If you’ve worked with arcade games for any length of time, you’ve probably come across your fair share of monitor issues. One of the more common problems we see with arcade monitors is known as screen collapse. In this post, we will discuss how to repair monitors that are experiencing screen collapse issues.

Repairing Monitor Collapse Issues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz28ATC-PE8

Let’s start our troubleshooting by determining what kind of collapse we have. It’s important to note that screen collapse can happen in varying degrees. You could have a partial collapse where you can still see some of the screen or a complete collapse where the entire screen has been condensed into one thin line. Monitors can collapse either vertically or horizontally. The orientation of the collapse is based on where the anode (or suction cup) is located on the tube in relation to the collapse. If the collapse runs parallel with the anode, you are experiencing a vertical collapse. Otherwise you are probably experiencing a horizontal collapse.

Many people tend to mistake vertical collapse for horizontal and vice versa. In order to help you identify the difference between the two, we have posted the picture below. This picture illustrates vertical collapse on both a horizontally mounted monitor and a vertically mounted monitor. Also, keep in mind that Installing A Cap Kit first might solve your problem if you’re only experiencing partial collapse.

Click Image To See A Larger Version

Once you have identified the type of collapse you are experiencing, you can begin the process of repairing your monitor. We will mainly focus on vertical collapse since it is more common of the two types. Vertical collapse usually occurs when the parts in the vertical section of your monitor chassis fail. One of the primary parts that’s located in this section is the vertical IC (or Integrated Circuit) chip. This chip is usually attached to a heat sink which looks like metal railing protruding from the monitor chassis. If you’re having trouble locating the vertical IC chip or the vertical section as a whole, you can follow the yellow and green yoke wires to where they connect on the chassis. Keep in mind that sometimes the yellow and green wires will come into one part of the chassis and will have traces that connect them to the vertical section.

Click Image To See A Larger Version

Before you suspect your vertical IC chip of being bad, you might take a look at the rest of the parts in the vertical section. Often times manufacturers will assign similar numbers to parts that are in the same section. An example of this would be the Electrohome G07 monitor chassis which labels all of the parts in the vertical section starting with the number 400. Look for broken or cracked solder joints around the parts in this section. You can also check these parts with your multimeter to make sure they are working. These are some good steps to take before suspecting the vertical IC chip of being bad.

If you check the parts around your vertical section and your monitor is still not working properly then you probably need to replace the vertical IC chip itself. These chips come in several different configurations. The most common style of chip in arcade monitors is the “small” style which looks like a standard transistor with more legs. If you need help identifying which chip to order, you can use the NTE Electronics Cross Reference page to put in the number that’s currently on the chip and get the NTE part number of the chip that you will need to order as a replacement.

Even though most monitor issues can be traced back to the chassis, there may be some instances where the tube is at fault. Missing colors, color smearing or screen blurring are just some of the symptoms that might indicate a bad monitor tube. In this post, we will discuss how check a monitor tube and troubleshoot other monitor color issues.

Checking A Monitor Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKOK6QB9frM

First off, let’s discuss some of the different symptoms you might be experiencing if you have a bad tube. The most common symptoms of a bad tube are missing colors, color smearing or streaking, convergence issues and/or screen blurring (especially in the corners). Keep in mind that in some of these cases you might be able to do some minor tweaks to fix the issues. If your screen is out of convergence, you might take a look at our post on Adjusting The Convergence Rings before suspecting your tube. The same goes for color issues as Adjusting An Arcade Monitor might help fix them without the need to test the tube. Since the tube is usually not the problem, make sure that you’ve exhausted some of your other resources before putting the blame on it.

Once you have exhausted some of the more common chassis repairs, we can move on to testing the tube. Before we begin the process, you will need a wire with alligator clips on each end. You can either make one your self (which is a similar process to what we talk about in our post on Safely Discharging An Arcade Monitor) or you can purchase one from your local electronics store. It is also a good idea to have a mirror positioned so that you can see the screen or a friend that can tell you what’s going on while you are doing this process.

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Now that we have our wire with alligator clips on the ends, we can test our tube. Take the back door off of your game so that you can gain access to the back of the monitor. Clip one alligator clip to a ground on your monitor (such as the frame). Look at the back of your monitor’s neck board and identify which of the circular points control the colors. Most of the times these are labeled to make it easy for you. When you have identified the color pins, quickly touch the non-clipped end of wire to the pins and see what happens on the screen. Be careful not to hold the end of the wire on the pins for too long. When you do this, you should get a bright screen just featuring the color pin that you touched and some retrace lines. If this does not happen then it could mean that the tube is bad and needs to be replaced.

