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STAR*TECH Journal
June 1988
Reduce Monitor
Screen Dust
Atari Handle
Switch Failure
Bill Johnston
Johnston's General Store
Buffalo, New York
Todd Erickson
Summit Amusement
St. Paul, Minnesota
SUBJECT
Reduce monitor dust on screen with 2 inch
mattress foam. (From the like we've got nothing
better to do department... )
PROBLEM
In an effort to keep the cost of the kit (for System
One) as low as possible, Atari utilized a plastic
handle originally manufactured by Namco of
Japan for Road Blaster. The plastic handle, I
feel, had a better player feel and a better service
record than the metal (dedicated) handle.
PROBLEM
I got tired of the hassle of cleaning the screens on
the old Midway cabinets of the Pac-Man variety
since we've tightened up the security of the
control panel so much against Bernard Goetz's
screwdriver-wielding buddies, it's a pain in the
trigger sprayer finger to get the control panels off
again!
SOLUTION
Buy 2" high-density mattress foam from your
mattress-maker at under $31 for 4 games worth
of flame-retardant stuff. It comes 24 inches wide
by 106 inches long.
. PROCEDURE
Dig out the electric carving knife from Thanks-
giving and cut it longer than you need it and it'll
be snug. When you mark and cut the monitor
hole, cut it too small so that the foam hugs the
picture tube. If there are any odd holes, use
aerosol adhesive like Scotch #44 or #47 or a trim
adhesive from your auto parts store. Glue only
foam-to-foam, so the whole thing can be re-
moved and washed out in a few years.
OPTIONS
Price-buster techs could trim costs by buying a
less dense foam (but it may sag without support)
or go non-flammable non-mattress foam. For
higher quality techs, there is a blue non-flam-
mable foam as well as the white flame-retardant
stuff. You'd think you could save money by
buying scraps, but the mattress guys shred
these and make pillows!
FACTORY RESPONSE
The handle had, basically, no field testing done
to it. No real reason for a major test either. I
would not have done it myself. But, after having
the game for about four months, three of the four
handle switches malfunctioned. The regional -
factory sales representative felt that this was a
normal failure mode!
FIELD RESULTS
My dedicated metal handles have no switch
failures and the plastic handles in many of my
games have 100 percent failure of the switches .
Zero failures to 100 percent failures! That's only
four more switch failures per unit on the plastic
handles than the metal.
REPLACEMENTS
This steering controller is not one that can be
replaced cheaply. The switches for the plastic
handles cost about $1.50 each. I recommend
buying four switches for each game that you
own and leave them inside the game. They do not
fit anything going backward in the system.
CAUSE
I feel the problem stems from the handle chafing
itself on the shaft forming a plastic powder. The
powder floats in the air and contaminates the
switch. As with Indiana Jones and Gauntlet, I •
recommend replacing all of the switches even if
only one fails.
.a