Fixing the knob on The Act

AtariShag

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So here's one that might be tough. I have The Act: An Interactive Comedy. A little while ago, the knob controller stopped responding and since then I've been a little unsure as to how I can get it fixed. I think it uses an IR sensor that a notched wheel goes through in play and I'm not sire if the sensor is bad or something else.

Anyone know where I can get a replacement sensor from? I checked a local electornics store where they usually have everything but not one of these.

I also wonder, will the spinners from Happ Controls work? It appears that the circuits use a similar design and it's USB so I was curious if any of the other few people who have this game out there have tried this before.
 
probably sounds dumb but you mention the spinner connects via USB. Have you tried hooking a USB mouse to the spinner USB input on the game? It may work. If it works it wold at least let you know the issue was the spinner and not something else. Also if the mouse idea works then I would guess if Happ sells a USB spinner then that would likely be a workable replacement. Just a thought.
 
Thanks, that's a great idea that I didn't think of (I didn't think that a mouse inout would show anything).

I have looked at those spinners by Happ but I was wondering if there was something cheaper out there. If not, I'll just have to bite the bullet.
 
Cool game......

Do you happen to have a manual on it ?
There's not much to those controls, so if we can get part number I'm sure we could cross reference optics and such.
But if it's USB, then plugging a mouse or something in should at least show if it's the controller or something else. (i.e. the mouse will react, maybe not quite correctly though)
 
Just following up a little late here...

I plugged a mouse into it and it worked fine. So that means that those USB spinners should work, even though they are a bit smaller than what came with the game.

I will have to look around for my manual, IIRC it didn't have parts numbers in it but it never hurts to check again. I guess it also would be worthwhile to scan the manual in and post it somewhere online.
 
I'd be interested in seeing the manual. Does it not list part numbers for the opto? I know it is fairly common for the solder joints holding the opto's to crack and cause problems on older games, this could have the same problem...
 
I just checked the manual and as I thought, it doesn't list part no.'s which is a real pain as the company closed it's doors a year or two ago. However, I was just taking a closer look at the encoder PCB and it has stuff on there which should help.

The PCB says "Cooper|Perkins" CECKNOB_03R2. The optical sensor says "OMRON" EE-SX 1031 Japan. They seem to have a page about The Act so I will try and contact them directly to see if I can get somewhere.

http://www.cooperperkins.com/study/the-act

The Act was done in 2007 actually so it isn't too old - I think the sensor internally was damaged by kids tugging on the controller but right now I am going to try a different USB cable and see if that just might happen to be it.
 
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or just hack a usb ball mouse - old school mame spinner, and use the existing encoder wheel, you just have to mount the mouse pcb so that it reads the existing encoder.
 
The part from Mouser didn't work, so I am thinking that it's something else on the board that died.

Thanks for the help everyone
 
I have never been able to remove the knob from the current one, although I would like to as it would have saved me a lot of trouble in mounting the thing to the cabinet. It's also much larger than any other spinner I have seen.

Great site there, I will look into that (and maybe pick something else up). :)
 
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