Hi there,
Just bought one of the new Picades last weekend and waiting to have the chance to assemble it.
What kind of buttons and stick does the Picade include? I mean, is it kind of an imitation of Sanwa / Seimitsu buttons/stick? They look so similar, japanese style for sure. If so, would it be compatible with real Sanwa / Seimitsu stuff? I have some Sanwa buttons around there and would be great to use them on the Picade CPO.
Thanks,
Regards.
The buttons are by Abundant and are very similar to OBSF-30 snap-in ones.
The stick is fairly generic Chinese Joystick, but one that stood up to abuse and looked the part :-)
I think 30mm and 28mm should snap-in screw-in just fine. 24mm might be more of a push depending on the mount.
Cool! Is there someone around who has done the buttons or stick mod already? I will snap-in my Sanwa’s for sure then, hope the stick is also hackeable. I just need to find a good 12" monitor fully compatible and will be and awesome mini bartop.
Thanks guru,
Regards.
I confirm I have used the Sanwa buttons perfectly. They are a little bit harder to click through the holes, but they finally do and works like a charm. Couldn’t test a Sanwa/Seimitsu joystick as I have not one while ensambling the picade, but maybe I try someday.
Can anyone comment on the feel of the Sanwa or Seimitsu buttons?
I’m used to buttons that use a microswitch and I was hoping to replace the buttons on my Picade with ones that have more of a click/spring feel.
I’m also interested in specifics of Joystick/Button mods people have done.
Thanks in advance.
Hi,
I replaced the standard Zippyy stick with this:
Seimitsu LS-32-SC Arcade Joystick
Very easy swap, it’s pretty much exactly the same. It’s slightly nicer feeling to use, slightly less clicky, and that particular model has a shaft cover and you can choose the ball colour.
To be honest though, it’s not a huge difference to the stock joystick. I was expecting it to have a bit looser spring. Might have been more of a noticeable difference with a Sanwa replacement?
I have noticed that 4-way games, e.g. Pacman, are slightly harder to play now, it’s difficult to get the exact direction - there’s a restrictor plate, but for a picade you want to be playing a range of games so probably don’t want to have to keep opening the case to change the restrictor for each game.
With the original zippyy stick, Pacman was definitely easier and movement felt much more positive.
But other games, with 8-way control, e.g. streetfighter, r-type etc. feel more fluid to play with the new stick.
So I guess it depends on what sort of games you like to play the most.
Things to bear in mind - you want an ‘SE mounting plate’ to fit right in without any case changes, and there are some models of joystick that use a ‘H5P’ connector rather than the little shoe-connectors for up, down, left and right.
An example of this is:
SEIMITSU LS-32-01
You can see on the image, this one has a different connector to the Zippyy original (so you’d need an H5P cable and rewire it into the picade controller board if you want to use one of those).
I stuck with a joystick with horseshoe connectors for simplicity.
I also replaced two of the buttons (the front panel ones) with these:
SEIMITSU PSL-30N-5W2 5V ILLUMINATED SCREW IN ARCADE BUTTON
Although these are screw in ones,rather than click in, there’s still room. I don’t know if there will be enough room to replace the side panel ones with screw-in buttons though.
The stock buttons I didn’t think were too bad, but I wanted these illuminated ones, which are nice and subtle as the button bezel is illuminated rather than the actual button - I thought that would work better on a small cab. Also they are 5V so easily powered from a USB socket.
I am happy with the button replacement and originally intended to replace them all, but the cost is a bit prohibitive at £8.10 a time for these ones.
I’d imagine most snap in buttons will work fine, too.
Excellent information! Thanks!
How would you compare the feel of the SEIMITSU buttons to the stock buttons?
It’s just my opinion but I’m not happy with the feel of the stock buttons and I’m trying to figure out a better alternative.
I’m looking for buttons that have more of a click/spring feel.
Those particular SEIMITSU buttons which I got (SEIMITSU PSL-30N-5W2 5V ILLUMINATED SCREW IN ARCADE BUTTON) I’d say actually have a slightly less positive action than the original stock ones to be honest.
Having said that they are mounted vertically in my picade, as I use them for the front two buttons only - insert coin and P1 start. I don’t actually use them for gameplay.
But they are certainly not MORE clicky/springy feeling than the stock ones I’m afraid.
