- Joined
- Dec 14, 2005
- Posts
- 4,023
Neo-Geo AES Sanwa Stick Mod Guide - Compiled by 'dubdubdub' (Feb. 15, 2009)
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DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for you screwing your stick up, blowing your face out with a dremel, burning yourself with a soldering iron, etc. etc. etc. If you don't have basic knowledge of power tools and soldering then have someone else (besides me) do this for you. MOD AT YOUR OWN RISK!
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Welcome adventurous traveler! You have decided to do a mod that was largely considered "impossible" due to the size of Sanwa sticks vs The Neo-Geo AES case size. A few people have tried this and done it by putting a nasty gaping hole in the bottom of the stick. Yuk! I've modded about 20 of these sticks to date the way I am showing you.
There are about 17 members on this site that are going to post "There is nothing wrong with the stock stick! It's superior!" To each his own I guess. While the stock stick sure is nice (especially compared to other sticks in it's day) the fact remains it is simply not as accurate as a Sanwa JLF. If it was, they would be putting these crappy things in candy cabs.
I have received close to 100 pms asking how this is done. Since this is the last one I will ever do I figured I might as well make a guide for everyone. Here we go...
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Step 1: Tools & Bits needed
- Soldering Gun
- Solder
- Wire
- Wire heatshrink
- Drill with pilot bit and 5/32" bit
- Philips/Flat Tip screwdrivers
- Needle nose pliers
- Wire snips
- Wire strippers
- Multi Meter
- Dremel with cutting bit and grinding bit
- 1 Sanwa JLF joystick (with balltop color of choice)
- 1 JLF wire harness
- 1 JLF Octagon gate (optional & recommended)
- 4 24mm Sanwa/Semitsu pushbuttons (snap in or screw in)
- 1 pack of Shorty's "Silverados" skateboard mounting bolts (hex head, can get them at any skateboard shop)
- 1 1/2" washer (VERY important)
- 4 small washers (for the Shorty bolts)
- Bottle of glass Coke (optional, highly recommended)
- 8 terminal disconnects
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Step 2: Disassembly
This is where the fun starts. Remember kids, this is 100% irreversable modification to your stick.
1. Using a flat tip screwdriver carefully pop off the rubber feet from the bottom of the stick. If you remove them cleanly enough, you can reuse/reglue them when you are done. Otherwise you will have to pick up some other rubber feet from the hardware store.
2. Remove the 5 screws from the bottom and remove the bottom shell.
3. Remove the 4 screws holding the joystick in place. Disonnect all the quick connects.
4. Using a flat tip screwdriver, remove the balltop from the joystick shaft.
5. Remove the 4 screws holding the button assembly on, and the one screw holding the start/select button assembly on. You can leave the wiring on it for now as we will get to that part later.
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Step 3: Installing the joystick
This is where the fun part comes. NEO GEO PURISTS CLOSE YOUR EYES PLEASE. This is going to hurt. Lots of hacking and slashing going on here.
1. Using your dremel cutting bit remove all traces of the old joystick mounts. This includes the two fins running vertically along the sides of the stick hole, and the two fins on the base of the case.
2. Using your dremel grinding bit, shave off a tiny tiny tiny tiny (I can't stress that enough) layer of plastic on the bottom base where the stick would hit. Thankfully SNK already marked this spot for us when the injection molding was done.
3. This is where that washer comes into play. Basically, even with the grinding and such the Sanwa shaft is still about 1/32" too long for the case. By placing a washer in the top of the stick assembly, it raises it up just a hair (by pulling the spring assembly up).
4. Place some markable tape on the top of your case in the approximate location of your mounting points. Place the joystick in upside down and eyeball the location then mark with a sharpie. I use duct tape for its strength and protection to avoid any slips that might scratch the case. The placement of the stick is strictly personal preference. I like the stick to be mounted straight like the original. Once I had someone request that I tilt it slightly outward because their hands were too large for this stick and felt they could do quarter circles easier that way.
5. Drill your pilot holes.
6. Drill your big boy holes. (Protip: Charge your drill before you start. Time to crack open that glass coke and have a few swigs ^_^)
7. Now it's time to mount the stick. You will notice the inside of the plastic is curved, while the Sanwa mounting plate is flat. Take your needle nose pliers (or any pliers for that matter) and gently arc the corners of the mounting plate upward.
Before:
After:
8. Place the shorty bolts in through the top. They should fit nice and snug. Place the stick mount on, your washers and the nuts. Tighten in an opposite corner fashion (as you would when putting a wheel on a car). Do a little bit at a time on each post until they are nice and snug. Doing this slowly bends the corners the rest of the way. Don't tighten too hard though or you might snap the plastic case and have an ugly blemish to deal with.
