Basic monitor information - how to ask good questions. Read this first

Great info, maybe a compatablity chart as to what monitors will work with which systems, and which montiors can be swapped out for other monitor chassis and what is involved with upgrading to a newer style of monitor.

For instance I was having a hard time doing a search to find what other models of Well Gardner will plug and play with each other. I was trying to swap out a wg4606 to a wg4903.
 
All 19" standard resolution arcade monitors should be swappable with each other, meaning you should be able to pull any monitor and drop in another standard rez 19" and it should be fine (with the obvious adjustments necessary for image tweaks).

I do know, however, that some chassis exhibit some funky behaviors when paired with certain game PCBs. I have a Neo Geo cab on location, for example with a 19K4903 in it that has just a touch of curl on the top of the screen that I just can't seem to adjust out. H-hold helps, but I just never can seem to get it completely perfect. The issue does not appear when connected to my Pac pcb, however.
 
Great info, maybe a compatablity chart as to what monitors will work with which systems, and which montiors can be swapped out for other monitor chassis and what is involved with upgrading to a newer style of monitor.

For instance I was having a hard time doing a search to find what other models of Well Gardner will plug and play with each other. I was trying to swap out a wg4606 to a wg4903.

There are very few monitors that you can swap just the chassis and have it work with no other work needed. While some - like your K4606 and K4903 - used the same tube, the yokes are completely different and must be swapped with the chassis. Also, the frames for those two are different, and a lot of work would be needed to mount one chassis onto the frame meant for the other.

Now, if you are swapping entire monitors, then it doesn't matter who made the monitor. All you need to know is if the size is the same (both 19"?), same resolution (CGA? EGA?), and are the mounting frames the same (hard to put a vertical shelf mount frame into a game that is made for a horizontal shelf mount game like Pac-Man). Frames can be changed if necessary. Other than that, your video and power connectors may need to be adapted to fit the new monitor, but that's not TOO difficult...
 
Made this picture for someone but thought it might be helpful for others too:

The guy was going to throw away the CRT (for the obvious reason) but I told him to remove the useful parts.

Note that the convergence strips are a name I thought up myself, there doesn't seem to be an "official" name...
 

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Made this picture for someone but thought it might be helpful for others too:

The guy was going to throw away the CRT (for the obvious reason) but I told him to remove the useful parts.

Note that the convergence strips are a name I thought up myself, there doesn't seem to be an "official" name...

I believe the kind folks over at Wells Gardner referred to them as CRT alignment strips.
 
Ian,

Great stuff, I'm trying to absorb it.

So, can you cover something not covered so far (if you did, I missed it)...

What exactly are "drive" and "cut off" and how to properly adjust (has to be something more than "hey that looks good").

On the neck board, on a G07 for example, why do they have cut off for red, green and blue, but they only have drive for green and red? Why no blue drive?
 
Another note about Sanyo monitors:

When disassembling and reassembling a Sanyo 20EZ, be VERY CAREFUL of connectors JB and JC on the sound board in the monitor. These two plugs are physically the same - but they are marked - both on the plug and on the board. If for some reason yours are not marked, mark them.

This is very important, because if you mix them up, you will destroy parts in the audio section of the game board.

-Ian
 
Instructions for discharging:
"DON'T disconnect the HV anode without discharging it first! The picture tube stores a charge, and it can zap you good if you're not careful. To discharge, take a cliplead and attach one end to the monitor's frame, and the other end to the shaft of a plastic-handled flat blade screwdriver. Slide the screwdriver under the suction cup untill you feel it touch the metal contact in the center. If the tube still had a charge, you'll hear a nice POP! You don't need to discharge the tube unless you need to disconnect that anode lead. And watch out, sometimes the tube can sort-of recharge itself, just enough to startle you. Do it again just to be safe."


OK, I watched a quick video on it, and it looks easy. Like it is discribe above, but does the monitor frame need to be plug to the ground house outlet too? (the 3rd prung of the outlet without the other 2 power prungs) Does the charge just get zapped into the monitor frame, and thats it?
 
does the monitor frame need to be plug to the ground house outlet too? (the 3rd prung of the outlet without the other 2 power prungs) Does the charge just get zapped into the monitor frame, and thats it?

