atarifan88 Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 I'm not tech savy with electronics, so hopefully Bill can pass this info onto AtGames so they will hopefully make these new paddles to work with their FB9? Let's hope so! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiohead Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 (edited) -- removed -- Edited January 20, 2019 by radiohead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiohead Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 Did you find a pot that fits as-is, or did you have to shorten the shaft and use back packing instead of the nut? The pot I used had a screw thread that was a bit too wide for the paddle base opening. Using the soldering iron, I melted the paddle opening a bit larger and just enough of the screw thread showed for the fastening nut to secure it tightly. No packing was necessary. I would have had to make additional alterations because the shaft was also too wide/long for the knob base, but I didn't want to because this was really just a test to confirm that swapping the pot voltage to 10k Ohm would work. Temporarily, I'm using the knob that was originally for that specific potentiometer. My paddles are from the FB4, not the 40-year-old Atari paddles (when I pulled the knob off one of the controllers, the shaft yanked clean out of the pot!) Those ATGames pots look to be fairly standard in size, so I'm hoping the pots I bought on Amazon will be an easy clean swap. The most particular difference between ATGames and Atari legacy paddles is the base of the knob where the shaft goes in - ATGames paddles accepts a full circle shaft (common among pots sold today), Atari accepts a half-circle shaft (like boggis the cat's controller.) The only customization issue I expect is having enough shaft poking through the controller so the knob will stay on tight. Paddles seem to have longer than usual shafts for the knob. Maybe that's the manufacturing hiccup we're seeing - specialized potentiometers. When done, this project will have only cost me about $8 dollars to make broken paddles work on the FB9. For me, that better than paying $29.99 (ATGames' price for previous controllers) for controllers to play just 12 paddle games. But If they sell them cheaper or they are wireless, then maybe I pick up their new paddles. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boggis the cat Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 Those ATGames pots look to be fairly standard in size, so I'm hoping the pots I bought on Amazon will be an easy clean swap. The most particular difference between ATGames and Atari legacy paddles is the base of the knob where the shaft goes in - ATGames paddles accepts a full circle shaft (common among pots sold today), Atari accepts a half-circle shaft (like boggis the cat's controller.) The only customization issue I expect is having enough shaft poking through the controller so the knob will stay on tight. Paddles seem to have longer than usual shafts for the knob. Maybe that's the manufacturing hiccup we're seeing - specialized potentiometers. The original paddles require a standard 25 mm shaft length, and use a standard threaded length. Cheap Chinese pots can use unpredictable threaded lengths, and are often just very short shafts (of the knurled type) or very long with a flat (where the flat may or may not be a standard size). The problem may have been where Atgames assumed they could get cheap pots to a particular specification, then found that they couldnt. That leaves them with either buying relatively expensive pots (not really an option for cheap consumer stuff) or waiting until some manufacturer is willing to run a special batch through. This timing has to coincide with your contractor(s) for the production, assembly, packing, and shipment of the rest of the paddles. Welcome to modern manufacturing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACML Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 If the Flashback 9 is based on Stella, why can't they just change the software to use original CX-30 paddles? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiohead Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 The only customization issue I expect is having enough shaft poking through the controller so the knob will stay on tight. Paddles seem to have longer than usual shafts for the knob. Maybe that's the manufacturing hiccup we're seeing - specialized potentiometers. When done, this project will have only cost me about $8 dollars to make broken paddles work on the FB9. For me, that better than paying $29.99 (ATGames' price for previous controllers) for controllers to play just 12 paddle games. But If they sell them cheaper or they are wireless, then maybe I pick up their new paddles. Bought cheap 10K ohm potentiometers from Amazon (box of 10 for $7.99 - sorry boggis the cat!) Shaft height was smaller than I hoped (15mm instead of the necessary 25mm), but there's a molded collar inside the controller where the pot rests on. Filed that down enough for the outer screw bolt to catch on the top side. Knob fit perfectly on the shaft, and added some hot glue to secure it, Despite my not-at-all professional soldering skills (and a slightly melted burn mark on the side of the 2nd controller), for $8 dollars I'm very happy. Got up to 900 points on Kaboom! Thanks to those members who figured this all out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boggis the cat Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 Bought cheap 10K ohm potentiometers from Amazon (box of 10 for $7.99 - sorry boggis the cat!) Shaft height was smaller than I hoped (15mm instead of the necessary 25mm), but there's a molded collar inside the controller where the pot rests on. Filed that down enough for the outer screw bolt to catch on the top side. Knob fit perfectly on the shaft, and added some hot glue to secure it,That internal collar is there to strengthen the paddle (its a boss). You may find that the paddle will crack through there if you took too much material away. Cheap pots will have a few drawbacks, the most important being they are not rated for much use. You may only get ten thousand rotations before it gets scratchy and starts to play up, while the name-brand ones are engineered better (one million cycle rating on the Bourns). Even if you dont intend paying for the Bourns, download the spec sheet, as you then know what to look for and wont get stuck trying to adapt a 15 mm shaft into a paddle designed for 25 mm. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boggis the cat Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 If the Flashback 9 is based on Stella, why can't they just change the software to use original CX-30 paddles? Possibly they could, but then the paddles won’t work well — the complaint with earlier Flashbacks. Atgames decided on a hardware solution, and unfortunately opted for a new (incompatible) paddle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiohead Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 That internal collar is there to strengthen the paddle (its a boss). You may find that the paddle will crack through there if you took too much material away. Cheap pots will have a few drawbacks, the most important being they are not rated for much use. You may only get ten thousand rotations before it gets scratchy and starts to play up, while the name-brand ones are engineered better (one million cycle rating on the Bourns). Even if you dont intend paying for the Bourns, download the spec sheet, as you then know what to look for and wont get stuck trying to adapt a 15 mm shaft into a paddle designed for 25 mm. When my cheap pots break, I have 8 others left in the pack as replacements! Aside from the incorrect length, I can't image the pots I got are any worse than what ATGames used. These paddles didn't last 5 years. Each year's new release makes the previous model obsolete/disposable. I'm only hoping this $8 fix will work for 1-2 years before I break down and buy another FB, hopefully with better working paddles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Thinking about trying this 10K Bourns potentiometer because it's only $2.75 - but can't find a spec sheet on it https://www.allelectronics.com/item/ptw-10k/10k-bourns-pot-pre-wired/1.html Here's a 33 mm knob for $.50 from the same place that should fit https://www.allelectronics.com/item/knb-239/33mm-knob-for-flatted-1/4-shaft/1.