9. After the stick is mounted place the shaft cover on, screw the balltop on, put the PCB in place and the restrictor plate. Place the stick together and move it around. Do you feel any friction on the bottom of the case? If no, you did perfect. If yes, repeat step 3 very carefully.
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Step 4: The Start & Select button mounting plate.
The metal plate used to mount the start and select button PCB will not fit now because of the hardware mounting the stick. Time for more hacking.
1. Draw a line with your sharpie along the select side of the metal plate.
2. Cut it with your dremel cutting bit. Be careful. You screw this PCB up and you are in a world of hurt.
3. Screw the PCB back in place. Yay it fits!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 5: Wiring the buttons.
1. Remove all the wires from the button PCB. Take note of which color goes to which button or you will have to use the multi meter later. In the case of the stick being shown:
White - A
Yellow - B
Grey - C
Orange & Green - D
Black/Brown - Common ground (also shared with joystick and start/select buttons)
2. After removing and stripping the wires, start by adding quick disconnects to ABCD wires.
3. Build your ground loom. You need 4 quick disconnects with enough wire running between each one that it will comfortably reach between your buttons. On the 4th quick disconnect, you will be connecting the ground wire from the joystick (Sanwa harness black wire), the ground wire that was connected to your button PCB, and the ground wire that serves your joystick switches.
4. Hook your buttons up! Done.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 6: Wiring the joystick
If you did everything right up to this point you will have 4 wires left. Black, Green, Blue and Pink. Almost all AES sticks wiring is colored the same. At this point it wouldn't hurt to use a multimeter and double check your pin outs though. Wire them to the Sanwa harness as shows. (S) represents the wire on the Sanwa harness.:
Ground - (S) Black (Already done)
Black - (S) Green
Green - (S) Yellow
Blue - (S) Orange
Pink - (S) Red
Tuck those wires in! Throw some electrical tape down to hold them in place. Put the base on, screw it all together. Then test it before you put the rubber feet on. If all works well, and you didn't screw the rubber feet up, hot glue them back on. Otherwise drag your sorry butt up to the hardware store and get some new rubber.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 7: Rock your face off.
Put in Garou and do some Crack Shoots with Terry. Buster Wolf all over your friends faces. Put in KOF 98 and see how easy it is to pull off Iori's Eight Maidens. You will be pleased with the arcade quality accuracy of your stick now and will most likely become the best Neo player in your neighborhood.
That's it. Please feel free to post any questions regarding this guide and I will edit as needed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for you screwing your stick up, blowing your face out with a dremel, burning yourself with a soldering iron, etc. etc. etc. If you don't have basic knowledge of power tools and soldering then have someone else (besides me) do this for you. MOD AT YOUR OWN RISK!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome adventurous traveler! You have decided to do a mod that was largely considered "impossible" due to the size of Sanwa sticks vs The Neo-Geo AES case size. A few people have tried this and done it by putting a nasty gaping hole in the bottom of the stick. Yuk! I've modded about 20 of these sticks to date the way I am showing you.
There are about 17 members on this site that are going to post "There is nothing wrong with the stock stick! It's superior!" To each his own I guess. While the stock stick sure is nice (especially compared to other sticks in it's day) the fact remains it is simply not as accurate as a Sanwa JLF. If it was, they would be putting these crappy things in candy cabs.
I have received close to 100 pms asking how this is done. Since this is the last one I will ever do I figured I might as well make a guide for everyone. Here we go...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 1: Tools & Bits needed
- Soldering Gun
- Solder
- Wire
- Wire heatshrink
- Drill with pilot bit and 5/32" bit
- Philips/Flat Tip screwdrivers
- Needle nose pliers
- Wire snips
- Wire strippers
- Multi Meter
- Dremel with cutting bit and grinding bit
- 1 Sanwa JLF joystick (with balltop color of choice)
- 1 JLF wire harness
- 1 JLF Octagon gate (optional & recommended)
- 4 24mm Sanwa/Semitsu pushbuttons (snap in or screw in)
- 1 pack of Shorty's "Silverados" skateboard mounting bolts (hex head, can get them at any skateboard shop)
- 1 1/2" washer (VERY important)
- 4 small washers (for the Shorty bolts)
- Bottle of glass Coke (optional, highly recommended)
- 8 terminal disconnects
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 2: Disassembly
This is where the fun starts. Remember kids, this is 100% irreversable modification to your stick.
1. Using a flat tip screwdriver carefully pop off the rubber feet from the bottom of the stick. If you remove them cleanly enough, you can reuse/reglue them when you are done. Otherwise you will have to pick up some other rubber feet from the hardware store.
