Thursday, May 7, 2015

Fightstick Parts and Accessories Storage

I have picked up working out again a few months ago. You know. A little cardio here. Push-ups and pull-ups there. Then came the eating healthier portion that coincides with that. (I was going to use the word "cleaner" when I mentioned eating, but after typing and re-reading it, I figured some smart ass, such as myself, would comment on my choice of words.) Anyway, at the other end of the plaza where my gym/work is located, is this Mexican market. I started buying snacks from there during my break. Gallon of water, apples, bananas, oranges, etc. Well, I begin to notice that produce over there aren't quite as fresh as I'm use to from other grocery stores and that it's been days since I've seen any more produce being brought it. I got tired of not being able to buy ripe and fresh fruit, so the alternative? Gerber baby food. And that's where this is headed for all you impatient ones. I'm not talking about the ones that come in the baby jars, but the rectangular plastic cups. Nutritionally they did the job as far as snacks go, but the biggest reward? The reusable plastic rectangular containers.

Now for those of you who like to spend money on replacement/backup parts for your fightstick(s), pretty soon you'll have to find a place to store these things. Probably the most popular parts that are purchased are the pushbuttons. They usually come in a pair of twos and in a small plastic bag, in these thin, flimsy, plastic holders. I don't know about you, but I like to keep all my pushbuttons, joysticks, dust covers, ball tops, springs, etc together for easy and quick access. Some of these parts are pretty small and can easily get lost or misplaced. Looking at this empty Gerber banana cup, I realized that the cups can be reused. So to keep you from falling asleep, here are a few was you can use these Gerber baby food cups.

Oh, before I go on, I'd like to say that you can buy these at just about any grocery store. At the Mexican market at the end of the plaza, they sell for $1.59, but Wal-Mart has them cheaper. In case you have no idea what I'm talking about or what they look like, here is an image of one.



Doesn't that look good?! Alright, without further ado, here are a few examples of how I used a few of them.


 photo 20150507_011122_zpszfn2nvej.jpg I got yellow ones.

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I got shaft covers and ball tops.

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I even have a quick release JLF shaft!

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These are great for containing screws and dust covers too.

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More ball tops! 

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A big container to contain the little ones! You can find different size tupper ware bins at your local Wal-Mart or Target (or even K-Mart) stores. 

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These are stack-able and the drawer can also be removed if needed. 

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An army of Gerber baby food containers filled with Sanwa goodies!

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Easily stack-able and they fit perfectly inside!

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Just an idea of the spacing and room. 

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I don't know about you, but I think that these containers look a lot better than what your pushbuttons comes in. The prongs where you insert the wires won't easily get bent or damaged either. 

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I've look into those hobby storage boxes and even fishing tackle boxes, but none of them seem to be able to hold pushbuttons in sets/pairs in those blocks that they have. Some have dividers that you can customize, but they too seem to not be as much use. I guess it all depends on your needs. I just wanted to write about how I now store and organize my Sanwa/Seimitsu parts/accessories for my fightsticks. Hope you  found this useful in one way or another. Maybe you're into Legos, like I am and need something to separate certain pieces while you build your next mech, car, plane, or building? Who knows, right? Thanks for checking this out! 

- Rotendo