Paddles

CurtisP · Post by **CurtisP** » Fri May 06, 2005 9:12 pm

I have one set of Commodore paddles and a bunch of Atari 2600 paddles.

Tuner cleaner (called Contact Cleaner above) is the best way to clean the pots, which, by the way. are 1 megohm.

Sounds like your swedish lubricant is different from WD-40. WD-40 is an aerosol spray.

tlr · Post by **tlr** » Sat May 07, 2005 12:55 am

CurtisP wrote:I have one set of Commodore paddles and a bunch of Atari 2600 paddles.

Tuner cleaner (called Contact Cleaner above) is the best way to clean the pots, which, by the way. are 1 megohm.

Sounds like your swedish lubricant is different from WD-40. WD-40 is an aerosol spray.

Huh? It's an aerosol, and it's not Swedish. CRC 5-56 (More data sheets here)
WD-40 seems to be similar to this. For use with cars and machinery.
Electrolube has some info on contact lubrication, which may be of use.
Here is the data sheet for Electrolube EML, which I currently use.
PRF has some useful cleaning products aswell.

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Sat May 07, 2005 5:51 am

tlr wrote:Ouch! 5-56 is good for lubricating and removing rust, but it is terrible on electronics! It contains lots of oil which will stick to everything you spray it on.

I said I used it to oil the motor... A drop from the end of the extension tube. That was all....

/Anders

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Sat May 07, 2005 5:57 am

Schema wrote:It shouldn't be too hard to change the potentiometers in the paddles for brand new ones. Does anyone know the resistance range that the paddles should use?

According to some building notes I have, it should be a pot of 470 kiloOhm or above.

/Anders

tlr · Post by **tlr** » Sat May 07, 2005 11:18 am

Boray wrote:
tlr wrote:Ouch! 5-56 is good for lubricating and removing rust, but it is terrible on electronics! It contains lots of oil which will stick to everything you spray it on.
I said I used it to oil the motor... A drop from the end of the extension tube. That was all....

I was refering to:

Boray wrote:I have used CRC 5-56 to do that on many pots with good results.

For the motor it was probably just right, though I think I would have used sewing machine oil or similar.

I ment no offence, just trying to be helpful!

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Sat May 07, 2005 11:23 am

Ok...

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Sun May 08, 2005 3:44 am

Maybe someone has selfmoving paddles, with motorized potentiometers?

Tonks · Post by **Tonks** » Mon May 09, 2005 1:07 am

The one game I love to play on emulation is Clowns due to my paddles jittering too much. Using the mouse is noce and smooth and I have racked up some of my highest scores ever!!!

I have 7 Vic 20s and some jitter worse than others with my one set of paddles. Any idea why this would be the case??

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Tue May 10, 2005 5:30 am

If CRC 5-56 is not suitable for the job of lubricating (!) potentiometers and other electronics, maybe CRC 2-26 is? I found a bottle downstairs that the janitor left while replacing the fluorescent tubes.

http://www.crcind.com/wwwcrc/tds/TCI3%202-26.PDF

(waiting for the expertise advice)

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Tue May 10, 2005 11:18 am

5-56 works just fine... but I'm no expert...

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Tue May 10, 2005 11:58 am

Me neither. I use the lathering wool whenever I need to scrub (!) the contacts of my cartridges.

tlr · Post by **tlr** » Tue May 10, 2005 2:48 pm

carlsson wrote:If CRC 5-56 is not suitable for the job of lubricating (!) potentiometers and other electronics, maybe CRC 2-26 is? I found a bottle downstairs that the janitor left while replacing the fluorescent tubes.

http://www.crcind.com/wwwcrc/tds/TCI3%202-26.PDF

(waiting for the expertise advice)

I'll take that as my cue...

2-26 is supposedly CRC's spray intended for use in for pots and similar, but I never tried it myself.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Tue May 10, 2005 4:09 pm

Ok. I'm sometimes such a cheapskate, that if I needed an aerosol like that, I probably would take a look at this one:

http://www.biltema.se/products/product. ... emId=82842

Dunno if it is equivalent to the other you recommended though..

Post by **Jeff-20** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 1:47 am

tlr wrote:I used to spend days cleaning that stuff out when I worked as a service engineer at a local music shop. Imagine a tape deck covered in oil. Pots need some lubrication though, so you should use something with a _little_ oil in it. I recommend "Electrolube" which seems to do the trick. Use it sparesly, and make sure it only goes into the pot!

Reviving an old thread...

I have an Atari C-100 Pong system with jittery paddles. I have no idea how it should normally play, but I am interesting in attempting to "lube" the controllers. Any recommendations on how I should proceed?

I also notice weak, "static-y" reception. Would fresh batteries fix this or should I consider replacing the cable?

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 7:14 am

Some of that "TV Tuner Control Cleaner and Lubricant" from Radio Shack should work. Just open the controller, spray some inside the the potentiometer (where the contacts are) and give the knob some turns.

I bought mine at Radio Shack in Canada before they went under....product code WAS Nexxtech 6404315 at the time (I don't know if this will help you).

Here is the US equivalent:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2103700