Haha, it's not really people as much as it is the Hospice Store leaving their parts out in the open at nights. I think a bunch of stray cats or other animals could defile the stuff like that. Most of retro hardware I get is typically *broken* because of blown capacitors or cool drink (soft drink) spills.

During one particularly vicious night of gaming while drunk in the late-90s, I knocked over a full 12oz beer into my keyboard. I figured it would be destroyed, but I managed to disassemble it, rinse it and dry it out, reassemble it, and it was totally fine. I actually still use that old AT keyboard.

I'm afraid I'm being a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to joysticks. I've done a thorough breakdown and disinfection of every used keyboard I get at the thrift stores, so I should probably do the same for my joysticks as well. When it comes to CH or Thrustmaster stuff, it is pretty easy to work with. I would imagine that tearing down an MS SideWinder 3D Pro or Precision Pro would be difficult and time consuming. I'm not real sure I would even want to tackle the Force Feedback model you're currently working on.

Will you be sharing any pics of this? I sure hope so.

I pride myself on the exceptionally thorough job I do on used keyboards, so I think I'll photograph and document my method the next time I buy one. I'll share it here so others can comment and add their thoughts.

I may be a maniacal too but I take apart all second hand bought stuff to clean it completely before use.
It feel like it's new again and ready to rock.
Microsoft gamepads (gravis ones too) and joysticks are easy to clean as long as you take your time and observe how it's made.

Evert wrote:

I was a charity shop this morning and saw a SideWinder Precision Pro lying in one corner with its stick hanging crookedly to one side, it had no price on it, so I figured I could get it for next to nothing and sure enough I did: it cost me R20 ($2). Does anyone have any experience repairing and or restoring these joysticks? I know they have very good DOS drivers and are capable even when it comes to modern gaming.

Do the Sidewinder Precision Pro and Force Feedback Pro actually work in DOS?
I thought the most recent Sidewinder that would work in DOS was the Sidewinder 3D Pro.
At least that's what the Sidewinder Wikipedia page suggests.

Well, if you run DOS programs on Windows 9x in a so-called DOS box then it should work fine.

I remember that joystick, it had a cool demo setup at Frys for it with a starwars lightsaber feedback. A few years ago I found a Dreamcast in a goodwill for $8, and having never owned one I decided to buy it. Took it apart and cleaned it thoroughly as it was infested with dead roaches and dried roach piss everywhere. It smelt so bad! but after some great TLC it was good as new. It fired right up and even plays a few burned games like the unreleased Half-Life1 no problem. What a great console.

ZanQuance wrote:

I remember that joystick, it had a cool demo setup at Frys for it with a starwars lightsaber feedback. A few years ago I found a Dreamcast in a goodwill for $8, and having never owned one I decided to buy it. Took it apart and cleaned it thoroughly as it was infested with dead roaches and dried roach piss everywhere. It smelt so bad! but after some great TLC it was good as new. It fired right up and even plays a few burned games like the unreleased Half-Life1 no problem. What a great console.

My brother has owned a Dreamcast since they first came out and he swears it is the best console ever. I'm not much of a console guy at all beyond the SNES/Genesis days, but I really enjoy watching him play his bass fishing, PaRappa The Rapper, and Bust A Groove games. Crazy Taxi and Twisted Metal are also great.

KT7AGuy wrote:

ZanQuance wrote:

I remember that joystick, it had a cool demo setup at Frys for it with a starwars lightsaber feedback. A few years ago I found a Dreamcast in a goodwill for $8, and having never owned one I decided to buy it. Took it apart and cleaned it thoroughly as it was infested with dead roaches and dried roach piss everywhere. It smelt so bad! but after some great TLC it was good as new. It fired right up and even plays a few burned games like the unreleased Half-Life1 no problem. What a great console.

My brother has owned a Dreamcast since they first came out and he swears it is the best console ever. I'm not much of a console guy at all beyond the SNES/Genesis days, but I really enjoy watching him play his bass fishing, PaRappa The Rapper, and Bust A Groove games. Crazy Taxi and Twisted Metal are also great.

I actually plan on collecting SEGA consoles when I'm done with the PC stuff or when I have more financial resources (which ever comes first). We should actually start (or restart) a thread on hardware cleaning. There's a lot of snake oil and nonsense on the internet and you actually get more sensible advice on this forum.

I agree, one of the most important things are disassembly guides. On a Dreamcast I had picked up later as a spare, I gouged two traces running from cpu to the powerVR chip by using a screw that was "slightly" longer than the one that was supposed to go in the GD-rom mounting hole 🙁 Still have it hoping to repair it one day.

I bought a Sidewinder force feedback stick recently from the local ebay analogue for about 30 USD. It was in pristine condition, with the power brick, driver CD and user guide. even a gameport to USB converter was included. But it arrived in this shape:

Hopefully, the seller was a nice guy and accepted immediately a full refund including shipment. It was sad, though. I always wanted to try a force feedback stick with my older games, and it's not easy to find things like this (sidewinder force feedback is what I wanted) around locally.

Didn't feel like repairing it?

ZanQuance wrote:

Didn't feel like repairing it?

Not really. I'm able to do mechanical repairs (a metal working workshop is in my reach) but I had no way of estimating the extent of damage, so I choose to return it. I already have two Sidewinders (not forced feedback), so this was basically a curiosity.