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boggis the cat Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 Thinking about trying this 10K Bourns potentiometer because it's only $2.75 - but can't find a spec sheet on itGoing by eye, it looks like it should fit. The knob is quite a bit smaller than the original, but should be OK. The Bourns pots I bought turned up a couple of days ago. They are very smooth action, so a smaller knob shouldnt be a big issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr. kwack Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 Tried this paddle mod and it works like a charm! Any chance a similar mod could be done with the driving controller and if so, what would be needed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boggis the cat Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 Any chance a similar mod could be done with the driving controller and if so, what would be needed? Is a driving controller supported in Stella? If it doesn’t work in Stella, then it likely can’t be made to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodney Hester Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 Will the paddles included with Flasback Blast 3/Pong (Walmart exclusive) work with the Atari FB 9 Gold? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Nut Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Will the paddles included with Flasback Blast 3/Pong (Walmart exclusive) work with the Atari FB 9 Gold? No. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Bill Loguidice mentioned in http://atariage.com/forums/topic/284357-atari-flashback-9-firmware-for-adding-games-to-sd-card/page-7 the wireless paddle controllers bundled with Flashback Blast Pong is NOT compatible with the FB9 Gold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MG Brown Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 (edited) I wanted to mention that I converted a set of original Atari paddle controllers (found on eBay for $ 8 ) to the 10K Bourns pots this morning. The process took about 30 mins and probably could be accomplished in half that time if the "flats" on the pot shaft didn't need to be ground longer & deeper. I tried the modified controls on FB9G's Breakout and they work great. I hope to try other games after I mod paddles for player 3 & 4. Note: I felt that the "action" of the controllers felt better after I hot-glued the pots in place. You might want to consider doing the same if you are performing the mod. Edited March 21, 2019 by MG Brown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da_GPer Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 I don't have any soldering skills or tools to do this. If anyone is willing to make one of these paddles for me, I will gladly pay you for it. Please message me if anyone can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmygtr Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 So I just got my Flashback 9 (HDMI but not Gold). For grins and giggles I thought I would try the original Atari paddles in Port 1 (I get it. They won't work..). This is the message I got. "The wireless joysticks will not work properly when the paddles are plugged in. Please remove paddles when not playing paddle games" What the what? Does this imply the regular HDMI version of FB9 can accept wireless controllers as well? Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boggis the cat Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 Does this imply the regular HDMI version of FB9 can accept wireless controllers as well?No, I don’t think so. That message appears spuriously when an original paddle is attached and not turned very close to fully anti-clockwise. The firmware is the same, so I guess it has that message built in regardless. The wireless joysticks are not terrible but also not that good. You can use wired joysticks along with the wireless to get to menus etc. which is useful. (Unfortunately, not any sort of standard wireless arrangement so not easy to attach a better joystick.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmygtr Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 No, I don’t think so. That message appears spuriously when an original paddle is attached and not turned very close to fully anti-clockwise. The firmware is the same, so I guess it has that message built in regardless. The wireless joysticks are not terrible but also not that good. You can use wired joysticks along with the wireless to get to menus etc. which is useful. (Unfortunately, not any sort of standard wireless arrangement so not easy to attach a better joystick.) Makes sense. I ordered some 10k potentiometers so hopefully I will have working paddles in a week or so. Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 It makes me uncomfortable to hear about people destroying original paddles to use with a Stella box. If you really want to use your paddles with Stella then just buy this: http://2600-daptor.com/ If you are gluing, scraping, melting, and burning AtGames paddles from a previous iteration then I guess that is a little better. Carry on . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmygtr Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 (edited) It makes me uncomfortable to hear about people destroying original paddles to use with a Stella box. If you really want to use your paddles with Stella then just buy this: http://2600-daptor.com/ If you are gluing, scraping, melting, and burning AtGames paddles from a previous iteration then I guess that is a little better. Carry on . . . I would have preferred AtGames provide a solution but it wasn't meant to be. Looking at that site I'm not actually sure what the solution is for Flashback 9 HDMI owners. Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk Edited May 3, 2019 by Jimmygtr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmygtr Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 I wanted to mention that I converted a set of original Atari paddle controllers (found on eBay for $ 8 ) to the 10K Bourns pots this morning. The process took about 30 mins and probably could be accomplished in half that time if the "flats" on the pot shaft didn't need to be ground longer & deeper. I tried the modified controls on FB9G's Breakout and they work great. I hope to try other games after I mod paddles for player 3 & 4. Note: I felt that the "action" of the controllers felt better after I hot-glued the pots in place. You might want to consider doing the same if you are performing the mod. Do you think this fix can be applied to the track ball? Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MG Brown Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 I dont have any info on the track ball compatibility with the Flashback 9G. Any mods you would want to try would be in uncharted territory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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