Finishing the video with a beautiful rendition of Michael Jackson's Them in the mirror was brilliant 😂. Loving your work pal, a great dry sense of humour too 👌🏻. Damn that bloody Sam Smith and his Fisherthem nonsense.
Yeah you should have a motor brush it remove stain or corrosion off the plate faster pace rather than have pick or whatever scraps off the stain . Thanks for sharing and enjoy show.
Amazing work! I was properly ashamed of how dirty it was inside but so pleased you got it working. It brought back loads of memories. Enjoy playing it.
Don't be ashamed David! Life happens and things sometimes fall by the wayside, especially after 40 years! Luckily it's nothing that a little TLC can't fix. Plus, if it hadn't been in such condition then we wouldn't have been blessed with this wonderful content. Thank you for sending it in. Brought back some great memories
just a tip: when dealing with an old device like this, first remove all the solder before doing the reflow, use a rust remover, clean it well and then solder again, the old solder had a different composition that in contact with the new solder causes "infinite melting" ", it happens a lot in Ataris, mainly in the ones that were manufactured around here otherwise, great job as always, hello from brazil
Good point ... I’ve had this a few times and assumed that it was some side effect of the old flow-soldering process but a different composition makes more sense. Steve - maybe an opportunity for a mini-revisit on this one??
About every solder will work as long as it's leaded solder which should always be used on old devices. The infinite melting can happen if you mix leaded and unleaded solder together which you never should do. That kind of mixing can even lower the melting point so much that the joint becomes "self-melting" when you use the device as every device tends to produce at least a little bit heat.
Yup - best thing is to remove the solder completely, then use a fiberglass flux pen to clean the joint (the pad AND the pin) then resolver as normal. Corrosion, difference in solder composition and contamination/dirt all cause the solder to simply not flow properly. Get the same with audio gear.
As someone who's had a life long issue of finding leaking batteries in old toys watching you rebuild the battery terminals was so therapeutic! Love the videos mate.
Pin were definitely super oxidized and you weren't making contact with the metal. You should have tried to deoxidize it or sand the pins clean. Thanks again for your videos. Always so enjoyable!
the solderings a bit embarassing really best course would have been to wick away all the old solder clean and flux the pins and resolder. Also less solder would be good they should like like mount peaks not hills.
This was the first game I actually 'completed'. I played for so long that the score couldn't go any higher and the game stopped! Great memories seeing this again as haven't seen since the 80s. Great fix once again. Cheers 😃
I need to get my butt away from my switch and start fixing some stuff i have been ignoring for some years now. Thank you Steve for inspiring me to get back into fixing stuff again.
Honestly it looks like the best thing would have been to completely remove all the solder and the screen, clean up the area really well, and then reinstall it with new solder.
Can't believe you got that switch back together. Battery terminals could use some new plating to prevent future corrosion but at least it works now. Good job
I love how crazy the trace paths look on this thing. Nothing today looks as crazy as that. Maybe because it's a single layer board? Either way really cool
Always amazes me that you're not only fixing a thing and editing video of it, you're also writing and recording a song/rap that incorporates your Patreon users.. which is not an easy thing to do! Love your channel Steve.
Brilliant stuff! Whenever you see the solder fall away into infinity it's best to desolder completely and clean the pins with a small bit of sandpaper or a small wire brush. Should take the new solder after that!
Perhaps using an acid type flux, cleaning with deoxit, or brushing the pins/bad joints vigorously with something like vinegar would have removed some of that crud that was giving you such a hard time on those first few pins.
Close to the batteries on older stuff are often in need of a good cleaning, more flux and higher temperatures. Model hobby shops have nice metal strips, tubes, and angle bar that work well for making new contacts and bus bars.
Just Started watching your Channel last few weeks ago. I was into electronics years ago, Its fun watching you troubleshoot and repair Great Work!!!!!! thank you
With dry Joints you need to remove the old solder scrub the pins to take the corrosion off clean then re solder, the reason the solder wasn't sticking was because you didn't clean the corrosion on the pins, it might work now but those joints looked really bad and those dry Joints will return quite quickly, if you sell that onwards I would sort it properly first.
i think those display pins might have corroded _inside_ the joint (there was green crystal gunk on them after all), and then the oxide layer refuses fresh solder.
