Composite Upgrade

[Hank Rearden]

Anyone have a link to a template for drilling the AV holes? If no template, how far apart minimum on center should they be?

 

I have a 4 switch, are there pros and cons for having them centered versus front right or left?

 

I want a solid plan before drilling holes.

 

Thanks

[mojoatomic]

Why drill holes at all? You could just use standard AV cable in place of the RF cable - make your connections internally.

[CRTGAMER]

Anyone have a link to a template for drilling the AV holes? If no template, how far apart minimum on center should they be?

 

I have a 4 switch, are there pros and cons for having them centered versus front right or left?

 

I want a solid plan before drilling holes.

 

Thanks

 

Really depends on what brand jacks you use. Just stage them on a piece of paper and measure or transpose to the paper for trace to the console case. Take into account the thickness of RCA cable jacks that plug in, leave just a bit of clearance for that too. Be sure clearance inside for output jacks and wires soldered on. A good move is to solder the wires to the jacks before mounting.in the case.

[Hank Rearden]

Why drill holes at all? You could just use standard AV cable in place of the RF cable - make your connections internally.

I could do that but I have gold plated ports and don't want to have the cord hanging out.

[Hank Rearden]

 

Really depends on what brand jacks you use. Just stage them on a piece of paper and measure or transpose to the paper for trace to the console case. Take into account the thickness of RCA cable jacks that plug in, leave just a bit of clearance for that too. Be sure clearance inside for output jacks and wires soldered on. A good move is to solder the wires to the jacks before mounting.in the case.

Guess it's not an exact science. Just really want it to look good.

[Mitkraft]

I seem to remember having a template I printed from somewhere. I can't seem to find it at the moment. I'm pretty sure it was located on one of the sites with instructions on how to do the av mod. Here is one with some guidance but not the template:

 

http://electronicsentimentalities.com/2600InstallationInstructions.html

 

Aha, found it. It was on the Longhorn Engineer site:

 

http://longhornengineer.com/images/atarivideomods/design/Videomodprintout.doc

[Andromeda Stardust]

I used a 1/4" stereo phone jack for my "Pacman in a Cigar Box" Namco 35th mod, and a cable from Radio Shack. One hole. Clean.

 

Tip = audio, ring = video, sleeve = ground. I would not recommend using a 1/8" minijack for Atari 2600 because accidental insertion of the DC adapter into the headphone style A/V port could destroy something.

 

As for my original Atari, I kept the RF but stripped the RCA and installed standard coax cabling. I had an internal 1 foot RF cable with a ferrite choke brick on it, to an F-coupler on the exterior case. I hook it up like a VCR to the TV. My Best AV 7800 has internal AV mod with attached cable and it works great.