Let’s say that your tube is good but you are still having some missing color issues. It could be that some of the parts on the neck board are malfunctioning. There should be a transistor and a resistor located on your neck board that drive each of the primary colors. You can check the transistors by removing them from the neck board, setting your multimeter on continuity (or diode) test and checking the continuity between the pins. If you do not get continuity then you probably need to replace your transistor.

Resistors can also be tested with a multimeter but the process is a bit different. Instead of using the continuity (or diode) test, you will need to set your multimeter on Ohms (or Ω). When you put your probes on the leads you should get a reading on your multimeter. If the resistor is good then this reading will be pretty close to the value indicated by the color bands. The Resistor Reader page on Bob Roberts site can help you identify this value. There are also charts that you can buy that will tell you the values of each color band as well.

While many people like to suspect the tube whenever they have monitor issues, this is often not the case. Being able to identify and test a bad tube will save you a lot of time when troubleshooting monitor problems. Please leave any questions or suggestions you have in the comments section below.

Troubleshooting board (or PCB) issues might just be the toughest part of arcade repair. While many board repairs require sophisticated equipment, there are some simple things you can check before sending your board off to a qualified professional. In this post, we will discuss how to inspect and identify problems with an arcade board before you send it off for repair.

Inspecting An Arcade Board

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjUPtUmYvC0

Let’s talk about some of the tools you’ll need to do your arcade board inspection. It’s good to have some type of magnification device. It could be a magnifying glass, a magnifying visor or a magnifying lamp. Looking through a magnification device will help you identify small issues such as broken solder joints on the board. A small screwdriver (such as our recommended Suzo-Happ Screwdriver) or chip extractor to help with removing chips from the board. A machinist scribe for etching oxidation off of chips. A razor blade kit to scrape away parts of the board for testing. Small needle nose pliers and nippy cutters for holding parts or cutting wires. A brush set and canned air to clean the board and other parts. Of course, it’s also a good idea to keep around Your First Arcade Toolbox as it contains many of the tools you’ll need for this project.

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Just as a quick note, we want to be careful that we don’t build up static electricity as this can harm the board. We recommend using some sort of anti-static wrist strap or gloves to prevent you from accidentally doing damage your board.

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Let’s begin our board inspection process by cleaning the board. Start off by using the canned air to blow any dust, dirt or debris off of the board. If you have access to an electric duster, feel free to use it instead of the canned air. Follow up the canned air with the brushes to help remove some of the more caked on dirt from the board. We recommend following up the brushes with another round of canned air to remove any dust that might have come loose during the brushing process.

Now that our board is clean, we can begin the inspection process. We like to start off at the harness connector. Use the magnifying glass to look for any broken parts on the connector. Remember that the game receives it’s power and control inputs through this connector. Feel free to use a multimeter at this point to make sure that power is going from the pins on the connector to the next part on the board. Once you have inspected the connector, you can clean it by using the eraser end of a standard pencil. Make sure that you clean both sides of this connector. This will help remove any built up dirt that has gathered on the connector pins.

You might notice that your board has several different types of chips on it. Some of these chips may be socketed and some may be soldered directly to the board. If a chip is socketed, it’s a good indication that the manufacturer thought that the chip might fail at some point. You can remove these chips pretty easily by using a small flathead screwdriver or a chip extractor tool. Be very careful not to pull the chip out too hard as you can break the legs if you’re not careful. Gently pull up on each side going back and forth until the chip is removed. With the chip removed, you can use the machinist scribe to etch off some of the oxidation that has built up on the chip’s legs. You can also use your brush set to clean the legs as well as the sockets themselves.

Just like we talk about in our post on Installing A Cap Kit, there might be some capacitors on your board that are bad. A bad electrolytic capacitor will often swell or bulge at the top or leak out of the bottom, however, they can still be bad even if they don’t look bad. If you have an ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) meter you can test the cap before you remove it to see if it’s bad or not. Make sure you go through your entire board and replace any capacitors you suspect are bad.

Once we’ve inspected the parts side of the board, we can move on to the solder side. Using your magnifying glass again, look for any broken or cracked solder joints and touch them up as necessary. You also want to look for any scratches that might be preventing electricity (or data) from getting to other parts of the board. In other words, look for scratches that are going through traces. You can test to see if the scratch is preventing the flow of electricity by setting your multimeter on continuity (or diode) test and checking the continuity between the two points. If there is no continuity between the two points then you will need to repair the trace.

In order to repair a cut trace, you will need your soldering iron, some solder and some wire. We recommend using 30-gauge insulated wrapping wire which should be available at your local electronics store. First, cut a piece of the wire that’s a little longer than the trace. It’s always good to have a longer piece of wire in case the wire comes detached from the via (or solder point) and you have to solder it back. Second, strip both ends of the wire leaving just enough for it to make contact with the board. Third, solder the ends of the wire to the board to make up for the broken trace. If you can solder to a via that is preferred, however, you might have to solder directly to a chip pin depending on where the scratch is located. Once you have soldered the wire, you can use some hot glue, electrical tape or another adhesive to keep the wire in place against the board.