When I was a wee boy I was utterly OBSESSED with these awesome games - first one I had was the Firefox one you fixed a while back, but my absolute favourite was Astro Wars. I had Scramble, Caveman, Donkey Kong G&W, PacMan G&W and MunchMan... umm, Oh and a 2 player Galaxians which was pretty cool. Great times. Never had Frogger, sadly. But you have given the gift of frog back to a viewer which is awesome :D Looking forward to the next one.
Me too! I got to play a bunch of them via friends owning them. The only one I owned was one called Earth Invaders and in hindsight I don't know how I even played that, given the layout of the controls. My claim to fame from that era is that I once won an Astro Wars tournament at a local fête and was presented with a £3 postal order as my prize, lol.
Yeah, had quite a few of these myself, not least of which were Astro Wars, Tron, and Defender (which of course had me pointing like a Leo DiCaprio meme at Groot in 'Avengers: Infinity War').
Oh Gakken. Reminds me of those experimentation kits where you could build sound generators, blinking lights, and much more just by placing blocks with resistors, capacitors and transistors. Lego with electronic.
Really enjoyed that. You should get yourself a little ultrasonic cleaner as it will help with those switches and battery terminals. Just use a jar of alcohol in the water bath of the cleaner. What I do with some watch parts.
14:00 - no, it's because 40 yrs before solder had an lead ingredient, while nowadays does not, so they just won't get along with each other like a good old married couple ;-)
Tip: spring steel and other steel (and some other metals iirc) usually have a surface that almost refuses solder adhering to it (sometimes it's because oxidation, sometimes surface roughness, sometimes chemical properties), scratching the different pieces before soldering makes sure there's a rough surface with no oxidation for the solder to adhere to, it works wonders
Vinegar works a treat on battery leakage! Also removes most of the corrosion without eating into the plating. I saved a Texas Instruments TI92+ calculator with that a while ago. Also tried it on a Dymo label printer with the absolute worst battery leakage I've ever seen - the battery compartment looked like it was filled with icing. Surprisingly, hardly any visible corrosion though. The vinegar made the stuff fizzle and dissolve but either I didn't clean well enough or there's something else broken, no signs of life after at least half an hour of applying vinegar and scrubbing. The bloody thing is impossible to take apart, the two halves of the shell seem to be connected by a whole bundle of wires soldered on both ends.
100 percent the oxidisation on the screens pins was the issue..id suggest removing the screen altogether.. get a rubber with a coarse and fine end..clean with ipa then use the rubber to clean each pin on the removed screen..is then clean it with deoxit then tin the legs before the oxidation returns..(mins) same with the battery holding clamps..if u get them clean enough they will take a layer of solder tinning and stay oxide free..your skills for self taught are very good..i used to build satellite circuit boards at mil spec standard..and clean the tip of that iron every time.. shock the oxides off and the solder will flow so much better..tin the iron every time helps keep it oxide free as well..keep up the good work
Thoroughly enjoyed this. Nice! As you have been cleaning corrosion using bare fingers....please clean under your nails properly, Scrub them hard. You don't want that crap on you or in you
You should invest in some good contact cleaner and a wire wheel for your grinder pen. It will make these jobs go much more smooth! The battery acid likely corroded the pins on the VFD, causing the solder issues. Had the same thing happen with leaky caps too.
Great Work gut Nest time, when repairing corroded solder joints, clean them up with vinegar and IPA first....Fresh solder does not stick on corroded joints...
My best game ever as a kid - FROGGER!! Until the Jack broke 😢😭 Thanks to Dave for allowing Steve to br mend his video game. The best video yet for me as it holds lots of memories, all that was missing was a Corona cherryade & a Marathon bar 🥰 I want a FROGGER 😢
My first VFD tabletop! I used to play it to death. It was rather easy. I have fond memories of these games. My cousin had the dual players pacman game ... What an era.
