Problems with paddles

>
>>be controling occilated obnoxiously.  This makes Kaboom! and Super
>>Breakout impossible to play.  This, also, makes me look like I'm 
>>twitching violently while playing Warlords.  
>
>>At first I thought it was my controlers.  Now, I'm not quite sure.
>
>Cut down on the number of beers you drink before playing Warlords.
>
>Seriously, paddles have a tendency to go flaky.  Open 'em up, and give 
>'em a quick shot of WD-40 into the potentiometer in the gap right behind 
>the terminals.  Spin the knob back and forth a few times to distribute 
>the stuff and try it again.  Should be smooth as glass.

This is simple and probably effective, but if you're really paranoid
about dirt and perfect performance, do what I do:

Open up the paddle; remove the potentiometer (undo the nut).
Wash the whole thing in a sink of soap & hot water, agitating vigorously.
Rinse it all under high pressure in the shower.  
Disassemble the _potentiometer_: bend up the 4 or 6 metal tabs.
Note: you can only do this operation once or twice before they break...
Wipe out all the disgusting oily greasy dirt.
Spray out with electronics contact cleaner.
Steel-wool the contacts (is steel-wool a verb?).  Bend them out a little.
Re-assemble pot., being careful to line up rotation stops; bend tabs back.
Tiny squirt of WD-40 at pot/knob slip ring.
Re-assemble paddle knob & case.
Works beautifully.  
Takes >1 hour to do a couple... so maybe just WD-40 IS better :)


  | Seriously, paddles have a tendency to go flaky.  Open 'em up, and
  | give 'em a quick shot of WD-40 into the potentiometer in the gap
  | right behind the terminals.  Spin the knob back and forth a few
  | times to distribute the stuff and try it again.  Should be smooth as
  | glass.

Not an absolute but happens.  I have two working pairs of paddles (and a
pair without a plug, let's call them "spare pots & plastic parts"):

First one:  tested them with Breakout and they both had a jitter & were
hard to turn.  I opened up the pots, found that the previous owner had
done EXACTLY WHAT YOU (and the FAQ) SUGGEST, and age-old grease -- may
or may not have been WD-40 cuz it looked like 1040W! -- was built up on
the contacts, brushes, etc.  Pulled out the Q-tips and isopropyl
alcohol, got rid of as much of the black oil as possible off the brushes
and the rails they ride and the caked stuff under these all, and now
they work "smooth as glass" indeed -- and they turn better.  Go figger.

Second one:  They turned alright but the left paddle (the one always
used by the solo player) had a serious jitter.  Cleaned the pot as
described, and the only lubrication in it was factory-done.  Still some
jitter, though much less, so I adjusted the brushes for better contact.
Not totally fixed but the next step was to have a friend with a
soldering iron swap the pots so I (alone) wouldn't have to deal with it!
(And now I have two spares, so I might get one put in the replace the
still-mildly-jittery-now-right one.)

Bottom line:  I can play Blackjack without problems...  :)