Easy Dreamcast arcade stick modding

[albino_vulpix]

Hi all

Long time no post, but I come back with what I hope will be useful information. After purchasing a much used Dreamcast arcade stick, I was disappointed with how loose the stick was (I could flick it down and hit the up microswitch). Researched and found that many Sanwa JLF parts are compatible.

After swapping in a JLF spring and pivot cylinder, the stick feels a lot nicer and no flicking the up switch! Still a bit loose for my liking, but an easy and effective modification. Then, I found some of the buttons were getting stuck in their shaft Researching button replacements found people drilling out the case to fit Sanwa buttons (which are slightly too big to fit right in), and conflicting information about Crown buttons fitting. There are the snap-in CWB203A buttons, and the CWB203C screw-ins. Having basically no experience with arcade parts and no solid info (that I could find at least), I went ahead and ordered 6 Crown CWB203C screw-in buttons. Then parts arrived!



The Crown buttons fit in the holes, but do not snap in tight; there is a little bit of left and right movement. However, the ring that screws on to the buttons fits snug around the plastic button tunnels, tightening up to a perfect fit!



Next was attaching the wiring. As with the whole project, I wanted to minimise un-reversable modifications, so cutting and soldering was out. I found that resistor legs hold nice and snug in the Dreamcast wiring connectors, so I soldered 2 of them onto my buttons:




Now just a replacement ball-top to make it complete! This is a Seimitsu ball-top; screws straight in to where the Agetec ball sat.



My custom Dreamcast arcade stick.