Opening dragon joysticks

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jonwarby
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2020 6:44 pm

Opening dragon joysticks

Post by jonwarby »

I have a couple of dragon data non centring analogue joysticks that I would like to do a bit of maintenance on. There doesn't seem to be an obvious way to open them. Are they glue together and if so has anyone found a kind way to open them? Heat maybe? I dont want to prise them apart.
sorchard
Posts: 530
Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2014 9:43 pm
Location: Norwich UK

Re: Opening dragon joysticks

Post by sorchard »

My first thought was that there are often screws hidden under the rubber feet, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case with Dragon Data joysticks.

I think you're probably right and the two halves of the case are glued together. If you're lucky then some gentle heating might soften the glue enough to allow the two halves to separate without damage.

I've also seen videos of petrol or white spirit being applied along the seam with a hypodermic needle, which seems to dissolve the glue pretty quickly, but have never tried this myself. I'd imagine this would also mark the surface if the excess solvent is not quickly removed.
Stew
Alastair
Posts: 669
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:33 pm

Re: Opening dragon joysticks

Post by Alastair »

I take it you mean the black "paddle" joysticks as shown in http://archive.worldofdragon.org/index. ... =Joysticks ? As you can see in the pictures, the two sides are glued together.

I can remember opening my old joysticks with simple brute force, since I cannot find them at the moment I cannot tell if I did any damage. (I can't recall doing any damage, but since the sticks had snapped I wasn't really that concerned if I did damage them, so any damage might not have registered - and we are talking over 30 years ago.)
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