I had a hard time sourcing working joysticks, however I found a few that were broken. This particular one had a stick broken beyond repair and one destroyed microswitch. I decided to turn it into a 1-button joystick, and to rebuild it with a 3D printer :-)
Here is the result. The final version is made of four pieces: the stick, the top button (articulated) and two pieces to fit the original screws. It was all printed using my own slicer on a Makerbor Replicator 1, with Sailfish firmware. The models were designed with Google Sketchup.
The most difficult part was to get the original microswitch to fit, as well as to design the top button so that it would rotate properly and hit the switch in the right place. In the end it only required two prototype prints to get all measures right.
It is not the most comfortable joystick, but it works reasonably well. I'll probably create another 2-button version with new microswitches.
If you like this kind of repairs, check out the full joystick print on Thingiverse!
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