Vintage Console Toolkits

Hey i know there's a maintenance thread, but I wanted to have a general use and care topic here for everyone.

Basic Tools to Keep for Console/Cartridge Maintenance!

We've all done the NES repair kit and/or the alcohol and Q-Tip methods. I am a mechanic by trade and I like to keep seperate Toolkits for seperate projects (one of cars, one for my drumset, one for painting/art, etc etc) and recently made a toolkit just for the game collection. so this is a list of things that you may want to keep together as an easy to reach set for when you're cleaning the collection or simply rebuilding a sticky controller.

Compressed Air

We are all familiar with these buggers. I often have moral issues with buying air (I always think of SpaceBalls) but here is why: your breath is mixed with your saliva in miniscule amounts. Your saliva has a pH UNDER 7, which makse it a pretty decent acid. blowing onto things spreads your Alien acid all over your project, and can ruin metal components over time. so STOP blowing on your NES carts! not to mention I've got a decent case of asthma and i smoked for ten years, so these things can blow way hardedr than i can.

Screwdrivers

These should go without saying. You won't need the bigger boys but a decent medium sized and small sized philips (cross) and standard (flat) will do plenty for you. also, I've yet to see a video game component that uses the standard type, but they can be quite useful for prying things apart, should the need arise. it would behoove you to get the kind with the single handle and replaceable tips, as youll need them for the next part of our kit

Specialty Tips

The video game industry are a paranoid lot. they do NOT want you to open their products and fool around with anything. Which I'd have no problem with, but you try calling Sega about an issue you've got with a Master System and see how much they help. so let's stick with the important ones. you'll need a T15 bit for the XBox, but those are very common and most decent hardware stores will carry them. for Nintendo and Sega cartridges, you'll need the GameBit which is a bit mroe rare. you'll need two sizes, 3.8mm and 4.5mm, and you can usually find these on eBay for around $4-$7US. I've heard that if you take an old bic ****pen, heat the end till its melty then jam it onto the screw, it'll mold to it making a nice cheap tool, but i like to have the proper tool for the job. the gamebits look like this:

Dental Picks

I use these for quick cleaning around the seam on controllers (you'd never believe the gunk that builds up in there) and for cleaning tough to reach places inside your hardware. try to stay away from the REALLY sharp ones, as you may leave gouges in the plastic. most pharmacies/chemists will carry a good selection of these, try to find the flatter ones. i've got a really nice one with build in flashlights and comfort grips, but i'm an idiot.

Rubbing Alcohol

Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol is one of the best things you can use in cleaning your game systems. those fancy cleaning kits just use a 50/50 mix of water and alcohol anyways, so why not just skip the middle man. I've heard of people using water and paper towels as their cleaning medium and oh my god please don't do that. water+metal=rust even if it isn't your Honda's side panel.

Lint Free Cloth

These kinda popped up about 15 years ago and have become insanely invaluable to everyone who wears glasses. Use em! they're cheap and common. but when they get dirty, don't wash em. they lose their lint free-ness. jsut toss em and start with a fresh one. I find i prefer the slightly thicker ones that get packages with sunglasses, they seem to clean things better.

Rag

Not so much for the console itself, but i often clean while i'm sitting on the couch watching tv, and i drape a rag or towel across my lap so i don't get 30 year old dried cola globs onto my pants or worse, the couch.

Contact Cleaner

this is for when you have a cartridge that looks like someone spread peanut butter across a carpet with it. don't buy some insane heavy duty radiator type stuff, get the stuff they sell at RadioShack.

Electronics Cleaner

at my local used game shop, they use this stuff religiously and clean every cartridge with it before it leaves the shop. i'm not sure if it's super safe to use on delicate things like the contacts, but with the brush attachment, it makes cleaning your whole collection a breeze. just make SURE you wait about 30 minutes after using it before you plug the game in. it's flammable. Boom.

Toothbrush

Don't go out and buy the latest greatest gum massaging toothbrush, get a simple box headed one. better yet, don't buy a new one at all, use one you've worn out, scrub the excess dried up toothpaste off of it, and use that one, the worn down bristles will be easier on your delicate parts.

Q-Tips

awesome picture of a qtip. yes, i know that as they wear down, they start leaving cottony trails, so buy em in bulk and use fresh ones like mad. these are still the best thing for cleaning surfaces and interiors.

Hairspray

wtf? hairspray? well, you have to look good while you're doing this dorky stuff. BUT there's a better reason. I know you wanna have a perfect collection, stuff you purchased from a store in Tokyo brand new when it came out, but it's just not that way is it. you probably have a few choice NES titles with "Brandon" or "James" written in sharpie on it. and you've tried alcohol, goo gone, everything short of filing the bugger off. spray some hairspray onto a cottonball, give her a good rub, and itll peel that sucker off like a sticker.

Box

a word of warning... if you actually get a red metal toolbox for this stuff, you will be a huge dork. but man, how cool would it be? a box of some sort, beit a rubbermaid container or a craftsman multi drawer job, will provide you with convenience and ease, knowing where you're whole cleaning kit is. try to avoid ones that seal shut very well, because you'll have a few different kinds of chemicals mixed in, don't want fumes building up.

That's about it for me, if anyone would like to add a few ideas, please feel free. pick and choose from this list to get started on taking good care of your collection, so that you can still plug your atari 2600 into a futuristic television set in 40 years, and show your grandkids what gaming started out as, so that they will know, just as you do, that video gaming didn't suddenly jump out at us, that it was a progression that we can trace and still enjoy.

Wow, that's a lot of stuff :shock: I'll have to make sure to remember that hairspray tip, those names of 8 year olds on an otherwise pristine SNES cart are really annoying.

