pac-man joystick assembly problem

Superully

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the centering grommet from my pac-man joystick was totally beat, so i had to remove it - i had to cut it in order to get it loose. that thing refused to let go off the shaft, but i won eventually ;)

i ordered a replacement grommet from bob roberts and when i wanted to install it today, i couldn't fit it on the shaft. have a look at picture 1: as far as i know (and remember from disassembly a couple of months ago), this is what it's supposed to look like. the black stop spacer followed by the centering grommet, then the white sleeve and finally the white actuator. note: my pac-stick didn't have the nylon flat washer that is supposed to go between the sleeve and the actuator, but i guess this is no biggy, right?

ok, on with the problem: as i've said, the centering grommet isn't wide enough to slip directly onto the black stop spacer - and because of that the rest won't fit onto the shaft. have a look at picture 2, this is how far the centering grommet slides in!

so what's up with that grommet? did i get the wrong size? is it because my pac-stick is NOT the textured ball top model?

i need some input, guys :)
 

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Yep. that's not the original shaft for Pac. BUT - if it was in there originally with a grommet and you just replaced the grommet, you should be able to put it back together...
 
don't know how i should fit the grommet onto that shaft - the center of the grommet is hard like metal and won't extend a bit!

btw, which is the correct orientation of the grommet? the "length of the grommet's shaft" is different on both sides, there's a longer "shaft" and a shorter one? does the longer or the shorter side face the ball top?
 
oh, i forgot: are there different grommet versions available with a larger inner diameter?

and how do you know that that is NOT an original shaft? the setup looks like an original stick ...
 
I looks to me like the steel thing, just above the new grommet, was part of the last grommet. I had to use a grinder to get the last one I did off. You haven't won yet, it's round 2.
 
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I looks to me like the steel thing, just above the new grommet, was part of the last grommet. I had to use a grinder to get the last one I did off. You haven't won yet, it's round 2.

man, you were totally right! that steel thing really WAS part of the old centering grommet. i put the stick in a bench vise, used some wd40 and a pipe wrench and off it went. knock-out in round 2!!!

thx again, now the stick is on holidays on a the beauty farm :)
 

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now all i need to know is the orientation of that centering grommet? which side faces the joystick's red ball top?

Im pretty sure the taller part goes up but dont quote me on that.
FYI, some of the old replacment grommets are small center diameter and are meant to be reamed to fit. This way ops could stock one grommet and use them for pacs, wico, etc. If you got it from Bob it should be a new reproduction and will be the correct size for pacs.
 
oh, i forgot: are there different grommet versions available with a larger inner diameter?

and how do you know that that is NOT an original shaft? the setup looks like an original stick ...

I wasn't sure if that steel part was part of the old grommet. It looked like a repro stick where the top part was thick and the bottom was thin. That's why I said it wasn't original...
 
To tag on to this thread; I'm in the middle of disassembling my pac cocktail joysticks to respray the CP's, and I'm stuck with the centering grommet. They're just held on by friction/rust, right?

My grommets are still good, but I'm having a tough time.
 
Thanks. It'll be worth the effort; it looks like the last owner did a re-paint (there are brush strokes!) with a dog in the room, there's hair coming out of the paint. Yeesh.
 
the pacman stick i have appears to be original and the shaft is made of copper.
is that common? seems like an odd material to use for a joystick. has a plastic sleeve over the copper.
 
the pacman stick i have appears to be original and the shaft is made of copper.
is that common? seems like an odd material to use for a joystick. has a plastic sleeve over the copper.


Its copper plated. I think they started plating it to prevent the grommets from rusting to the shaft. If it were solid copper it would bend very easily. The plastic sleeve is a spacer. Pacman used a black one and they switched to red when mspac came around.
 
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