Dead game! Did you fix it?

[understatement]

I posted this in the finds thread the other day and thought that I would post some pictures that I took.

I got an NES top loader that went through Katrina for $5 the body looked good minus the caked on mud went home thought what the hell took the MB out washed it under the shower dried it and cleaned it with alcohol and what do you know it works like a champ played it all day today .

first, this is the finished product and it still looks bad but not as bad. I didn't think that this would work so I didn't take pictures of before just the after.




these are not that great my camera is broke and only takes pictures clear at close range. (Kind of ironic for a post like this but that's a beast of a different color.) The rust is mostly gone from the MB but the sides that don't have the protective lair and what I could not get to with a q-tip.






this is how the MB looked before only all over it I didn't do much with these spots because they were too deep in the metal that they would need grinding and I'm not going to do that on the MB.

Now we have this....



So I was wondering what have you fixed that looked like all hope was lost with?

[izarate]

Several things:

My first Genesis + PBC

Before:



After:






My first Saturn & Genesis 2

Before:



After:
Cold solder joints reflowed

New switch

Testing

It's Alive!!!


Genesis 2

Yeah, it's the same one

[Ed Oscuro]

Amazing thread, I especially like the cleaned-up Genesis units.

I would add something, but my particular talent seems to be taking rare hardware that works -> creating rare hardware completely disassembled into many pieces and forgetting how it goes back together.

[understatement]

vary nice that Genesis 2 looks just like the top loader when i got it. Did you Armor All the Genesis and Saturn or is it some other cleaner?

[izarate]

My Neo Geo AES:

Before:


Had to take a button from a Neo Geo stick for the reset button. Apparently it was used as an arcade since it had several wires inside that didn't belong. I later learned that it was a Jamma adaptation. Had to replace the audio caps since they were gone. I had to make a power supply and AV cable too.

After:




MUSHA:

Before:




After:




I've repaired several other things but these four are the highlights. Almost all of my Sega hardware has been refurbished in some form (broken power/reset switches, re-calibrated Cd-pickups, cold solder joints, etc). Several of my SNESes too. I also got a TG16 but it was working fine, just needed a good cleaning.

I've also "repaired" several cartridges (i.e. cleaning the contacts) that were dead acording to the previous owner. Sometimes they need a new capacitor or battery, nothing fancy. In fact 50% of my collection has been salvaged from somewhere and repaired/cleaned. The most recent was this KI Gold cart:






After a good cleaning and restoring a couple of contacts with a bit of solder:

[R.Sakai]

I would add something, but my particular talent seems to be taking rare hardware that works -> creating rare hardware completely disassembled into many pieces and forgetting how it goes back together.

Thank god, Now I can tell my wife I'm not the only one

[Game Freak]

Amazing thread, I especially like the cleaned-up Genesis units.

I would add something, but my particular talent seems to be taking rare hardware that works -> creating rare hardware completely disassembled into many pieces and forgetting how it goes back together.

i'm with ya bud.

i'm no good at fixing things (i never soldered before) but i DID put a DVD player in an NES once, and it worked for a while, til i shorted out something

[skaar]

I should have taken pictures of my Neo candy cab when it got here - a 1/16inch thick nicotine layer on the damn thing, we found all kinda nasty crap inside.

Neat thread.

[understatement]

That killer instinct cart looks all to fulmiliar, I think I have some Jag carts that have the same look because I got tired of destroying the label to open the cart. Why put screws under a label!

[Darkman2K5]

Hey guys, quick questions, what tools do you use to open carts, and what do you use to clean the consoles? Thanks in advance, those are some really nice clean-up jobs.

[jb143]

I didn't take any pictures but the ones that come to my mind now are an NES, an Odyssey2, 2 Intellivisions, a gameboy, and a Lynx. There may have been others.

In and right after college when I had more time on my hands I used to find and repair broken electronics all the time from yard sales, thrift stores, and dumpsters. Mainly things like DVD players and TV's. Even a big screen TV I got for free. Some I kept, most I sold.

To open a cart you use a gamebit (security bit to the hardware world) and generally a q-tip and rubbing alchohol to clean with, though there are plenty of other tricks out there.

[understatement]

Hey guys, quick questions, what tools do you use to open carts, and what do you use to clean the consoles? Thanks in advance, those are some really nice clean-up jobs.

gamebit/security bits come in two sizes 3.8mm is Nintendo and the 4.5mm is Sega and others if you get both you should be set for most carts/systems


as for cleaner I use alcohol for it all inside and out but I'm quite curious to know what izarate uses that genny is so shiny

[Steve W]

I recently bought an Atari 2600 (Vader) with a bunch of cartridges from the back room of a used furniture store. The 2600 was filthy to say the least. I have no idea what the previous owners had done to it, either left it in their leaking attic since the early '80s or it was in a flood or three. The motherboard was rusted and dirty, so I wiped it down with rubbing alcohol to clean the junk off of it, I scrubbed the case down to take a few layers of grime off it, replaced the generic Radio Shack power supply that didn't actually work and gave it a couple decent joysticks. Works like a champ now. I love the Atari 2600 - damn near indestructible.

[BetaWolf47]

Hmm, it looks like he just used furniture polish. I'd like to know how to use solder to restore contacts. I need something to bridge the burnt traces on my copy of Little Nemo.

[rbudrick]

Hmm, it looks like he just used furniture polish. I'd like to know how to use solder to restore contacts. I need something to bridge the burnt traces on my copy of Little Nemo.

You have to scrape some solder mask off the board where the line you want to solder is. It exposes the metal underlying wire. Solder away!

-Rob

[jb143]

I'd like to know how to use solder to restore contacts. I need something to bridge the burnt traces on my copy of Little Nemo.

What Rob said. But here's another suggestion that may help. Put tape along either side of the trace leaving just the one you want to work with uncovered and use sand paper on it to expose the copper. That way you won't mess up any of the other traces. Then you can lay a piece of wire arcoss the broken trace and solder it in place without worrying about getting solder on any other traces as well. Or just bridge it with solder if the break is small enough.

Regular transparent tape should work fine and you can either remove it when done or leave it. Masking tape might work but would wear faster sanding over it. I'd imagine electrical tape would be to thick and might get the sticky gunk where your working.

[understatement]

Regular transparent tape should work fine and you can either remove it when done or leave it. Masking tape might work but would wear faster sanding over it. I'd imagine electrical tape would be to thick and might get the sticky gunk where your working.

I concur and I like the tape idea but I suggest removing the tape before soldering if you have the iron to close for to long the tape might catch fire.

[jb143]

I concur and I like the tape idea but I suggest removing the tape before soldering if you have the iron to close for to long the tape might catch fire.

Maybe, I'd imagine it would more than likely try shrivel up though. I'm more use to using soldering masking tape which can withstand high temps and have a lot of practice soldering.

I did something very similar to fix a Lynx with a non-working button. There was a break in a trace on the clear plastic keypad sheet. Obviously I couldn't solder to that without melting it, so I used regular tape to mask off the trace, layed a wire arcoss the break, and taped it down really well. It's worked great ever since.

[BetaWolf47]

Regarding the original post, however... cleaning dirt off of a system's case is one of the easiest things to do. If you just remove the case and run it under water while wiping it, and use a toothbrush for any kind of grooves, it'll come out great, minus anything that's dried on or set in.

My original NES has white paint dripped on it from when my messy parents painted the walls, without moving the system for some reason.

[understatement]

Maybe, I'd imagine it would more than likely try shrivel up though. I'm more use to using soldering masking tape which can withstand high temps and have a lot of practice soldering.

There's always a chance. It was more for the novice that might try it.