How do you fix really corroded contacts?

[Slate]

OK, I was wondering how you fix games when the contacts are really corroded (Like a 1980s penny that you just found in the ground, and it looks green-ish) How do you deal with this?

[leonk]

if a white eraser doesn't do the trick, your only hope is very fine sandpaper.

[Raccoon Lad]

I suppose if the sandpaper didn't work, you could try flowing a little solder over the contacts. But that's a worst case scenario type thing.

[omnedon]

I like a fiberglass brush as a nice in between before sandpaper, if the eraser fails. Abrasive but still mild.

[Slate]

Thanks. :)

[chadtower]

If the item is valuable, it may be better to use those methods and then a contact cleaner/renewer, rather than a straight retinning. The renewer costs some $$ but for valuable items is probably worth it.

[Slate]

Thanks. :)

[googlefest1]

i use DeOxit cleaner - brush and leave over night - then wpie off nextday and use Pro Gold contact restorer

so far this has worked every time - some contacts that i feel leary about (contacts that have severly oxidised and been partialy eaten away ) i go over the contact with a trace restorer conductive pen

these items are not cheap but all three are available at radio shack also you can buy larger sizes (which comeout to be cheaper) at "newark in one" the cheapest place ive found which includes the shipping

[chadtower]

That'll definitely do the job on most things... of course, most things around here being fixed are $3 NES carts and the like, which makes that method way overkill costwise.

[Slate]

Most of the games i got that have this problem are Sega genesis carts.

I'm going to have to retin one of them (At one part of it the contacts are not even there)

[chadtower]

I see it constantly with NES carts.

[googlefest1]

to me it's the price you have to pay to try to preserve the carts for the long haul

sure a nes cart may be 3$ now but try finding one for 3$ 20 years from now


ive seen the problem on carts for every system

[chadtower]

yeah, 20 years from now you'll pay $1. LOL

[Slate]

I pay 49¢ for NES games all the time..

But i think 20 years from now you are most likely to pay less than 15¢ for every NES game "Cause they don't work"

[omnedon]

Not if *I* can help it!

[Slate]

Or some oddballs could price them at $50 each "Cos they are old and old stuff has gotta be worth that" Well think again.

[googlefest1]

really? - you think as the years go on they will be going down in value? (working units)

[chadtower]

You're talking about carts, not systems, and yes, for the most part they will. See 2600/coleco/intv games for an example.

[googlefest1]

i actualy felt that the prices have been going up - ever since retrogaming has been somewhat glorified in mags and TV - and since ebay and dell swamped comercial time - ive felt ever since dell started promoting their cheapo pcs all these people got one and wonder what to do with it untill they saw the ebay comercials HA HA - whats one thing often on the ebay front page ? retro gaming

i remeber 4 years ago - stuff on ebay was real, real cheap now is seems to go up every 4 months (fluctuate but still increasing)

over the last few years i have seen more and more people in video game stores talking about retro gameing - many complaing there are very few outlets that cater to that --

mabey thats just in my area and the ebay thing only a coincidence

[Slate]

i actualy felt that the prices have been going up

Not while i'm around.. I'll always get the price lower. :evil:

[googlefest1]

you mean with hagling? or you have the means to publicly set value




i expect them to go up -- ill see a few years from now - it would suck though - im collecting 1000s of games and never play them - id be kicking my self thinking - i could have waited till now

[Slate]

I Negotiate the price down when i get the chance.

[k8track]

Actually, I've got something that is extremely valuable and big-time corroded--cartridge #9 that came with the Shooting Gallery Rifle for the Magnavox Odyssey. Which would be the best method for treating this particular case--would the method described by Googlefest (DeOxit cleaner, Pro Gold) work the best with this? What is a trace restorer conductive pen? Anyone have experience with these?

[googlefest1]

thats what i would use -- i have had some severly coroded contacts that i ve restored using the deoxit and progold products

if you live in the USA you can go into a radio shack and look at the package and judge for yourself -- or go online to newarkinone.com and look at all thier product descriptions

the deoxit - gets rid of the oxidation and cleans realy good - and the progold will also clean and prevent oxidation from forming again (it does wear off with use)

the conductive pen looks like a marker - you can draw traces on pcb and on top of the board coatings as well - its like a conductive epoxy "ink" - you draw the trace you want to fix and it dries and your ready to use --

they also have one in radio shack you can look at and that website has more

i think that place has a better selection than digikey

[Slate]

I have another method.

Dremmels. (Tools that use a rough material on the tip of the tool at High speed) It isn't the prettiest way, But it works. It's recommended to Open the game's case up first, though- You won't know what you are doing otherwise.

Don't use this method unless the contacts are as messed up as the ones I'm talking about.

[MrKitt]

use swinto it works like a charm :)