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Andy's
Atari CTF-1 test rig page

last updated July 26, 2017

This is a rough page for now detailing my CTF-1 test rig and associated info.

I currently use one on my bench in the workshop, mainly just for its dual Variacs.

 

Sales Flyers for the CTF-1 :

 

Backstory of rig #1:
In December of 2008 i was lucky enough to finally get my hands on an Atari CTF-1 test rig. I purchased it through eBay from Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, USA, it took a while to ship, but it landed just fine in the UK! I know eBay isn't exactly orignal detective work, but these things just aren't that common! While the machine didn't look complete, I knew i had to have it, what with my Atari 1970's pcb collection as it was.. i took the chance to grab it while i had some money kicking around and i fealt like cheering myself up (as you do at christmas time). So, with my ridiculous impulse purchase secured, i sat and waited. I told some guys online about the new aquisition, one of whom said that he remembers actually talking with a guy who still had it in his workshop a few years back, and he said there was a big box of plugs that went with it.
	So i asked the seller of my new CTF-1 if there was any chance he had picked up a box of plugs with it, but hadn't realised what they were... Sure enough he got back to me a few days later and said he found them, we negotiated a further payment and he wrapped them up with the machine and shipped it. I could already see from the auction pictures that some weird- re-wiring had gone on, there was an AR1 hanging off of it for a start, and a little wooden panel marked 'Asteroids on/off' on the front. No doubt it got to the end of its useful life and became useful for asteroids only.. who knows.
December 20th 2008: After having a few phone calls with the shipping company to sort out the obligatory customs import charges and related shenanigans, a big curtain-sided lorry turned up outside my house.. The driver was very good, and helped lift the damn thing off the 6ft high bed of the truck, and carry it into my house. I think it weighs in the region of 80 kgs And there it sat... ready to be unpeeled...
	Removing the layers off revealed a cardboard box full of plugs... inside the box with the plugs there lay half scrunched up - lots of sheets of paper which look like real Atari pinout information sheets, no doubt provided with the plugs themselves when you bought them.. Look in the table further down the page for photos of the plugs themselves.

	An overall picture of the rig itself as i first got it.
	The monitor.. Judging by the flyers i've seen, my rig is probably a slightly later version, with the re-styled monitor housing. Mine also has some added pots for volume. I have since added some machined silver knobs to tidy up the appearance of so many controls, and it make them easier to use.
	The mulitmeter was missing, but this is just a fluke 8000A that i picked up in Aug 2012 and installed. Above this panel is a big gap, this is where the choice of the Universal Expansion Module, a switch panel, or just a blank space should be. See below for more info on this area.
	Here are the controls, very robust!