Joystick broken; possible to fix by myself? (steel batallion)

Oboro

So, my Steel Batallion joystick has stopped resetting to the default position; like, physically resetting. The stick is just limp.

I don't know how a joystick works! I guess it's some sort of spring or something? I tried Googling, but there are so many irrelevant forum posts that turn up in the results that I can't dig down to anything actually useful.

I'm worried about opening it up, but seeing as how the maintenance is no longer supported-- and the stick is pretty much trash as-is-- I guess there's nothing to lose.

It's a pretty average two-dimensional joystick, as far as I can figure. What should I be prepared to buy? Do I actually need to open it up and take pictures before anyone can offer any help? Sorry, totally clueless here; I'll crack it open tonight either way since it's Easter Sunday and all the stores are closed, but I can hit a Radioshack tomorrow and order anything I need to fix it.

It still works properly, it's just it physically doesn't reset to the natural position. Any input?

blincoln

I would guess it's a spring, yes. You'll probably need to open it up and measure the one that's in there, then see if you can find one of roughly the same size at a hardware store.

I would hardly consider the controller "trash" with that one problem, though. It's probably a $1 part that needs to be replaced, out of a ~$200 device.

Oboro

blincoln wrote: »

I would guess it's a spring, yes. You'll probably need to open it up and measure the one that's in there, then see if you can find one of roughly the same size at a hardware store.

I would hardly consider the controller "trash" with that one problem, though. It's probably a $1 part that needs to be replaced, out of a ~$200 device.

Oh yeah, I just meant it's unusable without fixing it, heh. Well, not unusable-- I'd been using one of my Logitechs on my lap in conjunction with the rest of the SB controller, but that was a little bit more of a doozy than I could handle.

Grabbing my screwdrivers now, in all honesty the spring in there may have just come unhitched or something. I'm sure it won't be a problem.

Thanks for allaying my fears, at the very least.