Atari Falcon 030 Brand New original owner in Original Box New old Stock

[trustey1]

HI,

 

What do you think is a fair price for this Atari Falcon 030. It was an original owner who never even took it out of the box. He worked for an Atari Distribution Company and when this never sold he got to take it home at cost back then. Not sure even how much cost was back then. If you look in the box it is still the way it was when it left the factory.

 

Not too familiar with these as I am more of a Atari 2600 guy.

 

Any advise would be great.

 

Thanks

Dave

[Fletch]

Used NTSC Falcon's typically sell for $500-$1000 USD on eBay.

 

Refurbished Falcons sell for $850-$1000 at B&C.

 

So I'd say $700-$1100 new in box.

 

Offer him $400 and see if he bites.

[+remowilliams]

Reminds me that I really do need to sell my Falcon...

[trustey1]

HI,

 

Thank you for the information. What other items should I be looking for that are high end. He has a bunch of stuff. A lot of boxed stuff. He said he had a printer which he though was a good item. Any printers good? Also an item with a "TT" on it. Is that good looked like it own computer.

 

Thanks

[Fletch]

Grab the TT!

 

Atari made laser printers. If its one of those I'm sure you'd find a buyer.

Edited December 23, 2014 by Fletch

[Fletch]

Oh, and the Falcon's NVRAM/RTC module is more than likely dead. The part is only about $5, but you need to desolder the old one and solder a new one back in. Can be a tad tricky.

 

http://www.atarimusic.net/featured-articles/falcon-hardware/108-atari-falcon-nvram-house-of-horrors-how-to-replace-your-real-time-clock-without-the-gore

[trustey1]

Cool I will get the printer if it is the laser one.

 

What is the TT030 worth?

 

Thanks

[Fletch]

B&C sells refurbished TT's for $675.

 

I haven't seen one on eBay for a long time so I'm not sure about the average there.

[trustey1]

Great Thanks for the help.

[Clint Thompson]

Reminds me that I really do need to sell my Falcon...

 

How much?

[Justin Payne]

Oh, and the Falcon's NVRAM/RTC module is more than likely dead. The part is only about $5, but you need to desolder the old one and solder a new one back in. Can be a tad tricky.

 

http://www.atarimusic.net/featured-articles/falcon-hardware/108-atari-falcon-nvram-house-of-horrors-how-to-replace-your-real-time-clock-without-the-gore

I got these parts a while ago but was waiting on getting a good solder station (which I just did. Hakko FX888D. Thank you Santa) to do the desolder work. I think the price for the chip and socket was somewhere around $15, with shipping, from Digikey. Still very reasonable.

As far as removal, what were some of your challenges? I figured with a solder sucker and some wire braid, the hard part would only be getting to the chip.

 

Also, I don't know if I would take on this project for something in such pristine condition. It's mint and I would leave it as such even in the clock chip is dead. Leave that up to the new owner.

 

As for the price. Yep, high ball it. This is a special item and would be a gem in someones collection.

 

BTW: How much ram does it have?

Edited December 26, 2014 by Justin Payne

[Fletch]

 

As far as removal, what were some of your challenges?

 

I had a friend with extensive electronics experience help me, but removing the chip was the most challenging. We used some side snippers to cut the pins on the side facing the front of the board then carefully folded the module up and had access to the rear pins. Snipped those, then flipped the board over and used the solder sucker to remove the pins.

 

After the pins were removed, cleaned the area with 99% alcohol and the we soldered in the new RTC.

 

Took about 20 minutes or so. But I had quite a bit of help from a guy who knows way more than I, so I'd think it would have taken me at least an hour without his guidance.

[Justin Payne]

 

I had a friend with extensive electronics experience help me, but removing the chip was the most challenging. We used some side snippers to cut the pins on the side facing the front of the board then carefully folded the module up and had access to the rear pins. Snipped those, then flipped the board over and used the solder sucker to remove the pins.

 

After the pins were removed, cleaned the area with 99% alcohol and the we soldered in the new RTC.

 

Took about 20 minutes or so. But I had quite a bit of help from a guy who knows way more than I, so I'd think it would have taken me at least an hour without his guidance.

Ah, yes. Snipping the pins is a good idea and does make the job a bit easier to get the solder out from both sides.

I don't have extensive electrons experience but I did spend about 3 years as a bench tech soldering parts onto boards. It was brain dead work but I used to say I could solder the antenna back onto a gnat. That was almost 20 years ago so I'm pretty sure I'd need a larger bug to do that today. My biggest fear is I life off a trace but since I now have a solder station that I can control the temperature, I hope that risk will be minimal. I just wish I had access to the solder sucker iron I worked with back in the day. It was the type with the iron and the pump. It was prefect for removing components.