October
Alan-1 Flight Yoke
Isn’t it time that someone manufactures high quality Atari Star Wars Flight Yokes?
We have with an initial run of 500. We’re calling them Alan-1 Flight Yokes. It will take 90 days to for our manufacturing plant to tool and another 60 days to manufacture. Target release date is October 1, 2017.
We will be doing a run of 500 once we’re certain it is built to last. We have no interest in doing pre-orders (due to the negativity that Ram controls created around star wars yokes).
Long live Atari!
(Please visit our klov post for most detailed Q&A)
OCT 24, 2017
We didn’t want to skimp on quality at all.
It has taken a long time for us to get it tooled and to this stage. It will take about 3 months to get all 500 as soon as we tell the factory that the beta test was successful or not. One thing I may want to change is the plastic thumb buttons. I see them broken all the time in games that are in the wild. I think metal ones would be more resilient. What are your thoughts?
We still need to write a really great manual on how to maintain it. We haven’t tested the aluminum gears long term, so we’re not certain what kind of issues we’ll see–but its got to be better than the nylon / plastic originals right?
OCT 25, 2017
The handles are reversed engineered reproductions of the originals. I’m assuming they are interchangeable. I can easily test them to make sure. We’d be happy to sell those separately to help preserve games out there that need it.
What other parts does anyone interested recommend we sell separately besides the aluminum gears?
OCT 25, 2017
Our manufacturer’s quality feels like Atari NOS! However, we’d like to be able to sell them for less than the used yokes go for on eBay.
I’ve seen some parted out star wars yokes go for as high as $650 this year on eBay–which I think is outrageous.
We’re planning on selling them with upgraded aluminum gears and all for $499.
We don’t have all of the costs sorted out yet (i.e. black stainless steel vs. plastic thumb buttons, Canadian pots (which are more expensive) vs. our newly sourced Japanese pots that seem to be working great, etc.) though. Hopefully the metal thumb button upgrade doesn’t require us to increase the price–when we find out, I’ll post it.
We want to deliver high quality, innovation, and high value for everything we create under our new Alan-1 brand. Our next focus is on getting more parts for star wars reproduced because its my favorite game of all time and makes me feel like a 10 year old again when playing it. 🙂
Do you have any other requests?
NOV 23, 2017
Our second prototype arrived the other day with aluminum thumb buttons, black case screws, and pots manufactured in Canada vs. our Japanese pots on prototype #1.
We will install this weekend and test at Flynn’s for a few weeks before going into full production hopefully in 2-3 weeks. Thanks for your interest!
DEC 06, 2017
Mydentist (James), Robotronguy (Jerry) and I (Johnny) took a road trip to Grinkers’ Grand Palace today to deliver in person the second SW yoke prototype to Idahofarmer (Steve). We offered Steve a special gift of a reproduction SW yoke for his SW cockpit when we’re at Grinkfest this year.
The 2nd prototype arrived and off we went to meet Steve today. We met with Steve and presented him with the SW yoke at Grinkers. He was very happy with his gift and allowed us to install yoke. It was installed in a few minutes, 4 bolts and a molex connection. Easily a plug-in play installation. I powered on the game, Jerry dropped a quarter in and James started a game. The yoke needed to be calibrated and James was off and running. The yoke responded well and James said it felt as smooth as butter.
If you visit Grinkers give the yoke try and let us know how it feels and how the game plays.
JAN 18, 2018
So glad to hear this Steve! Our first prototype being testing at Flynn’s Retrocade in Roy Utah is using Japanese manufactured pots–rather than the Canadian made pots that have become the defacto standard for Star Wars yoke and paperboy controllers. The Japanese pots are significantly cheaper, but don’t calibrate as well as the Canadian ones and aren’t as smooth–I”m glad we have now thoroughly tested both!
We’re going to go full production for a run of 500 using the “Grinkers” prototype #2. I should have word in the next few weeks when the ETA date will be. I’ll keep the channel updated when news comes in. My best guess right now is to expect these sometime in July, 2018.
