Found: A "Half Sixer" (with lots of pics)

[mikey.shake]

(Thought I’d share, because it was a nice surprise and it’s one more H6 that’s partially accounted for. Plus, it was an excuse to post a bunch of gut shots to have out there for reference in the hive mind.)

I bought a L6 that had some problems, and the seller was very cool about it and arranged a replacement. He warned me that the replacement unit he had wasn’t in quite the same shape, but still good. He warned me that it was missing a serial number sticker, it had a “factory reconditioned” sticker, and some of the orange trim on the faceplate was worn off. No big deals to me, I just wanted a nice ’n’ sturdy VCS to play.

So he sends me the replacement, works great -- none of the same problems. I open it up and realize the replacement’s got Heavy Sixer guts. The momentary switches don’t match the others (shinier, and they have “wings”, too), but I matched each factor to this thread: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/198275-heavy-vs-light-sixer-differences-revisited-more-than-a-thick-base/ and it checked out. Nice!

My theory (assuming any parts replaced happened during that 3/81 refurb date on the sticker) is that a Heavy Six was returned for servicing (probably for the two “odd man out” momentary switches) in late February or early March 1981.

I'm guessing the shop reused the top part with the grille/woodgrain (which has the “high R” H6-style logo) and replaced the rest with a new-model L6 faceplate and bottom shell from the past few months’ supply (based on the bottom casing hotstamp "500"). There were scratches around the faceplate hole that looked like somebody had a time getting one in or out.

It’s just nice knowing I have one of the finest-playing Atari consoles available to game on. The colors are really quite bright and clear. Just for aesthetics, I suppose I’d like to find an original H6 bottom plate and faceplate to give it "that look". Anyone have some in their parts graveyard they’d be willing to... uhhh... "part" with? (Ha! A play on words! Ha! “Play”! Like video games!)

One day, I plan to buy me a real, genuine-article, parts-matching H6’er. But for now, this one's destined to be a superbly-playing "daily driver”. Anyone else have love for a mongrel Half Sixer of their own?

Gutz:

Check out the BLUE sockets on the motherboard! Groovy!

Fuji logo on the switchboard:

Switchboard:

Here are the switches with “wings”, and here’s them looking shiny next to the difficulty switch. They feel much smoother to the touch, too.

RF Shielding:

“A” Stamping:

QC/Refurb mark?

-----------------

STATS:

Heavy Sixer: guts/top

Light Sixer: base/faceplate

Exterior:

Top:

- “High R” symbol on silver logo (on woodgrain), like H6

- Speaker ports open toward cart slot

- Hot-stamped “L&W J CO10307-A, interior, above RD/GS/GR switches

Bottom:

- Typical “angled” L6 bottom casing with channel select hole

- Flat switch bevel borders

- Orange-y type, as opposed to yellow

- No serial number sticker (removed at some point)

- Hot-stamped “500" (50th wk of 1980 -- Dec. 8-14th)

- “Factory Reconditioned" sticker, dated March 07 1981

- Red Atari service center sticker

Interior:

- Motherboard: CO10433, REV B

- Blue chip sockets

- Shielding part #: C010313

- Ticker paper: "99 41500002"

- Grey ribbon cable

Switchboard:

CO10462, Rev 5

incl. Atari Logo, “Innovative Leisure”

w/ “ID" in circle

- Switchboard is green on both sides and translucent

- Stamped “A” all over

- No channel select switch

- Finned heatsink

- Has cap/resistor set above power switch

- RF connector is on small perpendicular circuit board

Momentary switches have tabs on top and bottom

(described in the “heavy sixer differences” thread as “wings”)

Edited March 24, 2015 by mikey.shake

[Army Of 2600]

Dude, you are hardcore.

[mikey.shake]

A journalism degree, O.C.D., and working from home sure are a triple-threat vortex of hardcorality. I figure the evidence might be useful later on to some other discussion (maybe when somebody's screaming "why didn't you use the search function?!?" at someone). Plus, I also post on guitar pedal forums -- where the value of every resistor and cap is scrutinized to justify why one Big Muff is worth hundreds of dollars more than another, and why one is magical while the other is surely crapola. Video games are a lot more fun, and the hippified production QC of Atari's golden age sure offers a lot of mysteries to solve, if you're the type that's inclined.

