Proof that you don't need to replace an original 72-pin connector, nor bend its pins up

[MaximRecoil]

 

I got four original 72-pin connectors yesterday that someone had replaced with aftermarket ones because they no longer worked, so I decided to make a video about cleaning them. I've yet to see an original 72-pin connector that wouldn't work like new again by simply cleaning it, and these four were no exception. It's a myth that they wear out and that's why they don't grip cartridges tightly and therefore you need to bend their pins up. They aren't designed to grip cartridges tightly until you press the carriage down, i.e., they are designed to be a ZIF connector (Zero Insertion Force). It's the same idea as a ZIF DIP socket; the chip inserts into it with no resistance, and then pushing the lever down tightens the contacts together.

 

It seems like it's standard practice these days to throw away the high-quality original 72-pin connector and replace it with an aftermarket one, or ruin (IMO) the original one by bending its pins up, which is such a waste.

[mbd39]

I've heard that boiling works.

 

[MaximRecoil]

16 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

I've heard that boiling works.

 

If boiling them gets the pins clean it will work, as will anything else that gets them clean. I doubt it cleans as thoroughly as an acid does though. BKF contains oxalic acid. Soaking them in vinegar is another acid-cleaning method that I've heard works, though I've never tried it. Acetic acid (vinegar) isn't as strong as oxalic acid though, so I assume it would take longer.

[fiddlepaddle]

I put them in an ultrasonic cleaner in half vinegar and water...works great.

[Tanooki]

6 hours ago, mbd39 said:

I've heard that boiling works.

 

Yup I'm 100% on that.  It's a simple process really.  I take a safety pin in case any of them have been flattened with 100s+ of games going in and out over decades.  Then I put a paper towel in the bottom of a pot with water boiling I let it take a 5min bath in there.  Removed, and gripped safely with a mitt/cover I use the NES console cleaning kit module and give it 10 pulls.  If it doesn't come away clean after that, one more bath.

 

I've had stuff that nothing else would work at all on, but boiling just seems to tighten things up to nice and fresh once more.

 

I just did 4 of them last month, 3 for a friend and a 4th for me on a $5 utterly smashed system I picked up for parts I was able to get working, still shell smashed, actually works perfectly.

[MaximRecoil]

6 hours ago, fiddlepaddle said:

I put them in an ultrasonic cleaner in half vinegar and water...works great.

I don't doubt it.

[MaximRecoil]

On 11/8/2022 at 9:47 PM, Tanooki said:

I take a safety pin in case any of them have been flattened with 100s+ of games going in and out over decades.

The pins never need to be bent up in my experience. Some original connectors have a light grip on the cartridge when you insert it and some have no grip at all, i.e., when you insert the cartridge it feels like there's no connector in there at all.

 

I remember my cousin Mike's shiny-top NES (which must have had a very low serial number considering how soon after the national launch that he bought it) having no grip whatsoever even when new. My friend Ryan's NES was also like that; his was a very early one too. He claimed he got his NES even before Mike did.

 

Of the four that I cleaned in that video, three of them have a light grip (quasi ZIF) and one has no grip at all (true ZIF). I decided to put the no-grip one in my main NES and leave it there, because the original design goal was for it to be a true ZIF connector (the original connector I've had in my main NES for many years has a light grip, but I prefer no grip). I suspect they may have tweaked the design at some point to make the connectors have a light grip instead of no grip, to make them work better when not perfectly clean (though none of the original ones ever had a tight grip like most, if not all, of the aftermarket ones do), or maybe light grip vs. no grip is just due to manufacturing tolerances. Either way, a no-grip one is ideal, because it eliminates friction/wear on the connector pins and cartridge contacts when inserting and removing the cartridge.

 

Here's a half-minute video demonstrating that it literally has no grip on the cartridge whatsoever (you can see that it falls out of the console due to gravity alone), yet it works like new.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by MaximRecoil

[Tanooki]

You may be onto something, casual quite redesign.  I hit that the other week doing some repair for free goodies swap on a set of systems.  They were all original connectors, one was super tight almost to the point of being a cheap chinese knockoff one that doesn't last, and the others were loose, quite loose...even after I gave them the gentle pull before boiling.  Pull or not having an effect or buying added time, they all ended up working great in the end once boiled off.