.......... tmnt tit ..............

I just got to watching part 1 of the 2015 year in review video.  I want to say congrats on everything you accomplished.  You really did crank out some amazing video and I'd like to thank you for sharing your experiences with all of us.  I probably started watching your videos about early to mid 2015 or so (been on the forums since August of this year) and I love the combination of educational value and entertainment the videos provide.  Looking forward to what you bring to the table in 2016 and perhaps I'll get to meet you at an event sometime.  I probably won't make brofest/grinkfest, but if you're travelling to visit Ian around the same time I'll be in PA then I guess I'll see you there.  Going on PAPA 19 week, April 6 to 10 and probably visiting the Coin-Op Hall of Fame and Museum as well.

Anyways, I'll have to watch part 2 when I find the time and see the rest of the year end celebration.  We don't really keep alcohol in the house, but the next time I go to our favorite local barcade (Zanzabar in Louisville, KY) I'll have a little "toast in sprit" to you before I play some games.  Cheers John. 

Congrats on getting it all working well.

Side note, I know it's none of my business but that is a large variety of laundry detergent/fabric softener.  Heh.

Not sure if it's just me, but the image was broken.  I found the link and fixed it here.  There was a ":large" after the .jpg, and that may have broken it.


Also, looks like DK3 on that Galaga cabinet.  Is that a 60-in-1 or mame?   Cool looking room.

$600 for a DK that is electronically sound and just needs cosmetic probably isn't terrible anymore.  A "good" price is something hard to pin down when the market is in such a fluid state and prices on these popular games are going up yearly if not monthly or weekly.  I'd take it for that if I were in the market for one.

Well, whenever you're blowing a fuse the best thing to check first is that all the fuses are correct.  VERY frequently fuses are replaced with incorrect values.  Go by the game's manual or ask on the Pinside forums.  Lots of information is documented there.  https://pinside.com/pinball/forum

If the fuse is the correct value and the fuse holder seems to be solid and not causing the issue, that's probably a sign there's some sort of short.  Given the short is still there and the fuse/holder isn't the problem, the fuse will keep blowing.  You will have to track down whatever is causing the short.  This could be a multitude of things.  Which board is the fuse on?  It appears more than one of the boards can have a fuse F3.  If you're unsure of anything, fall back to Pinside.  There are lots of helpful people there who can guide you along.

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY

It was fixed up just to be ran over by THE MOST EXTREME MONSTER TRUCKS YOU'VE EVER SEEN! SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY
SPONSORED BY TNT MONSTER JAM

The most intense action.  We'll sell you the whole seat, BUT YOU'RE ONLY GONNA NEED THE EDGE.

These are very cool units, if you go to John's "about me" page and scroll down to the comments someone mentions having one and tells the story.  http://www.johnsarcade.com/about_me.php  It's fascinating.

I've seen some people get into flat out fits after watching that old TNT video where Todd shoves the Black Knight off the roof.  Heh.  At the time that was recorded, there wasn't even a YouTube.  It's an old TV commercial that aired locally in PA for TNT Amusements.  At the time, a Black Knight in the condition that one was in was worth about $100 at best.  Keep in mind they made just over 13,000 of them and at that time pins and vids weren't really sought after.  He possibly could have at least pulled the backglass out, but they didn't think about that back then.  He probably had a stack of NOS backglasses laying around then and he really hadn't gotten into backglass preservation/restoration, so any flaking trashed them.

But yes, anymore pretty much any pin/vid could potentially be saved by someone.  I don't think Todd trashes anything anymore unless it's worn beyond use.  I've never seen any local places tossing anything.  I see a few adds on Craigslist sometimes from arcades that have stripped games and then are selling the cabinets for like $50 or $100.  Sometimes bare, sometimes with coin doors and control panels.  Never monitors. 

Dad has one of those he got used at a yard sale, great little thing for taking the edge off the cold like you say.  It runs on kerosene.

Now, if you REALLY want to go big or go home they make huge ones that can heat an airplane hangar in sub-zero weather with the door open.  Heh.  Don't sit anything within a few feet of it, you'll set the whole place ablaze.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200497021_200497021 ONE MILLION BTU, BITCHES. 

Those are neat bartop setups.  I'm going to design mine so it's 2 player from the start, but I like the way the control panel folds down.  I had thought about doing like Ben Heck did and having a removable panel below the controls for wiring, but a fold down CP would be much better.  I'm also going to put the PCB on a sliding tray, so I can unplug it and slide it out of the machine if need be.  Also I imagine with the way it's going to be packaged near the CRT parts, sliding the PCB back some will make inserting and removing carts easier. So, I guess I'll give some extra wire to slide it some without unplugging.

I haven't figured out my PVM horizontal issue as of yet, haven't had much more time to dig.  I'm sure this is the size I'm going to use, and I'll likely replace it with the exact same model if I have to replace it, so I might use it to start more detailed design work.  I'll at least want the PCB/cart first and perhaps whatever coin door I'm going to use.  Mine will be setup so I can coin op or free play it, because I want to for no good reason.

Neat to find people across the expanse of the internet that you've seen years ago elsewhere.  I recall downloading Need For Speed mods for NFS 3 in the late 90s created by someone who went by "IH8COPS".  Tripped across him years later, in 2006 or so, 3D modeling and doing car creation for an open source racing simulator called "Racer"...simple, right?  Heh.

Ian has had some communication with me already, but I decided to make this a post since it's easier to read and come back to than a PM asking him something.  Heh.  I did some further testing today.  I found every pot I could and tweaked it while the monitor was live.  I have pictures of the things I adjusted below, click them to see them larger on Imageshack.

The pot RV501 on the A main board turned out to be horizontal center.  I can adjust H center digitally in the menus as well, but not size which is the one I need.  The screen is far too wide and a bit pin cushioned.  Those adjustments don't seem to work either, but vertical position and such do.  So strange.  Here is a picture of RV501.  Look for the black shaft near the yoke wires.


I also adjusted the pot on the neck board, labeled C board, that was surrounded by a black cover.  Turns out this was horizontal separation of the color beams.  I tweaked it a tad and I could see red and blue on either side of the menu letters.  They're supposed to be pure white.  I re-tweaked it and I think it's closer calibrated that it was to start with, glad I messed with that.  If I can figure out the horizontal issue, the picture quality will be mint.  Here's a pic of the neck board,  The pot has a white shaft, look below the picture tube neck.


Lastly, I screwed with what I believe is the horizontal size coil.  It's a coil with an Allen style screw in the center and it's mounted on the yoke.  I adjusted it while the monitor was on and had a source hooked to the composite in and it did nothing when moved.  Below is a picture at an angle that shows the coil, look on the yoke and the coils are covered in white tape.


Also, I tested some points and the voltages seemed to be in spec, which didn't surprise me since the monitor will actually work and display a picture.  Something internally has caused the horizontal to collapse outward and not be adjustable.  I actually don't have a scope to test waveforms and I can only do a limited amount of probing until I get some better clip on test leads, but I guess I could just see if any resistors or diodes have bridged or went open.  I can print out the component lists and check them off as I go.  Time consuming as all hell, but worth a check I guess.  Start on the A board since it pretty well deals with all vertical/horizontal business.

Yea, they were done as conversions to other games as well as being in Universal cabinets and universal cabinets. 

Smash TV would be a great one to restore.  Such a cool game.