interest check: Assault CPOs

[fatherpain]

I've spoken to a mutual friend that has added the extra 2P button and loves it. I trust his judgement in these matters, so it seems like its probably the best way to go. It's easy to do + it wouldnt be a drag on Matt's time. Besides..I'd prefer Matt conserve his brain cells for the Juno First hi score limit increase mod ;P

I can take a look at it, but I still think the best way is to just add the 2P Start button... it makes the CP nice and symmetrical.

Tom

 

[fatherpain]

Thanks Ken, gotcha down man We're making good progress to making a run worthwhile! Please keep the committments coming!

I'd take one also.
Ken

Tom

 

[robgest]

When did anyone say that sideart was being done? I would love it, but I didn't see anyone say that. Did I miss something?

 

[Takeman]

Sure thing Troy. I add ya once I get home to my laptop Darn Iphone interface wont allow me to scroll down far enough to do so. And very cool, please count me in for 1 panel. The previous owner of my assault enlarged the start button and riveted the panel hold downs in. If you did the panels, would there be an option to have an extra hole for 2P start which is supported by Matt Osborn's awesome assault/+ kit?

Tom

Ya, I could always have the extra hole put in it. If its not used, its covered by the overlay. Its not that big so it should not be an issue. Wanna keep track of the panels on here too or should I start a seperate thread?

 

[fatherpain]

Troy,
sure we can keep track of panel interest in this thread also to keep in 1 place. I'll add the list when I get home

Ya, I could always have the extra hole put in it. If its not used, its covered by the overlay. Its not that big so it should not be an issue. Wanna keep track of the panels on here too or should I start a seperate thread?

Tom

 

[fatherpain]

Although dj_dns mentioned having a nos side, I'd like to focus on the CPO and cp for now, while I have access to the films...

That said, its possible the sideart films might be found. When and if that happens, then I'm pretty certain a run of sideart will happen and an interest thread will be generated.

Tom

When did anyone say that sideart was being done? I would love it, but I didn't see anyone say that. Did I miss something?

 

[mrbill08]

I checked with Matt and loked at my CP. Adding a second button on the right would look symmetrical and that is the way I'm going to go. Less complicated and very easy to implement.

Bill

 

[trickman]

I'd be interested in the entire CP redux. My sticks are original, but they're getting hammered every time I play.

 

[nash]

I checked with Matt and loked at my CP. Adding a second button on the right would look symmetrical and that is the way I'm going to go. Less complicated and very easy to implement.

Bill

Yes I agree Bill. I drilled a hole centered along same plane as the 1P button and measured equidistantly from the edge respectively.

For those that don't want to incorporate a 2-Player Start button on their panel, don't worry; the new cpos will not come with an extra hole drilled for one.

For those that do though, after drilling the hole in your panel, you'll just need to cut a small hole with an exacto knife (once the cpo is applied of course) right around where the red circle is in the pic below.

 

[fatherpain]

Yes this cpo with the 2P button drilled looks like the ideal solution. Thanks very much Nash for sharing

Tom

 

[JuanUp]

Yes I agree Bill. I drilled a hole centered along same plane as the 1P button and measured equidistantly from the edge respectively.

For those that don't want to incorporate a 2-Player Start button on their panel, don't worry; the new cpos will not come with an extra hole drilled for one.

For those that do though, after drilling the hole in your panel, you'll just need to cut a small hole with an exacto knife (once the cpo is applied of course) right around where the red circle is in the pic below.

Damn, are those the new CP and CPO or nos? They look brand new!

 

[nash]

No that's actually a spare panel I drilled the 2-Player Start hole into, and had powdercoated. And the cpo is NOS.

But if Takeman gets panels done I'm sure that they'll look just like the originals, and the cpos will definitely look like a NOS piece.

Here are a few pics of the film packet for the cpos (there are 7 films total):

 

[fatherpain]

Those assault films are a thing of beauty nash! My OMD (old man's disease) isn't as advanced as previously diagnosed as I vaguely remember seeing these.. well vaguely lol ;P

All interested Assault folks (especially me) really owe nash a huge thank you for making this cpo run a possibility. As the pix show, he already has a perfect nos cpo (installed now) so he has no immediate need for a repro cpo. He's making these available and buying 2 to support a cpo run to help the rest of us Assault owners. Heck, I still can't thank nash and Matt Osborn enough for that insane Assault/+ hs kit. Its been an awesome run for Assault fans of late and this just continues it

Thanks nash and a special thank you Scott Evans to whom these films belong

Tom

 

[CocktailDave]

Put me down for one as well, I'm restoring an Assault right now. I was planning on ordering the Game-on-grafix CPO, but if screened ones are on the way, I can wait.

I'm going to have my CP welded. The lockdown brackets are busted off and someone drilled some extra holes to screw it down. I'll hammer it flat, bondo it smooth, and paint it black.

My only issue right now is the monitor. It needs capped and the screen has light burn. I'm keeping an eye out for a replacement tube to swap in.

With the NOS joysticks, a new CPO, and fresh monitor, all I (and lot's of other people) need is new sideart for a beautiful game.

BTW- a big shout out to Mylstar for the NOS sticks. They were not cheap but they sure feel nice and look just awesome.

Thanks Stephen!!!

Dave in Mukilteo

 

[fatherpain]

Awesome CocktailDave! Nos sticks and a new monitor makes a world of difference. I've updated the list

Tom

 

[dj dns]

So how many people you need to get this started? Also is there anyone on here that knows how to rebuild joysticks. I had someone do them recently, but they are not working correctly. They seem like they are hitting something when they are pulled or pushed in different directions.