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Inspecting an arcade board can save you some time and money. Knowing how to identify and fix these types of small issues can keep you from having to send your board off to someone for repair. Please leave any questions or suggestions you have in the comments section below.

While most standard arcade games run 120 VAC to the various parts inside the cabinet, Nintendo arcade games are somewhat different. Nintendo is a Japanese company and as such uses the Japanese AC voltage specification which is 100 VAC. This difference may seem small at first glance but it can wreak havoc on your repair and restoration efforts. In this post, we are going to discuss some tips to keep in mind when working on Nintendo arcade games.

Working With Nintendo Arcade Games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVhbEbdlFNs

When you look into the back of your Nintendo arcade cabinet, you might think that it looks pretty much the same as any other cabinet and you would be right for the most part. The main difference is that the power cord runs to a transformer that converts our 120 VAC from the wall to 100 VAC for use inside the cabinet. Most everything inside the cabinet derives it’s power from this transformer. This includes the monitor (or monitors if you have a dual screen), power supply and even the marquee light. Also, some of these cabinets have power plugs in the bottom. Be very wary of these plugs as they also tend to put out 100 VAC which can cause problems with anything you plug into them (such as tools).

You might have heard some horror stories of people trying to replace an arcade monitor in a Nintendo arcade cabinet with another major brand such as Wells-Gardner. This is because most monitors here in the states are made to take the 120 VAC instead of the 100 VAC and will not receive the correct power depending on how you hook them up. In the video for this post, we have a similar dilemma with a power supply. The best way to guarantee that you are getting 120 VAC to the parts that require it is to tap into the power cord itself.

The easiest way to tap into the power cord on many Nintendo arcade games is to locate the connector between the power cord and the transformer. From here you can use a pin pusher to remove the pins from the connector. You can then cut and strip these wires to get them ready to be repinned. Take some spare wiring and twist it together with the existing wires you just stripped from the connector. It is a good idea to use the same color wires to tie into with so that you can keep your AC lines consistent. Once that is done, repin the wires and insert them into the connector. Reconnect the connector and you should now have two wires protruding that contain the 120 VAC necessary to power the non-Nintendo parts in your arcade cabinet.

Nintendo has made some great arcade games over the years. From Donkey Kong to Playchoice 10, seems like everyone either owns or has wanted to own one of their great classics. Just keep in mind that the power scheme that lies within them is foreign and as such can be difficult to work with sometimes. Knowing up front that Nintendo arcade games run off of 100 VAC instead of the standard 120 VAC will save you a lot of time in your future repair endeavors. Please feel free to leave any questions or suggestions in the comments section below.

As we’ve talked about in our previous posts, most arcade monitors can be fixed just by repairing the chassis; however, there are some instances where you need to replace the monitor in your arcade game entirely. Cracked neck and screen burn are just some of the reasons that might lead you to consider this option. While doing this is more tedious than just removing and installing the chassis, it can be accomplished with just a few simple steps. In this post, we are going to discuss how to remove your current arcade monitor and install another one in it’s place.

Replacing An Arcade Monitor (Part One)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yyTaoAtWe8

Replacing An Arcade Monitor (Part Two)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG_9RuJ9xi8

As we’ve talked about in previous posts, monitors hold an extremely high amount of voltage which can be very dangerous to you should you come in contact with it. We recommend unplugging or turning off the power to your arcade game before attempting any of the steps below. Always be safe and take the time to make sure that your arcade game is unplugged when working with the monitor. Once we have unplugged the arcade game, we are going to discharge the monitor so that we can safely remove it from the cabinet. Please see our post on how to Safely Discharge An Arcade Monitor for more information.

Just like in our post on Removing And Installing A Monitor Chassis, the first thing we are going to do is disconnect the power wires going to the monitor. Most games use a Molex connector between the power supply and the monitor chassis which allows for a clean and easy disconnect. If your monitor chassis doesn’t have this Molex connector, you might need to cut the wires in order to remove the monitor. If you end up cutting the wires, you might consider installing a Molex connector to make it easier on you in the future. Please see our post on Installing A Molex Connector for more information.

With the power wires disconnected, we are now going to look for the video wires coming from the board. If you examine your wiring harness coming from your board connector, you should see a set of about 5-6 wires that connect directly to your monitor chassis via a Molex connector (or connectors as sometimes there are more than one). These wires control the video output coming from the board to the monitor. In order to get the monitor out safely, we must disconnect these wires from the monitor chassis. Make sure that you note or create a diagram of which wires go to which pins on the chassis as it will come in handy later once we have installed the other monitor. Once you have made that notation, you can remove these wires which should free your monitor from all cabinet wiring.

