Never had to resort to NES pin boiling before, interesting unmentioned cleaning results

[Tanooki]

I'm working so I can't reassemble the thing and test it entirely now, but the results of the cleaning itself was surprising, as was something the forum posts and videos around do not mention too.

Yesterday evening I scooped up a NES lot with a pile of games which I haven't done in 5 years now (any console) and it was a bit funky but nothing terrible. It came with this luggage bag I tossed (reaked of smoke, all of it did to a point) and also a slightly damaged Nintendo Z-Bag too. Anyway, there were a few manuals I have them folded open airing out, the Z-Bag is in the tub with a crap ton of Dawn soap and hot water but it'll go to the trash if I can't fix that stink.

Now the games were someone stinky, all dirty. I was successful in cleaning all the games up really nice inside and out (some really needed it badly on the out.) I then go to the system and did my usual deep work over pulling it apart, cleaning, removing the pins, re-aligning them, using the NES cleaning kit doused in 91% alcohol, and the shell too as the top part was funky too. Put it together and boom, damn thing won't work, had to use the hot breath trick and that even failed without a nice alignment.

Today while working I've done the boiling and the thing I noticed immediately was after the first 5min bath you use a game, I used GOLF, that's clean in-out like 20x on the pins to use the super heated metal on pins to rub the crap off. The stuff I've seen online never mentioned this but when you go to clean the water off the game (I used a q-tip) man that was nasty. The q-tip turned this gray to dark gray and a gooey mess really since the cotton obviously got wet. It was so bad I did the cart again a 2nd time (instructions online say to stop there) and it still had some gray, so I did a 3rd over and it came up relatively/nearly clean and left it at that. I was surprised to see that, figured from the rules online the heat separated the junk from the pins into the water, but no, it left it fluid/pliable on the pins and then onto the cart.

SO if you do this, clean your game, it gets years worth of gray use funk in an instant.


Shame there's no good way to do this for any other Nintendo console or handheld. I'm sure they could perhaps use it too? I'm not about to desolder a pin connector.

[Greg2600]

I've had good results with boiling, it breaks up the grime. It's really not necessary on other systems, given the unique design of the toaster.

[Gatucaman]

I'm working so I can't reassemble the thing and test it entirely now, but the results of the cleaning itself was surprising, as was something the forum posts and videos around do not mention too.

Yesterday evening I scooped up a NES lot with a pile of games which I haven't done in 5 years now (any console) and it was a bit funky but nothing terrible. It came with this luggage bag I tossed (reaked of smoke, all of it did to a point) and also a slightly damaged Nintendo Z-Bag too. Anyway, there were a few manuals I have them folded open airing out, the Z-Bag is in the tub with a crap ton of Dawn soap and hot water but it'll go to the trash if I can't fix that stink.

Now the games were someone stinky, all dirty. I was successful in cleaning all the games up really nice inside and out (some really needed it badly on the out.) I then go to the system and did my usual deep work over pulling it apart, cleaning, removing the pins, re-aligning them, using the NES cleaning kit doused in 91% alcohol, and the shell too as the top part was funky too. Put it together and boom, damn thing won't work, had to use the hot breath trick and that even failed without a nice alignment.

Today while working I've done the boiling and the thing I noticed immediately was after the first 5min bath you use a game, I used GOLF, that's clean in-out like 20x on the pins to use the super heated metal on pins to rub the crap off. The stuff I've seen online never mentioned this but when you go to clean the water off the game (I used a q-tip) man that was nasty. The q-tip turned this gray to dark gray and a gooey mess really since the cotton obviously got wet. It was so bad I did the cart again a 2nd time (instructions online say to stop there) and it still had some gray, so I did a 3rd over and it came up relatively/nearly clean and left it at that. I was surprised to see that, figured from the rules online the heat separated the junk from the pins into the water, but no, it left it fluid/pliable on the pins and then onto the cart.

SO if you do this, clean your game, it gets years worth of gray use funk in an instant.


Shame there's no good way to do this for any other Nintendo console or handheld. I'm sure they could perhaps use it too? I'm not about to desolder a pin connector.

Oh damn, every single time one of those "tricks" comes to light, later we discover that they weren't any good, AT ALL, like when they told people that RUBBING THE PINS WITH A SPONGE SCORCH (the green parts) WAS FINE, or even when they say that using windex was a good option, i mean what's next? that we aren't supposed to use white erasers on the carts to polish the contacts?

[Tanooki]

Well Windex has ammonia which isn't good for certain things. The boiling is safe because the metal Nintendo used doesn't rust, and the heat and water causes the reaction that glued the funk to the pins to break up and that is why it works. I personally would never use an eraser since you brought it up, they leave that rubber eraser slime on stuff. I would never use that on a pin connector and shove that into a system because you'll just be transferring that rubbery thin layer of eraser left overs back into the system. Alcohol or tape head/electronics cleaner(forget the actual name) only.

My curiosity though is the pin connector functionality.

Why the hell won't it work locked down anymore?? Do I need to crack it open again and try and push the pins a little flatter or something so they make original like contact?

[Nz17]

Boiling can (though not always) adversely affect the plastic, causing it to warp. Plus the heat makes the whole thing (including the metal parts) more malleable and flexible, so that things can end up misaligned between the heating and the cooling. Electronics obviously need good, solid, surface-to-surface contact between the metal pins (contacts) in order to carry the electronic signals, whether data or power. Therefore, yes, you will need to ensure that the metal pins/contacts are bent and positioned so that all of the metal components which should contact each others' surfaces have a solid, strong hold with each other so that the signal can be carried, thus completing the closed circuit. It doesn't need to be so cramped that you can't remove the 72-pin connector later if you need to do so, but it should be where a noticeable amount of effort is required to pry it free next time.

[Tanooki]

I went to the ground with it an hour ago with a head lamp and a tool I got in my soldering kit which has a fine point on one end. Working with the screws all out and chassis off the pins I started tinkering. The end result is it's fixed now.

It seems the instructions online is fairly full of garbage about sticking a cart in there by not mentioning while the metal is super heated the pins going in and out against the cart boar smashes them down farther back from the front. I ended up pulling them all back up towards center like I'd normally do and it works UP and DOWN now...still odd, but it will work as designed at least. So for that old boiling trick, remember pop the pins back up once you're done using a cart to scrape off the loose junk.