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Longer Lasting Joystick

 User-Replaceable Springs Mean Longer Life
  (+4, -1)
(+4, -1) 		  [vote for,
against]

Instead of designing joysticks so that you have to throw them away once a year because the springs wear out and the centering goes off and you're constantly recalibrating, why not just design them with panels that can be opened, exposing the bands or springs used to keep the stick centered, and make it so that users can remove them with a provided tool, and replace them with spares purchased at the local electronics store? They could throw in a tube of that weird white slimey lubricant while they're at it.
—Size_Mick, Sep 07 2006

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       //why not just design them with panels that can be opened, exposing the bands or springs used to keep the stick centered// I've got this already on the front of my trousers.   

       For your idea to avoid waste +
—xenzag, Sep 07 2006
   

       //white slimey lubricant//   

       You got that too, there?
—neelandan, Sep 08 2006
   

       I am not so sure that I would want to purchase $15 in replacement parts to repair a $20 joystick.
—Jscotty, Sep 08 2006
   

       ...and nor would anyone else. Where are you, that a few springs or a couple of rubber bands cost you $15? It's hardly hi-tech stuff we're after here.   

       On the other hand, if you buy a decent joystick it shouldn't need junking annually. Good kit lasts longer than that.
—david_scothern, Sep 08 2006
   

       What [david_scothern] said. I've got an old CH flightstick from 1992 which still works perfectly. Just needs a squirt of silicone spray and contact cleaner once in a while.   

       I've had a couple other fancier joysticks which have died on me, which I've been able to repair. My Thrustmaster f-16 FLCS came down with a bad case of spiky pots. It was a simple matter of removing the base and replacing the pots, and it's good as new.   

       Every joystick I've ever had has been disassembleable, you just have to find the screws. (Hint: they're usually hidden under the little rubber feet)
—Freefall, Sep 08 2006
   
      
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