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Vintage Joystick Repair

G

Great Hierophant

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Joined
Mar 22, 2006
Messages
1,928
Location
Massachusetts, USA
I have a Kraft Premium II Joystick that I would really like to use, but it just doesn't work.

The buttons work good, the springs are tight, but when I try to move the stick in a game it will either not work at all or work a bit. Windows 9x will often report that there is no joystick plugged into the port. The crosshairs are also shaky. I can only imagine two possible causes:

Gunk in the potentiometers (similar to the jitter in Atari Paddles)
A break in the joystick cables.

Which do you think it could be?
 
Probably both. The wires are more likely to be good, it's a desktop stick. As for shaky crosshairs, it could be the axis mech parts, you can go over those with a pencil eraser and clean them if they are on the surface of the board. If they are true pots (I am led to this, I don't have an actual one of these) then some TV tuner cleaner will do wonders for it. Check your pins in the connector, they could be dirty and it never hurts to replace the cable.

I have to fix up joysticks a lot, I have a Kraft KC3 which works pretty good. Sure wish I could find a good Gravis Blackhawk non-digital, those were great.

Nathan
 
NathanAllan said:
Probably both. The wires are more likely to be good, it's a desktop stick. As for shaky crosshairs, it could be the axis mech parts, you can go over those with a pencil eraser and clean them if they are on the surface of the board. If they are true pots (I am led to this, I don't have an actual one of these) then some TV tuner cleaner will do wonders for it. Check your pins in the connector, they could be dirty and it never hurts to replace the cable.

I have to fix up joysticks a lot, I have a Kraft KC3 which works pretty good. Sure wish I could find a good Gravis Blackhawk non-digital, those were great.

Nathan
Click to expand...

They are true pots alright. I opened them up and used some rubbing alcohol on them, but the didn't seem anywhere as dirty as the 2600 paddles I fixed. However, after one application, the left/right axis seems to work now.
 
Last edited:
oooh, rubbing alcohol will work for now, but a tuner cleaner leaves a lubricant in it so they last longer. Alcohol dries it out, makes wear and tear happen quicker. Learned that the hard way (atari paddled died after that). Maybe replace both pots? Hate to suggest replacing vintage innards for modern ones, but it may be the thing to get it to work perfectly. Finding similar ones shouldn't be that hard.

I'd try cleaning them again but with the tuner stuff. I got a can at radio shack (they still carry that at least) but it was pricey at about $11/can. Though I still have it, it lasts a good long while.

Why do joysticks and batteries interest me so much?? I may never know.

Nathan
 
Yep, I still have my can of Radio Shack pot cleaner. My jaw hit the ground when I found out they wanted around $20 for this little can. I purchased it anyway. I have a very nice Marantz 2238B receiver from around 1976. Radio Shack cleaner works great on the large pots in that.
 
Maybe I *did* pay more than 11, something like 20. I can't remember. That attestes to it, it's been more than a year since I bought it and still have it! Must be good stuff and lasts a LONG time.
 
NathanAllan said:
Probably both. The wires are more likely to be good, it's a desktop stick. As for shaky crosshairs, it could be the axis mech parts, you can go over those with a pencil eraser and clean them if they are on the surface of the board. If they are true pots (I am led to this, I don't have an actual one of these) then some TV tuner cleaner will do wonders for it. Check your pins in the connector, they could be dirty and it never hurts to replace the cable.

I have to fix up joysticks a lot, I have a Kraft KC3 which works pretty good. Sure wish I could find a good Gravis Blackhawk non-digital, those were great.

Nathan
Click to expand...
Hello Nathan. You probably already know that ebay and surprisingly amazon has a few gravis blackhawk, analog, IBM compatible sticks left. I've worn out about a dozen of them over a forty year period. And using still them to fly my LucasArts AirCombat CLASSICS. I sure like to know how to repair the I have, but I don't even know where to start. Don't know parts terminology or how to troubleshoot. All I know is that these sticks, pitch control is unsteady and jumpy. I've crashed many TBF-Avengers because of it. Also, they have a tendency to loose their roll control as well. They drift from port to starboard. Well, they could go either way. Maybe I'm too rough on them. As you probably know, it's easy to panic in the heat of battle while trying to avoid tracer fire. Especially when I have a ME-262 on my tail. Good luck in your search.
 
Ol Rattler said:
Hello Nathan. You probably already know that ebay and surprisingly amazon has a few gravis blackhawk, analog, IBM compatible sticks left. I've worn out about a dozen of them over a forty year period. And using still them to fly my LucasArts AirCombat CLASSICS. I sure like to know how to repair the I have, but I don't even know where to start. Don't know parts terminology or how to troubleshoot. All I know is that these sticks, pitch control is unsteady and jumpy. I've crashed many TBF-Avengers because of it. Also, they have a tendency to loose their roll control as well. They drift from port to starboard. Well, they could go either way. Maybe I'm too rough on them. As you probably know, it's easy to panic in the heat of battle while trying to avoid tracer fire. Especially when I have a ME-262 on my tail. Good luck in your search.
Click to expand...
Rattler= Patrick
 
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