Binatone TV Master MkIV
This great little Pong clone console from the late 70s was my first foray into gaming. Whilst other kids were just getting their first teak-effect Atari VCS machines, I got this dayglo orange plastic device known as the Binatone TV Master MkIV. There was never any MkI, MkII or MkIII – I guess the MkIV referred to how many games you got with it.
The Problem – Game Select Button
Whilst it was great to play, the one thing that inevitably happened was the little orange game selector button or ‘nubbin’ as I refer to it on the Binatone TV Master MkIV generally disappeared or broke. Not being secured very tightly onto the metal pin of the selector mechanism, it’s little wonder that these go walkabout.
Fast forward almost 40 years later and you see several of these consoles for sale, sometimes with the nubbin intact and other times without. The creative person that I am wanted to build one for a spare console I had, which I’d bought to acquire the official power supply as well as to replace the nubbin from own unit.
The Solutions
So – what to do? There were several options of course. I considered making one out of metal or wood, giving it a sort of steampunk look perhaps. There was an option of trying to build a 3D printer model and having some kind soul printing it off for me. The idea of spending hundreds of Pounds on a printer purely for the nubbin alone seemed foolish to me. although, it could be used for other projects (Atari Joystick shaft replacements perhaps?)
No, I decided on trying to repurpose stuff I could get my hands on easily and more importantly for free. Looking at the Cillit Bang Lime & Grime spray in the bathroom with glee I thought I had found my nubbin fodder, only to realize that it was still pretty full, so I couldn’t butcher the mechanism. I thought I might have to wait for some weeks until a few days later I found that we had just finished a tub of ‘Seriously Strong Spreadable Cheese with Chilli’, whose lid was that shade of dayglo orange I was after.
After washing the lid, I quickly offered it up to the consoles other buttons as a quick colour check. It seemed to be close enough for a proof of concept attempt. I removed the very resiliant label from the top and cut it up into pretty small pieces (approx 5mm squares).
Measuring The Binatone TV Master MkIV Nubbin
I then measured the nubbin I had to get an idea of dimensions. The piece itself is 12mm wide, with a cross-section having a base of 7mm tapering up to 5mm through 9mm height, capped with a semi-circular end (near enough). The diagram below shows you what I’m talking about, if I’m not using the correct protocol for describing dimensions.
Molding The Nubbin
I made a quick estimation of the amount of lid I had versus the required material for a casting. I concluded that there was enough for at least one piece, maybe two if I was lucky.
I then had to decide what to use as a mold. Bear in mind that I am not some sort of art or technical enthusiast that has lots of kit around the house. I had to go very Heath-Robinson here! I tore off a piece of aluminium foil and folded it over several times to make a thicker sheet. Keeping the shiny side outermost, which I thought would be less prone to the plastic sticking to it, I folded the sheet into a small mold.
The easiest way to do this was to make two sets of folds to form the rectangular section on the middle and then to fold up each ‘end’ to form the walls, performing some origami to seal them into a small loaf tin type of shape. See below for a diagram:
[diagram and photo of the mold]
I packed in as much of the cut-up lid into the mold as I could, then I made a supporting ring of foil to prevent the mold from tipping over when I placed it in the oven. I set the oven temperature to 180 degrees Celsius, as I knew the lid was made of polypropylene. I set the oven timer to 10 minutes and put the mold into a baking tray with a sheet of foil underneath in case of any spillage. After 10 minutes the plastic had melted and flowed into the mold and once it had cooled, the resulting brick could then be worked-on.
Shaping The Nubbin
I used a small wood file to rough out some flat surfaces and then began to fashion the shape’s profile according to my measurements. Once the shape had been completed, I cut it to the correct width (12mm), allowing a little for final filing down and then polished it as best as I could with my Dremel and a buffer wheel.
Finally, I drilled two 2mm holes into the underside, 2mm apart and about 5mm deep in the center of the nubbin, to allow it to be seated onto the Binatone TV Master MkIV console’s selector switch metal ends. This allows for a more firm grip on the selector rather than cutting a slot in the nubbin.
Finally
Overall, I guess it took about 4 hours to make from scratch, including the measurements etc. If you use my guides here, that should come down to about two hours. I had to re-fill the mold twice with more lid pieces, as the amount of material when melted took up less room in the mold. I’d suggest making the mold height twice the height at least of the nubbin to allow for the free volume of the cut-up lid pieces.
And there you have it! A simple-ish way to make a new nubbin for your Binatone TV Master MkIV console! The same method could be used to make nubbins for the other Binatone consoles – you’ll just have to keep an eye out for the required coloured plastic lids or tops. Should be easy to find the light grey for the colour version of the MkIV or indeed the Mk6 for sure!
“What about the paddles?” I hear you ask? Those were built using a mono jack lead, some cheap project boxes from China, a couple of potentiometer knobs and 750 Ohm pots. The pots were originally going to be used to build a nice set of Commodore 64 paddles from an old pair of Atari ones, but I relented and just kept the colour and pots as they were!