Now that the monitor is discharged and all cabinet wiring is disconnected, we can now safely remove our monitor from our arcade cabinet. Most monitors come out of the front of the arcade cabinet so you will probably need to unlatch your control panel and remove your bezel as well as any other obstructions that might block the monitor from coming out. Once we have removed these items, you should notice some sets of screws or bolts at the corners of the tube. One set holds the tube to the frame and the other set holds the frame to the cabinet. Most of the time we will want to remove the screws or bolts that are holding the frame to the cabinet so that we can remove the entire monitor and not just the tube. Please see the image below for more information.

Once we have removed the bolts or screws that are holding the frame to the arcade cabinet, we can proceed with removing the monitor. As we talk about in the video, this is a great two person job especially if you are working with monitors that are larger than 19 inches. Position one person in the front of the cabinet and the other in the back. Have the person in the back lean the top of the monitor frame forward while the person in the front attempts to catch it. When the top of the monitor is being held in place by the person in the front, the person in the back can come around to the front and grab one side while the other person rotates around to the other side. Once you have both established a firm grip, lift the monitor up and out of the cabinet. We recommend setting the monitor down on the part of the frame that supports the monitor chassis. If you plan on laying the monitor on the face of the tube, make sure that you have something soft to lay it on such as a blanket or a piece of cardboard to prevent scratches.

Before we begin the process of installing our other monitor, we recommend doing a couple of checks just to make sure that the monitor we are installing is going to work in our cabinet. The first thing you want to check is to see if the frame of the monitor your installing is similar to the monitor you just removed. If they are not the same, you might have to transfer the chassis and tube from the frame of the monitor you are installing to the frame of your old monitor. This is not a difficult process but it can be somewhat tedious. The second thing you want to check is that the monitors are roughly the same size. Take the length and width measurements of the monitor frame you are going to install to see if they are comparable to the monitor you are replacing. While you are taking these measurements, you might also check the viewable size of your monitor by measuring diagonally across your monitor from the inside black line. Please see the image below for more information.

Now that we’ve determined that our monitor is compatible with our cabinet, we can begin the process of installing it. We’re going to use the same process as we did when we removed the old monitor from the cabinet except in reverse. Start off with one person holding each side of the monitor. Gently lift up and place the bottom of the monitor into the cabinet. One person rotates from the side to the top of the monitor while the other person runs around to the back of the cabinet. Once the back person is in position, the front person can lean the top of the monitor into the cabinet with the back person making sure that the monitor is positioned correctly and free from obstructions. When the monitor is in place, we can then screw or bolt the frame to the cabinet to keep it from shifting when we’re moving it. At this point we should have the monitor secured to the cabinet and are now ready to wire it to our harness.

In a perfect world, all of the power and video connectors that every arcade game uses would be the same and we wouldn’t have to do any conversion to get it to work. Unfortunately this is not always the case. In order to get your newly installed monitor to work in your cabinet, you need to determine what kind of connectors it uses for video and power and see if they are the same as the connectors in your cabinet. If they are not the same, you might need to do some rewiring or repinning to get them to work. If you have the video connector for the new monitor, you can always tie the wires from your cabinet harness to this connector wiring provided that you can figure out which wire goes where. Make sure you refer to the diagram that you made for the connectors on your old monitor to give you a better idea. Of course, power is a little simpler as it is only 2-3 wires which can be easily identified using a multimeter. You can also use wire nuts on these wires if you are not experienced with or do not have any Molex connectors.

If you are having trouble figuring out the wiring for your newly installed monitor, here are some tips that might help you out. You might find that the newly installed monitor has a place for two sync wires but you only have one coming from your harness or vice versa. You might have to split or combine these sync wires depending on the requirements of the monitor. This can be accomplished quite simply by stripping the wire a couple of inches above the end and either tying or combining another wire into it at this point depending on the circumstance. If you’re having trouble figuring out which video wires are performing what functions, see if you can get a copy of the manual for your game board. The manual should contain the pinouts which you can then follow from the harness to determine the function of each wire.

Once we have finished wiring up the power and the video, we are now ready to try out our monitor. When we turn on the monitor for the first time, we might notice that the screen is not quite right. A lot of times you will need to adjust the monitor in order to get the desired picture. Please see our post on Adjusting An Arcade Monitor for more information. If you are still having trouble getting the picture the way you want it, you might check your wiring to make sure everything is correct. It could be that you have incorrectly hooked up your sync wires. Below are some pictures of what an out of sync screen looks like compared to a screen that just needs some hold adjustment to give you an idea of the difference. Hopefully after some minor wiring and potentiometer adjustments you can get the picture to the way that you like it.

