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Cromemco JS-1 Joystick Replica

Torch said:
It automatically centers. Feels similar to a Vectrex joystick.

I bought some WiRSa modems from you on eBay...I'm the guy just east of LOFS. If you're still in CP, I can drop it off sometime this week, or I can take whatever measurements or photos you may need and post them here.
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Holy crap! Well if you're so close then I'll definitely take you up on that. :) still trying to finalize the WiRSa V3.
 
snuci said:
I was shocked to find this kit that was never assembled. It's not for sale but I can take pictures of individual parts, if you need it.

Santo
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Wow where are you guys finding these?! lol Couple things, could you tell me what Ohm-rating your speaker is? The manual says 100 ohm, but other places have said 45 ohm so now I'm not sure! Also can you get me a close-up shot of the transistor markings?
 
snuci said:
I was shocked to find this kit that was never assembled. It's not for sale but I can take pictures of individual parts, if you need it.

View attachment 1277939

Santo
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Wow, cool.

Can you take a photo of the rear of the enclosure, where the speaker is, so that we can see the perforation pattern over where the speaker mounts ?

With small speakers, as I mentioned, their stated impedance tends to be quite close to their DC resistance of the coil, because, as a load, they are not very reactive. Larger high power speakers tend to have a DC resistance that is lower than their stated impedance.

Also a question; the push switches, I assume, like a keyboard switch they are simply push to make, or do any of them have a latching function ?

Also, I wonder, do you have a scanner for documents etc ? If you did, would you be able to scan the front panel face. The reason is, that most drawing software will print that out the same size, if "exact size" option is used to print the raw scan. That would be an easy way to get the exact front panel dimensions for the cut-outs and placement of the joystick & switches.
 
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This is turning into a very nice little reproduction project and I admire the intention to be as accurate as possible. In case it is useful.....

Here is a manual with parts list and more.

Here is a very nice pictorial with discussion.
 
While listed as a 100 ohm in the parts list, that speaker, which is available here, is, indeed a 45 ohm. Back in the day, this was not terribly unusual - they may have sourced more than one speaker or they may have decided that another worked better or was cheaper (or both).
 
syzygy said:
While listed as a 100 ohm in the parts list, that speaker, which is available here, is, indeed a 45 ohm. Back in the day, this was not terribly unusual - they may have sourced more than one speaker or they may have decided that another worked better or was cheaper (or both).
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That is interesting, it is a 2" speaker then. I had guessed probably a 1.75" or 2", the reason being that the Hammond case under consideration I think is 2.5" at the rear. Would fit well with both sized speakers.
 
nullvalue said:
So to go along with the Dazzler replica we've been working on, I'd like to get a couple of joystick "consoles" to go with it. I plan to have a Dazzler exhibit at VCF Midwest and think it would be great to have a working demo where visitors can play some actual games. Problem is, these joysticks seem to be pretty rare. In the past 2 years, 3 have sold on eBay.. two were in rough condition and sold for ~$100, and 1 in good condition sold for over $500. On top of this, I'd like 2 joysticks for some head-to-head play. So, barring someone reading this and willing to sell me a couple.. I've been making plans to build my own. I'd like to try to make it as close the originals as possible.

View attachment 1277867
Set of JS-1 consoles at the Smithsonian

With this in mind, I've been making a few purchases. :)

The hardest part is trying to find an enclosure that'll match the originals. I spent several hours looking at different designs in both plastic and aluminum, but nothing was really close - until I stumbled across this. The Hammond 1456FE1WHBU. It's soooo close, it's aluminum and even has the right color scheme. It maybe doesn't have the exact same ° slope, and it's not quite as tall, but I think it's the closest I'm gonna find. These enclosures run about $34. The thing I'm going to less comfortable with is opening up the holes necessary for the joystick & buttons. I may draw up the cutting pattern and bring it to a local machinist, unless someone reading this would have the tools & expertise to help me out?
View attachment 1277869

The joystick itself is probably the hardest part to find. After reading this excellent writeup, it confirmed my hunch that these were originally used in model airplane transmitters. I found this "as-is" Kraft Sports Series transmitter on eBay for a pretty good price, so I snagged it. While I hate dismantling another piece of vintage equipment (especially also as an RC enthusiast), it'll be for a good cause. Plus this model transmitter has two joysticks, so I'll only needed this one controller.
View attachment 1277868

The next hardest part to find, at least according to that writeup are the 45-ohm speakers. They may not be selling these new anywhere, but I was able to nab a nice lot of them on eBay for a decent price. My only concern with these is that Hammond enclosure is exacly 2.5" tall, same as the speakers so they may not fit pointing out the back like the original. Worst-case, I'll mount them downward-facing which shouldn't be too big of a problem considering the enclosure will be on rubber feet.
View attachment 1277871

By some fortune, I already have the D+7A top edge connector + cable part, though the plastic is oddly discolored. Not concerned about that, but looks like I may need to redo the wiring to support 2 joysticks. I don't think this part would be too difficult for anyone to remake though, and I think Walt Perko designed a 3d-printed enclosure to match the original.
View attachment 1277872

The rest of the components all look really common. I may not go with original/vintage Cherry switches, but they're still making plenty of high-quality mechanical keyswitches and I have a bunch in my stash.

So, what do y'all think? am I missing anything obvious?
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Hi,

I can help with creating CNC vector sketches. All you need to do is draw a picture of the layout with measurements (mm or inches) and post it. I can make a vector sketch that can be used by any CNC milling machine, or CNC laser cutter, or CNC Water Jet Cutter etc.

