Vectrash to Vectreasure (I hope!)
- Thread starter RygarR
- Start date
phillv85 said:RygarR said:
You should track it down, it’s like Star Wars arcade but good
I shall do. In fact, if Big10p is right, I already have it! I've got the Madtronics Classic Mulicart. It doesn't have Star Ship. But it does have Star Trek, which seems to be the European name for it. I haven't had the chance to play it yet, but will give it a look a bit later on.
andyman said:Nice job...I think the last time I played on a Vectrex was 1985 in Woolworths...they sold them all off for £30 each eventually as they didnt sell well at the time...little did I know
Cheers Andy.
And yeah, I remember that too. I had my eye on them in the local Woolco back in the day (a kind of Woolworths megastore). I saw them go down to about £50, but wouldn't have touched them back then, not even for £30. Think of all the blank tapes you could have bought to copy Spectrum games for that price!
Despite the lockdown, I've had enough chores lined up to keep my evenings and weekends pretty much full until today. The time is long overdue for some tinkering...
First
thing on the agenda was changing the springs on my Vectrex joypad. This
was actually a lot fiddlier than I expected, and took quite a while.
The shiny new springs I got off eBay certainly make the centring tighter.
But there's still a wobble zone of a couple of mill around the middle, where the stick moves in and out and round about a bit without engaging. Is that normal? Kindof
feels like there should be a washer or something in there to hold the
ball-bearing on the joystick steady?
While I was in there, I gave the button contacts another going over with some contact cleaner and a cotton bud. They all worked before, but button 4 would sometimes fail to register if you hit it off centre. Seems to be better now.
Next was to get the back off and twiddle with the various screen adjustment pots and centring magnets. Moving the latter helped nudge the picture back towards the middle. Perhaps it had been shaken out of line in transit? The bolt holder in the pic below certainly had been. I knew it was missing from previous explorations, but only just found it today, stuck deep down in the gubbins. When I get some suitable glue, I'll try to stick it back in place.
Last on the list was a job I've been putting off for fear of mucking it up - the debuzz mod!!!!
I've had the amp and the resistors (recommended by Joe34) for a while now. Or at least I thought I had. Unfortunately, when I unravelled my roll of resistors it turned out that rather than the varied assortment I thought I'd ordered, it was actually a full strip of 100 Ohm parts. Gaaaaargh! Instead of waiting for some new ones, I decided to press on any way.
Before starting, I rewatched the videos posted elsewhere on UKVac by Nes4Life and VirtVic.
To save time, I followed VirtVic's example, and only took enough of the wires off to let me twist the bottom pcb round and work on it while still partially attached.
Top tip. Before taking out the 5 screws that hold the pcb in place, be sure to gently prize off the volume knob from the front of the console. I couldn't figure out what was holding the board in place until I gave it a (gentle) yank, and heard the knob rattle onto the floor. Whoops!
After reading various comments on the process from all over the interwebz, I knew the mod was unlikely to eliminate 100% of the buzz. But to maximise the level of success I decided to:
1) Use some old-school shielded RF cable.
2) Keep the wires as short as possible (I trimmed them down even further after this).
3) To help with no 2, and also keep the wires as far away from the CRT as possible, I drilled a small hole in the speaker casing to re-route the speaker wires.
Before anyone says anything, I know my soldering is pants. And yes, I did manage to singe some non-essential plastic parts. It would have helped me enormously to have one of those soldering holder do-dahs. However, it's done now, and job (seems to be) a good-un!
The result?
Before its operation, my Vectrex had a full-on throaty buzz, amplified to the max.
Now, unless you put your ear down beside the speaker, it's hard to hear any buzz. As expected, it's still there a tiny bit, but it really is hardly noticable, even at full volume.
NB: Before the operation, the highest volume was LOUD to the point of distortion. Now, it's still plenty loud enough, perhaps even too loud for a quiet room. Whether it would still be loud enough in a noisy room remains to be seen. But I suppose there's some scope for twiddling with the pot on the amp?
So, many thanks to the guys who posted their tips and videos on here.
If anyone else is planning the debuzz procedure who perhaps hasn't done a lot of soldering, or isn't too familiar with the insides of a Vectrex (like me), what VirtVic and Nes4Life make look easy, could easily drag out to an hour or two. Especially if you get distracted cleaning some of the grime of the PCB.
***
PS: I've only just noticed recently that my Vectrex is missing its two front feet! I've stuck on some generic pads in the meantime. But does anyone know where to get some more authentic replacements?
RygarR2020-05-03 17:19:34
First
thing on the agenda was changing the springs on my Vectrex joypad. This
was actually a lot fiddlier than I expected, and took quite a while.
The shiny new springs I got off eBay certainly make the centring tighter.
