4 replies to this topic

[tremoloman2006]

I've got a few handhelds that need minor repair but no idea who can fix them.

A few off the top of my head include:

Coleco Pac-Man (worn joystick)
Entex Pac-Man 2 (have to crush some buttons to make Pac-Man move)
Entex Galaxian (won't move left)
Entex Space Invaders (one missle shield doesn't light)

I've cleaned them up myself but wasn't able to resurrect these on my own.

Is there some OEM place online that may have retro parts for these? <crosses fingers>

[brojamfootball]

tremoloman2006, on Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:31 PM, said:

I've got a few handhelds that need minor repair but no idea who can fix them.

A few off the top of my head include:

Coleco Pac-Man (worn joystick)
Entex Pac-Man 2 (have to crush some buttons to make Pac-Man move)
Entex Galaxian (won't move left)
Entex Space Invaders (one missle shield doesn't light)

I've cleaned them up myself but wasn't able to resurrect these on my own.

Is there some OEM place online that may have retro parts for these? <crosses fingers>

The Entex ones have rubber d-pads, right? My guess is the carbon dots underneath and/or spots on the pcb the dots touch need cleaning. Open up and use q-tips and alcohol if you haven't already.

Coleco Pac-Man is a tough one. That's gonna require some aftermarket engineering. Thin little flexible pieces of metal are what make the contacts for the joystick in that one, and eventually after a million flexes it wears out. Replacing that with a similar piece of metal MAY work, but won't be too easy. Better solution may be to replace with microswitches, also not too easy to make them fit correctly and actually work.

Space Invaders? Not sure there, but looking for any burned traces on the way to that part of the screen MAY be the answer.

Edited by brojamfootball, Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:42 PM.

[tremoloman2006]

brojamfootball, on Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:40 PM, said:

tremoloman2006, on Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:31 PM, said:

I've got a few handhelds that need minor repair but no idea who can fix them.

A few off the top of my head include:

Coleco Pac-Man (worn joystick)
Entex Pac-Man 2 (have to crush some buttons to make Pac-Man move)
Entex Galaxian (won't move left)
Entex Space Invaders (one missle shield doesn't light)

I've cleaned them up myself but wasn't able to resurrect these on my own.

Is there some OEM place online that may have retro parts for these? <crosses fingers>

The Entex ones have rubber d-pads, right? My guess is the carbon dots underneath and/or spots on the pcb the dots touch need cleaning. Open up and use q-tips and alcohol if you haven't already.

Coleco Pac-Man is a tough one. That's gonna require some aftermarket engineering. Thin little flexible pieces of metal are what make the contacts for the joystick in that one, and eventually after a million flexes it wears out. Replacing that with a similar piece of metal MAY work, but won't be too easy. Better solution may be to replace with microswitches, also not too easy to make them fit correctly and actually work.

Space Invaders? Not sure there, but looking for any burned traces on the way to that part of the screen MAY be the answer.

Thanks brojamfootball, I appreciate the advice. I did try cleaning the pads on the rubber D-pads. Sadly they are just very well worn. If I swap the rubber from the 2-player to the 1-player, then the troublesome side works fine and vice versa.

The Coleco controls are fine on the board. It seems the spring/plastic stick just have some flex to them with age, requiring a crazy amount of pressure to make Pac-Man move. If I swap player 1 with player 2's controls, the issue is reversed.

My problem is just that these are worn well. Besides that, they look and work great!

I have successfully fixed many to like-new status... just these ones are out of my league since I don't have the ability to build custom rubber D-pads.

[the-topdog]

tremoloman2006, on Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:31 PM, said:

I've got a few handhelds that need minor repair but no idea who can fix them.

A few off the top of my head include:

Coleco Pac-Man (worn joystick)
Entex Pac-Man 2 (have to crush some buttons to make Pac-Man move)
Entex Galaxian (won't move left)
Entex Space Invaders (one missle shield doesn't light)

I've cleaned them up myself but wasn't able to resurrect these on my own.

Is there some OEM place online that may have retro parts for these? <crosses fingers>

You may check with Rik over at http://www.HandheldMuseum.com he may be able to hook you up.

Edited by the-topdog, Fri Feb 26, 2010 4:13 PM.

[brojamfootball]

tremoloman2006, on Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:51 PM, said:

brojamfootball, on Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:40 PM, said:

tremoloman2006, on Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:31 PM, said:

I've got a few handhelds that need minor repair but no idea who can fix them.

A few off the top of my head include:

Coleco Pac-Man (worn joystick)
Entex Pac-Man 2 (have to crush some buttons to make Pac-Man move)
Entex Galaxian (won't move left)
Entex Space Invaders (one missle shield doesn't light)

I've cleaned them up myself but wasn't able to resurrect these on my own.

Is there some OEM place online that may have retro parts for these? <crosses fingers>

The Entex ones have rubber d-pads, right? My guess is the carbon dots underneath and/or spots on the pcb the dots touch need cleaning. Open up and use q-tips and alcohol if you haven't already.

Coleco Pac-Man is a tough one. That's gonna require some aftermarket engineering. Thin little flexible pieces of metal are what make the contacts for the joystick in that one, and eventually after a million flexes it wears out. Replacing that with a similar piece of metal MAY work, but won't be too easy. Better solution may be to replace with microswitches, also not too easy to make them fit correctly and actually work.

Space Invaders? Not sure there, but looking for any burned traces on the way to that part of the screen MAY be the answer.

Thanks brojamfootball, I appreciate the advice. I did try cleaning the pads on the rubber D-pads. Sadly they are just very well worn. If I swap the rubber from the 2-player to the 1-player, then the troublesome side works fine and vice versa.

The Coleco controls are fine on the board. It seems the spring/plastic stick just have some flex to them with age, requiring a crazy amount of pressure to make Pac-Man move. If I swap player 1 with player 2's controls, the issue is reversed.

My problem is just that these are worn well. Besides that, they look and work great!

I have successfully fixed many to like-new status... just these ones are out of my league since I don't have the ability to build custom rubber D-pads.

You may also be able to try the glue-a-piece-of-foil method, a la 5200 controllers. Just a thought.

If it's the plastic sticks themselves from the Coleco that are in question, I suggest a bit of custom refabrication.
Bolt spacers, nuts and large plastic washers from Home Depot maybe. I have a tabletop galaxian that I received with both sticks broken off--used spacers and tiny little nuts and bolts to refab them. You could maybe cut the bottom off your stick and through-bolt a bigass plastic washer on the bottom? Or cut out the shaft of the stick and replace it with a spacer, through-bolted? Not sure exactly what's going on with what you've got, but I'll bet something like that could be done.

Good luck whatever you do. Keep us informed, whatever you figure out. I can always use more ideas/plans, etc.