IF a 3D model file is needed, I can do that too. wperko brainless org


.
 
nullvalue said:
So to go along with the Dazzler replica we've been working on, I'd like to get a couple of joystick "consoles" to go with it. I plan to have a Dazzler exhibit at VCF Midwest and think it would be great to have a working demo where visitors can play some actual games. Problem is, these joysticks seem to be pretty rare. In the past 2 years, 3 have sold on eBay.. two were in rough condition and sold for ~$100, and 1 in good condition sold for over $500. On top of this, I'd like 2 joysticks for some head-to-head play. So, barring someone reading this and willing to sell me a couple.. I've been making plans to build my own. I'd like to try to make it as close the originals as possible.

View attachment 1277867
Set of JS-1 consoles at the Smithsonian

With this in mind, I've been making a few purchases. :)

The hardest part is trying to find an enclosure that'll match the originals. I spent several hours looking at different designs in both plastic and aluminum, but nothing was really close - until I stumbled across this. The Hammond 1456FE1WHBU. It's soooo close, it's aluminum and even has the right color scheme. It maybe doesn't have the exact same ° slope, and it's not quite as tall, but I think it's the closest I'm gonna find. These enclosures run about $34. The thing I'm going to less comfortable with is opening up the holes necessary for the joystick & buttons. I may draw up the cutting pattern and bring it to a local machinist, unless someone reading this would have the tools & expertise to help me out?
View attachment 1277869

The joystick itself is probably the hardest part to find. After reading this excellent writeup, it confirmed my hunch that these were originally used in model airplane transmitters. I found this "as-is" Kraft Sports Series transmitter on eBay for a pretty good price, so I snagged it. While I hate dismantling another piece of vintage equipment (especially also as an RC enthusiast), it'll be for a good cause. Plus this model transmitter has two joysticks, so I'll only needed this one controller.
View attachment 1277868

The next hardest part to find, at least according to that writeup are the 45-ohm speakers. They may not be selling these new anywhere, but I was able to nab a nice lot of them on eBay for a decent price. My only concern with these is that Hammond enclosure is exacly 2.5" tall, same as the speakers so they may not fit pointing out the back like the original. Worst-case, I'll mount them downward-facing which shouldn't be too big of a problem considering the enclosure will be on rubber feet.
View attachment 1277871

By some fortune, I already have the D+7A top edge connector + cable part, though the plastic is oddly discolored. Not concerned about that, but looks like I may need to redo the wiring to support 2 joysticks. I don't think this part would be too difficult for anyone to remake though, and I think Walt Perko designed a 3d-printed enclosure to match the original.
View attachment 1277872

The rest of the components all look really common. I may not go with original/vintage Cherry switches, but they're still making plenty of high-quality mechanical keyswitches and I have a bunch in my stash.

So, what do y'all think? am I missing anything obvious?
Click to expand...

Hi,

I already have made a cable hood design that fits the Cromemco DA+7A board connectors ... and various actual connectors;

22-Position 44-PIN Top Card Edge Connector Hoods @ Pinshape

Download and 3D print this file (and many more) from Pinshape today!
pinshape.com


BTW, I would suggest mounting the speakers at a 45° angle on the front/top edge of the boxes because the volume from the computer isn't very loud. BillS. did a live demo of this just last year. Another friend of mine suggested just getting regular 8Ω speakers ... he doesn't think there's much danger to the speakers from the board, maybe a direct tap into a little audio amplifier even.

Again, with the dimensions, I can make a 3D printable part file to mount the speakers inside the box at any angle.


.
 
Well I just heard back from the eBay seller about the lot of 12 speakers I bought - apparently they can't find them! LOL but they do have some 2" 45ohm round speakers.. Maybe I just go with these as they're close to the originals but will fit better in this enclosure.. Or will these be even quieter?

1713195138525.png
speaker1.jpg speaker2.jpg
 
snuci said:
According to the boxed speaker @syzygy found, it's 2.5" (written in the box). The back metal panel is 3 1/16" tall (adding the top bend) x 6 3/4" wide.
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Yes, I see that on the speaker box. This one, however, says it is a 2", 45 ohm and seems to have the same part number. ??? In the one in your kit, can you read what comes after the 45? Seems like there is something written there.
 
wperko said:
BillS. did a live demo of this just last year. Another friend of mine suggested just getting regular 8Ω speakers ... he doesn't think there's much danger to the speakers from the board, maybe a direct tap into a little audio amplifier even.
Click to expand...

Hmm considering how loud the VCF event is, I really want people to at least be able to hear the game sounds.. As much as I don't want to deviate from the "as original as possible" goal, maybe in this area it's worth going the amplified route.. I like the simplicity of that LM386 module that Hugo shared.

That same seller has a Quam 23A05Z8 2"x 3" 8-10 ohm speaker that would certainly fit in the Hammond case.
 
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nullvalue said:
Hmm considering how loud the VCF event is, I really want people to at least be able to hear the game sounds.. As much as I don't want to deviate from the "as original as possible" goal, maybe in this area it's worth going the amplified route.. I like the simplicity of that LM386 module that Hugo shared.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that is a consideration - duplicate it as much as possible or make it better :)

I have used 386 amps many times and while I am not sure an audiophile has ever said anything good about them, but for me, driving a little speaker; they are just so easy and cheap - these were the last ones I bought - 5 for less than $8.

If you just want an amp to do a demo, you could make a provision for just that....let's see...amplifier -> external switch --> volume control knob....looking like the old Radio Shack one (I still have) so common with the TRS-80. :)
 
snuci said:
25A07Z45K I am guessing "25" means 2.5" and the 45 is the ohms. Not sure what the 07 means. Maybe watts related?

View attachment 1277953
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I can't tell if it is a K or an R or ? They currently carry a 25A07Z8 (suggesting that the number after the Z is ohm as you said). You might want to ask them - they have been around since 1930 and they could get a kick out of the question....they have contact info for tech support.
 
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