Interest Check: Atari Food Fight/Red Baron/Tunnel Hunt Gimbals (Aluminum)

What you see in the attachments are aluminum gimbals for the Food Fight, Red Baron and Tunnel Hunt analog joystick mechanism. These will be a direct drop in replacement for the OEM plastic gimbals which tend to break and they will work on the older black plastic version as well as the newer/tougher natural nylon version. These aluminum parts will not be prone to breaking.
Final cost will be $50/pair.
Interested? Show of hands?

Put me down for at least 2 complete sets please.
 
The interest count is pretty nice. I'm going to leave this open a little longer while I work on some other parts and see if I can hit 40. It's pretty much a given that I'm going to work on the gimbals, though. I'm going to also take a look into prototyping the entire controller for the hell of it, not just the gimbals and grommets.
 
The interest count is pretty nice. I'm going to leave this open a little longer while I work on some other parts and see if I can hit 40. It's pretty much a given that I'm going to work on the gimbals, though. I'm going to also take a look into prototyping the entire controller for the hell of it, not just the gimbals and grommets.

a complete rebuild kit would be awesome.
 
Maybe. Let me see what will be involved with a complete build. It's a straight forward design, but I'd like to see if I can improve it without degrading the fit/function in any way. I could actually use a stash of the housings and control plates.

a complete rebuild kit would be awesome.
 
I will draw up the parts and see about making a few prototype controllers. I'm familiar with the stick, so I know where it tends to fail. Any comments about what people would like to see improved upon? Housing and pivot ball are two parts which obviously need to be improved.

I would love so see your whole stick design. We know the faults of the stock one so I'm sure your design will last twice as long if not forever.
 
I will draw up the parts and see about making a few prototype controllers. I'm familiar with the stick, so I know where it tends to fail. Any comments about what people would like to see improved upon? Housing and pivot ball are two parts which obviously need to be improved.

I would donate my design for the base if you want it. It's currently in Fusion360. I would rather have an aluminum version than a plastic one.

You would have to tweak the design though as it's designed to be printed.
 
Can you show me what you've got so far? The base plate made from aluminum would be very pricey if done from one piece of metal. I could see breaking it up into multiple parts to cut down on the cost. Ultimately, the outlay might be cheaper than having it injection molded. I have only used 3d printing for prototypes, never production parts. The finish, at least from my experience, requires a bit of extra work to make it look nice.

I would donate my design for the base if you want it. It's currently in Fusion360. I would rather have an aluminum version than a plastic one.

You would have to tweak the design though as it's designed to be printed.
 
This is the current design I have. I'll be testing it this weekend as I've tweaked it since my last design.

It's been designed for 3D printing so it could be modified to use less material since Aluminum would be a lot stronger.
 

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That looks pretty damn good! Have you determined a final price for this part? I did some quick measurements of mine. If I broke it up into three parts, attached together with some hardware, I could probably put the part out there for roughly $40-$50. The amount of aluminum for the main square of the base plate plus machine time would be fairly expensive. The two "brackets" wouldn't be as bad cost-wise. These numbers are subject to whichever way the wind is blowing on the price of 6061. If I didn't go with breaking it up into three pieces, the cost could easily hit $100+.

This is the current design I have. I'll be testing it this weekend as I've tweaked it since my last design.

It's been designed for 3D printing so it could be modified to use less material since Aluminum would be a lot stronger.
 
That looks pretty damn good! Have you determined a final price for this part? I did some quick measurements of mine. If I broke it up into three parts, attached together with some hardware, I could probably put the part out there for roughly $40-$50. The amount of aluminum for the main square of the base plate plus machine time would be fairly expensive. The two "brackets" wouldn't be as bad cost-wise. These numbers are subject to whichever way the wind is blowing on the price of 6061. If I didn't go with breaking it up into three pieces, the cost could easily hit $100+.

Not yet, but probably around $10 - $15 shipped once I have the final design done (which should be this weekend since I'll actually have some free time) I'll know.
 
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