Click Image To See A Larger Version

Although repairing the chassis will fix the majority of monitor issues, there are just some problems that require a complete monitor replacement. Knowing how to replace a monitor will be a very useful skill for those times when a chassis repair just won’t get the job done. Please feel free to leave any questions or suggestions in the comments section below.

While switching power supplies are the standard in newer arcade games, classics such as Ms. Pac Man and Centipede originally had non-switching, linear power supplies that can be quite intimidating at first glance. These classic (or old school) power supplies usually look like a brick located at the bottom of your cabinet and can be difficult to work with due to years of wear and tear. In this post, we will discuss how to check the voltage coming out of your classic power supply as well as how to check the voltage on your board at the harness connection.

Checking A Classic Power Supply

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vys-s1cTT6g

First off, we want to identify where our classic power supply is in our cabinet. These power supplies are typically located at the bottom of the cabinet and resemble a brick-like structure. They should have AC voltage coming into of the bottom of one side either directly from the wall or from an AC filter. The opposite side should contain the AC voltages that go out to the board and other cabinet parts such as coin lights. Be careful not to mistake your isolation transformer with your power supply. Isolation transformers can look very similar to classic power supplies except for the fact that they usually have two wires coming into the bottom for AC input from the wall or AC filter and two coming out of the top (usually on the same side) for AC output to the monitor.

If you just see one brick-like structure in the bottom of you cabinet it could be that you have a dual power supply/isolation transformer unit. If this is the case then the bottom of both sides should have AC input lines with the top of one side putting out multiple AC voltages to the board and the top of the other side putting out AC voltage to the monitor. While these dual units are not as common, they are certainly something to be aware of in case you run across one.

Once we have located the power supply in our cabinet, we can begin the process of checking the voltages. Let’s start off by setting our multimeter to the AC voltage setting. Now we must identify which of our contact points are grounds and which ones hold voltages. Our ground wire in the video is indicated by a 0V (Zero Volts) marking on the power supply label. Most of these power supplies were labeled at one time or another, however, age and normal wear and tear usually leave them in an unreadable state. If you cannot identify which wire is the ground wire, we recommend placing the black probe of your multimeter on the AC ground coming from the wall. This AC ground is usually easier to locate (it’s usually the green wire on the AC filter) than the AC ground on the transformer and allows us to check the contact points safely with our red probe. This is a much better alternative than randomly touching contact points to see if we can locate the ground wire.

Something to keep in mind when checking our classic power supply is that not all of them put out the same voltage. For example, a Ms. Pac Man usually puts out 7 VAC while other games might use a higher voltage because of the other cabinet parts that use that particular line. If you find that your power supply is giving off higher voltage than what the manual for the game shows then you might try checking the voltage where the board connects to the harness. This can usually be accomplished by finding the ground and AC voltage pins on your harness (via your manual) and placing your multimeter probes on these points. Your board might have easily accessible contact points that you can place your probes on for testing. Whatever way you decide to check the voltage going to your board, performing this check allows you to make sure your board is not just getting power but the correct voltage.

You might also notice some fuses located in the bottom of your arcade cabinet around the power supply. While you can certainly check these in the traditional manner that we discuss in our post on Checking Fuses With A Multimeter, you can also check them with the game on by placing your black probe on a ground point and the red probe on the other side of the fuse. If voltage is flowing through the fuse then you know that it is good. Also, make sure that you are careful when working with an arcade game that’s plugged in. Always take the necessary measures to make sure you are safe when working in these situations.

Like we discussed in our post on Checking And Replacing A Power Supply, most arcade boards use DC power. Before switching power supplies became popular, different arcade manufacturers would use different methods to convert the incoming AC power to DC. For example, a Ms. Pac Man board takes in AC power from the power supply (or transformer) and converts it to DC voltage for use by the logic circuits and audio amplifier. Of course, you can also hook up DC voltage directly to the board so that the board does not have to convert it. As you can see from these Ms. Pac Man pinouts on MikesArcade.com, there is both an AC and DC wiring configuration. Many Atari arcade games such as Centipede have an AR (Audio Regulator) board that regulates the voltage coming in from the power supply then passes it along to the main board. The AR board also acts as an audio amplifier for these games and can be the cause of audio problems you might be having with your Atari arcade games. The AR board should have test points on it that allow you to check to see if your voltage is correct. If you suspect that your AR board might be having issues, Bob Roberts sells repair kits that can restore it’s functionality.

Most of the arcade games that people consider classics such as Ms. Pac Man and Centipede did not have the benefit of switching power supplies when they were produced. As such, having the skills to check a classic power supply can be a very valuable as you work on these older arcade games. Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions by leaving them in the comments section below.

If you’ve worked on many arcade games, you might have come across a problem where your picture does not fill up the entirety of your screen even after you’ve tried multiple potentiometer adjustments. It could be that this problem is related to a part on your monitor chassis called the horizontal width coil. In this post, we will discuss how to adjust the horizontal width coil so that the picture fills your screen on your arcade monitor.

