Pole Position

[raam]

I just picked up three of these the other day. Between all three, I should be able to get one to work. I have extra boards, monitor, and other pieces for them. I have never put one together before so I may need to ask for assistance. Like, where do I start ? LOL

Edited November 28, 2006 by raam

[Cassidy Nolen]

I once bought like 22 of them at once. I had Pole games coming out of my ears for months...I did just what you are looking to do. Find the one that is the nicest shape exterior and go from there. Most likely things bad on those is that crappy monitor (see what brand you have in there. If its a Wells or Electrohome you are fine) and the actual PCB's. I have fixed MANY of these with just new fuses and repaired the traces for ground and 5 V on the pcb's. They tended to burn up so you may even want to jumper the connector and bullet connect or splice the inputs past the connector. That fixed MANY of them too.

 

From there its the basic Pole problems: This board has good graphics but not steering control, etc. There is a GREAT listing of what chip does what in the manual so that will help TONS on diagnostic. Take the batteries off of the boards so you avoid all the rot problems. I actually had a few that still had a good battery in 2002! Good stuff I tell you! That seemed to be a big killer of boards was the battery. You don't need it to run.

 

The filter caps in the bottom of the machines have been drying out lately. Less of a problem on raster games but moreso an issue on the Atari vectors. Might be worht 15 bucks once you get one up and running to swap in a new one.

 

OK, that should cover the basics from me. Others?

 

C

[raam]

Wow ! Thanks a bunch Cassidy. I'll start by cleaning up the cabs swap pedals, plastic, etc.. I'll also check on that monitor.

[Crazy Climber]

There's a guy in my neighborhood that has a couple, if between the three you still need a few parts I could swap your guys email's or something. I'm assuming his are non-working but honestly I never asked him. I always told myself I'd wait for a sit-down PP if I ever bought one

[Dr Galaga]

Nice find!

Make sure you post pics of what you end up with.

[TheBman80]

Were those the one's I saw on eBay located in Wilmington? I was watching that auction was thinking of bidding on it but then forgot about it.

[Bryan]

Expect to see problems from heat and oxidation. I had several Pole boards that were impossible to stabilize. Many of those Namco chips have corroding pins, and many of the sockets Atari used didn't hold up. On one board, I ran separate power leads to avoid the aging edge connector.

 

-Bry

[raam]

Thanks for the replies guys. Crazy, I'll let you know, thanks. Yes, these were the ones in Wilmington. The seller said he got the one working sort of. He swapped boards but the monitor took 20 min to "warm up" and then he said it was blurry.

Edited November 29, 2006 by raam

[TheBman80]

I thought so sounds like you’re going to need a recapping best of luck bringing them back to life.