Arcadeworthy Rescues - Tail Gunner 2

[ArcadeTechGW]

Update: I checked the new fire button, and it fits quite nicely in the counterbore of the stick. So no worries about an insert there (and wondering why the set screw was drilled out and the button held in with electrical tape....)

Moving on. As I'm close to being able to reassemble the joystick (a month away), I wanted to get the black plastic ring sorted.

The ring is drilled at an offset. I'm not sure if that is essential or just a mistake. Does anyone have one around to compare?

I bought a 12" x 12" piece of the plastic, and I'll use a fly cutter on a drill press to slowly cut these out of the material.

If anyone needs one (they tend to chip away around the joystick hole over time, allowing the joystick to come into contact with the metal surround, which causes it to get gouged and damaged.) let me know.

The black ring on the gimbal mount - you can see how much bigger the hole is.


Another picture with a rule on it so you can see the scale.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

Saturday morning before I went out mentoring soccer officials from 3 to 8 pm, I had some time so I decided to do some yard work and then re-do the floor of Tail Gunner 2.

I also touched up the back side and the wood filler I used to cover the missing overlay on the back of the game.

And I touched up the stitch plates so unless you look hard or a light is on, you can't see them anymore.

Here is a picture of the re-painted floor. Looks almost as good as power coat - but I know it won't wear as well.



And here is a picture of what was the worst top stitch.

Almost invisible.


With this work done, it was time to move the game to it's initial location. I may move it again, since it obstructs a light switch slightly.

Pictures later.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

And this may or may not be where Tail Gunner 2 lands.

Originally, I was thinking of putting it where Stargate and Robotron (out of frame to the right) are, but I thought it might not work there.

I'm reconsidering that now.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

Update: I checked the new fire button, and it fits quite nicely in the counterbore of the stick. So no worries about an insert there (and wondering why the set screw was drilled out and the button held in with electrical tape....)

Moving on. As I'm close to being able to reassemble the joystick (a month away), I wanted to get the black plastic ring sorted.

The ring is drilled at an offset. I'm not sure if that is essential or just a mistake. Does anyone have one around to compare?

I bought a 12" x 12" piece of the plastic, and I'll use a fly cutter on a drill press to slowly cut these out of the material.

If anyone needs one (they tend to chip away around the joystick hole over time, allowing the joystick to come into contact with the metal surround, which causes it to get gouged and damaged.) let me know.

The black ring on the gimbal mount - you can see how much bigger the hole is.
View attachment 664904

Another picture with a rule on it so you can see the scale.
View attachment 664905

Any thoughts from @ArcadeJason or @CaptainHendry ?

 

[CaptainHendry]

It should be centered obviously. No reason for it to be off center that I can see.

My dust washer was 3" I think but not sure if that was an original one or not. Someone before me had done work on it. As you know, I made a whole restrictor plate to keep the stick from hitting the metal. You may not have to do that if your dust washer is 3 1/2" but it won't move smoothly around the edges is my guess. It will hit the screws in the four corners but in between the screws it will move father out, possibly until the stick hits metal. The advantage of the restrictor is that you get a smooth circle of travel all the way around and the stick never hits the metal.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

The shop reports some problems bending the new control panels. Which is slowing down my progress.

I provided some suggestions. The radiuses are small, so a good way to bend these would be to get solid steel stock, drill a hole through both ends perpendicular to the radius, and then bolt it down to a brake press and then bend the material over the arc of the steel stock.

Two pieces of steel stock, 4 holes, and two bends per plate - done.

We'll see what we get.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

The new control panels are done.
The new gimbal and gimbal mounting plate are done!

The joystick, inserts for the joystick, and gimbal arms are with the vendor - ETA next week.

Which means finally, finally my game will be coming back together and will hopefully be playable.

I'll be applying the CPO to the joystick panel soon - I have to clean it with acetone since it was in the machine shop and got some oil on it.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

Finally, finally, finally.

All parts for the joysticks people needed are IN. Including parts to make a harness for one member.

I'm going to get the fly cutter out and cut the black plastic.

My plan is to cut it into the right sized squares, screw each square down on two corners to a piece of wood, and then use the fly cutter to slowly cut the smaller hole, and then the larger outline.

Slow and steady wins this one. It's soft material.

Now everything will start to fall into place.