 

Just wait 'til I get some photos of the inside of my other 6-switch. A rainbow of QC marks. 4 colors on various components. A "Property of Atari Inc." hot stamp. But no serial sticker... so no way to know where it was made until I can find a match. Now there's a mystery.

 

It's either this or get back to work...

[Army Of 2600]

What you are doing with Ataris is way more important than work.

[mikey.shake]

Lol, tell that to my wallet. At least my wife doesn't mind...

[madhatter667]

Interesting. I didn't know there were half-heavies out there. Makes sense though.

[mikey.shake]

I imagine there's LOTS of half-and-half units out there. And being the oldest, they had the longest period of possibly needing repairs and getting new casings. I guess the lesson here is that it pays to take a look inside... you might get a nice surprise?

 

But the last L6 I bought was full of pee, so "you win some, you lose some".

 

It also indicates the importance of knowing what you're getting, so some unscrupulous type doesn't try to sell you a "Heavy Sixer" with Light Six guts inside, right?

[Cynicaster]

Interesting tale. It's cool to think about a time when such devices were actually assembled in North America.

 

Which has me wondering about the provenance of my original VCS and whether or not there is any possibility that it could have come from Sunnyvale. It would seem very unlikely based on when I got it, but according to the "hardware" section of this site, by 1982, there had already been the light-sixer, then the 4-switch woody, and finally the Vader released to market before I ever got an Atari. Nonetheless, I'll take it to my grave that our Atari was bought new at a department store in mid-late 1982, and featured 6 switches and woodgrain. My cousin got an Atari around the same time--in retrospect, I know it was a Vader--which would be more consistent with the accepted product timeline. I remember thinking it was really odd that his Atari had small plastic difficulty switches, and controller ports that were higher up on the back of the unit. I guess mine could have been "old stock" that sat in inventory for a few years before my dad bought it, but that seems unlikely to me because that would mean it never sold throughout the sales boom of the system that resulted from Space Invaders, Pac-Man, etc.

[Retro Rogue]

If a heavy sixer was returned for servicing, they wouldn't have replaced the entire case with a light sixer case unless the original case was heavily cracked (i.e. that was the reason for the service return). Otherwise, the transition between the manufacturing of heavy and light sixers in mid '78 wasn't like "drop all the parts of one and solely use new parts for the other". The two are closely related internally, and its pretty regular to see parts of one or the other in lights because of that interchangeability. Even the earlier molds for the light sixer bottom still had anywhere from full speaker risers in them to nubs to none.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Retro Rogue

[mikey.shake]

If a heavy sixer was returned for servicing, they wouldn't have replaced the entire case with a light sixer case unless the original case was heavily cracked (i.e. that was the reason for the service return). Otherwise, the transition between the manufacturing of heavy and light sixers in mid '78 wasn't like "drop all the parts of one and solely use new parts for the other". The two are closely related internally, and its pretty regular to see parts of one or the other in lights because of that interchangeability. Even the earlier molds for the light sixer bottom still had anywhere from full speaker risers in them to nubs to none.

That makes total sense. The original plastic parts that were swapped (faceplate/bottom) may have been cracked beyond repair, too. The recondition being as late as '81 led me to assume that whatever factory reconditioned it had probably been shipped (and were drawing from) batches of the post-'78 L6 replacement parts by then. I've read about people returning theirs for service and then having it returned in a shiny, cleaner, new-model casing back in the day. But yeah, cracked H6 plastic may certainly have been the reason for the return too, good point.

[dphirschler]

My H6 has L6 internals... for now.

 

Darryl

[IndogamersPro]

I cannot see anything. I only saw photobucket 3rd party warning.

Interesting though.

[Video]

Well, it is a 2+ year old topic. Doesn't photo bucket require regular updating to stay active?

[Inky]

Photobucket started charging for external embedded images. $400 a year, I think.

Edited December 8, 2017 by Inky