Getting Midway Optical Joysticks Shaft unstuck from Grommet Ring

jim109

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Getting Midway Optical Joysticks Shaft unstuck from Grommet Ring

Hi All,

I have a few Midway optical joysticks where the joystick shaft seems to have rusted together with the metal ring in the middle of the plastic grommet which prevents me from getting it off a control panel. Has anyone ever had any luck getting these unstuck or is cutting them out the only method at this point?

Thanks!!!

Jim
 
you're talking about like the 49-ways that came in say Blitz? yeah, they're a pain in the dick to get off. I think I plastered mine with WD-40 and just pulled them out extremely hard and got them to come out. I got a couple of Blitz cabs at auction and they were filthy and had pop spilled under the plexi, so that's why I had to yank the opticals out.

one of them had a bent shaft. talk about torture. :p
 
i personally think PB Blaster works significantly better than WD-40 as a solvent though if you've got WD-40 around like most Americans you might as well try that first.

if you do use PB Blaster it'll make one heck of a mess so you probably want to safeguard any electronics that might be nearby (encoder board?) before spraying it on. and it may ruin the rubber [then again, maybe not]; check the canister if you're worried about that.
 
I've never worked on a 49-way, but at least on my 4-way leaf, I clamped some vice grips onto the metal part of the grommet and used a gear puller (with its arms around the vice grips) to pull the grommet off the shaft. Worked like a charm.
 
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