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Jittery paddles ???????


THElasagnaKIDD

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Well, they can be fixed yes. Jittery paddles are the rusult of dirty/corroded potentiometers in the paddle itself. What you do is go to radio shack or other electronics store and purchase some "Tuner Cleaner" Take the paddle controller apart and then try to spray the tuner cleaner into the potentiometer itself. Then spin the paddle knobs back and forth like a million times...(only half kidding...). And then you should be good to go. I have done this several times with several of my paddles with good results. The only problem is that I have to repeat this with them every few weeks sometimes. I think the only sure method to fixing jittery paddles it to replace the potentiometers themselves. I do think these are fairly common and can be had for cheap.

 

They are very similar to the ones the 5200 uses. Probably the same?

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Fixing these paddles is easy. For one, DO NOT us WD-40, it seems to work but it adds to the problem. Although tuner cleaner works, the best solution involves isopropyl alcohol.

To fix paddles, you need:

 

Jittery paddles (duh)

Isopropyl Alcohol

Needle-nose pliers

Small flat-head screwdriver

Phillips head screwdriver (#1 or #2)

Q-tips

 

The alcohol is sold with the medical supplies at stores lik Target and Wal-Mart. You can get it for like 75 cents for a big bottle that is enough to clean thousands of paddles.

To start, pull the knob off the paddle. You should see the potentiometer, it is held on by a little nut. Now unscrew the paddle and take it apart, there are two phillips head screws on the back. Undo the little nut with the pliers, so you can get the potentiometer out. The potentiometer is held together with 4 little metal tabs. Pry these up with the little screwdriver and bend them straight with the pliers. Take the pot apart, and you should see a little circuit board with wires soldered to it, and in the other half of the pot, a ring of a brass/copper colored metal. Clean this with a q-tip dipped in the alcohol. It may take two to get it clean. Now use a q-tip dipped in alcohol to clean the black ring on the circuit board off. Put the pot and the paddle back together the reverse of how tou took it apart. Plug it in and enjoy a brand new feeling paddle controller.

 

Ian Primus

ian_primus@yahoo.com

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Sark,

 

No WD-40? But it fixes everything, and it smells so good.

 

Seriously, I've used WD-40 on paddles for years and never had a problem yet. I just squirt a SMALL amount in the opening in the pot under the lugs that the wires are soldered to and work it back and forth. It seems to last longer than contact or TV tuner cleaner.

 

Your connector should be there Friday.

 

-Chuck

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Mmmm... TV tuner spray from Radio Shack... I've been using the same can for almost ten years now... haven't run out yet, and it works on cleaning up the Atari paddles every time (about every year or so)... works great for a dirty DJ mixer too! No more snaps and crackles when mixing songs (and no more jittery buckets to blow your killer game of Kaboom!)

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  • 17 years later...

@Ian_Primus, you’re right, but you’re messing with too many parts to fix the 260 paddles. You don’t need to take it apart beyond the back casing. Also you can use a similar method for Bally Astrocade and Taito NES Vaus portentiometers

Even lazier method of cleaning potentiometers: All you need is a screwdriver to open the controllers, and isopropylhol.

Atari 2600:

Step 1: Open back of paddles
Step 2: Find hole on back which leads to the center of the controller.
Step 3: Pour Isopropylhol down that hole.
Step 4: Without turning it over turn paddle and dumping the alcohol, quickly and all the way back and forth about 10 times or until no scraping noise is present.
Step 5: Dump alcohol out and reassemble.

Bally Astrocade:
1: Take off joystick casing. Make sure you notice how the trigger lies becuase it will come loose.
2. The hole you pour the isopropylhol down is the joystick shaft.
Complete rest of steps 4-5.

Taito NES Vaus Controller:
1. Pop Open the mushroom cap to the right of the dial.
2. Pour isopropylhol into that hole.
3. Lean controller, sloping down to the left, so alcohol flows in to the dial area.
Complete Steps 4-5

This is probably the best one-to-zero tool solution for de-jittering potentiometers. Best of all, you mess with none of the other internal parts. You don't need to disassemble anything beyond the outer casing.

 


Even lazier way to do the Ball Astrocade controller. A Zero-tool method.

1. Point joystick in a diagonal.
2. Pour isopropylhol down open hole opposite of direction you’re pressing.
3. Recenter
4. Twist knob back and forth, all the way, quickly many times.
5. Spill the excess alcohol and play.

 


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I like to take my paddles completely apart, like Ian. I find that there's a lot of grease buildup on that black ring on the contact board. I'll use q-tips or a soft cloth and clean it off. I'll do the same (carefully) to the gold contact ring too. While the shorter method does work, I prefer to be a little more thorough when I clean mine. Seems to last longer between cleanings, IMHO.

 

Either way, the one thing to remember is: Don't be afraid to get in there. Short of disconnecting a wire (which can easily be re-soldiered) you can't really mess anything up in there. :)

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Holy necrobump, Batman! :)

 

I acquired a set of paddles about two years ago that were jitttery as hell. Rather than taking them apart and doing the whole shebang, I went lazy: I took the backs off, sprayed the internals with Deoxit, rotated them rapidly for probably 30 seconds straight and then set them on paper towels to dry. Closed themm up and they've been great and completely jitter-free ever since. I just tested them about again in a four-player game of Super Breakout on one of my Atari computers a couple days ago.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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