Adjusting The Horizontal Width Coil

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuTlChCko4k

Before you begin, we highly recommend purchasing a plastic or non-conductive alignment tool kit. These kits come with plastic tools that are specifically used to adjust these kinds of parts. You can use an Allen wrench to adjust the horizontal width coil, however, there are many down sides to doing this. For one, an Allen wrench generates a lot of torque that could cause your coil to crack or break. Also, you must have the game off while you are using the Allen wrench to adjust the coil. If the game is on when doing this the Allen wrench will heat up and can burn your hands not to mention that you will be navigating around some very high voltage areas with a piece of metal in your hand. Take our recommendation and purchase a plastic or non-conductive alignment tool kit.

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Please make sure to be careful around your chassis if you are attempting to adjust the coil while the game is on. Should you make contact with any high voltage areas on your chassis you could receive a bad shock. Be very cautious at all times when attempting this process. Also, it’s a good idea to set up a mirror in a position where you can the results that are caused from your adjustment.

Now that you have the correct tools and setup, it is time to adjust the horizontal width coil. Take your alignment tool and carefully place it into the coil and attempt to turn it. You may need to turn it clockwise and counter-clockwise a couple of times to loosen it up. Try not to force it too hard as too much torque even with the alignment tool can break your coil. If you cannot get it to turn or do not see a change in your monitor you might try leaving the monitor on for about an hour and retrying this process. This should cause the coil to heat up making it more easy to adjust.

If you have tried the techniques we’ve mentioned and you still do not see the changes you want, you could have more of a capacitor problem than a horizontal width coil problem. Look around your coil and see if you can find any polypropylene capacitors. These capacitors typically look like rather large pieces of Chiclets chewing gum and also control the picture width. Try replacing these capacitors to see if it changes your picture. You could also try checking your B+ voltage adjustment on your chassis. If the value of it is incorrect (it should be 120 VDC on most monitors) then this could also cause some picture size issues.

A Polypropylene Capacitor

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If you deal with enough arcade games you will eventually come across this problem where the picture does not fill up the entirety of your screen. Knowing how to adjust the horizontal width coil as well as the other measures we described should help you greatly in solving these issues in the future. As always, please leave any questions or suggestions in the comments section below.

Repairing arcade monitors relies heavily on your ability to identify where the problem resides. Being able to tell where on a chassis the problem originates from will greatly increase your chances for a successful repair. In this post, we once again visit with our resident monitor repair guy Michael to talk about how to identify and repair some common monitor issues.

More Troubleshooting Monitors With Michael (Part One)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuZjLIzpVOc

More Troubleshooting Monitors With Michael (Part Two)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NLyvHD98rs

Most of the questions we received through the website are related to problems with arcade monitors. Since the topic of monitors is so prevalent, we thought we would once again get together with Michael to discuss some more monitor troubleshooting techniques.

In the picture above we have a horizontally mounted monitor that has what appears to be horizontal lines located in the top half of the screen. It is important to note what direction the lines are running as this will help us determine what section of the chassis we need to focus on. Even though you might think that this problem is located in the horizontal section of the chassis, it is actually related to the vertical section.

Side Note: There is a common misconception that horizontally mounted and vertically mounted monitors are different, however, they are actually the same monitor. The location of the mounting rails and the way the picture is displayed are the only differences between them. The anode (located underneath the suction cup) will always indicated the top of the monitor.

When you have these type of lines running along your screen, these are typically caused by a bad capacitor in the respective section of your chassis. There are many reasons why capacitors go bad. For instance, many electronics manufacturers use cheap capacitors to cut production costs. Also, dust can act like a big blanket on top of your board heating up components and causing them to fail. This is one reason why making sure your game is sufficiently cooled is so important. Please see our post on Installing A Fan In An Arcade Cabinet for more information on cooling.

Lets say we didn’t know that this problem was related to a capacitor, we could always start by identifying what is working with our monitor. Since we are getting a picture, we know that our flyback, anode and tube are probably good and that we are getting power to the monitor. Our colors look pretty accurate so the connections from the PCB and the neck board to the chassis are probably good as well as the neck board itself. This pretty much leaves us with just the chassis. This process-of-elimination technique works very well for troubleshooting the majority of parts in an arcade cabinet.

Now that we’ve identified the problem, we can now begin to track it down on our chassis. As we said before, this problem is more than likely caused by a bad capacitor in the vertical section of our monitor. Some monitors might have this section labeled on the chassis while others will not. A good way to determine the location of the vertical section is to trace down the yoke wires coming off of the tube to the chassis. A green or yellow yoke wire from the tube usually leads to the vertical section of the chassis. Conversely, a blue or red yoke wire usually leads to the horizontal section. These sections have a location number that corresponds with the parts in that section (i.e. the vertical section might be IC600 with the capacitors in the section being number C610). This will help you in determining which parts go with which section.

