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Atari 410 Program Recorder Guide


Blake

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A long, LONG, time ago, on a computer, now dead, and another, and another, and 2 laptops, and finally on a USB drive, also now dead, I put together an instructional guide to taking apart a 410 drive, with emphasis on simplicity, and allowing for a couple improvements and repairs.

It has been months since then, but the effort to put the guide out never died, and now today, I can release the guide in a photographic step-by-step format, in numerical order, with sudo-progressive sections, featuring a new solution to drive mechanism stuttering, a comparison of an old, used model, and a new-in-box, old-stock model drive, an electronics repair and problem-analysis section with documentation, and a more condensed, re-assembly guide. :D

 

I would like to do a complete analysis of the head alignment procedure, and electronics replacement\upgrade\repair with my new oscilloscope, as described in the official documentation, which is included in this guide, and I had intended on making a version of this guide as a video, so I will combine them, but free-time is short right now, so it will have to wait. :ponder:

 

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT NEW BELTS WORK BETTER THAN OLD ONES, SO IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT, YOU SHOULD GET THEM HERE:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/260645-atari-cassette-belts-now-available-1010-410-xc12/

 

You will also note that the older model drive in this guide is using a few elastics in place of belts, this is not a permanent solution, and should only be used in a pinch, or in a testing situation where the belts would be subject to considerable use, for the sake of your precious belts!

 

I hope it helps at least 1 person, then my effort is worth it.

 

You will need 7-Zip, or another archiving program to extract the files. There are no programs or viruses in these archives, only pictures, text, and pdf.

 

I take no responsibility for what you do, or fail to do, with this guide. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! And enjoy! :waving:

 

http://www.4shared.com/archive/LlNW5P2uca/Final_Cut.html

 

http://www.4shared.com/archive/UonUWLLsei/re-assembly.html

 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/dzd8ks7j7o38boe/Final_Cut.7z

 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/wpjqbzpa34qlj8x/re-assembly.7z

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It seems that in my haste, I forgot to add:

 

> Items that a circled are to be removed during that step, or that step and the following step.

 

> The connections that electronically engage the motor, were bent further apart in a few photos, so as to display every angle, and detail. They were bent back after.

 

> The resistor and capacitor replacement solution from Atari, and online archives, is designed to narrow the bandwidth of the signal coming from the cassette, to filter out noise, that became a lot louder, when Atari decided to do a last-minute upgrade to the internal signal amplifier, to one that was more powerful. I'll show you the difference between the two wave patterns on a oscilloscope when I make the video.

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I have found a few extra pieces from the dead USB drive mentioned above, which appear to be later revisions\additions to the guide's repair section! :)

 

Specifically the article I found online from Antic Magazine, which may, or may not have been the inspiration for Atari's last minute change of components. :ponder:

 

And a few photos that are helpful in repairing-upgrading-modifying the 410's electronics, and a replacement for the components comparison photo #264, with more information regarding Antic's part's list, for their version of the mod which is SLIGHTLY different than Atari's mod.

 

https://www.mediafire.com/?vyil77tdj5w72ca 729.98KB

 

https://www.4shared.com/archive/nZL9kdqOei/Missing_Pieces.html 729.98KB

Edited by Blake
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What is it loading like now? Does it load and save new stuff ok, but just not old stuff? Or does it not load or save(if you are able to check with a known-working unit) anything at all? The difference is important.

 

Since the Antic Magazine's solution involves different components from the Atari solution, and since they are both designed to "clean-up" the signal, you can confidently do both if you want, but the Atari mod is the most likely to provide a substantial increase in functionality, or in some cases, provide functionality at all, where as Antic's is more of a fine-tuning, for a unit that already works, but not every single time.

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  • 1 year later...

I am befuddled by this post. Seems super useful, but downloading stuff from sites is so sketchy. Why not just post your pix as a thread and post your slide show on youtube?

 

 

 

A long, LONG, time ago, on a computer, now dead, and another, and another, and 2 laptops, and finally on a USB drive, also now dead, I put together an instructional guide to taking apart a 410 drive, with emphasis on simplicity, and allowing for a couple improvements and repairs.

It has been months since then, but the effort to put the guide out never died, and now today, I can release the guide in a photographic step-by-step format, in numerical order, with sudo-progressive sections, featuring a new solution to drive mechanism stuttering, a comparison of an old, used model, and a new-in-box, old-stock model drive, an electronics repair and problem-analysis section with documentation, and a more condensed, re-assembly guide. :D

 

I would like to do a complete analysis of the head alignment procedure, and electronics replacement\upgrade\repair with my new oscilloscope, as described in the official documentation, which is included in this guide, and I had intended on making a version of this guide as a video, so I will combine them, but free-time is short right now, so it will have to wait. :ponder:

 

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT NEW BELTS WORK BETTER THAN OLD ONES, SO IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT, YOU SHOULD GET THEM HERE:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/260645-atari-cassette-belts-now-available-1010-410-xc12/

 

You will also note that the older model drive in this guide is using a few elastics in place of belts, this is not a permanent solution, and should only be used in a pinch, or in a testing situation where the belts would be subject to considerable use, for the sake of your precious belts!

 

I hope it helps at least 1 person, then my effort is worth it.

 

You will need 7-Zip, or another archiving program to extract the files. There are no programs or viruses in these archives, only pictures, text, and pdf.

 

I take no responsibility for what you do, or fail to do, with this guide. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! And enjoy! :waving:

 

http://www.4shared.com/archive/LlNW5P2uca/Final_Cut.html

 

http://www.4shared.com/archive/UonUWLLsei/re-assembly.html

 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/dzd8ks7j7o38boe/Final_Cut.7z

 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/wpjqbzpa34qlj8x/re-assembly.7z

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  • 1 year later...
On 6/10/2017 at 8:59 AM, Blake said:

Any questions just ask. :-D

Thank you so much for the info.  I do have a question.  The record button on my 410 will not engage.  It appears the locking mechanism at the end of the arm stays in place as the small 'foot' that prevents it from moving forward does not move even when the play button is engaged or when I attempt to press play and record at once.    Nothing seems to be broken but I my suspicion is some 'hidden' mechanism that moves the foot when play is engaged is missing or not connecting.  

Images 61 and 62 in re-assembly file.  Picture 70 in final cut file.  

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10 hours ago, rchennau said:

Thank you so much for the info.  I do have a question.  The record button on my 410 will not engage.  It appears the locking mechanism at the end of the arm stays in place as the small 'foot' that prevents it from moving forward does not move even when the play button is engaged or when I attempt to press play and record at once.    Nothing seems to be broken but I my suspicion is some 'hidden' mechanism that moves the foot when play is engaged is missing or not connecting.  

Images 61 and 62 in re-assembly file.  Picture 70 in final cut file.  

The plastic tab on your cassette must be in-tact, or taped-over, for the record button to activate.

 

2137523263_cassettetabs.jpg.636426ad1a1f3bd5d67b712aa4289c2c.jpg

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3 minutes ago, rchennau said:

OMG!  I completely forgot about that 'feature' and was assuming all tapes were recordable.  Thank you so much.  That answers the mechanical issue that I couldn't piece together.   Thank you!

You're welcome! :D 

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