2. Remove the 5 screws from the bottom and remove the bottom shell.
3. Remove the 4 screws holding the joystick in place. Disonnect all the quick connects.
4. Using a flat tip screwdriver, remove the balltop from the joystick shaft.
5. Remove the 4 screws holding the button assembly on, and the one screw holding the start/select button assembly on. You can leave the wiring on it for now as we will get to that part later.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 3: Installing the joystick
This is where the fun part comes. NEO GEO PURISTS CLOSE YOUR EYES PLEASE. This is going to hurt. Lots of hacking and slashing going on here.
1. Using your dremel cutting bit remove all traces of the old joystick mounts. This includes the two fins running vertically along the sides of the stick hole, and the two fins on the base of the case.
2. Using your dremel grinding bit, shave off a tiny tiny tiny tiny (I can't stress that enough) layer of plastic on the bottom base where the stick would hit. Thankfully SNK already marked this spot for us when the injection molding was done.
3. This is where that washer comes into play. Basically, even with the grinding and such the Sanwa shaft is still about 1/32" too long for the case. By placing a washer in the top of the stick assembly, it raises it up just a hair (by pulling the spring assembly up).
4. Place some markable tape on the top of your case in the approximate location of your mounting points. Place the joystick in upside down and eyeball the location then mark with a sharpie. I use duct tape for its strength and protection to avoid any slips that might scratch the case. The placement of the stick is strictly personal preference. I like the stick to be mounted straight like the original. Once I had someone request that I tilt it slightly outward because their hands were too large for this stick and felt they could do quarter circles easier that way.
5. Drill your pilot holes.
6. Drill your big boy holes. (Protip: Charge your drill before you start. Time to crack open that glass coke and have a few swigs ^_^)
7. Now it's time to mount the stick. You will notice the inside of the plastic is curved, while the Sanwa mounting plate is flat. Take your needle nose pliers (or any pliers for that matter) and gently arc the corners of the mounting plate upward.
Before:
After:
8. Place the shorty bolts in through the top. They should fit nice and snug. Place the stick mount on, your washers and the nuts. Tighten in an opposite corner fashion (as you would when putting a wheel on a car). Do a little bit at a time on each post until they are nice and snug. Doing this slowly bends the corners the rest of the way. Don't tighten too hard though or you might snap the plastic case and have an ugly blemish to deal with.
9. After the stick is mounted place the shaft cover on, screw the balltop on, put the PCB in place and the restrictor plate. Place the stick together and move it around. Do you feel any friction on the bottom of the case? If no, you did perfect. If yes, repeat step 3 very carefully.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 4: The Start & Select button mounting plate.
The metal plate used to mount the start and select button PCB will not fit now because of the hardware mounting the stick. Time for more hacking.
1. Draw a line with your sharpie along the select side of the metal plate.
2. Cut it with your dremel cutting bit. Be careful. You screw this PCB up and you are in a world of hurt.
3. Screw the PCB back in place. Yay it fits!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 5: Wiring the buttons.
1. Remove all the wires from the button PCB. Take note of which color goes to which button or you will have to use the multi meter later. In the case of the stick being shown:
White - A
Yellow - B
Grey - C
Orange & Green - D
Black/Brown - Common ground (also shared with joystick and start/select buttons)
2. After removing and stripping the wires, start by adding quick disconnects to ABCD wires.
3. Build your ground loom. You need 4 quick disconnects with enough wire running between each one that it will comfortably reach between your buttons. On the 4th quick disconnect, you will be connecting the ground wire from the joystick (Sanwa harness black wire), the ground wire that was connected to your button PCB, and the ground wire that serves your joystick switches.
4. Hook your buttons up! Done.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 6: Wiring the joystick
If you did everything right up to this point you will have 4 wires left. Black, Green, Blue and Pink. Almost all AES sticks wiring is colored the same. At this point it wouldn't hurt to use a multimeter and double check your pin outs though. Wire them to the Sanwa harness as shows. (S) represents the wire on the Sanwa harness.:
Ground - (S) Black (Already done)
Black - (S) Green
Green - (S) Yellow
Blue - (S) Orange
Pink - (S) Red
Tuck those wires in! Throw some electrical tape down to hold them in place. Put the base on, screw it all together. Then test it before you put the rubber feet on. If all works well, and you didn't screw the rubber feet up, hot glue them back on. Otherwise drag your sorry butt up to the hardware store and get some new rubber.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Step 7: Rock your face off.
Put in Garou and do some Crack Shoots with Terry. Buster Wolf all over your friends faces. Put in KOF 98 and see how easy it is to pull off Iori's Eight Maidens. You will be pleased with the arcade quality accuracy of your stick now and will most likely become the best Neo player in your neighborhood.
That's it. Please feel free to post any questions regarding this guide and I will edit as needed.