Love your work, Steve, another nice job 👏 dig the retro games you get to work on and seeing some classics again.. hope you get more of these types of games sent to you.. Good music selection too. Kinda makes me want to go back and re watch season 2 of stranger things.. all up in that 80s vibe with the classic games and the synth tunes,,
![[TH] 2024 PMGC League | Survival Stage วันที่ 1 | PUBG MOBILE Global Championship](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FVFT-PFwU80/mqdefault.jpg)
Stupid Frogger Thing
Nice👍🏻🇨🇦🍻
convert to a rechargeble usb batery.. the zinc is gone from the metal.. it will always corrode no matter what you do.....
Finishing the video with a beautiful rendition of Michael Jackson's Them in the mirror was brilliant 😂.
Loving your work pal, a great dry sense of humour too 👌🏻.
Damn that bloody Sam Smith and his Fisherthem nonsense.
Would be interesting see if cheap "hot tweezers" are reasonable thing to buy if fix smd pcbs
Yeah you should have a motor brush it remove stain or corrosion off the plate faster pace rather than have pick or whatever scraps off the stain . Thanks for sharing and enjoy show.
Amazing work! I was properly ashamed of how dirty it was inside but so pleased you got it working. It brought back loads of memories. Enjoy playing it.
My goodness how could you treat something like that! I’d love to see how your house looks if Frogger looked like that!
Don't be ashamed David! Life happens and things sometimes fall by the wayside, especially after 40 years! Luckily it's nothing that a little TLC can't fix.
Plus, if it hadn't been in such condition then we wouldn't have been blessed with this wonderful content. Thank you for sending it in. Brought back some great memories
Remember it probably had foam or plastic inside the case that would have been turned to powder. No shame you kept it in the game.
@@astra6712 you’re a bit of a rude knob head
@@delboy1362 I’d bet your house looks like trash too.
Why turn off comments on your childish video games?
just a tip:
when dealing with an old device like this, first remove all the solder before doing the reflow, use a rust remover, clean it well and then solder again, the old solder had a different composition that in contact with the new solder causes "infinite melting" ", it happens a lot in Ataris, mainly in the ones that were manufactured around here
otherwise, great job as always, hello from brazil
Good point ... I’ve had this a few times and assumed that it was some side effect of the old flow-soldering process but a different composition makes more sense.
Steve - maybe an opportunity for a mini-revisit on this one??
Or just use 40 year old solder 😝👍
About every solder will work as long as it's leaded solder which should always be used on old devices. The infinite melting can happen if you mix leaded and unleaded solder together which you never should do. That kind of mixing can even lower the melting point so much that the joint becomes "self-melting" when you use the device as every device tends to produce at least a little bit heat.
Yup - best thing is to remove the solder completely, then use a fiberglass flux pen to clean the joint (the pad AND the pin) then resolver as normal. Corrosion, difference in solder composition and contamination/dirt all cause the solder to simply not flow properly. Get the same with audio gear.
but, ive seen him do it proper in older videos, he has solder wick, he knows how to use it.
never seen him clean his tip....
As someone who's had a life long issue of finding leaking batteries in old toys watching you rebuild the battery terminals was so therapeutic! Love the videos mate.
Steve! We need our... errr... StezStix Fix! Can't wait for your next video! Hope you are well!
Pin were definitely super oxidized and you weren't making contact with the metal. You should have tried to deoxidize it or sand the pins clean. Thanks again for your videos. Always so enjoyable!
the solderings a bit embarassing really best course would have been to wick away all the old solder clean and flux the pins and resolder. Also less solder would be good they should like like mount peaks not hills.
This was the first game I actually 'completed'. I played for so long that the score couldn't go any higher and the game stopped! Great memories seeing this again as haven't seen since the 80s. Great fix once again. Cheers 😃
excellent video! only thing i'd advise on these it to re-nickel plate the battery contacts.
I'm very impressed with the switch fix - those things are horrifically fiddly!
