Atari 5200 controller rebuild kit?

[vintagegamecrazy]

Where do I buy these? I see Best Electronics will sell refurbished controllers and I see massively overpriced kits or rebuilt controllers on Ebay. I can take a 5200 controller apart just fine. I'm reasonable tech saavy, so where do I buy just the kit at a good price. I have several Wico and Competition Pro sticks but still want at least a few of four Atari brand ones I have to be working.

[Ransom]

Last time I checked, it made no economic sense to get the pieces rather than just getting a complete controller from BEST. If you want to do it just for the fun of it, though, I'd go through BEST for the parts. They're the ones who had the gold stuff manufactured, so you might as well cut out the middle men.

[bohoki]

Last time I checked, it made no economic sense to get the pieces rather than just getting a complete controller from BEST. If you want to do it just for the fun of it, though, I'd go through BEST for the parts. They're the ones who had the gold stuff manufactured, so you might as well cut out the middle men.

 

 

i bought a few new flex circuits for like $5 each and fixed my buttons with aluminum tape

 

the gold upgrade on ebay looks steep

 

rev-9 does not assure gold innards

 

yea its better to buy the best unless you really know what you are doing and find really good deals i got lucky

 

http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/quickguide.htm\

 

that new $5 surcharge is rediculous theres no $5 of gold on those contacts

[Mirage]

Agree with Ransom, that the difference between all the parts to rebuild Gold and to just buy them done was marginal. On top of that, I found it wasn't even worthwhile to mail in your old controllers as a trade-in when you do that. They give you, what... $5 for them maybe? I can't remember, but you're going to pay that or nearly that in shipping to get them to Best. Unless you just want them out of your way, may as well just keep them.

 

If you do rebuild, you may be able to get by with just replacing certain parts and doing the aluminum tape thing, etc, but the results may not be the best and you end up spending more $/shipping to get the rest. Or the results may be fine and work great and save you money, who knows!?!

 

The Best Gold controllers are fantastic. A little pricey, yes, but fantastic.

[zylon]

I've had great results with the gold-kits from Best, but they're pricy. I've rebuilt about 20 of them with those kits. Never had one come back yet. Using a new flexi and some holepunches from foil tape is a much more cost effective method.

[tz101]

Excellent pots can be had at your local Radio Shack store. Start, pause, fire and keypad buttons can easily be refurbed with aluminum foil dots super-glued to the carbon contacts.

 

Only things that are necessary to get from Best Electronics are flex circuits and rubber stick boots if those are needed.

 

I refurbed mine myself and they work like new, so it is not necessary to have Best do it for you if you are even minimally handy.

[atariksi]

Excellent pots can be had at your local Radio Shack store. Start, pause, fire and keypad buttons can easily be refurbed with aluminum foil dots super-glued to the carbon contacts.

 

Only things that are necessary to get from Best Electronics are flex circuits and rubber stick boots if those are needed.

 

I refurbed mine myself and they work like new, so it is not necessary to have Best do it for you if you are even minimally handy.

 

For A5200, best thing is to have many different options for controllers depending on which game you play. For Galaxian, trackball works great. For Pac-man, Wizard of Wor, Berzerk, Joust, DigDug, and some others, a digital joystick works best. For SuperBreakout, Megamania, Kaboom, and some others, an Atari 2600/800 Paddle interfaced to DB15 connector works best. And the rest (like Defender), A5200 stock controller is okay. I woulds still go with a digital joystick interface for A5200 for Defender but the way the game is set-up it needs the extra buttons and there's no keyboard.

[bohoki]

Excellent pots can be had at your local Radio Shack store. Start, pause, fire and keypad buttons can easily be refurbed with aluminum foil dots super-glued to the carbon contacts.

 

Only things that are necessary to get from Best Electronics are flex circuits and rubber stick boots if those are needed.

 

I refurbed mine myself and they work like new, so it is not necessary to have Best do it for you if you are even minimally handy.

 

For A5200, best thing is to have many different options for controllers depending on which game you play. For Galaxian, trackball works great. For Pac-man, Wizard of Wor, Berzerk, Joust, DigDug, and some others, a digital joystick works best. For SuperBreakout, Megamania, Kaboom, and some others, an Atari 2600/800 Paddle interfaced to DB15 connector works best. And the rest (like Defender), A5200 stock controller is okay. I woulds still go with a digital joystick interface for A5200 for Defender but the way the game is set-up it needs the extra buttons and there's no keyboard.

 

 

the pc to 5200 adapter has opened up a world where i have a different controller for just about every game

 

i like this one for missile command it really has good range

this one for river raid since i can use the side throttle for a speed control

i use a pair of matched pcmissions for robotron

i like this one for kangaroo it has autofire

this one is great for popeye and gyruss

this one for pole position

this one is nice and floaty i like it on jungle hunt

 

youve probaby seen my space dungeon abomination

Edited April 16, 2010 by bohoki

[atariksi]

Excellent pots can be had at your local Radio Shack store. Start, pause, fire and keypad buttons can easily be refurbed with aluminum foil dots super-glued to the carbon contacts.

 

Only things that are necessary to get from Best Electronics are flex circuits and rubber stick boots if those are needed.

 

I refurbed mine myself and they work like new, so it is not necessary to have Best do it for you if you are even minimally handy.

 

For A5200, best thing is to have many different options for controllers depending on which game you play. For Galaxian, trackball works great. For Pac-man, Wizard of Wor, Berzerk, Joust, DigDug, and some others, a digital joystick works best. For SuperBreakout, Megamania, Kaboom, and some others, an Atari 2600/800 Paddle interfaced to DB15 connector works best. And the rest (like Defender), A5200 stock controller is okay. I woulds still go with a digital joystick interface for A5200 for Defender but the way the game is set-up it needs the extra buttons and there's no keyboard.

 

 

the pc to 5200 adapter has opened up a world where i have a different controller for just about every game

 

i like this one for missile command it really has good range

this one for river raid since i can use the side throttle for a speed control

i use a pair of matched pcmissions for robotron

i like this one for kangaroo it has autofire

this one is great for popeye and gyruss

this one for pole position

this one is nice and floaty i like it on jungle hunt

 

youve probaby seen my space dungeon abomination

 

Any of them digital? And what do you use for SuperBreakout?

[bohoki]

[

 

Any of them digital? And what do you use for SuperBreakout?

 

 

i use the pole position wheel for supbreakout and kaboom

 

the 2 pads for space dungeon are digital as is the stick for kangaroo it kind of feels like a slightly stiffer competition pro with a button on the stick internally it has notches for the directions and diagonals so it gives realy good tactile feedback but on vanguard t just kills me over and over for about a minute till the system adapts its calibration

 

i got so many pc sticks its crazy

 

this one i like for qix

these i like for space inv and galaxian

i love this one for digdug

this matched pair of quickshots are great with a friend for wiz of wor the middle buttons are autofire so in the arena we go back to back and let loose

[Greg2600]

Excellent pots can be had at your local Radio Shack store. Start, pause, fire and keypad buttons can easily be refurbed with aluminum foil dots super-glued to the carbon contacts.

What kind of aluminum foil, regular household (normal or non-stick)?