As mentioned before, time to erase the Ram Controls scar on all things Atari Star Wars once and for all. I don’t know who that guy (or groups of guys are)–but they did a lot of damage to our community. Please don’t associate anything they are with us. The only thing we have in common is that we both like Atari Star Wars.
“On the other side of the screen, it all looks so easy.”
JAN 19, 2018
|
Originally Posted by MaximRecoil
 What grade of aluminum are you using? |
6061
Alloy 6061: The most versatile of the heat-treatable aluminum alloys, while keeping most of the good qualities of aluminum. This grade has a great range of mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. It can be fabricated by most of the commonly used techniques and it has good workability in the annealed condition. It is welded by all methods and can be furnace brazed. As a result, it is used in a wide variety of products and applications where appearance and better corrosion resistance with good strength are required. The Tube and Angle shapes in this grade typically have rounded corners.
https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/wh…-should-i-use/
MAR 11, 2018
Robotronguy and I went to Flynns Retrocade to do some maintenance on the SW cockpit. This game is running the first prototype yoke with chinese pots. This yoke is still going good also. The feel of the controls are good. I decided to pull the cover off the yoke and check the gears. To my surprise we did not lube these gears for some reason. We did lube the other set of gears on the yoke.
Well after 4+ months of running in the arcade with no lube, the gears are holding up well here are pics. I lubed the gears.
MAY 27, 2018
The second prototype yoke is still going strong at Grinkers in their SW cockpit and has been for quite some time. The first prototype is still going strong at Flynns Retocade here in Roy, Utah. We are also testing other prototype games parts right now and will be announcing them in the near future also. Look for more info from mydentist on all new announcements.
JUN 16, 2018
We found an issue with the three internal hex screws that hold the yoke to the shaft coming loose on one prototype. So glad we’ve been testing these in an arcade environment for 6+ months. Simple fix–the factory will be adding Loctite to the screws during the assembly process to eliminate the issue.
JUN 16, 2018
Happy to report that the manufacturing process is well on its way. I’ll post more pictures as the process continues to progress.
Thank you all for your interest! We’re happy to be able to offer these to the community. For those that are just joining this thread, we will NOT accept pre-order payments–to AVOID any possible affiliation with the folks at Ram controls that took a lot of folks money on pre-orders for Star Wars related repro parts (including yokes) but never delivered.
We will deliver and ship within 2 weeks of receiving payment. We will only accept payments once we have inventory in our secret hangar located near Area 52 by the mysterious Dugway Proving grounds in Utah. Cool right? (Remember that the founder of Atari, Nolan Bushnell, was also from Utah.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Bushnell
We just announced an improved replacement to the WG6100 deflection board too. Please see the thread here https://forums.arcade-museum.com/sho…d.php?t=430426
JUN 24, 2018
A few more pictures to share below.
Confirmed that all components have been fabricated and assembly of the yokes are now in the factory queue. The factory is creating “fixtures’ tooling” for a semi-automated assembly workflow. It will take about three weeks for that to be completed. We will have more information on assembly status / issues then.
Exciting times!
Thanks for your support and enthusiasm for this release. Our Alan-1 team hopes to continue to serve you with products you need to keep our classic games running worry free.
I’d love to see an entire new generation of people making vector arcade games someday. That would be our ultimate win. If we could create all the hardware needed for that, would there be creative gamers in the development community that could come up with 2-4 classic hits a year? In our hangar near area 52, we could assemble and fabricate them just like how it was done in Sunnyvale back in the day. Why not sell “new” vector games with a classic feel to todays arcades?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgkjk2F_E50
JUL 3, 2018
Just received word from our team at the factory that the necessary “fixture tools” required are finished. We should be able to start final assembly within a few weeks. Not sure when we will receive the finished yokes, but this is an important newsworthy milestone.
AUG 6, 2018
Two more prototypes assembled from the mass produced parts are on their way to get our final approval before all the rest of them are assembled. We should be receiving them this week. If we’re happy with the finished result, the rest should be assembled over the next 6 weeks. I don’t have an exact date when these will go on sale, but we’re getting closer every day. Our website should go live soon. I’ll announce that next and post pictures of these two new prototypes as soon as I receive them.
