VKB-SIM

I've this great stick for a year now. But about 4 months ago changed to the #40 springs and the cams with the discrete center detent. I've noticed occasional loss of random buttons- sometimes the analog stick, sometimes a 4 way hat. Never the the pitch, roll, or twist of the stick. I solve the problem by taking the stick off and simply reseating it. I do not push the stick down onto the base , but simply let gravity hold it there while I tighten the Allen bolt.

But after a few days I notice the flakiness again. Recently on one of the 'reseating' I noticed the three spots (where the pins of the grip make contact with the base). Although the contact points have always been visible as smooth abrasions, one of them now has a little trough-like depression, almost as if the pin is sliding across the contact.

I am thinking that I push a little too hard on the joystick with the #40 springs and the increased force is making the pin gouge its way across the contact. So I changed back to the #20 springs.

I know the pins are spring loaded and should act like little shock absorbers, but when lateral torque is applied to them I think they slide a bit. Over time, one of the pins has made a little trough. This deformity I think will increase the friction and binding of the pin to the contact plate and also accelerate the wear the pin will cause.

Since a number of people have solved their 'problems' with reseating the joystick, I wonder if there is a more effective solution. I wish instead of contact pins, VKB had used a little U shaped flat piece of metal- like a leaf spring. The larger contact area would have prevented this problem and also provided better contact. Of course, a 'Virpil' solution of a cable would eliminate this issue as well.

Has any thought been given to a mod kit where the pins can be replaced with something which has a greater surface area contact point? Maybe three little gold slippers to slide over the pins but which have a bulbous end? The larger surface area of the contact point and the shallow curvature would prevent excoriation of the contacts in the base.

How can fix this probbblem for now VKB?

Dents in the contact plates made by the spring pins are fine. Long scratches are not. The scratches show up when the grip is not properly secured on the base, so it will move during twist, leaving those marks. A loose grip won't only scratch the contact pads, but it will also damage and eventually break the spring pins, because they're not supposed to move around.
Try to tighten the fastener better next time. If you'll still have the same issue please fill up a service ticket, maybe you need a new rusk/fastener.

I'm not official just offering my experience.

I've always slid the grip down after getting the little split-angled "rusk" bolt well aligned to slip it over the shaft, peeled back the dust cover a bit to fish the hex tool into place, and then been sure to put firm (but not 'straining', Hulk-like) downward vertical pressure on the grip, so that it is compressing those pins (possibly I've even been bottoming out the available travel range on the 'plunger' or moving tip), before tightening down the "rusk". I don't know if that is correct or not, but I have never had to reseat my joysticks because of intermittent button presses, and very rarely feel the need to recalibrate, either. I'm sure I'm nowhere near latest firmwares, everything just seems to 'work'. It's only if I get it in my head to make config changes (add another Tempo or alter a curve or LED programming or something) that I fiddle with any of that[FOOTNOTE].

I do use fairly weak springs though, so this might still be a discriminator. I think of 'spring pins' as being present to absorb vertical distance tolerances in mating parts, but they're not really supposed to be having to 'move' (plunger in the pin shaft) during use. At least that's how we engineer their use where I work - they help make up / assure contact during assembly, but the relative parts are expected to be rigidly fixed in place, just maybe not so close that without the pin tip contact would have been assured.

I have only ever disassembled my Gunfighters in the last 20-24 months due to a desire to change gimbals or springs, swapping the MCG-Pro for a new MCG-Ultimate, or (long long ago, you'll see other posts in my history if you care to look) before I upgraded to the Gunfighter Mk III when I used to get wonky axis behavior, and eventually chalked that up to there being a little bit of metallic debris on the magnet which could move around. (Found when doing the upgrade, and it has not recurred since I swapped out parts for the GF Mk III boards and such.)

[FOOTNOTE] [I have a little more issue with the Slaw pedals - if I have any uneven foot pressure on them during Windows boot it seems to recalibrate their center, and I have to run their calibration program to fix it, or re-boot another time without touching them. ]

Yep, that's pretty much the way I mount my grip (MCG Ultimate). I don't generally dismount/remount my grip regularly but I did have a spate of doing that 6 or so months ago when I was experimenting with different springs and the contacts seem to be rock solid (my connector is the old Rev A pattern, don't know if the makes a difference) and I've never had any issues with the contacts.