Joystick MacGyverism

Jedidentist

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Donor 3 years: 2011-2013
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So my Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom had a floppy joystick. After this post, I received some good input:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=114591&highlight=atari+joystick

Rather than buy the parts to replace everything, I thought I'd send it to Stephen over at videogameparts.com and take advantage of his rebuild service:

http://www.videogameparts.com/category.sc?categoryId=65

Awesome guy, calls me on friday night to tell me that he received it, we worked out a plan, and he fixed it right that night. The only little snafu...check out what was inside the joystick:

IMG_4982.jpg

IMG_4983.jpg

IMG_4984.jpg


Yes my friends, those are wooden parts you see there! I have no idea who did it or when it was done, but the pivot ball and plunger were both replaced with wooden parts that were epoxied on. Stephen said this was a first for him...and he's repaired a lot. The interesting thing is that this MaGyverism worked fine, and probably kept this machine in service for decades at a time when parts probably weren't readily available...or the guy was cheap ;) Nevertheless, paying for labor to "repair" that was more expensive than just paying $30 for a NOS Atari stick/rod...which is what we did. Fortunately, the wood must have been softer than the lower and upper housings, so once everything was replaced, he said everything felt like brand new...probably one of the best rebuilds Stephen's done. So anyway, it's heading back to me today! Just thought I'd share an interesting little story and give some props to Stephen for a stand up job!

Derek
 
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