STAR*TECH Journal
May 1986 (3)
Atari GMJRl'I£r service Tips
By Avery Petty
A.P. Engineering
Huntington Beach, CA
CONNOC'IORs
Preventative Maintenance: Most of you
already know about the connector problem:;
on the control panel, but let's tell it
again. The first GAUNl'LEl's used quick
connect solderless connectors. The first
generation of them that were used were
covered with a deep red plastic. They
often fell off, or were so loose it was
amazing they were still on. Trying to
crimp these tighter is a useless waste of
time. When crinped tighter, they either
won't go back on, or because the deep red
plastic is so tight and over extends the
end of the connector, it's very easy to
put it back on with the blade terminal
between the plastic and the connector. so,
shotgun all the deep red connectors and
solder the wires directly on the contact
blade terminal.
The other type of connector used is
covered with clear plastic. They're better
than the deep red ones, but still become
loose and are hard to get the right
tension on them by crinping them, shotgun
these also. Another type of quick
connector is identified by the black heat
shrink which covers the connector. '!he
black ones are acceptable and don't seem
to work loose after crimping.
Last and best are the Anp quick
connectors. You can ID these. They have a
clear pink cover which surrounds the
connector, but is not skin tight. 'Ibey
appear alot bigger than the aforementioned
connectors. 'Ibey have a nunber of them,
118, and also, says Amp, these are the
best. They can be easily crinped to the
right tension and put back on. Although,
these are the best, tug on them, because
they too need to be crinped tighter and
put back on.
On some GAUNl'LE.Ts, the control panel will
have all four different types on-the same
panel connectors. There are 48 quick
connectors in all. some will be the deep
red which you'll have to shotgun and the
clear black and the clear pink Anp. You
rust take the time to check each
connector. You must shotgun, solder the
wires on or crimp.
This is done with the control panel upside
down either on the bench or on location.
SO when you get that out-of-order call,
plan on spending at least an oour or irore
on the control panel alone.
JOYSTICKS
Now you must carry fingernail polish and
fingernail polish reirover at all times.
F.ach set of 'O' connect points on the joy
sticks need a drop of fingernail polish on
each side and on the screw to prevent it
from working loose. Also, put nail polish
on each of the bolts that hold the whole
joystick to the panel. If these are even a
little loose, a coin can become lodged
between the control panel and joystick
ring.
BUTIONs
The eight buttons on the control panel are
the new type the Industry is using. '!here
is no 'c' clip on the end holding them
together but irolded plastic. Therefore,
you can't take them apart to clean them.
CDKE SPILLS
Coke is proving to be the #2 reason for
service calls on GAUNl'LEI'. Because the
panel is so big, Cokes end up sitting
there and getting spilled. The joysticks
are alirost totally unaffected by a soft
drink spill but not so with the buttons.
This is where the fingernail polish
reirover (regular, not oily type) comes in.
Take some polish reirover in the polish
bottle cap and pour it around over the
sticky button. Then, press the button many
times, add a little irore polish reirover
and press it for another 10 seconds and
this will free the button. Fingernail
polish reirover is the only thing that will
safely desolve coke (then it evaporates).
It is safe to use on all GAUNl'LE.Ts. It
won't hurt the decal, and it works. You
IrllSt use it on these new buttons to
desolve coke. Your other alternative is to
replace the button or reirove it and run it
under hot water for as long as it takes.
IDRE COKE
As you know, there is a rubber foam seal