Atari VCS Classic controller teardown.

Jimbo57 · August 9

I have no questions here, just thought I'd share. In windows Joy.cpl calibration raw data shows the dial to have a range from 0-1024 if that means anything to anyone. Here's some pics of the inside of Atari's new joystick. There are only 8 identical screws holding this together, 4 inside, and 4 outside.

RollOut · August 10

Thanks for the info. What prompted you to take it apart? Trying to fix something, or just idle curiosity?

Jimbo57 · August 10

There was nothing wrong with my unit, I just bought it for use on my computer, and GameStation Pro, which rejected it. There were a few motivations. I like repairing or upgrading antiques, and discovering how things work. I have repaired and modified several win98 era joysticks. I was wondering if this ever became cheap, if the circuit board could be use to adapt vintage/proprietary controllers. The Coleco Gemini, and GameStation Pro came to mind.

The battery was of interest. Built in batteries may seem convenient now, but when systems become vintage that advantage may become a curse. Replacing proprietary batteries will be a problem when devices are 40-60 years old. Have you ever tried to get the once as common as AA, Type B battery for a vacuum tube farm radio or portable analog oscilloscope, or track down the rare but still available early style 6V lantern batteries that are the size and shape of a large metal furnace brick and have bolts sticking out the top that thread through the metal lantern body? The smaller square lantern batteries are much easier to find, and have adapters to convert to D cells, but if you need the type that was common in the 50/60's you'll need to figure out what brand makes the best over priced battery then convert it to an adapter once it dies. My Win98 gaming laptop had a cmos battery that was 9 unmarked calculator batteries shrink-wrapped with a wire lead, suffice to say without knowing the voltage it was supposed to output I was unable to build a replacement as those could have been 1V or 3v cells. This controller has what looks like a standard generic battery that will probably be easy to replace or retrofit in the future.

I was also very interested in how the spinning mechanism worked. It uses a magnetic sensor, and I didn't see any sign of a bearing. The name eludes me, but in large electric motors, instead of a bearing on the rear end of the spindle, they often use a cup socket lined with some oiled felt. This may use something similar. The magnetic sensor is a little jittery when looking at the raw data, jumping back and forth about 3 digits, but since it is magnetic, Deoxit won't fix this if it gets worse with age. Hopefully it will remain accurate just like the contactless sensors in the Microsoft Sidewinder joysticks. There is a key on the cap of the joystick, so maybe there is some internal calibration as well. I do not see a way to nondestructively remove the top handle.

I suspect the top board is glued/epoxied to a plastic stand off inside the inner handle that has a center hole to access a screw to release the inner tube from the base while the the outer tube just slides on around that, possibly with some felt lining like what is found inside of the nicer cd-rom drives. This of course is just speculation, as it is the most obvious way to build it based on what I can see and the things I have disassembled in the past. I am not certain that I would be able to reinstall the circuit board if I forcefully pry it up, so I will not be making the attempt. I would however use a Dremel cut off wheel to cut from the side of a defective unit if I could get my hands on one.

The screws left in the shell in that one picture jut secure the led prisms, which are embedded in a solid black light shield. The entire upper shell is translucent, so you could go full disco mode if you want, but I think the soft amber lights only appearing in the direction pressed, has some beauty in its subtlety.

Some products are risky to open, or a pain to reassemble. I once bought a Nintendo DS with bent cartridge pins at a yard sale for a couple bucks only to find that the spring loaded shoulders are a impossible to try to hold down as you attempt to put the case back together, and many devices come apart with a sudden jolt after needing great force to separate their shells, threatening to tear overly short ribbon cables. The only risk in this joystick is the short lead on the battery. If that socket was ripped from its contact pads it could be easily enough soldered elsewhere. The lead is just long enough, and the case opens easily enough, that if you are reasonably careful it shouldn't be a problem. The ribbon cable to the magnetic sensor is thankfully longer than expected, and could leave you with enough room to work on either side of the board with out removing it, if you wanted.

The rubber contact pads fro the buttons are secured to the buttons themselves by rubber spikes that fit snugly to the buttons instead of being attached to the circuit board, or just loosely being thrown into a recessed socket as I am used to seeing on gamepads. The main joystick does use a D-pad style rubber pad stuck to the board. I manipulated the circuit board a lot and it never fell off.

Over all, I'd say this appears to be fairly well designed.