FS Parts: Original Venture joystick, refurbished - $225 shipped

andrewb

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Original Venture joystick, refurbished - $225 shipped

I have one refurbished original Venture joystick. (The BIG one.)


Pics below. Has been completely disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled. I replaced the leafs with new ones (with the thick style tabs, same as original). Switches have no solder on the tabs.

Pics show with and without leaf switches installed, so you can see more of the stick. I also installed all new bolts and washers on the bottom, with nylon lock nuts, to hold the leafs tight.

Includes the square black plastic dust washer plate. This stick is in excellent shape, about as close to NOS as you can get.


$225 shipped in the US. Int'l shipping extra.


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Haha. I actually have a wide array of tools, brushes, chemicals, and techniques for removing stuff from other stuff, and then polishing what's left to make it look as close to new as possible. I've done a lot of experimenting, and have figured out a few tricks for different materials.

One 'secret' I will share is a wet tumbler (i.e., rock tumbler). Many folks have the dry vibratory tumblers like the one seen on John's Arcade, but those don't work nearly as well, and take a lot longer. The tumbler is only the start though, as you can experiment with lots of different media, too.

But for small metal parts, I soak them in white vinegar for 24-36 hours, then tumble them in the vinegar for a few hours, and all of the rust will be removed. (And I mean ALL rust, no matter how rusty it is.) I intentionally look for rusty stuff now, just to see what it looks like coming out of the tumbler, because I think it's fun.

I usually just save up a bunch of parts and let them tumble against each other all at once, but if you have only a few parts, I bought a small bag of heavy carpet tacks that I'll use as media sometimes, as the sharp points get in all of the crevices, and you can just dry them off and reuse them. You can also tumble in vinegar with some crushed walnut, which is less abrasive, if you have something that is less rusted, or has an existing finish that you want to try to preserve.

After wet tumbling I'll then dry tumble the parts in walnut shells to polish them up. Also, adding a dab of polish during this step will really make them shine. I've tried about a dozen different polishes, and the best by far is Simichrome. It's German, and a little more expensive, but works well on pretty much all materials too, if you want to polish something by hand, or by spinning it in a drill (e.g., joystick shafts.) I'll dry tumble for 12-24 hours to get a good shine on most parts.

If you want a tumbler, get a Lortone. I've tried the Lortone and the Thumlers, and the Lortone is a much better design. Quieter, and the drum seals better. They aren't very loud at all, and I keep mine in my bathroom, by the washer, and they're quieter than the washer.

I have a Lortone 3A, and a smaller 45C that I got at a yard sale for a buck. (They're usually between $50 and $100 used, if you look around). You can get all parts for them, if you happen to find a used or broken one, or one that's missing the drum. Having two tumblers is nice, as I tumble a lot of parts, and you can have one batch wet tumbling, while another batch is dry tumbling.

Anyway, those are some tips for small hardware. I actually didn't use the tumbler for the Venture stick however, as I replaced all of the hardware, since some of the nuts + bolts were missing, and they weren't all matching (which my OCD can't stand).
 
Looks great, good luck with your sale.

I believe this is also the correct stick for Targ and Spectar, though I don't know if they have the same dust washer.
 
I use a thumlers wet rotary tumbler with stainless steel pin media, lemme shine, and some dish soap for polishing brass casings. After they're finished they look better than new, I wonder if that method would work for various metal parts.
 
I use a thumlers wet rotary tumbler with stainless steel pin media, lemme shine, and some dish soap for polishing brass casings. After they're finished they look better than new, I wonder if that method would work for various metal parts.


I actually use something similar for cleaning brass tokens. I'll use crushed walnut and dish soap for those, and it works great. I don't even dry tumble them after, as I found it actually makes them less shinier. Just dry them off on a towel in front of a fan, and they're good to go. (Those are really fun to tumble, as they come out REALLY shiny). :)

I'll rinse them off in a kitchen strainer, which is just the right size to let the walnut media through, if you get the medium or fine crushed media. If you rinse them into a large plastic container, you can actually reuse the walnut, if you're doing multiple batches.

The crushed walnut is great because it really scrubs off off the grime from the tokens, and it gets in the all of the crevices, as they slide against each other. I used to just tumble them against themselves (if you do a good sized batch), as a lot of metal parts will work well as their own media, but you get metal-on-metal wear if you leave them long enough.

There are many variations you can try, and they all will work if you tumble them long enough. But I try to minimize tumbling time, and try to preserve the original metal and finish when possible. That's where the vinegar is really helpful, as it dissolves the rust on steel parts, and then a quick tumble will just knock everything loose.

The one thing you need to be careful of with vinegar however, is that it gives off gas. Not sure what the gas is (if any of you chemistry nerds know), but that's why you need to soak the parts for 24+ hours first. If you tumble them straight, it will work, but you need to babysit the drum, and 'burp' it every 20 minutes or so, otherwise it will burst open, and make a very vinegary and rusty mess (which is why I keep a cake pan under my tumbler).

Soaking them first allows most of the gas to dissipate, and loosens up the rust, so you only need a quick tumble to knock the remaining rust off.
 
Geez, guys this is some great info. Saving these non reprod parts and controllers is VERY important in this hobby. Repros are great, but originals can't be compared to. Without work like this, 10-20 years from now, it will be next to impossible to pass on or find parts that have been saved from the ravages of time.

Thank you for sharing guys 👾👾👾
 
I was waiting for you to chime in CW.

Both you and andrewb do friggin' nice work making these parts new again.

So now that andrewb has shared his secrets maybe you can share a bit on how you get your parts like new again.
 
This stick is in the Pitfall 2 I picked up. It is a unique looking stick , I wasn't sure if it was unique to Pitfall , or where it came from. Now I know ! Venture and a few others.
Nice work Andrew
 
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