had one shot to do it right, finding the correct size screws, and the hardest bit, correctly wiring. But that has all be taken care of.

If you want to do this yourself, I recommend using a fightstick neo 2. The board is labeled so you know what button gets wired where easier, and the inner shell has a large window which allows for better access.
 
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andsuchisdeath

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I'm sorry for insulting your hard work and stuff, but seeing these pictures make me sad.

I really love the Neo Hori II as a stock stick, and well, they're not making anymore of them...
 
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Three of the buttons were not functional and the stick was completely wrecked from over a decade of use and likely rotting in some Japanese dude’s closet. It needed refurbishment and using new parts was the only way to do so without sacrificing another stick. There were ethics to it.
 
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I understand where you’re coming from. The modern rush to modify old consoles by adding HDMI ports, region modding, installing internal flash boards etc are destroying a pieces of history with a finite supply. It’s one thing to replace a laser in a dead PC Engine CD or replacing a capcom suicide battery, but pulling the tabs out of a Super Nintendo, changing the bios in a sega Saturn, modifying fully functional sticks? It’s all destruction of stuff that’s getting harder and harder to find, things that should be preserved to the best of their ability.

I made an exception here because both sticks functioned but were’t useable. Replacing the parts was the only way to preserve the still working boards for continued use on my personal AES. And for a little extra piece of mind, I did not trash the original stick or buttons.
 
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gray117

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Good to see it done... like these hori sticks more than original aes tbh.

... Got to say I think a lot of aes stick restorations would look better all black or maybe grey buttons - basically retaining as much of the original look as is practical; retro fitting mvs colours to them just kind of makes it all a mish mashy imho... still,*if* you fancy trying that, it's a far easier swap mod / non issue now you have done all the hard work so good one for that :)
 
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I thought the same thing before doing it, but I didn’t want someone to mistake them for stock buttons/stick. So I internationally went with MVS colors to make it clear that this was a modification. The buttons themselves are a bit of a pain to swap, but it can be done easier since I added wires to them.
I didn’t care too much about the aesthetic since these sticks were in rough shape when I got them, especially the Neo 1. If I were to do a full repaint respiration, I would make them look closer to stock.
 
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