Acceptable Levels Of Paddle Jitter?

[mikey.shake]

I fixed a non-operational CX-10 yesterday. It got me all amped up to try and refurb my collection of crappy, crappy paddles. I'd cleaned them before with alcohol, but it didn't do the trick all the way.

 

So today, I took a set apart and once again cleaned out the pot. First with alcohol, then with DeOxit, then with some other contact cleaner I have that includes a little bit of lubricant (to keep them from being dry and scraping/scratching the contacts. I took my time, made sure the work was clean, and then cleaned/re-assembled the whole thing, then repeated with the other paddle in the pair.

 

Now, I know that Kaboom! has built-in programming jitter to a small degree and is a lousy test. But when I put in Super Breakout and Video Olympics, I still get a tiny, tiny bit of the paddle flickering back and forth, like it's trying to decide between two single-pixel positions on the screen. No big jumps like on some really jittery/glitchy paddles I've tried, though.

 

After cleaning the same set of paddles a second time, I'm about done trying on this one. I'll fix them if I think I can, but I don't want to be pursuing an unattainable standard like some kinda Breakout-loving madman if these are "right" already.

 

How much jitter/flicker is "acceptable" in your set of paddles?

[WolfAmongWolves]

I've cleaned all of my paddles several times, and some of them still remain somewhat jittery. Regarding an "acceptable" level of jitter, it really depends on the game. Precision games like Kaboom and Breakout require absolutely jitter-free paddles to be played properly. Night Driver is a little more forgiving; I've played that with a somewhat jittery paddle and it was still okay. In Warlords a jittery paddle can actually be pretty fun because it adds a touch of randomness to the deflection. It can also give you an advantage in defense - if you move your shield close to the corner of your castle it will twitch back and forth around the corner and cover both sides simultaneously. Finally, I have one really jittery set that I've been too lazy to fix, those are my designated TacScan paddles.