The USB adapter is in the final phase of testing. We’ve had to update the firmware a few times to get the curser movement on MAME more realistic to the original arcade design. It’s not perfect, but its a lot better than the old [company who should not be named but ends with the word controls] USB adapter that I had back in the day. The curser would jump all over the place with their design.
You’ll find the instruction booklet that we’re including attached. Shouldn’t be needed by most, but I thought it would be a nice touch to include it. I’ve also attached a snap shot of the Alan-1 sticker we’re also including (borrowed the idea from Apple).
AUG 11, 2018
Just received word that the two mass produced samples that I mentioned in a previous post have been shipped. I should receive them next week. See images below.
After testing for a few weeks in our arcade, I’ll authorize the final payments and the rest of them will be assembled and shipped. That entire process should take 12 weeks. I’ve been told to expect them the first week of December 2018. If they arrive earlier, we’ll get them out the door even faster. We’ll open our www.alan-1.com website up for orders as soon as we have them in stock. Look for an announcement on this thread for that news.
We’ve been delayed a few months due to issues we discovered during testing–namely the Japanese pots didn’t perform as well as the Canadian pots, the plastic thumb buttons were replaced with anodized aluminum ones, some internal screws came loose after 6 months (loctite was used in the final design to fix this), and the movement bumpers were overlooked in the initial designs but have been added to the final product. We feel very good about the end result and feel strongly that our lengthly testing period did exactly what it was designed to do–help us deliver the highest quality replacement Star Wars yoke ever built.
Long live Atari!
AUG 13, 2018
Thanks for your interested Japespin!
Because of all of the distrust of that company whom shall not be named did around Star Wars Yokes back in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009, we decided NOT to take any pre-order money. As soon as we have these in stock, we’ll open up the orders on www.alan-1.com. At that point, first come first serve until we are sold out.
Keep an eye on this thread for an announcement of when orders go live on our site.
AUG 14, 2018
Received two mass produced samples yesterday from our factory! I think they are a thing of beauty….
Can’t wait to test!
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0W5Uzl7VZIG0q
AUG 30, 2018
We’ve talked with Steve and have decided to give away the first Alan-1 Flight Yoke to come off the assembly line at this years Grinkerfest!
https://forums.arcade-museum.com/sho…d.php?t=426570
If you are interested in seeing the yoke and having a chance to win it, come to Grinkerfest. Steve is planning on setting up his Star Wars cockpit on the hardest mode with no extra shields between waves. He’s going to reset the high score table and the player with the highest score at the end of the event will win this rare 1st edition pre-launch day flight Yoke as a gift of appreciation from your friends at Alan-1.
Jerry, Johnny, and I are planning on signing the box too–just for fun. (I’ve always wanted to sign something besides prescriptions. 🙂
Hope to see you there! And of course, may the force be with you…
SEP 30, 2018
Alan-1 is now live on YouTube with videos of the reproduction Star Wars Yoke being assembled and getting ready for distrubution.
Enjoy the videos……!!!!!
Part 1 of 5 of the reproduction SW yoke being assembled.
OCT 17, 2018
Congrats Jerky! Nice win!
Enjoy the yoke! You’ve got the first one off the line. I received word yesterday that the rest of them arrived at the LA port, and are now heading on truck to our secret area 52 hangar in Tooele, Utah.
OCT 31, 2018
They will be available for sale before December 1st 2018.
Our first batch is actually on their way to our warehouse as I type this. Exciting days ahead.
Thanks for your interest. As soon as we have them in stock, we’ll turn on the website and start taking orders and payments. We made a decision a long time ago that we would NOT take payments until we are ready to ship. We wanted to make sure no one thought that we were the old RAM controls dudes in disguise. We’re not! 🙂
Long live Atari!
NOV 14, 2018
The yokes have arrived!!!!
We are almost ready to turn on the website for easy ordering and shipping.
This is an epic day for the arcade community!!!