😁 they definitely are! Thanks AFU!
Non-deterministic switches determine how frustrating my day is.
I need to get my butt away from my switch and start fixing some stuff i have been ignoring for some years now.
Thank you Steve for inspiring me to get back into fixing stuff again.
Great video Steve. I bought a job lot of 5 of these some time ago, I've yet to do a repair video on them.
might be worth looking into a little wire brush for a dremel to clean up terminals like that. makes it much easier to get them shiny again.
i think its easier to clean it with vinegar, just put a glass full of vinegar and it will take care of the rust
Honestly it looks like the best thing would have been to completely remove all the solder and the screen, clean up the area really well, and then reinstall it with new solder.
Went into a hardware store asking about soldering supplies and the guy recommended this channel. I am glad he did! Awesome.
Steve what the hell is going on! I need my dose of funny electronics repair! What are you doing?! Get on with it! Love you ❤
Can't believe you got that switch back together. Battery terminals could use some new plating to prevent future corrosion but at least it works now. Good job
Yeah I was going to say the same thing. Steve you should get a little nickel plating setup going. It won't take up much space either.
I love how crazy the trace paths look on this thing. Nothing today looks as crazy as that. Maybe because it's a single layer board? Either way really cool
This was a fun watch. A little sandpaper or Dremel wire wheel will make easy work of rust rust.
Always amazes me that you're not only fixing a thing and editing video of it, you're also writing and recording a song/rap that incorporates your Patreon users.. which is not an easy thing to do! Love your channel Steve.
Underrated channel for sure
not to mention the awesome retro music to boot!!
Yeah, this is high effort stuff. Respect.
@@stevenphilcock4178 the retro music is unquestionably my favorite aesthetic.
Cheers Steve! Always a pleasure.
What you need is a bench grinder with a wire wheel. It's not expensive and would work like a charm on those corroded battery contacts.
What a great hopping video !!! Excellent job on the battery terminals
😁 thanks Ron!
Brilliant stuff! Whenever you see the solder fall away into infinity it's best to desolder completely and clean the pins with a small bit of sandpaper or a small wire brush. Should take the new solder after that!
Great video! Man, watching you grind and wash away the corrosion was soo satisfying. Loved the unexpected ASMR also. 😃
Perhaps using an acid type flux, cleaning with deoxit, or brushing the pins/bad joints vigorously with something like vinegar would have removed some of that crud that was giving you such a hard time on those first few pins.
All ok Steve no videos for 2 weeks hope nothing is wrong..
I know it's tragic, but I have some fav steve vids I revisit and this is in the top 10. Love it.
I’ve made new battery contacts out of hammered flat copper pipe and springs before reminds me of that. Good job there 👍
I discovered this Channel literally yesterday and it's already my favourite Channel.
Close to the batteries on older stuff are often in need of a good cleaning, more flux and higher temperatures. Model hobby shops have nice metal strips, tubes, and angle bar that work well for making new contacts and bus bars.
My brother had this as kids. I loved it! Frogger is such a great game.
You should try nickle plating for battery terminals
Just when my life was getting bleak. You posted and saved the day!
Been waiting on a new video, hope all is well
Just Started watching your Channel last few weeks ago. I was into electronics years ago, Its fun watching you troubleshoot and repair Great Work!!!!!! thank you
With dry Joints you need to remove the old solder scrub the pins to take the corrosion off clean then re solder, the reason the solder wasn't sticking was because you didn't clean the corrosion on the pins, it might work now but those joints looked really bad and those dry Joints will return quite quickly, if you sell that onwards I would sort it properly first.
i think those display pins might have corroded _inside_ the joint (there was green crystal gunk on them after all), and then the oxide layer refuses fresh solder.
When I was a wee boy I was utterly OBSESSED with these awesome games - first one I had was the Firefox one you fixed a while back, but my absolute favourite was Astro Wars. I had Scramble, Caveman, Donkey Kong G&W, PacMan G&W and MunchMan... umm, Oh and a 2 player Galaxians which was pretty cool. Great times. Never had Frogger, sadly. But you have given the gift of frog back to a viewer which is awesome :D Looking forward to the next one.
