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When looking for design differences of the Heavy vs. Light sixers everyone looks for the same obvious differences... the thicker side trim, and rounded front curvature of the bottom half of the shell where it meets up with the wood grain. Many times that's all you have to go on if your bidding in an auction, but once it's in your hands you might want to verify the rest of the console.
There are some differences in the top half of the heavy sixer housing, and there are several differences to the guts of these units as well... a lot of the Heavy Sixers have been bastardized over the years and I fear that more than just a few people only have part of a heavy sixer without knowing it, or in some cases just the base. To me a TRUE Heavy sixer has to have all original early run top/bottom case and internal components.
I personally own 6 H6ers and 3 L6ers with many others bought and sold over time (with all being opened for cleaning or repair)... I hope this is of some help to AA members.
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I'm going to deal briefly with the bottom half of the case... the differences are obvious visually, but it's clear that in the beginning there were NO channel switch openings and they appeared later in the run cycle... NO original heavy sixer switch boards have an actual channel select switch... see below after the top shell section.
Early Run = "C010306 1 L&W" - no opening
Early run = "C010306 7 E" - no opening
Early run = "C010306 7 E" - HAS OPENING (added after reply from flammingkows)
Early run = "C010306 7 F" - no opening
Later run = "C010306 7 F" - HAS OPENING
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The top half of the shell has the following differences:
#1 - Heavy sixer switch slots have smaller openings vertically, but the easiest way to tell them apart from a light switch bezel is the trim around the openings which is raised and beveled. Light sixer slots have a larger vertical opening and flat trim around them.
But, the switch bezels can be removed and placed in a nice new light 6 lid, so we need a way to tell the top lid as well, see #2...
#2 - There are a couple differences... the Atari logo is narrower at the base of the Fuji symbol on heavies --- 16 to 16.5 mm wide on the heavy sixer, while it is a bit larger on the light sixer at just over 17mm --- in addition to that, the "R" symbol is set HIGH on heavies while it is level with letters of "ATARI" on light sixers... the texture of the wood grain design is quite a bit courser and duller in color on the earliest heavies while there are fewer thick dark striations and a richer brown color on the light lids -- woodgrain is not conclusive however because the grain texture was transitioned during the heavy six manufacturing -- the easiest way is to simply look for the high R!
The top shell and switch bezels are interchangeable on the 2 version of the consoles, so I though it somewhat important to point out the differences in detail so collectors could be made aware.
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So, now that we have the entire housing of the heavy sixer described in detail and discernable from the light, I think it's just as important that the guts be original to the heavy sixer as well... would you buy a Porsche, and pay Porsche money, if it had a Hyundai engine, I think not...
Here are some of the differences between the original heavy six vs. light six switchboard designs...
The switchboards in all of my heavy units are C010462 with various various revision numbers/letters -- the light sixers all have switchboard C012173...
#1 - The heavy sixer originally came out with a FINNED heat sink below and left of the ON/OFF switch on the switchboard, the light sixer switchboards have a flat integrated heat sink that is integrated with the circuit board, done as a cost cutting measure I'm sure. In addition, the heavy switchboard has a capacitor and a resistor above the on/off switch while the light has niether...
#2 - On the heavy, the RF connector is on a small circuit board mounted perpendicular to the RF box, while light six RF connector is on the main circuit board. Often you'll see the date code sticker on top of the RF housing, I believe this sticker is related only to the RF modulator assembly and has little to do with the manufacture date of the overall console...
#3 - On the underside of the switchboard, you'll find an Atari logo (some people call this a "Fuji" symbol) with "Innovative Liesure" - Light sixer boards DO NOT have the Atari logo.
#4 - Heavy six boards DO NOT have a channel select switch whether there's an opening on the bottom case or not, if your heavy has a channel select switch it's probably board C012173 which is a light sixer switchboard exclusively... here's a picture of a LIGHT SIXER switchboard with the channel selct switch and some of the other features discussed above:
The actual PCB switch board has differences as well, further research is needed but tan boards with the letter "J" stamped repeatedly on it are the last heavy board used based on many light sixer boards using the same pcb stamp (as seen above)... earlier boards have the letter "A" stamped repeatedly or have no stamp and are green overall (actually translucent with underside overprints visible through the top of the board).
The ribbon cable that connect the switch board and mother board has it's differences as well, it's been established that the first ribbons used were the green/white striped ribbons (mentioned in the Atari service manual as "green"), next used was the red ribbons, and finally the grey ribbons which were also used on some light sixers.
Most light sixers have individual colored wires connecting the 2 boards, but many were replaced during servicing because they were deemed unreliable (see light sixer board above).
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Motherboards stayed consistent, all being C010433 with varying revision letters or numbers. I believe that numbered revisions came before letter revision since light sixer boards all use revision B, while I have seen several heavy motherboards with revision 7 and 8...
There are different bottom plates on the motherboard housing for early heavy sixers as well (the flat piece that is removed via screws to access the motherboard). First used was a thick plate with part number C010315 that was slightly over 2mm thick, then came a thinner plate with part number C012715 at 1mm thick. All light sixers use the thinner plate, some heavies do as well, but could have been swapped over time.
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I have made several assumptions as to which board revisions and other components came earliest, but more research is needed to make any concrete conclusions because there are contradictions that are frequently encountered due to Atari repairs, collector part swaps, etc...
Atleast you now know for sure whether or not you have an entire heavy sixer guts and all!
- Thick plastic base
- beveled switch opening on bezel
- High "R" copyright logo on woodgrain
- Finned heatsink on switchboard
Just about everyone that has entered information in "THE OFFICIAL ATARI 2600 HEAVY 6-SWITCH LIST" just looks at the bottom sticker and possibly looks for the switch opening and switch... that's not really helping to decipher the atari 1977 model timeline much, I encourage people to open up their units and help get to the bottom of this by filling out the form completely and adding as many notes as possible.
LUVR77
Edited by atariluvr77, Mon May 21, 2012 11:18 PM.
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