:?: How to Repair 5200 Joysticks???

[greatwhitetoys]

Can anyone tell me a fairly simple way to repair a 5200 Joystick w/out having to buy the repair Kits? I recently picked up a nice 5200 system with some cool games (James Bond, Pitfall II). I am anxious to play these but alas I can't even start the game. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

God Bless,

Rob

[+-^CrossBow^-]

all you need for tools...are the following...

 

Pencil eraser...unless the flex circuit is a rev 8 or 9...don't use pencil eraser on these...

 

foil ground tape..used to provide grounding surfaces to electronic components on plastic chassis frames...

 

A Phillips (Cross-tip) screwdriver...#1 size is fine...

 

A small flat tip is also needed..

 

Now unscrew the three screws on the bottom...

carefully use the small flat tip to pop the border plastic around the top three "start, pause, reset" buttons. If you fail to remove these buttons first..you stand a very good chance of tearing the traces on your joystick. You do not want that...trust me...

 

Once those are removed...you will see the flexible ciruit material behind the buttons. The contact points on these circuits get gunk and corrode over time. A pencil eraser is the perfect tool to use to clean these contacts and get them shiny new again.

 

Once you have done that...you might as well go all the way...

 

Seperate the two joystick halves by carefully lifthing them apart. The flex from the top row will slide through a narrow slit on the top cover as you remove it.

 

From here...you might as well remove the fire buttons..and the keypad. Now you have full access to all the contacts on the flex circuit. Again, use the pencil eraser to clean these to shiny like appearance.

 

Now the foil tape comes into play...

 

Use a piece of legal pad paper or cardboard..and with the carbon side down...make one line across the paper with the button pads. This cleans the gunk and finger oils off the carbon pads pretty well. Now the foil tape comes in. Cut little .5 cm squares from the foil tape and apply it directly to the pads. This is to replace the old worn out carbon surface and provide a much better aluminum one.

 

The foil tape can be bought in most electronic stores...

 

Doing this will take some time...but done right...you can make your 5200 sticks last a really really long time.

 

Only other tip I can provide is when putting the sticks back together..make sure you have the upper joystick potentiometer all the way to the 9 oclock position..and the lower joystick potentiometer in the 6 oclock position. Then carefully hold the joystick itself center as you put the top shell back ontop of the bottom shell. You also have to remember to reinstall you fire buttons and keypad before doing this. Also don't forget to rethread that top row flex back through the slot for the upper row of buttons.

 

Take you time...and be methodical...and you will get it working..again.

 

BTW..I did this with both my 5200 sticks over 6 months ago...and they are still going strong today. I haven't even cracked them open!

 

Enjoy...as all of you now know the secret to rebuilding a 5200 stick.

 

:wink:

[atarifan49]

all you need for tools...are the following...

 

Pencil eraser...unless the flex circuit is a rev 8 or 9...don't use pencil eraser on these...

 

foil ground tape..used to provide grounding surfaces to electronic components on plastic chassis frames...

 

A Phillips (Cross-tip) screwdriver...#1 size is fine...

 

A small flat tip is also needed..

 

Now unscrew the three screws on the bottom...

carefully use the small flat tip to pop the border plastic around the top three "start, pause, reset" buttons. If you fail to remove these buttons first..you stand a very good chance of tearing the traces on your joystick. You do not want that...trust me...

 

Once those are removed...you will see the flexible ciruit material behind the buttons. The contact points on these circuits get gunk and corrode over time. A pencil eraser is the perfect tool to use to clean these contacts and get them shiny new again.

 

Once you have done that...you might as well go all the way...

 

Seperate the two joystick halves by carefully lifthing them apart. The flex from the top row will slide through a narrow slit on the top cover as you remove it.

 

From here...you might as well remove the fire buttons..and the keypad. Now you have full access to all the contacts on the flex circuit. Again, use the pencil eraser to clean these to shiny like appearance.

 

Now the foil tape comes into play...

 

Use a piece of legal pad paper or cardboard..and with the carbon side down...make one line across the paper with the button pads. This cleans the gunk and finger oils off the carbon pads pretty well. Now the foil tape comes in. Cut little .5 cm squares from the foil tape and apply it directly to the pads. This is to replace the old worn out carbon surface and provide a much better aluminum one.

 

The foil tape can be bought in most electronic stores...

 

Doing this will take some time...but done right...you can make your 5200 sticks last a really really long time.

 

Only other tip I can provide is when putting the sticks back together..make sure you have the upper joystick potentiometer all the way to the 9 oclock position..and the lower joystick potentiometer in the 6 oclock position. Then carefully hold the joystick itself center as you put the top shell back ontop of the bottom shell. You also have to remember to reinstall you fire buttons and keypad before doing this. Also don't forget to rethread that top row flex back through the slot for the upper row of buttons.

 

Take you time...and be methodical...and you will get it working..again.