Yeah, I love these things too! Definitely going to keep my eye out for more of them!
I had Cobra Supercopter. Endless fun.
Me too! I got to play a bunch of them via friends owning them. The only one I owned was one called Earth Invaders and in hindsight I don't know how I even played that, given the layout of the controls. My claim to fame from that era is that I once won an Astro Wars tournament at a local fête and was presented with a £3 postal order as my prize, lol.
Yeah, had quite a few of these myself, not least of which were Astro Wars, Tron, and Defender (which of course had me pointing like a Leo DiCaprio meme at Groot in 'Avengers: Infinity War').
Epic music this time round mate, mind sharing who it is?
Looks like you turned this frog into a fantastic Prince with your fixing kiss!! Go on Steve!!!🐸🐸🐸
🤣 thanks Greg!
fixima jaggery without the attitude and the video isn't a commercial under the usual youtube ads, love it 😁👌
I don't know what to say.
NICE WORK. this is more than perfect
Love watching these old video game resurrections, excellent work as always
Nice one. Probably worth getting a spray can of contact cleaner for pots and switches. Works much better than dribbling in IPA.
Well done. Done a similar thing today with a auto bin lid thingy. And "them in the mirror" was tremendous 🤣👍
The synth tracks remind me of every film from the 80s. Great work.
the scraping of the grime away with the grinder pin was so satisfying haha
superb work steve i expect some of the leaked battery acid made those joints a pan to solder .
Enjoy it good job bring it back to life
Oh Gakken. Reminds me of those experimentation kits where you could build sound generators, blinking lights, and much more just by placing blocks with resistors, capacitors and transistors. Lego with electronic.
It's alive.
With terminals maybe worth dipping in a solution overnight? I'm sure there are rust removal solutions out there.
Loved the video 😊
omg that moment the sound came on, instantly hit me like a brick and teleported me back... That was wild.
Gotta love those old school one layer low resolution PCB's where you can clearly see all traces!
Brilliant fix Steve nice workaround with the springs too 😊
Quite a challenge there. I am very surprised the traces are in such good condition. Great work!!!
Brilliant video.. just a heads up that yellow color off the switch could be the grease off the rail.. you need to put very little grease on them.
I love how excited you get when you fix something 😊 I do the same thing!
Great fix! Shame the joy stick is missing its top, but the system looks great otherwise! Loved that close up of all the frogs
The joystick is not missing it's top, that's correct as it is. The only thing that is missing is the sticker off the hood.
@@adamdavies163 Oh! You are right! The joystick looked odd on the top down view, but looking at it on google images makes it make sense
I really wish i still had my old Frogger, that start up sound brings back good memories :)
Nice repair it works
Really enjoyed that. You should get yourself a little ultrasonic cleaner as it will help with those switches and battery terminals. Just use a jar of alcohol in the water bath of the cleaner.
What I do with some watch parts.
14:00 - no, it's because 40 yrs before solder had an lead ingredient, while nowadays does not, so they just won't get along with each other like a good old married couple ;-)
Tip: spring steel and other steel (and some other metals iirc) usually have a surface that almost refuses solder adhering to it (sometimes it's because oxidation, sometimes surface roughness, sometimes chemical properties), scratching the different pieces before soldering makes sure there's a rough surface with no oxidation for the solder to adhere to, it works wonders
to see you save some of my childhood was great top work my friend
Just fun to watch you do your thing. You seem to be a genuine nice guy and the editing ads even more to it. Thanks for posting 👍😊
great fix, took the solder issues etc.. in your stride. well done bud
This was a nice repair. I was hoping though that you installed the 6V DC connector. Batteries often ends up being forgotten in the game console.