When we’ve located the vertical section, we can now begin to look at the parts associated with that section. On this particular monitor there were two capacitors located in this section. Using an ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) meter we were able to determine that the 100μf (microfarad) capacitor was bad while it was in circuit. You can also use a multimeter with a capacitance tester to check your capacitors but you must take them out of circuit (i.e. out of the board) to get an accurate reading.

Something we covered in our post on Installing A Cap Kit is the importance of replacing a cap with another cap of the exact same microfarad and in the exact same polarity position. Also remember that the voltage of the new cap does not have to match the voltage of the old cap. As long as the voltage is greater than or equal to the original cap you should be fine. Another reading you should consider when replacing a capacitor is the degrees. The degrees of a capacitor indicates what frequencies the capacitor is rated for. We recommend using 105 degree capacitors as they can handle most of the frequencies used in arcade monitors and power supplies.

Once we replaced the cap on this particular monitor, our picture was as good as new…

Remember you can always install an entire cap kit, however, these kits usually do not contain a replacement cap for every cap on the monitor chassis. Cap kits are usually comprised of capacitors that have a high failure risk. As such, your cap kit might not contain the capacitor you need to solve your particular problem. If you install a cap kit and continue to have the same problem, make sure you check some of the caps that you didn’t replace.

We talked a little bit about the thin horizontal line monitor problem in our original Troubleshooting Monitors With Michael post but thought we would revisit this topic for a moment. Should you have a monitor with this problem, check the vertical IC (Integrated Circuit) chip to see if it is good and if it is getting power. You can check it with a standard multimeter. You can try refreshing the solder around the chip but if that doesn’t work we recommend just replacing the chip altogether.

Learning how to identify problems with arcade monitors and being able to locate the source can save you a lot of time and trouble. With these techniques you should be able to narrow down the scope of your repair to just the trouble spots that are causing your particular issue. Good luck in the future with all of your arcade monitor repairs and if you have any questions please feel free to post them in the comments section below.

Arcade cabinets tend to take a little punishment over the years. Time really does take it’s toll on your arcade cabinet and sideart. In this post, we’re going to discuss how you can restore some of the life back in to your arcade cabinet by laminating it.

Laminating An Arcade Cabinet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1hBA0011eI

One of the most popular parts of our old website, Tim’s Arcade Restoration, was a post that we put together about laminating an arcade cabinet. We thought that we would revisit this topic in this post and provide some additional information that we forgot to add the first time. Also, I thought for nostalgia sake that I would repost the original article on the site for those of you who haven’t seen it. Yep, we’ve definitely come a long way! Well, enough reminiscing, let’s get started.

Before we begin the lamination process, lets do some prep work. We started off by using an electric sander to sand our cabinet almost down to the bare wood. This allows the spray adhesive we use for the laminate to stick better to the cabinet. After sanding the cabinet, we took some bondo and filled in some of the holes and rough areas. Once the bondo hardened, we sanded it down to make it even with the cabinet. While this prep work can be time consuming, it can really make a difference in the quality of your laminating job.

With the prep work complete, we can now start laminating our cabinet. Laminating a cabinet requires three things: laminate, spray adhesive and a laminate router. You can purchase these items from your local hardware stores such as Lowes or Home Depot. You can also follow the links below to purchase these items. We usually use a sheet of black laminate (4′ by 8′) per cabinet side. You should have enough left to also laminate the top and the front depending on the size of your cabinet. These sheets are typically priced around $50 each. The spray adhesive that we recommend is High-Strength 90 Spray Adhesive by 3M. It usually runs around $15 a can and most jobs can be completed with one. Laminate routers vary in price depending on brand but you can get a basic one for around $100 or less.

Buy 3M High-Strength 90 Spray Adhesive from Amazon.com now!

Buy the Porter-Cable Laminate Trim Router from Amazon.com now!

Let’s start off your laminating project by measuring your cabinet and tracing it out on the laminate. Remember to add 4 or 5 inches to your measurements to make sure that every part that touches the cabinet has spray adhesive on it. Take the spray adhesive and apply it to your arcade cabinet and laminate. Spray the laminate only in the traced area that you are going to apply to the cabinet so that you don’t waste your spray adhesive. After this, wait 10 minutes so that the spray adhesive can start creating a bond with your cabinet and laminate.

Once you have waited 10 minutes, we can now apply the laminate to the cabinet. While you can do this yourself, it is nice to have help as the laminate can break if you are not careful with it. Line up the cabinet with the traced area on your laminate. Make sure that the laminate hangs over at least 2 inches on each side of the cabinet. With the laminate applied, push on it and wipe it down with a cloth so that it bonds with the cabinet. Let it sit for a minute while you get your laminate router ready.

