Hi, I just picked up a star wars, this is the first amplifone I have my hands on so this is new territory for me. Did the very minimal to get it going, replaced the 2n3055 and verified voltages, tested drop across the harness and filter pcb, all that looking good. plays blind, hooked up a scope, no x or y, so I borrowed the AVG from my space duel and that fixed that issue. Since the thing had been powered on the past week so the seller could post a video of it playing blind and while I was there to pick it up, I figured I had nothing to lose to flip the switch on the monitor, whatever damage that was going to be done was probably already done. Checked fuses, connectors all that good stuff and fired it up. I did get a picture, but it was dim. considering the condition of the game's connectors and the fact that the AR2 isn't roasted or hasn't even been removed before today, it's probably not high hour. double checked tube health with my tester and it's all happy, so it's definitely a chassis issue. I'm gonna assume Red is not dead until it proves me otherwise. Glued the small gear together for the Y axis of the yoke controller and ran it through a death star explosion or two night driver mode for shits and giggles. So yeah, someone's home but not quite all the way.
I figure I'll get the basic maintenance stuff done before I go any further because the HV board's caps are probably roasted to hell and back by those resistors. Read up on the FAQ to order me some parts and whatnot. I noticed that the BU406D is not a BU406D, but a BU409. there's also a big diode tacked onto the backside of it. I saw in the faq that there are people who have had luck adding an external diode for damping, I'm guessing this is what it looks like? either way I'm gonna get the right part and be done with that.
Anyway besides that I just have three questions for now.
1: do the crt sockets ever go bad on these? not a real big fan of how it looks like the thing is trying to come apart, but maybe that's normal.
2: what's the best fpga AVG replacement available now? I see that there are a few options. I remember trying the fpga avg in my gravitar on my space duel and it really didn't like it. I'm guessing not all of them are created equal?
3: what's a good thing to do with those big fat power resistors that are burning a hole through my pcb. I'm thinking a fan, but not sure if there's a more preferred way to do things
I guess if I have any other questions after this I'll post them here later.
Thanks.