Vinegar works a treat on battery leakage! Also removes most of the corrosion without eating into the plating. I saved a Texas Instruments TI92+ calculator with that a while ago. Also tried it on a Dymo label printer with the absolute worst battery leakage I've ever seen - the battery compartment looked like it was filled with icing. Surprisingly, hardly any visible corrosion though. The vinegar made the stuff fizzle and dissolve but either I didn't clean well enough or there's something else broken, no signs of life after at least half an hour of applying vinegar and scrubbing. The bloody thing is impossible to take apart, the two halves of the shell seem to be connected by a whole bundle of wires soldered on both ends.
Extra install of the missing jack would be awesome, but anyway again nice episode Mister!
100 percent the oxidisation on the screens pins was the issue..id suggest removing the screen altogether.. get a rubber with a coarse and fine end..clean with ipa then use the rubber to clean each pin on the removed screen..is then clean it with deoxit then tin the legs before the oxidation returns..(mins) same with the battery holding clamps..if u get them clean enough they will take a layer of solder tinning and stay oxide free..your skills for self taught are very good..i used to build satellite circuit boards at mil spec standard..and clean the tip of that iron every time.. shock the oxides off and the solder will flow so much better..tin the iron every time helps keep it oxide free as well..keep up the good work
I would look into electrolysis for the rust removal, it's really cool and I think you've already got all the tools for it!
Now that is some serious nostalgic game changing tech from the past love it
I had this! Frogger is/was *NOT* a stupid game! 🐸 Should've added back a DC power socket to replace the missing one.
Great fix Steve!
Thanks Chris! 👍
Great job, good determination - well done!
Solid reconstruction work, Steve. Well done.
I do like that grinding pen, Have one myself its very helpful
Thoroughly enjoyed this.
Nice!
As you have been cleaning corrosion using bare fingers....please clean under your nails properly, Scrub them hard. You don't want that crap on you or in you
Lead free solder on the contacts would give some corrosion protection. Good save.
I'm sure you know this by now, but if you scrape the pins with a scalpel/razor they should take solder easier.
I would strongly recommend to plate the battery terminals with soldertin. Exposed copper to air will oxidize.
ASMR Frogger, wasn't expecting that. Good idea with the springs!
Amazing save. I thought that thing was shot. Great job as usual!
love the video, ive just got my led pinball working after many years storage. well done on channel
Great work and video Steve. I played Frogger on my Atari 2600.
Superb work. I bet fixing that has made you feel much hoppier
You should invest in some good contact cleaner and a wire wheel for your grinder pen. It will make these jobs go much more smooth!
The battery acid likely corroded the pins on the VFD, causing the solder issues. Had the same thing happen with leaky caps too.
I've got one of those!! Love tabletop LCDs, love the channel.
Stez, how about a zinc coat to those terminals, should be easy with small projects like those terminals. Keep on restoring.
Great Work gut Nest time, when repairing corroded solder joints, clean them up with vinegar and IPA first....Fresh solder does not stick on corroded joints...
I remember back a year ago this channel only have 2 holy hand grenade shout out... now is always full. Been trying to get it.
Interesting ball bearing detent system in that switch.
My best game ever as a kid - FROGGER!! Until the Jack broke 😢😭
Thanks to Dave for allowing Steve to br mend his video game.
The best video yet for me as it holds lots of memories, all that was missing was a Corona cherryade & a Marathon bar 🥰
I want a FROGGER 😢
My first VFD tabletop!
I used to play it to death. It was rather easy.
I have fond memories of these games.
My cousin had the dual players pacman game ... What an era.
Remember kids - take your cells out when you put things away for a while.
Nice work!
Grinding out the rust was a great idea . But they do need to be nickel plated again to make them last and prevent rust.
i had that exact game looong time ago. funny to see it on the inside
2 weeks without Steve 😭
Love those tabletop games Steve you’re amazingly solid 😛
Love your work, Steve, another nice job 👏 dig the retro games you get to work on and seeing some classics again.. hope you get more of these types of games sent to you..
Good music selection too. Kinda makes me want to go back and re watch season 2 of stranger things.. all up in that 80s vibe with the classic games and the synth tunes,,
It surely ain't easy being green... very lovable video, though! ❤