Anyway, the only thing I have to add to that is that if you want to peel off a sticker on a game box without leaving residue, use a hairdryer set to max. The heat causes the sticky stuff to liquify resulting in the sticker coming right off without any residue left behind. Of course since this method involves a good bit of heat (even if it is just for 10-20 seconds) its best to avoid using it on DVD cases since it can warp the plastic, as well as anything else that could get damaged from heat exposure. Still, its great with boxes since you don't have to worry about the sticker taking some of the box with it when you peel it off.

Woo... funky rotating q-tip... :D

Nice guide. People look at me strangely when they see my random shelf o' cleaning goodies... pretty much everything you've listed. But those people are also the same people that come running to me for a hex/star/sonic screwdriver or ask me to fix their XBox when they've spilt coke on it... *rolls eyes*

yeah but you know what? deep down you love it.

when i spill coke/beer on a controller, i generally let it dry, then tear it down, clean it, and reassemble it like it was a rifle or a pistol. I can just about do an SNES with my eyes shut.

[QUOTE="aspro73"]That's a great idae to use dental tools for cleaning up grime etc... The scary thing is I know a stand at the swap meet that sells all kinds of dental and medical tools (creepy), but I'll be sure to pick some up now.gakon5

There is something a touch odd about that. I mean, surely anyone who needed said tools for professional reasons would get them through some sort of highly respectable bulk mail-order type thingy rather than trundling down to the local swap meet? :?

"Yes, I would like two scalpels, a funny curvy dental pick and one of those saws they use to open up cadaver chest cavities... it's to open up my NES to cleanse the evil dustball spirits from within. No really."

well, my mother was a nurse, so growing up i used swap meet scalpels instead of x-acto knives when making toy models, and dental picks were perfect for any scraping/digging that needed to be done on parts, etc.

although it still has kinda a strange feeling of "Saw"

Thank you for the information. I have one of the tool kits from eBay. My cousin whom repairs TVs and radios had me get him one as well.

Now, how do you get a lose controller connection on a dreamcast to sit still?

I'ma have to try that hairspray trick. I have a lot of 2600 games with writing on the back.gakon5

Right now, in my peripheral vision, is a copy of centipede for the 2600 that says "bEttY" on it with red marker. (I'm unpacking). I bet Betty grew up to be totally hot, even if she would be slightly older than me. I mean, how could she not be cool, laying down some of that 2600 arcade emu action, way back in '78.

You guys get all the cool markered-on names: "Django", "Betty", "Theresa". I only get stuff like "BBV 1328". gmsnpr

yknow ive noticed that as well. seems to work really well on, say, N64 carts, but like NES carts it requires a LOT more rubbing. itll still work, but its more elbow grease than newer stuff.

and anyone who writes on the DVD PS2/XBOX cases is just nuts.

I wish I knew hairspray would work.

I got a Double Dragon III NES cartridge that had "Bobba" writted on the back with a black permanent marker.
I spent at least fifteen minutes rubbing it off with a "Mr. Clean Magic Eraser" :P

You can't see it anymore though :)

I wish I knew hairspray would work.

I got a Double Dragon III NES cartridge that had "Bobba" writted on the back with a black permanent marker.
I spent at least fifteen minutes rubbing it off with a "Mr. Clean Magic Eraser" :P

You can't see it anymore though :)

Fragasnap

and now you know and knowing is half the battle...

Another little add-on idea, I began using a fishing tackle box to store RF/Coax/Audio adaptors, cords, etc etc.

Wow! Excellent post sanctuary! Thank you for all the wonderful tips. ^_^

You guys get all the cool markered-on names: "Django", "Betty", "Theresa". I only get stuff like "BBV 1328". gmsnpr

BBV 1328? Isn't that LUH 3417's brother?

You guys get all the cool markered-on names: "Django", "Betty", "Theresa". I only get stuff like "BBV 1328". gmsnpr

I get the game names written on mine, because obviously people cannot read the label at the front so they see the need to put it in black marker at the front. I got to try that hairspray tip. ^_^

Does anyone know how to clean a mucky SNES, as it has gone a horrible colour due to it being from a smokers home.

Does anyone know how to clean a mucky SNES, as it has gone a horrible colour due to it being from a smokers home.hesel

Your SNES discoloration might not be due to second-hand smoke. It may likely be the result of oxidation of the plastic.

Read all about it here.

An interesting read, but if you want to cut to the chase, here are some quotes from the article:

In the case of the SNES plastic, however, the trigger of the oxidation process is clearly not UV light, but simple and unavoidable exposure oxygen in the air over time, with heat possibly accelerating the process. Once the process is triggered, its effects cascade in a recursive cycle - as in the UV example above - eventually changing the physical nature of the plastic and its color.Benj Edwards

Now that you've heard all about plastic discoloration and its causes, you're probably wondering what you can do to prevent or fix it. Unfortunately, the best answer is, "not much." Benj Edwards

My condolences.

[Edit: Oh, and here's a link to the CCU homepage post by CodingGenius about this article way back on January of '07.]

Edit 2: If the trouble with your SNES is smoke stains after all, here is a tip from gmsnpr ...

Cigarette smoke residue hasn't been a big issue for me to remove from the exterior of consoles and cartridges. Usually some isopropyl alcohol takes it away sufficiently. My biggest cigarette smoke problem is with the circuit boards and paper (cartridge labels, instruction books, case inserts). Once they spend time in a smoky environment, they smell for years and are stained permanently.
gmsnpr

Another little add-on idea, I began using a fishing tackle box to store RF/Coax/Audio adaptors, cords, etc etc.

sanctuary13

I've found such boxes to be useful for many many non-fishing related items.