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<\/a><\/p>\nA friend’s all-in-one Namco joystick had broken, and they wondered if I might be able to fix it.<\/p>\n
The issue was that the bushing that the joystick shaft is pressed into had split.\u00a0 Since it looked to be Nylon, my guess was that just trying to glue it back into place (even with epoxy) would not last long as a fix.<\/p>\n While the manufacturer is still in business (though on a different URL), their site doesn’t appear to have any mention of this particular unit.\u00a0 I wasn’t really expecting to find an exploded diagram and parts ordering form anyhow, but once in a while pleasant surprises pop up.\u00a0 Not so in this case, so time to wield Phillips screwdrivers with careless abandon.<\/p>\n The joystick mechanism looks to be secured under that square base plate.<\/p>\n This turned out to be a far more complex mechanism than I had anticipated.\u00a0 It wasn’t until I gave the unit back that I learned that this is due to the Pole Position game using joystick twist for steering instead of normal left\/right movement.<\/p>\n My plan was to find some thinwall stainless or brass tubing to sleeve the outside of the bushing and thus collapse down the split section.\u00a0 I didn’t have much luck in finding an appropriate size tube in the McMaster-Carr catalog, however.<\/p>\n No big deal when you have machine tools, though!\u00a0 I found a piece of scrap stainless rod, faced the end, and drilled a shallow hole with a W size drill bit (0.386″, which is just the size of the bushing’s outside diameter).\u00a0 I then thinned down the outside until I reached a point of ‘that looks about right’.\u00a0 This turned out to be a wall thickness of around 0.017″ which I hoped would be thin enough to retain full movement of the stick.<\/p>\n After parting off the ring, I did a little light deburring.<\/p>\n The ring pressed snugly into place on the bushing, and the crack is practically invisible now.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n