But there's still a wobble zone of a couple of mill around the middle, where the stick moves in and out and round about a bit without engaging. Is that normal? Kindof
feels like there should be a washer or something in there to hold the
ball-bearing on the joystick steady?
While I was in there, I gave the button contacts another going over with some contact cleaner and a cotton bud. They all worked before, but button 4 would sometimes fail to register if you hit it off centre. Seems to be better now.
Next was to get the back off and twiddle with the various screen adjustment pots and centring magnets. Moving the latter helped nudge the picture back towards the middle. Perhaps it had been shaken out of line in transit? The bolt holder in the pic below certainly had been. I knew it was missing from previous explorations, but only just found it today, stuck deep down in the gubbins. When I get some suitable glue, I'll try to stick it back in place.
Last on the list was a job I've been putting off for fear of mucking it up - the debuzz mod!!!!
I've had the amp and the resistors (recommended by Joe34) for a while now. Or at least I thought I had. Unfortunately, when I unravelled my roll of resistors it turned out that rather than the varied assortment I thought I'd ordered, it was actually a full strip of 100 Ohm parts. Gaaaaargh! Instead of waiting for some new ones, I decided to press on any way.
Before starting, I rewatched the videos posted elsewhere on UKVac by Nes4Life and VirtVic.
To save time, I followed VirtVic's example, and only took enough of the wires off to let me twist the bottom pcb round and work on it while still partially attached.
Top tip. Before taking out the 5 screws that hold the pcb in place, be sure to gently prize off the volume knob from the front of the console. I couldn't figure out what was holding the board in place until I gave it a (gentle) yank, and heard the knob rattle onto the floor. Whoops!
After reading various comments on the process from all over the interwebz, I knew the mod was unlikely to eliminate 100% of the buzz. But to maximise the level of success I decided to:
1) Use some old-school shielded RF cable.
2) Keep the wires as short as possible (I trimmed them down even further after this).
3) To help with no 2, and also keep the wires as far away from the CRT as possible, I drilled a small hole in the speaker casing to re-route the speaker wires.
Before anyone says anything, I know my soldering is pants. And yes, I did manage to singe some non-essential plastic parts. It would have helped me enormously to have one of those soldering holder do-dahs. However, it's done now, and job (seems to be) a good-un!
The result?
Before its operation, my Vectrex had a full-on throaty buzz, amplified to the max.
Now, unless you put your ear down beside the speaker, it's hard to hear any buzz. As expected, it's still there a tiny bit, but it really is hardly noticable, even at full volume.
NB: Before the operation, the highest volume was LOUD to the point of distortion. Now, it's still plenty loud enough, perhaps even too loud for a quiet room. Whether it would still be loud enough in a noisy room remains to be seen. But I suppose there's some scope for twiddling with the pot on the amp?
So, many thanks to the guys who posted their tips and videos on here.
If anyone else is planning the debuzz procedure who perhaps hasn't done a lot of soldering, or isn't too familiar with the insides of a Vectrex (like me), what VirtVic and Nes4Life make look easy, could easily drag out to an hour or two. Especially if you get distracted cleaning some of the grime of the PCB.
***
PS: I've only just noticed recently that my Vectrex is missing its two front feet! I've stuck on some generic pads in the meantime. But does anyone know where to get some more authentic replacements?
RygarR2020-05-03 17:19:34
RygarR said:andyman said:Nice job...I think the last time I played on a Vectrex was 1985 in Woolworths...they sold them all off for £30 each eventually as they didnt sell well at the time...little did I know
Cheers Andy.
And yeah, I remember that too. I had my eye on them in the local Woolco back in the day (a kind of Woolworths megastore). I saw them go down to about £50, but wouldn't have touched them back then, not even for £30. Think of all the blank tapes you could have bought to copy Spectrum games for that price!
If only we knew that everyone would want one 36 years later
andyman said:RygarR said:andyman said:Nice job...I think the last time I played on a Vectrex was 1985 in Woolworths...they sold them all off for £30 each eventually as they didnt sell well at the time...little did I know
Cheers Andy.
And yeah, I remember that too. I had my eye on them in the local Woolco back in the day (a kind of Woolworths megastore). I saw them go down to about £50, but wouldn't have touched them back then, not even for £30. Think of all the blank tapes you could have bought to copy Spectrum games for that price!
If only we knew that everyone would want one 36 years laterC64 here...we had 5 1/4" floppies...
Ah yes. One of those tardis scenarios. You could go back and buy a full pallet's worth. Better still, you could wait until they didn't sell and were being driven to the tip, and given the skip driver a tenner for them all. Mind you, if you knew where to look, you could probably still excavate a few!
RygarR2020-05-03 17:45:32
big10p said:
Get yourself some of this stuff...