Having said that, you might want to consider just changing the switches. I’m not sure how easy that is with these snap-in buttons, but I use these standard- type button in my bartop machine:
You can specify the microswitch on those when you buy them, and can also swap them to different microswitches later. On my bartop I replaced all the bog-standard microswitches (which were very clicky, but actually quite stiff and difficult to press repeatedly after a while) with the more expensive D44X Cherry microswitches - that made a noticeable difference, they are nice and clicky, but not stiff.
Having said that, I left the side flipper buttons with the stiffer switches, as for some reason you kind of expect flipper buttons to be higher resistance.
However I’m not sure if you could use buttons like that in a Picade, they are standard sized hole ones, but because of the switch etc at the back, they are quite long, and I’m not sure there’s room in the picade case to give enough clearance for these types of buttons. Someone else may be able to advise on that.
If you drop an email to sales@arcadeworlduk.com and let them know what you’re after, they are usually pretty helpful. They’ll need to know how much space you have for the buttons (the standard picade ones are 33mm diameter x 20mm button height - but there is a little bit extra space certainly for the front panel buttons), and what sort of ‘feel’ you want - clicky or silent, springy or non springy, concave or convex button top etc.
Thank you very much for the info.
I have a Picade console and two Picade mini cabs. I’ve put the console together but I haven’t built the cabs yet.
I experimented with using IL buttons (with Cherry microswitches) in the console and there wasn’t room enough to fit everything in. I might end up moving the internals of the console to a Fight Stick kit: http://gameroomdesigns.ca/shop/fight-stick-cabinet-kit/fightmaster-fight-stick-ii-kit/
I’m hoping that there is more room inside the Picade cabs. It will be a few weeks before I have time to put them together.
P.S. Cherry switches are the best! It’s too bad the new owner is dropping the name.
Hi guys, I just got a Sanwa JLF 8YT stick. To wire it into picade do I use a JLF H cable https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/products/Sanwa-JLF-H.html ?
If so, which wires go where?
Thanks
Thanks man. That helped me a lot.
The JLF Sanwa stick I replaced the Zippy stick with has improved the performance 110%. I kid you not.o
Hi guys,
I’m looking to swap out my Picade buttons and joystick too. If I buy a JLF Sanwa stick does the metal fixing plate work with the Picade? Also do I need to buy JLF-H cable and if so how does that fit into the Picade board? There is only one com connection on the Picade board, does each movement have its own com as with the zippy stick?
Looking to buy the Seimitsu PSL-30N-5W2 5V screw in buttons but no idea how to connect them up to the Picade board do they come with cables?
Cheers!
Hi,
I’ve bought the Sanwa jlf-TM-8t, it’s a direct replacement for the zippyy stick, you can use the cables that came with the Picade and the mounting holes are at the same positions.
Additionally I’ve swapped the buttons with the Seimitsu PS-14-KN, again direct replacement.
Cheers
Kai
Hi Kai,
Thanks for the advice :)! I bought the same joystick and buttons as you for the control panel (also got an octagonal restrictor gate). I did buy a couple of the Seimitsu PSL-30N-5W2 5V illuminated screw in buttons for the coin and 1up buttons, anyone have experience of wiring these into the Picade. Assuming I can use the PSL-H cable and wire into the Picade board, but how to wire the LED? Seen elsewhere that people have used a USB to do this, am a noob at electrics so any step by step guide on this would be great!
Cheers!
I just went for the cheap light up project… USB LED stick under transparent buttons. Works for me!
I’ve got a Sanwa JLF-TM-8T with purple aluminium bat-top on my Picade. It definitely move a lot more freely than the stock Snappy joystick that comes with Picade, with less of a defined click.
The buttons I went for are Seimitsu ones: PS-14-KNs for the side and front buttons, and PSL-30N illuminated ones for the console buttons. As mentioned above, they’re actually less clicky than the stock buttons.
More info here: http://sandyjmacdonald.github.io/2015/09/08/picade/
I bought a couple of the same Seimitsu PSL-30N-5W2 5V illuminated buttons.
I got the ‘smoke’ coloured ones.
The terminals are clearly labelled - switch, and LED + and -. They are 5V LEDs so I just cannibalized an old USB cable and soldered the power wires (red and black) directly to the button LED terminals. The white and green (data) wires I just snipped off, as they aren’t required.
The switch cables from the original buttons were attached to the switch terminals on the new buttons.
