Thanks for the precision I should be supposed to know a bit of that but plastics study really did not kept me attentive in school.
Sorry for the late reply. I am not familiar with soldering at all, so that's why I was hesitant to buy a stick that I would need anything else other than a screwdriver to fix up for playing tgm. I still haven't made a purchase, but as I am doing stick research I keep referencing this thread so I can get the best possible purchase for myself. Thanks again for all the ideas and help everyone, you've made getting into tgm way easier for a n00b like myself.
For what it's worth I switch the restrictor gate in my stick from 4-way to a completely separate octo-gate all the time and have never had any issues with the gate breaking in any way *knocks on wood* That said some people have really really bad luck with them breaking all the time and they are super inexpensive ~$2 plastic things so I would definitely recommend getting extra if you plan on changing them out or rotating them with any sort of regularity.
Completely separate as in an entirely different piece of plastic, and that's what most people are suggesting is done with the JLF plates. The Sanwa restrictors are pretty hardy, *except* for when you rotate the inner gate piece frequently (as shown in the video cyberguile posted), because it uses poorly designed live hinges in the plastic that fatigue and snap after a handful of uses (you can probably be careful and never break them, but it'd be difficult). Other than that I've not really heard of any of them breaking. As others have said if switching between 4 and 8-way often, you just need two - one to be 8-way permanently and one to be 4-way permanently. Swapping them out rather than rotating them round and I'd expect they'll last ages and you wouldn't need any spares. Amnesia was mostly just making the point that while Sanwa restrictors might appear to be switchable between 4-way and 8-way, in reality they're designed to be set once and only once, rather than routinely alternating between the two.
Sorry, I worded that poorly. I meant the same plastic restrictor gate, but I switch out the inner insert between the square 4/8way one and this: http://www.focusattack.com/jlf-gt-y-octagonal-restrictor-plate-insert/. In other words I frequently do the thing that causes snaps ;P That said, do what Rosti says just because it'll be better
I broke one of the clear plastic clips on my JLF by switching it between 4/8-way too often. However, it's easily fixable with two rubber bands (see pic). In fact, it might even make switching easier because you won't have to remove the whole restrictor gate in order to turn the inner part. I will confirm/deny this theory once the second clip breaks
I got a Madcatz PS3 Stick from ebay for 70 Euro (with shipping, thats about 80$). It works on every PC I have tried so far, but you might need to install drivers. But it took some time to find one that cheap.
Well, I think I cursed myself with my last post. After holding for over a year and countless 4/8 switches, the second clip finally broke. The rubber bands hold the inner part just fine, but it is ever so slightly wobbly. The plastic clips applied more pressure than the rubber bands, keeping it firmer in place. But I don't notice a difference while playing. Plus changing between 4 and 8 way now only takes 5 seconds.
