KOWAL Flat Plate Converter

USING THE KOWAL FLAT PLATE AS A CONVERTER

Let's explore one example of using the plate as a converter using the provided diagram (below, provided by KOWAL):

1. Sanwa Blast City has six mounting holes, but only two are threaded M4 (see diag. 1-A). This hole uses Sanwa JLF joystick without a mounting plate.
2. Put four long M4 screw in hole on the KOWAL Flat Converter Plate for American joysticks (see diag. 2-B), then turn plate carefully - the screws cannot fall. Screw the plate to the panel using two short conical M4 screws (see diag. 2-C).
3. Check all connections to the plate; ideally, the plate must be centered. Now mount the desired joysticks and put nuts on the M4 screws (see diag. 3-D).

COMPATIBILITY GUIDE

The sheer amount of joystick and panel configurations make it impossible to cover all of them, nor is the KOWAL Flat Plate guaranteed to be compatible with all of them.  It is helpful to review some of the similarities and differences that exist in panels, where the flat plate converter holes are positioned to install on them, and identify some of the panels that KOWAL FPC were tested upon: 

Seimitsu Astro City and Sanwa Blast City

For starters, Kowal has tested the Flat Converter Plate on two popular Japanese arcade cabinets: The Seimitsu-based Astro City, and Sanwa-based Blast City.  Many Japanese panels are slight modifications of these two panels.  For example, the Taito Vewlix models after the Sanwa Blast City mounting configuration. 

When referring to Fightsticks, the configuration is similar:

• HORI VLX (custom but close to Astro City)

• Hori RAP v1 (clones Astro City)

• Hori RAP v2 (clones Blast City)

• Qanba, MadCatz SFIVTE (clones Astro City)

Please note that Astro City panel has several versions depending on the year of production, and whether the panel comes from Sanwa or Seimitsu.  For example, Astro City is a Sega panel, but Sega offers licenses to Sanwa and Seimitsu for construction of their panels.

Diagram

It is helpful to review the KOWAL FPC hole layout diagram (link opens new window) to see where mounting holes are positioned for many joysticks and some panels that those joysticks install.  Notice the "top" and "bottom" orientation in the diagram, as it represents the method in which is mounted into the arcade cabinet panel or Fightstick.

Suggested Screws

As information becomes available, we will update this section

Attach Sanwa JLF to Flat Plate Converter

Remember that the Sanwa JLF-TP-8YT Joystick body will attach to the outermost center holes on the Kowal FPC (see "Example" diagram and holes marked in Blue).  The JLF body itself has two holes on the left and right side, which appear in its "tabs":




To connect the FPC it to the joystick body Kowal suggests a 20mm M4 conical screw, which is widely available in most hardware stores:

Diameter of the screw must be no larger than 5mm, and no smaller than 4mm.