Old style Joyboards & cracks

[Gamemaster]

After some years i took some of my controllers out and was surprised that the balls on the Joybords got so deep cracks. So far i cant remember having so deep cracks on em they seem to grew bigger even if i didnt use em for like 3 years.
Some balls look like they fall apart from the inside but they still stable.

However i looked on my stored away completely new boxed AES sys and the ball of that controller still is intact without a crack.

Also i have 2 Joyboards where i can remove the balls very easyly just by turning them while other newer ones i cant even turn they seem to be glued also.
Any suggestions on booth cracks and remove balls ?

I also saw there are Neo Geo sticks 2 & 3 for the PS2 that look like a reissue of the old style stick while Stick 3 have a larger ball.
Hows the quality of them ? Similar to the old style ones and have they issues with the cracks to ?

 

[Neo Alec]

I'm assuming that new Neo sticks often came with the cracks already in the ball. It's not something that concerns me. As far as I know, they don't actually break from this, and I kind of thought the cracks were supposed to be there.

The PS2 sticks are a lot heavier than the originals, and feel like sturdier plastic. I wouldn't worry about most of the problems the original had, as they are made of different materials altogether.