 

BTW..I did this with both my 5200 sticks over 6 months ago...and they are still going strong today. I haven't even cracked them open!

 

Enjoy...as all of you now know the secret to rebuilding a 5200 stick.

 

:wink:

 

 

Let me just say that is some excellent advice. I'm keeping that one for future reference! Good work!

[Charlie_]

You can use pencil erasers on rev9 flex boards, as long as they are the metal traces. I have seen rev7 and rev9 boards that use carbon traces in stead of metal. You should not use an eraser on the carbon boards. Infact if a carbon board is bad, try rubbing with a dry paper towel. If it doesnt work, replace that board.

 

Also, Ive found once you pull the card edge of a carbon board out of the connector to the cable. It may never work again, as the connector scrapes the carbon right off the board.

 

Charlie

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Chaz,

 

I have never seen a rev 7 with carbon...and all the rev 9 flexes I have seen were carbon traced. Your right in that you can't use the eraser on them as it will actually erase the carbon trace right off the flex. But what I do use...is a q-tip and alcohol..and have had great success with that. I noticed that the carbon based flexes...seem to gunk up worse than the metal traced flexes. Also as long as your careful...there shouldn't be a problem with removing the top joystick case as long as you remove the upper row buttons and their plastic boarder...otherwise..yes..you will strip the carbon off...you can break and bend back the metal traces too..

 

There is plenty of room in that slit on the top joystick shell to allow the flex to go through...

 

My biggest problems with the carbon traced flexes..is that they appear to be of poorer quality on the traces themselves. I have more of the carbon based ones in the trash bin..than the metal ones...

 

either way..this is what I do and continue to do to this day to repair and maintain my 5200 sticks....

 

You guys can test my work for yourselves at CGE when you play on the 5200s at the AA booth.

 

[captain wrong]

Let me also say, as a n00b to the 5200, thanks for the info. Very helpful, I've printed it out for future refrence.

[Charlie_]

Interesting. I'll try to scan a bad rev7 carbon flex board tonight. If I can... my old scanner doesnt work under XP so I'll have to use my kids cpu.

 

Charlie

[Charlie_]

Ok i wrong about rev 7 carbon boards. I have rev 8 carbon boards.

SO it looks like they tried the carbon starting at rev 8.

 

I have many many 5200 joystick parts and I really find the different flex boards interesting.

 

It looks like in Rev 7 Atari tried a more goldish/copper looking trace.

 

I believe the only rev 8 I have are carbon, but I'd have to look again.

 

Also I have a few rev9 carbon boards including a white carbon board.

 

Of course the silver trace rev 9 are the best. Actually anyone that works is the best :-)

 

Charlie

[CrazyImpmon]

@-^Cro§Bow^-

 

Thanks for the tip. I have about half dozen 5200 controllers, none that works. Maybe I can now enjoy a few 5200 games I got when I'm finished with AV mods.

 

PS you a fan of The Neverneding Story? That looks like the Ivory Tower in your avatar icon.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

PS you a fan of The Neverneding Story? That looks like the Ivory Tower in your avatar icon.

 

Yes that is the home of my empress as my Avatar. The Ivory Tower is the symbol of all hope and dreams that all Fantasians and Humans alike in this world have.

 

I however, try not to let it go to my head. hehe...

[MrRetroGamer]

Ok i wrong about rev 7 carbon boards. I have rev 8 carbon boards.

SO it looks like they tried the carbon starting at rev 8.

 

I have many many 5200 joystick parts and I really find the different flex boards interesting.

 

It looks like in Rev 7 Atari tried a more goldish/copper looking trace.

 

I believe the only rev 8 I have are carbon, but I'd have to look again.

 

Also I have a few rev9 carbon boards including a white carbon board.

 

Of course the silver trace rev 9 are the best. Actually anyone that works is the best :-)

 

Charlie

 

Ever see a Rev 6??? I came across one recently on a stick I got from a customer, oldest version I've seen after opening a few hundred of these.

 

I've also seen some different colors like white and a translucent blue. Totally physco-delic man!

[that80sgame]

now if you do all that cleaning and still something is wrong. Take out the flex circuit and hold it up to the light ans see if any of the lines are cracked the most common one is up by the start button. i took a soldering iron and put a fine line of solder to connect the two back together.

i like the foil idea. i put paper behind the fire circuits so the worn out fire button wouldnt have as far to go to make contact.

second i took old fire buttons and cut the contacts off and glued them to other fire buttons.

[voiddweller]

Now the foil tape comes into play...

 

Use a piece of legal pad paper or cardboard..and with the carbon side down...make one line across the paper with the button pads.  This cleans the gunk and finger oils off the carbon pads pretty well.  Now the foil tape comes in.  Cut little  .5 cm squares from the foil tape and apply it directly to the pads.  This is to replace the old worn out carbon surface and provide a much better aluminum one.

 

 

:wink:

 

Would you happen to have a pic of what this looks like?

 

Thanks!