Anyone ever seen this type of 4" Wico?

Broodwich

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Restoring a control panel for a buddy that had 3.5" sticks in it. He sent me the sticks to replace and they're unlike any 4" Wico I've ever had. Anyone recognize or have any information on it (what game they were from, are they Wico)? Both shafts he sent are exactly the same

Top shaft is the one in question, strange taper in the shaft above the normal shaft edge (bottom is a standard 3.5" Wico).

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I bet it was just rubbing against the metal cp and caused that groove.

I don't believe so, both sticks are exactly the same, not scarred or rough like it would be if it was worn. if it was rubbing against the panel i would think there would be more wear in a certain spot on each stick and not uniform all the way around and in the same location.
 
I agree with Mike. Have you ever seen a 36 year old roller shaft from a heavily played centipede.. it's shaped like an hour glass all from the abrasiveness of some grime and a cue ball... who would have thought.
 
Yes, that's just a wear groove. I have plenty like them. That one is pretty severe.

It can be from rubbing against the CP, or more likely it's from the metal restrictor plate that is embedded in the top part of the stick base. (If you look into the top hole of the stick, you'll see the metal under the plastic.)
 
Yes, that's just a wear groove. I have plenty like them. That one is pretty severe.

It can be from rubbing against the CP, or more likely it's from the metal restrictor plate that is embedded in the top part of the stick base. (If you look into the top hole of the stick, you'll see the metal under the plastic.)



2 sticks exact same amount of wear and same place? Must have been a lot of uniform circles made with these sticks
 

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I only saw this on my phone before, not very good representation of the problem. :p

now that I see it here, it looks worn. that happens a lot on 2 way joysticks like what Defender has. never seen it on a Wico before though. even the wear looks imperfect. if it was used on a metal panel where the hole wasn't big enough metal on metal will wear away over time.
 
I only saw this on my phone before, not very good representation of the problem. :p

now that I see it here, it looks worn. that happens a lot on 2 way joysticks like what Defender has. never seen it on a Wico before though. even the wear looks imperfect. if it was used on a metal panel where the hole wasn't big enough metal on metal will wear away over time.

I only looked at 1 at a time before having both next to each other seems a bit more feasible, still i've never seen 4" wicos like this or this worn. seems to have taken a lot of circular up and down movement to get them to this point. I was just wondering, regardless they're not mine.

i've had at least 100 wico sticks come thru my hands but not like this and definitely not 2 at once.
 
Reduce your pic size BTW. That thing is huge.

And yes, it's wear.

The shafts can spin freely within the grommet, as there is nothing locking them in place besides the e-clip, which only prevents them from being pulled up. The wear will distribute evenly because the shaft is free to rotate. It needn't be due to people making circles.

If you look at the bases they came out of, you will see that the holes in the top part of the base likely have lots of wear as well, if they are the original ones.
 
It's worn. Nothing to see here.

Sticks rotate as you play them, that wear is the result of years and years or rubbing on something equally as hard or harder.
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Reduce your pic size BTW. That thing is huge.

Refresh the page, i removed the embed. I understand the function of the stick and how it's assembled but i think the wear pattern would be less even.
 
If the shaft is free to rotate within the stick, I don't see how you wouldn't expect the wear to be evenly distributed.

Also, if you look closely (and/or measure), the location of the wear ring is just above where the shaft seats in the grommet. The rubbing is against the metal plate that is embedded inside the top plastic base piece on all Wico sticks. The metal plate is what prevents the shaft from wearing right through the plastic.

Usually in Robotron cabs however, the CP is a thick piece of wood. So, the shaft ends up bumping up against the sides of the wood hole, before it bottoms out against the side of the hole in the stick base. That's why you don't usually see shafts this worn. Someone was probably using these in a metal CP, or some other thin material, where the shafts weren't contacting the wood first, and were grinding against the metal hole in the base.

You don't have to believe me, but I've refurbished and sold literally hundreds of these sticks. It's just wear.
 
If the shaft is free to rotate within the stick, I don't see how you wouldn't expect the wear to be evenly distributed.


You don't have to believe me, but I've refurbished and sold literally hundreds of these sticks. It's just wear.


Because it wears, rotates 5 degrees and wears only a bit, then rotates and wears less or more than the previous rotation, rinse repeat (at some point one edge should have worn more than the other and not been perfectly round). Seems logical to me.

I believe it could be just wear, I hadn't seen it before tho so i figured i'd ask if it was a knockoff or specifically made that way. Even more so due to 2 sticks coming from the same person with almost the same exact wear (when i took the first pic i had not compared the 2 sticks side by side until pic 2).

I also understand this could have come from a game like black widow which has 4" 8 way sticks and a metal panel. But again didn't think uniform wear all the way around the stick the thickness of a piece of candy tapered would be from normal wear.

Again, I was just wondering. I shouldn't have asked I guess. I appreciate the replies.
 
Black Widow uses 3.5" sticks, not 4", because it has a metal CP. 4" sticks were only used with games that have thick wood CP's (Robotron, SmashTV, and X-Men).

If you think about how Robotron is played, the joystick action is heavily in circles, and is the same on both sticks. They're both 8-ways, and you're running and firing in all directions. And the shafts spin freely within the grommet while this is happening, hence the even wear pattern.

I'd be willing to bet someone was using these for Robotron, in a cab with a metal CP. This isn't typical, as they should be 3.5" for metal. Hence the excessive wear.

(Plus, the fact that they're 4" means there's extra leverage, which puts more pressure against the metal hole in the stick base, causing even more severe wear.)

Either way, you should still be able to use them fine, especially in a wood CP, where the wear will be too far down to be visible, and the stick will bottom out against the sides of the wood CP holes (instead of the stick base hole), preventing any further wear.
 
Black Widow uses 3.5" sticks, not 4", because it has a metal CP. 4" sticks were only used with games that have thick wood CP's (Robotron, SmashTV, and X-Men).

If you think about how Robotron is played, the joystick action is heavily in circles, and is the same on both sticks. They're both 8-ways, and you're running and firing in all directions. And the shafts spin freely within the grommet while this is happening, hence the even wear pattern.

I'd be willing to bet someone was using these for Robotron, in a cab with a metal CP. This isn't typical, as they should be 3.5" for metal. Hence the excessive wear.

(Plus, the fact that they're 4" means there's extra leverage, which puts more pressure against the metal hole in the stick base, causing even more severe wear.)

Either way, you should still be able to use them fine, especially in a wood CP, where the wear will be too far down to be visible, and the stick will bottom out against the sides of the wood CP holes (instead of the stick base hole), preventing any further wear.

Ah, yea didn't think about the thinner panel on black widow, thought they were still 4". Still they're not mine, the owner and myself were just wondering, they will be going on a wood robo panel.
 
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