 

[fatherpain]

Hey Dj, I set out to get 20 committments and we're real close now. If we can get more, even better I'm really pleased by the positive response so far, didn't know there were this many assault fans when we began!

Tom

 

[nash]

Thanks nash and a special thank you Scott Evans to whom these films belong

I'm happy to help but of course Scott's the one that deserves all the praise. He was the only one helping me try to find the package of films that contained the Assault cpos when I was there. And as it happened, the Assault package was buried WAY in the back on the container. It really took a huge amount of work to get back there, and all kinds of pallets of stuff needed to be moved out the way. It took hours. I'm really happy that we didn't give up on finding them.

Also is there anyone on here that knows how to rebuild joysticks. I had someone do them recently, but they are not working correctly. They seem like they are hitting something when they are pulled or pushed in different directions.

I rebuilt mine Darryl, and I know you could have done yours too. Rebuilding them isn't anything difficult per se, they are just tedious and time consuming. Heck, 12 screws and 8 bolts need to be removed just to detach the things from the panel. But once out they are not too difficult. A good thing to do right off the bat is to cut the wires to the triggers and use a Molex for those connections. That will make taking the sticks out and replacing them a lot easier.

Anyway, if you feel like you're hitting something, inspect the cushion ring (black rubber ring) on the actuator (white plastic round piece near the bottom of the controller). It may have slipped out of position. Most often these just melt away over the years and turn into goo. There's a pinball rubber you can get that is a good replacement if you need a new one.

Here's a pic of an exploded diagram of the joystick for reference: Assault stick.


For those that will be doing a rebuild, the one thing that's tricky is that when you are replacing the pin that goes through the pivot ball, you need to be careful not to slice through one/both of the wires for the trigger. The best advice I can give is just leave those wires out of the mix until AFTER you get the pivot ball and pin in place; then just feed them down the shaft.

When I rebuilt my sticks I used parts off 2 NOS Atari logo joysticks. They share many of the same parts as the Assault controllers (i.e. the upper/lower housings, actuator & ring, pivot ball, etc.). I definitely recommend replacing the upper housing when doing a rebuild along with the pivot ball and cushion ring of course. The area where the ball makes contact with the housing gets pretty worked over time. Having a new housing there along with a new ball makes for a really tight controller.

The red arrow below points to the upper housing:

Oh and definitely don't forget to lube with lithium grease as designated in the diagram.

 

[dj dns]

Thanks for the 411 on these sticks, but this is one of the few things I think I would perfer to pay someone to do for me. The person that rebuilt these for me was suppose to be pretty knowledgeable, but couldn't figure out why or what they were hitting against. I would ask you to take a look at them for me, but you aready help me out enough as it is. I'll probably just send them to Mystar and have him do it. I have two panels and they both are doing the same thing after getting rebuilt.

I'm happy to help but of course Scott's the one that deserves all the praise. He was the only one helping me try to find the package of films that contained the Assault cpos when I was there. And as it happened, the Assault package was buried WAY in the back on the container. It really took a huge amount of work to get back there, and all kinds of pallets of stuff needed to be moved out the way. It took hours. I'm really happy that we didn't give up on finding them.




I rebuilt mine Darryl, and I know you could have done yours too. Rebuilding them isn't anything difficult per se, they are just tedious and time consuming. Heck, 12 screws and 8 bolts need to be removed just to detach the things from the panel. But once out they are not too difficult. A good thing to do right off the bat is to cut the wires to the triggers and use a Molex for those connections. That will make taking the sticks out and replacing them a lot easier.

Anyway, if you feel like you're hitting something, inspect the cushion ring (black rubber ring) on the actuator (white plastic round piece near the bottom of the controller). It may have slipped out of position. Most often these just melt away over the years and turn into goo. There's a pinball rubber you can get that is a good replacement if you need a new one.

Here's a pic of an exploded diagram of the joystick for reference: Assault stick.


For those that will be doing a rebuild, the one thing that's tricky is that when you are replacing the pin that goes through the pivot ball, you need to be careful not to slice through one/both of the wires for the trigger. The best advice I can give is just leave those wires out of the mix until AFTER you get the pivot ball and pin in place; then just feed them down the shaft.

When I rebuilt my sticks I used parts off 2 NOS Atari logo joysticks. They share many of the same parts as the Assault controllers (i.e. the upper/lower housings, actuator & ring, pivot ball, etc.). I definitely recommend replacing the upper housing when doing a rebuild along with the pivot ball and cushion ring of course. The area where the ball makes contact with the housing gets pretty worked over time. Having a new housing there along with a new ball makes for a really tight controller.

The red arrow below points to the upper housing:

Oh and definitely don't forget to lube with lithium grease as designated in the diagram.

 

[nash]

Thanks for the 411 on these sticks, but this is one of the few things I think I would perfer to pay someone to do for me.

Lol man I hear you. Rebuilding some of Atari's specialized controllers can be a pain sometimes. Well I'm sure that Stephen would do a good job with them. I would definitely grab a few NOS upper housings from him as well. They make a world of difference. Aside from increasing pivot ball performance, they really minimize the left/right jiggling of the shaft/handles as well.

Oh also, I installed a SPST switch to change between Assault/Assault+ today. I hid it underneath the right side of the control panel. Seemed like a good spot as I keep all the coin doors on my games locked (everything's on coin-op).