SOLD - PARTS Another DAMN SEXY pair of original 4" Wico Robotron joysticks - $165 shipped

andrewb

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Another DAMN SEXY pair of original 4" Wico Robotron joysticks - $165 shipped

I have one more refurbished pair of original Robotron joysticks available. These are 4" 8-way Wicos, which are the proper sticks to use for Robotron with an original wood control panel. They can also be used with other cabs like MK, or other JAMMA/Jrok cabs with thick wood CP's. (I have a pair in my MKII cab with a Jrok board, and love them).

This pair is not like my other Robotron sticks, which have 4" shafts that I make by hand, by swapping red balls on to other colored 4" shafts. This pair has an original pair of Robotron 4" shafts, which have been polished to a high shine. It also has the gray 8-way bases (rather than black), which were used on early Robotron production cabs. They have the earlier 'Patent Pending' message on the bottoms of the bases instead of the 'Patent #4,436,971' text found on later Wico bases.


Details:

- All parts thoroughly cleaned, washed, and dried.
- Screws, springs, and washers have been tumble-cleaned and polished. Like new, zero rust.
- Shafts have been drill-sanded and polished.
- Knobs have been polished, but have some light marks from normal wear.
- Includes new repro modified 8-way actuators from Paradise Arcade. See here:
https://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=376026
- Proper 8-way bases have relatively low wear, and are in excellent shape.
- Leaf switches are in excellent condition, cleaned, straightened, with no broken tabs, and no solder residue.
- Includes new 2-lb repro soft grommets from fleetwood472. (I purchased the last of Justin's 2-lb grommets, which are the preferred ones for Robotron. These are among the last pairs I have left.)
- Includes new repro Wico dust washers from This Old Game.


This is one of the nicest set of original Robotron sticks I could possibly put together, short of NOS.


$165 shipped in the US for the pair. Int'l shipping extra.


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How do most people make their Williams multi control panel? If they usually use these then I will take them. Trying to find some pics, but coming up short so far.
 
I know many folks use these. However the question is whether you want to use just these, or add an additional stick for Defender.

I've tried the multi-panel thing, and I came to the conclusion (for myself, anyway) that it's better to have at least two separate swappable CPs, one optimized for Robotron, and the other with a proper Defender stick and layout. (Assuming you want to play both of those games seriously, or semi-seriously).

Trying to play Defender with the tall 8-way stick can technically be done, but it doesn't really work well IMO, as the stick requirements for Defender vs Robotron are just too different (and sorta opposite, i.e., short, tight 2-way stick vs tall loose 8-way), so trying to do both in a single multi panel just ends up doing neither one well.

Some people have built panels with an additional Defender stick between the two 4" sticks. That can also work (and is somewhat of an improvement IMO), but I'd still prefer the separate CP's, one with a perfect Defender layout, and then a Robotron + a few buttons to play everything else I care about on my Jrok (which for me are Robotron and Bubbles, mostly). But it does depend on what games are most important to you, and how important the layout accuracy is.

Below are a set of custom blue 4" sticks I made for another collector's multi, mounting the blue balls on 4" shafts. You can see the layout with the extra Defender stick.

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Another DAMN SEXY pair of original 4" Wico Robotron joysticks - $165 shipped

Andrew provides a great assessment of the caveats with both layouts on a panel.

If you never care to go beyond wave 3 on defender though you likely won't care about the stick.

The logistics of a decent mws setup is having the reverse button close enough to the up-down so thumb isn't over extended.
And when you hold left robo stick you don't want the defender stick jabbing in wrist.

If you are good at defender meaning you know how to get past wave 8-10 then a dedicated panel is hard to beat.
 
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