Berzerk Bat Stick - Custom Leaf Switch Base

bungy

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So, here's what I did over the weekend. I got this bat stick from dj dns, but it was missing the optic board and some other parts. The first pic shows what was there.

Rather than seek out the troublesome optic board, I got some sheet metal from Home Depot and used my Dremel to make a custom bracket to hold leaf switches.

I wanted to add a centering spring to the bottom, but there were some challenges. Whatever was screwed into the bottom of the stick shaft had broken off, but I was able to extract it. I couldn't find an eye hook with the right threads, so I got a larger one and cut the threads myself. The bracket that holds the spring came from a joystick with a button on the top - the bracket held the fifth switch on the bottom. I bolted that to another custom plate mounted on the base.

The stick isn't so loose now and the leaf switches work like a champ. It may not be all original, but it looks it on the outside and it plays perfectly! The last picture is with the new control panel that cnlmoore made - beautiful!
 
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That looks great. Glad you where able to get it working since some on here think it wasn't. I might have to compensate you with some money or parts you need to do one of those for me on another stick I have. Looks like that would work out a lot better than my original one. Give me a call when you get a chance.
 
How did you bend the brackets? Do you have a sheet metal brake?

No, it was 22 ga steel, I just bent it with pliers. This was a real amateur job since I don't have much experience working with metal. If I had a plasma CNC machine, I'd be giving these kits out for free.

I made the spring plate out of 16ga since there would be more pressure on it, and the spring bracket was taken from another joystick I had. I could probably make something similar out of flatbar or something.

That looks great. Glad you where able to get it working since some on here think it wasn't. I might have to compensate you with some money or parts you need to do one of those for me on another stick I have. Looks like that would work out a lot better than my original one. Give me a call when you get a chance.

I still have another bracket for the spring so I could make another one. Only thing is I don't have any more extra leaf switches, and I got these ones from arcadeshop.de (not our regular arcadeshop - they were expensive). I'll call you in a bit.
 
That's cool, they are definitely in demand. Is he doing the entire assembly? Do you know if he's doing a leaf switch base? I did mine out of necessity, but I'm sure others could benefit from one too.

Chris is working on the bat stick !

I never have any trouble with the optic board (after some fine adjustment) but this is a very nice idea indeed...
 
Last I heard he was planning on doing a reproduction of the stick, but it would mate up to a modern, possibly HAPP, leaf or microswitch base. Best of both worlds.
 
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