Rollie Leaf Switch Info/Review

jhupka

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Donor 2011, 2021
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Why leaf switches?
- Classic arcade feel for 80's games

- Some people pre-load the button pressure and use the leaf's springiness to help with faster button pushes (e.g. Galaga)

- No annoying click-click-click while playing


About Rollie Leaf switches:
- Great for wood control panels since typical leaf-buttons are designed for metal control panels due to their barrel height

- Direct replacement to your typical microswitch

- I purchased 10 Rollie Leaf switches from Paradise Arcade Shop (I had *great* service with this order): http://www.paradisearcadeshop.com/en/microswitches/36-rollie-leaf-switch-for-pushbutton.html


The Good:
- Great feel. For comparison, remove the microswitch entirely from a Happ-style button. Now press the button. This is pretty much how the switch feels with the Rollie Leaf installed. It might be slightly stiffer (see note below on rubbing), but it is nearly the same feel as a Happ-style button with no microswitch installed.


A few Gotchas (not really bad, but something to pay attention to):
- They stick ~1.5 inches out the side of button. This means you will need to creatively align your buttons under the control panel so they don't interfere with each other

- If you wired your control panel with tight tolerances on wire length, you might have to rewire if things don't reach anymore due to the different locations of the spade connectors

- The two "feet" on the button that normally actuates the microswitch can rub against the frame of the Rollie Leaf switch. You can see this where the green-arrow points in the attached close-up photo. The solution to this is to use a razor to shave a bit off one side of these feet so they don't make contact. I noticed that some buttons were worse than others. For example, all white-transparent buttons seemed to want to rub more but other colors of my transparent buttons were fine. Every opaque Happ button I tried these in didn't have any rubbing issues so YMMV.


In summary, I really love these switches and will be using them wherever I can. I paid $2.75 for them which was a little pricey compared to a typical microswitch upgrade that needs lesser force to actuate, but I think it is definitely worth it. Even a low-force microswitch still has a slightly audible click and feel to it.



Another leaf switch option for buttons is CLASSX from GroovyGameGear. I haven't tried these, but they were considered when I was researching leaf buttons:

http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=73&products_id=359

What I like about the CLASSX:
- Several switch type options between Micro-leaf, Groovy Soft Touch, and True-Leaf Pro

- The True-Leaf Pro sits directly against the button's actuator foot, the Rollie Leaf has a small gap (although the gap doesn't really impact usage)

Why I didn't go with the CLASSX:
- I was building a multi-Williams and wanted transparent buttons. The True-Leaf Pro has to be used with the CLASSX switch body due to the specialized mounting.

- The Rollie Leaf Switch is a drop-in replacement for your standard microswitch. If you need all new buttons, the CLASSX might be a good option, but if you already have buttons and just want to make them leaf, then the Rollie is the way to go
 

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Attached is an image of the Multi-Williams control panel I'm working. This is for a custom cabinet so that is why it doesn't look like a CP from a Williams game. Also, I'm not using leaf joysticks - pretty expensive to go with Wico originals, and I am currently using Zippyy's with upgraded microswitches. They feel pretty good for the price. I'll eventually do a thread documenting my Mutli-Williams stuff...

You can see how I turned the buttons in creative ways to get the Rollie Leaf switches to not interfere with each other.

Something like this would be a nightmare in a Street Fighter 6-button layout. On the other hand, I wouldn't use these Rollie Leaf's in a 90's game like Street Fighter. I'd stick with micro-switches to stay period-correct in the feel.
 

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