Re: A2 Joystick Maintenance

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

Polymorph wrote:
> Hi Guys,
>
> My A2 joystick (Apple brand A2M2012) has been erratic ever since
> bringing it out of its 15 year hibernation, so I decided today was the
> day to repair it. I cracked it open and did what I could to clean it
> out, but it would seem that the pots are gunged up internally.
>
> I can't seem to remove or open the pots to clean them, so I was
> wondering if I could soak the pots in some sort of cleaning solution to
> try and remove the grime.
>
> So the question is - what cleaning solution would be best to use?
> Alcohol based? Something else? I tried squirting IC cleaning fluid into
> the pots but it had limited success and one of the pots still behaves
> quite erratically.
>
> Anyone got any ideas?

A short spray/drops of contact cleaner followed by a hundred or so
full-excursion sweeps of the pots will usually do the job.  If it
still shows some noise, repeat.

The problem is caused by dirt on the resistance element and/or
oxidation on the wiper.  Some cleaner and friction do the job
nicely.  No need to replace the pots (which would be quite tricky
in a joystick).

-michael

New, faster SUDOKU v2.0 solver for Apple II's!
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."