Now that we’ve got the laminate on the cabinet, we can now use our laminate router to cut off the excess. Make sure you use a laminate router as sometimes regular routers don’t work as well on laminate. Also, make sure you have a laminate cutting bit as well. Take a look at the bottom edge of your cabinet and adjust the depth on your laminate router accordingly. It might take you a few tries to get just the right depth but once you do you can fly around the rest of the cabinet. With your laminate router adjusted to the right depth, start tracing the outside of the cabinet to cut the laminate. Remember, try not to force the router around the cabinet. It should move easily around with very little effort. After you’ve cut the majority of the excess laminate off, go ahead and trace it at least one more time to remove any small pieces that are still attached to the cabinet.

When you have finished cutting the excess laminate off, you can retrace the cabinet with the laminate router using a 23 degree bit. This is nice because it does give the cabinet a sharp looking beveled edge, however, it also allows you to see the edge of the laminate. We usually just take a sponge style sanding block and go around the edges to sand off those rough spots that are left over from the laminate router. Of course, you want to repeat this process with the other side of the cabinet and perhaps the front and top. Once you have done this, your laminating project is complete.

While it might take a little more effort than painting, laminating an arcade cabinet takes less time and the results are typically just as good if not better. It really gives new life to cabinets that have been beat up over the years and allows you to easily apply any sideart that you have. Please see our comments section if you have any questions or suggestion about our site or this post.

Installing a cap kit on your monitor chassis can be a great way to restore washed out colors as well as fix other problems that you might encounter. In this post, we will take a look at how to identify what cap kit you need and how to install it once you have received it.

Installing A Cap Kit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XArHdR78K9M

Here’s another video from our friend Dan that also shows you how to install a cap kit. Thanks Dan for letting us use it!

Cap Kit (Dan’s YouTube Channel)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3EEPLjJeXg

Before you can install a cap kit you need to identify what cap kit you need. If you know the brand and model of your arcade monitor then getting the correct cap kit is easy. If you do not, however, then your first step is to find out. Look on the monitor frame or tube for any stickers that might indicate a brand and/or model. If you do not see any stickers or still can’t identify it, take out the chassis (please review how to Safely Discharge A Monitor) and compare it to the images on the What’s My Monitor? page on therealbobroberts.net. Bob Roberts is also a great source for cap kits if you need to purchase one.

Once you have identified, ordered, and received your cap kit, it’s time to get started with the installation. Before you start installing your cap kit, we recommend reviewing our post on Your First Arcade Toolbox as it goes over exactly what tools you will need to perform this procedure.

Now, let’s talk about some general information about electrolytic capacitors or caps. Most of the caps that you will receive in your cap kit will have two numbers printed on them. The first number is usually the voltage indicated by the letter v after it. The second number is usually the microfarad indicated by symbol μf after it. Caps also have polarity meaning that there is a positive and negative end. The negative end is usually indicated by the shorter lead and the positive the longer lead. There is also a stripe on the cap itself that will usually indicate the negative lead.

It is important to note that you must replace a cap with another cap of the exact same microfarad and in the exact same polarity position. Should you use a cap with the wrong microfarad or place it in the wrong polarity position your monitor will end up in worse shape than when you started. Another important note is that the voltage of the new cap does not have to match the voltage of the old cap. As long as the voltage is greater than or equal to the original cap you should be fine.

With all of that said, let’s replace our first cap. The first thing you want to do is locate a cap that you want to replace. A bad electrolytic capacitor will often swell or bulge at the top or leak out of the bottom, however, they can still be bad even if they don’t look bad. If you have an ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) meter you can test the cap before you remove it to see if it’s bad or not. Since caps are so cheap, however, it’s good to just go ahead and replace them all. Use either a desoldering iron or solder wick to remove the solder from around the leads of the original cap. Be careful not to pull up or damage the trace on the board as this can cause problems. Once that is done, remove the cap making sure that you note the polarity position of the negative and the positive leads.

Look through your cap kit and locate a cap that has the same microfarad and the same or greater voltage as the original cap. Put the new cap in the same place and polarity position as the original cap. Pull the leads up through the holes and bend them away from each other so that the cap stays in place. Solder the leads to the board using your soldering iron and some solder. Once the solder cools, clip the protruding part of the leads from the board using some wire cutters and you’re done with one cap. Continue repeating this process until you have used all the caps in your cap kit.

While applying a cap kit to a monitor will not fix every monitor problem, it can help with issues such as washed out colors, vertical drop, and/or lines across the top of the screen. Now you can fix these common issues yourself without too much trouble. Do you have any other comments or suggestions about installing a cap kit? Please leave them below in our comments section.