Newbie Pong questions...

[hex65000]

I recently picked up an EBay lot with the Sears version of Super Pong. Got all four controllers, the power brick, and I suspect the original switchbox. Now, I've gone over the machine and it seems to work fairly well -- a good start. Now, I have to get the unit up to my standards of being fully functional, and my experience here is pretty much nil. Fisrt of all, it's noisy on the TV. I just had to mute it at the end of the day. Is it supposed to be silent, are you supposed to turn the volume down, or am I gonna have to crack it open again and have at it with a tuning stick? That's the other thing, these guys don't come apart willingly. to get full access to the board I'd have to desolder some of the switches and at least 2 battey points. Lastly, the paddles are jittery (of course). I have heard of disassembling the pot mechanisms completely, but I'm not excited with that prospect. Are there picture references available so I don't wreck the pot?

Last question: The thing smells like basement. I've scrubbed it down pretty good using glass cleaner and it's better, but I can still smell that musty aspect. I'm half tempted to dip it in a bleach-water solution, but I'd probably break the plastic down and as mentioned above, it's a BEAR to get completely apart.

 

Hex.

[ Not big on Pong machines, but every retro-room should have one. ]

[Nukey Shay]

IIRC, all of the early consoles have their own speaker built-in (so you'd need to turn the volume all the way down). If your sound isn't working, I'd suspect that the speaker isn't working.

 

As far as cleaning the pots go, some people just spray contact fluid along the potentiometer stem or to the open area behind the pot without opening it.

[candiru]

That funky smell should eventually diminish on its own, but you can help it along by putting it in an air-tight bag with some baking soda and maybe some solid air freshener. Probably a week sealed up like that will make it more tolerable.

[Rob Mitchell]

TURN THE TV SOUND OFF! Now that's better .. can you hear the pong sounds coming from the built-in speaker?

 

When cleaning the pots .. you can put 4-5 drops of isopropyl alcohol into the pots and turn vigorously for about one minute. Repeat if necessary.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA