25" TV Tube Converted to Amplifone Monitor

divingbuddy

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This last year I have found 4 25" TV's that are candidates for converting them to run as vector monitors. I gave a TV to my cousin, Robotronguy, so he could do the conversion on the tube and get it running.

Well today is the day he got it working. With lots of reading and searching to make sure everything would work, he plugged in the tube and fired up his Major Havoc to test his amplifone setup. Here are the pics of his effort to make this happen.

First you need to find the right tube for the swap. Then you need to find a yoke and rings from a donor WG6100, I actually mean a broken neck on a WG6100. I dread to even say those words, knock on wood, I have lots of vector games in my collection and I am super careful when moving my games and working on my vector monitors. But sometimes stuff happens and you end up with a necked tube. Now comes the fun part, remove the yoke and rings from the donor tube, then remove the yoke and rings from the necked WG6100. I highly recommend you mark the position of both yokes and rings. Leave the glue on the rings so they don't rotate during the swap. I also recommend putting a sharpie line across all the rings. Robotronguy decided to use the yoke from the WG6100, but try and use the rings from the donor tube to see if it would work. You can see the results on the pics. They seem to work well.

I now have a task ahead of myself to replicate his work. I bought a Star Wars cockpit this year and I needed to install a 25" tube inside. The game came with a WG6100 and was missing the brackets for the 25" tube. Thanks to Takeman for making the brackets again, just in time to help me with my restore of my SW cockpit. I have a spare WG6100 yoke and rings. All said and done, the tube is working using the WG6100 yoke, amplifone HV and deflection PCB. Soon I will do the tube swap and have the satisfaction of bringing a dedicated SW cockpit back to it's original glory with a 25" amplifone tube inside.
 

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More pics.......BTW, if you notice the sticker with the yard sale price of $1.00 on the TV, I actually got the TV for free......lol
 

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what was the tube number on the tv you used? great job BTW.
 
If it was me, I think I just might have to play a couple of games of Major Havoc on the 25" tube before transplanting it into the SW cockpit.


Probably slightly OT. I once knew an arcade tech who had an interesting use for Ampliphone 25" monitors when the cabinet was converted to a raster game. He would remove the tube and boards and modify them as to turn the monitor into a 25" 3 channel oscilloscope and sell the unit to a local college as a teaching tool. At least some of them were put to good use after their normal service life ended.
 
At present, doesn't only ONE 25" MH exist?

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=171315

DSC01294.JPG
 
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=171315

Yeah that is awesome but instead of a 720 I'm going to use a dedicated MH cabinet with a slightly altered head.

Then instead of referring to it as MH, it would be FH = FAT HEAD. LOL
Not sure what a new wider 25" head would look like on the thinner standard dedicated MH base pedestal. Might be even more top-heavy too (TH). :001_ssuprised:
Or will a 25" actually fit in the standard head?

The 720 might have better proportions associated with the larger monitor. YMMV
 
Wait a minute..... Hold on.....

First, how do you tell what would be a good "donor tube" from one that isn't?

Is there any way to even guess at which tube is in a TV, without taking the back off? Did certain "brand" names stick with certain tube manufacturers?

This is brilliant work, BTW. Given that I have a vector in my collection, and that I plan on adding more, I'm really interested in this.
 
Wait a minute..... Hold on.....

First, how do you tell what would be a good "donor tube" from one that isn't?

Is there any way to even guess at which tube is in a TV, without taking the back off? Did certain "brand" names stick with certain tube manufacturers?

This is brilliant work, BTW. Given that I have a vector in my collection, and that I plan on adding more, I'm really interested in this.

You can try to peek through the vents on the back of the TV to try to read the tube number. Then you cross reference it to see if it's got the same neck pinout as the original tube. Going by the B&K Rejuvenator adapter list is a common way (hence the use of, for example, "CR-23" as an means of ID - that's the number of the B&K adapter for a certain tube. If that's what the original needed and that's what your potential donor needs, then they have the same pinout).

There is also a site that is trying to build a reference of which tubes are found in which makes and models of TV, but given the number of TVs out there....

Not sure what a new wider 25" head would look like on the thinner standard dedicated MH base pedestal. Might be even more top-heavy too (TH). :001_ssuprised:
Or will a 25" actually fit in the standard head?

Agreed and I am hoping for exactly that. A SW cockpit is the same width as any other cab, and a 25" fits in there. I'd rather not have a TH FH MH. We shall see...
 
Here are pics of the TV's I found that will be tested soon. They are the same tube as the one Robotronguy tested. Just need to pull the yoke and rings. I will leave the degassing coil on the tube and use the original adjusting rings. Measuring and marking the exact position of the rings before removing them. Only replacing the yoke from a WG6100 donor tube. Yes you have to remove the back of the TV to find the embossed 25V100. The tube labels are slightly different, but are close depending on the manufacture (MVA63AAM01X). The tubes are all made in the USA. Notice on the last pic the adjusting magnets for the guns, they are shaped like a "V". They were installed in the factory manufacturing and converging process, Robotronguy did not mess with these. Yes, a standard CR23 pin out is used on both the 19" and 25" tubes.

This site is a good reference, but I wish they had pics of the inside labels.......hint.

http://junknet.net/donor-tvs
 

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Note that the '25V100' tells you the size and angle of the tube. The angle tells you if it will work with your yoke. It the A63... that tells you the electrical and other characteristics that determine if it will work with your chassis.
 
Here are the meter readings from one of the donor tubes original yokes. Use these readings only as reference information. Also note the manufacture location and difference in dates between the tubes.
 

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Here is the Tube number, I did no conversion on this yet, I did use the convergence rings that came on the tube. I measured from the end of the neck down to the beginning of the rings and the orientation of the rings to put it exactly back where it was originally(Took a bunch of pics) I left the factory Hot glue on there and didn't mess with the rings at all. Convergence came out fairly close, i will have to do some adjusting but only minor. I also had to extend the harness and wires for the yolk, degauss, and dag spring.
 

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Yes thanks this is very encouraging I am looking for a 25" for my cockpit too. Trying to find a compatible tube in New Zealand is......challenging :)
 
Shipping a tube frome here to there would be crazy expensive.
 
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