Once the disc is done, I'll clean the substrate for the overlay, and apply the overlay. Oh boy oh boy oh boy!

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

Some progress today.

I cleaned up my control panel with isopropyl alcohol, allowed it to air dry, and finally applied the @CaptainHendry Control Panel Overlay.

The results look very good!




I cut out all the reliefs for the holes with an Xacto knife.

Then I decided I had to make the original restrictor plates. But how to do it?

I started with a piece of old plywood to use as a drill base. I wish I had a drill press, but wish in one hand....anyway.

I divided the piece into 4 pieces, and screwed them down to the plywood.



Then I used a fly cutter to cut the inside hole. It measured 1.74" on my precision scale, so I set the fly cutter for half of that and went to town.



After I drilled the inside hole, I changed the tool to cut the outside hole. It cuts a straight edge on one side, and a bevel on the other.

Then after I drilled, I figured out I should have been going in reverse because I had to flip the bit. Instead of cutting, I melted.

It still turned out okay after a quick cleanup. The original with the blown out center on the left, the replacement on the right.

These get pinched between the top of the CPO and the gimbal plate, and held in place. The original ones were offset on the OD, so I kept with that even though it probably wasn't necessary.



The old one on the gimbal plate - note how you can see the metal inside the worn out hole.



Here is a new one. Note how you can't see the metal of the gimbal plate anymore. This is the correct way.



One of these goes to @pashdown for his joystick which will ship when I finish the harness.

I am using one for mine.

That leaves two more available for $10 plus shipping, which covers my cost for the fly cutter and material.

Anyone interested?

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

I'm shipping these wrapped in corrugated cardboard, so the shipping cost first class mail will be $1.26 (two Forever stamps at the current price).

Look into your joystick - if you can see any gouges in the joystick, or metal from the gimbal ring showing, you need one of these.

You have to remove the joystick and CPO, remove the 4 bolts from the joystick gimbal mount, remove the old broken one, install the new one centered on the gimbal ring so no metal shows, and then reassemble the joystick into the control panel, bolting it up while maintaining the ring in position. I think a little rubber cement or thin double stick tape will make this easier since it will keep it from shifting.

I'll label the package DO NOT BEND on both sides as well.

 

[ATARI1978]

Lot and lots of love and diligence you are putting into this. It is obvious this game is special to you. Looking Good! I wish you continued success to the finish!

Best, Mike.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

I looked at my gimbal assembly, and didn't like the bottom of it since it was dirty. Time to head out to the garage and hit it with scotch-brite.

Putting the control panel together is interesting. The entire joystick gets assembled except for the button. Then you put the joystick / gimbal assembly into the control panel, and sandwiching the plastic joystick protector between them, bolt it down. Only then do you feed up the wires to the switches and solder them in.

The joystick has to mounted and the gimbal arms installed before the wires go in, or no Bueno.

That will be today's project. Plus one of the gimbal pins is messed up, so I'll be chucking that up in the drill and doing some gentle filing to make it fit properly.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

This has been an interesting day.

I started with the gimbal pin that was messed up. I tried to clean it up in my drill with a flat bastard mild file. It resisted my attempts. I switched to 600 grit sandpaper. This took a full hour of effort to clean up. I re-drilled the hole with a 1/4" bit for this one - the other side slid smoothly through the bore - but wouldn't go through this side.

I worked the hole with a fine rat tail (1/8" jewelers file) to remove any burrs, and then went back to working the pin. The surface of the pin which will be inside the gimbal mount isn't critical - the one that goes into the steel hole on the pivot is. It looks like this pin was hammered into the hole, and had some expansion, so I worked to relieve that carefully.

I finally got it to slide through the bore, so it was time to mount the stick. I had cleaned up the grunge on the top of the gimbal, and mounted the joystick. Then unmounted the joystick, reversed the gimbal so the set screws were down (where they can be accessed with an allen wrench, and then reset it. This uses a tapered pin which is staked, so I had to make sure I started from the right end.

When I put the joystick in, I put in the two plastic washers (one per side) to keep it from rubbing on the gimbal ring. I still remember a metal on metal squeak between the gimbal ring and the 1/8" sheet metal mount. The gap between the mount and the ring was very small, and I didn't have any plastic washers I could use, so I grabbed my airplane box, and got out my 1/2" Teflon (tm) anti-chafe tape. After I cleaned the outside of the gimbal ring, I applied a single lap of the anti-chafe tape, then cut out the pin holes. The lap ends away from the pins so it should hold up there. It's Teflon so it's friction free, and no more squeaks are coming from the mount.

(Update) Note: Install the potentiometers before you install the joystick in the gimbal mount, or you have to remove it - they won't fit between the gimbal mount and the gimbal ring. (Yes, I had to remove the joystick again).

You can hardly see the tape in the below photo.




With the tape on and the joystick ready, I put it into the mount. I used thin double-sided tape to secure the anti-chafe ring on top of the gimbal mount, found the right bolts (I had bought 4 that were too big, went back and got 4 more, and had them but of course grabbed the bigger ones), and then carefully tightened the bolts down while keeping the joystick from leaning on the anti-chafe plastic.

I had to re-do the tape, since the top of the gimbal mount was dirty - so the tape didn't stick the first time. Once I cleaned it with grain alcohol which was handy, it stuck quite nicely with a 1/2" piece on the top and bottom.

This is a picture with the anti-chafe plastic held with the double sided tape.



So, get the Control Panel, add the Start Button, get that tightened down, mate that with the gimbal mount.

Carefully, evenly tighten the Nylock nuts to hold things together, and here is the almost finished product.



Here is the double-sided tape I used. The Teflon tape I picked up at AirVenture around 15 years ago. It lasts forever, but cost me around $75 back in the day. I'm including a piece of it for @pashdown for his yoke, which will be shipped as soon as I finish the wiring harness and figure out the bill.



Tools used:
1/16 Allen Wrench
0.50 Allen Wrench
9/16 Socket Wrench (start button nut)
7/16 Socket Wrench (Control Panel stove bolt Nylock nuts)
Exacto Knife (for cutting relief holes for the pin in the Teflon tape.)

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

I started working on my harness and hooking it up to the completed joystick, when I found that the wires had broken off (really bad solder connections) on the existing pots. Fortunately @CaptainHendry to the rescue - he had a good picture which allowed me to figure out which was which.

The new 5 million cycle pots I picked up from Johns Jukes had the tabs sticking up - I carefully bent them back and angled the pots for the best span with the gimbal arms.

I had to remove the gimbal pins and joystick to install the pots, which stick outwards to the gimbal arms. Two Allen screws to loosen, pull the pins (easy since I spent an hour cleaning them up), install the pots and reinstall the pins and tighten down the Allen screws. I'll update my previous post to note that.

Time to go back to the work area, double check all connections, and start soldering. I'm so close to finishing this.

One other thing: the new pots have slightly smaller holes. I had done a mid-span strip of the wire (something I learned in high school electric shop class in 1975) but the doubling over of the wire wouldn't fit the hole. However, if I cut the wire into two pieces the stripped ends would fit.

Lesson learned (and shared).

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

Priorities - I ordered the connectors and parts for @pashdown 's joystick assembly. While I was at it, I ordered wire for mine.

I neglected to order enough AMP connectors. Argh.

So back to ArcadeShop. I got enough to finish wiring @pashdown joystick, from the connector to the pots. Since he's applying the CPOs, I didn't want to do the joystick (plus the bigger box for shipping).

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

Parts are on order. Now, we wait.

Hopefully, @security0001 gets my email for my order amendment before he ships. My scope expanded a little.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

The parts are in the mail. As usual, Arcade Parts & Repair to the rescue with everything I needed and a lot of flexibility.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

Looks like the parts will arrive tomorrow. Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy!!!

Which is good news for me and @pashdown as I can complete his project. And ship it.

And get my game up and running for the first time in months, since I sacrificed my joystick to be re-made.

I hope it helps people. I can't wait to get this game back up and running, and try to set some new high scores. Since there is no high score save on this game, I'll have to use labels on the neat Op sign on my bezel.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

Parts are here! Time to go to town tonight.

My plans for this evening:
Finish my Tail Gunner 2 joystick (ready to install)
Work on @pashdown's shield panels (sand off the flash corrosion, clean with acetone, and then apply overlays and install the switches.)
As time permits, assemble @pashdown's joystick assembly and complete wiring.

Once @pashdown 's joystick is done, I'll install mine - until then, it provides a model to use along with the schematic.

Wrap up all in bubble wrap and craft paper, and get it shipped out.

 

[cwilkson]

Need pictures of the unassembled parts pile!