Mix up a bigger portion than you think you need, wait 2-3 minutes until it starts to set, then apply liberally. Bung some more on top of the join too, if it's not going to be seen, and you don't mind the mess. Hold (or secure) in place for another 2-3 mins, then leave to cure for another 20 - ie. much longer than it suggests on the packet.
That's what I did, and my broken standoff is now rock solid!
Thanks for the tips. How did you make sure the standoff is positioned perfectly while the glue dries? I assume it has to line-up exactly with the screw hole in the back of the Vec casing.RygarR said:big10p said:
Get yourself some of this stuff...
Mix up a bigger portion than you think you need, wait 2-3 minutes until it starts to set, then apply liberally. Bung some more on top of the join too, if it's not going to be seen, and you don't mind the mess. Hold (or secure) in place for another 2-3 mins, then leave to cure for another 20 - ie. much longer than it suggests on the packet.
That's what I did, and my broken standoff is now rock solid!
Luckily, the way the standoff had sheered off, made lining it up pretty easy. It also left plenty of rough edges to key the glue into. I checked the fit before applying the glue, and did my best to hold it upright while it set. There's also a tiny bit of give in the case - even the unbroken standoffs have a little bit of movement. So you can get away with being off by a millimetre or so!
big10p said:Thanks for the tips. How did you make sure the standoff is positioned perfectly while the glue dries? I assume it has to line-up exactly with the screw hole in the back of the Vec casing.RygarR said:big10p said:
Get yourself some of this stuff...
Mix up a bigger portion than you think you need, wait 2-3 minutes until it starts to set, then apply liberally. Bung some more on top of the join too, if it's not going to be seen, and you don't mind the mess. Hold (or secure) in place for another 2-3 mins, then leave to cure for another 20 - ie. much longer than it suggests on the packet.
That's what I did, and my broken standoff is now rock solid!
My Vectrex has had a pedicure!
This:
Is now this!
Got me some small rubber feet off Bay. From what I can gather, the originals would have been about 3/4 inch diameter and about 1/4 - 5/16 inch deep, with straight sides.
The closest I could find online that you could buy in quantities of less than 20 and that wouldn't take 3 months to arrive were 18 mm diameter tapering to 15 mm, and 5 mm deep. It was just over £4 for a pack of 4. The footprint is a bit smaller, and the depth a bit shallower than the originals, but they'll do for now.
The screws were far too long. The cavity where they sit is only about 6 or 7 mm deep. So I had to cut them back with a dremmel. And even then, they were a bit loose :-(
Luckily, I had some plumbers tape (ptfe) lying about. So I cut about 10 cm, folded in it half long-ways and wrapped it round the thread of each screw. Seems to hold it as tight as it needs to...
Now that I'm on a firmer footing, I can sink some time into my new arrival...
Kristof's games are the dog's proverbials. They put 90% of the original Vectrex software to shame. Highly recommended!
RygarR2020-05-16 14:50:16
This:
Is now this!
Got me some small rubber feet off Bay. From what I can gather, the originals would have been about 3/4 inch diameter and about 1/4 - 5/16 inch deep, with straight sides.
The closest I could find online that you could buy in quantities of less than 20 and that wouldn't take 3 months to arrive were 18 mm diameter tapering to 15 mm, and 5 mm deep. It was just over £4 for a pack of 4. The footprint is a bit smaller, and the depth a bit shallower than the originals, but they'll do for now.
The screws were far too long. The cavity where they sit is only about 6 or 7 mm deep. So I had to cut them back with a dremmel. And even then, they were a bit loose :-(
Luckily, I had some plumbers tape (ptfe) lying about. So I cut about 10 cm, folded in it half long-ways and wrapped it round the thread of each screw. Seems to hold it as tight as it needs to...
Now that I'm on a firmer footing, I can sink some time into my new arrival...
Kristof's games are the dog's proverbials. They put 90% of the original Vectrex software to shame. Highly recommended!
RygarR2020-05-16 14:50:16
Had some larch offcuts left-over from a deck I put in. While burning them in the fire pit, it ocurred to me that I could do something better with the few bits I had left.
Sadly, I don't have a workbench, or a vice, but skirting along the edge of Health and Safety, I was able to cut out these...
Following the liberal application of wood glue and deck screws, it looked more like this...
By accident, the grain ended up looking quite nice!
Gave it a quick rub with some 'wood balsam', and *SHAZAM*
Sadly, I don't have a workbench, or a vice, but skirting along the edge of Health and Safety, I was able to cut out these...
Following the liberal application of wood glue and deck screws, it looked more like this...
By accident, the grain ended up looking quite nice!
Gave it a quick rub with some 'wood balsam', and *SHAZAM*