No - the monitor does not need to be grounded. You are discharging the capacitor that is the picture tube by shorting it out - connecting the anode to the monitor's frame ( which is connected to the aquadag coating of the CRT). The monitor's frame being grounded does not matter. I would suggest not working on a game that's plugged in, unless necessary. And don't discharge a monitor while it's on. :D

For a better description of what's happening, see "Discharging a monitor, and why you have to:" on post #2 in this thread.

-Ian
 
I read it all, but how do you put back the rubber sucton cup back on?
Hook the 2 wires hooks back into the hole. Done?

Mines look like its "unsuctioned" even with the 2 wires in the hole. It seems the middle cylinder thing behind the 2 hooks does something but I missing it how it works. Does it also go into the hole somehow? My rubber suction cup looks raised.
 
That "silver cylinder" thing that the two hooks come out of should be inside the suction cup body in the slot. Sometimes it pops out when removing or the suction cup. Just hold the suction cup with one hand, then pull on the anode wire with the other until that cylinder pops back into it's slot. then put the hooks into the hole and press down on the suction cup to get a good grip on the tube. Done...
 
That "silver cylinder" thing that the two hooks come out of should be inside the suction cup body in the slot. Sometimes it pops out when removing or the suction cup. Just hold the suction cup with one hand, then pull on the anode wire with the other until that cylinder pops back into it's slot. then put the hooks into the hole and press down on the suction cup to get a good grip on the tube. Done...

Press down with the 2 hooks hooked...
So you are saying the middle cylinder does not go into the hole. So the rubber cup actually does hold down by suction?
 
The metal ring is supposed to kind of help hold the clip/hook into the suction cup itself. The suction cup sticks to the tube with suction, and being pulled against the tube a bit by the clips. It's simply a protective boot to cover what would be a very dangerous exposed HV connection, and keeps dust and gunk out of it. It serves no other purpose. As long as it's over the connection, it's fine. The actual electrical connection to the anode is done by the little metal tabs clipping into the ring around the inside of the anode hole in the tube. So, provided both clips are clipped into the hole, and the suction cup is covering the connection, it's good.

Note that not all suction cups stick particularly well. Some of the newer ones don't always grip, and some older ones are stiff from age and also don't grip. It's not a big deal.

-Ian
 
Ok, time to figure out what kinda monitor I have in this machine. Then I will come back and reread this. Although it was helpful the first time, I'm suer knowing what I have will assist in making it make even more sense.
 
Also, putting an LCD in an 80's arcade game is considered a sacralige, much like cutting up a 1957 Chevy to shoehorn a modern engine into. And once you've seen a game so converted, you'll understand exactly why people feel that way. It looks terrible.

I'm curious/skeptical (genuinely, not snarkily) as to how widespread this opinion really is and how it breaks down among the "must be as authentic as it was on the shipping dock in March 1982" crowd versus the "I want the best gameplay/ownership experience however it is achieved" crowd.

I'll admit readily I am in the second camp. I absolutely admire the restoration work I've seen here and for the most part if I have a CRT monitor working well in a unit, I am content to leave it there. A lesson I had beaten into me years ago is that when arcade hardware is working properly, don't screw with it! But ultimately, practical matters win the day for me. The new shipping Pac-Man Party upright with the LCD monitor looks fantastic -- if that's what I would get upgrading an old Pac to LCD, I would be fine with it. I've put LCDs into two of my machines so far that really needed it, but both were newer hardware (Neo Geo and Capcom CPS2). I have some older machines with monitors that are on their deathbeds: TRON, Star Wars, Gauntlet. I know with SW it's vector so that can never be upgraded, but wow, I'm really starting to itch for LCD upgrades for the others. Beautiful color spectra, less heat emission, MUCH lighter physically, significantly less electrical hazard, you can just hook it straight to a 12V lead instead of hot-chassis-ing it to the A/C... the list goes on. I guess the whole "sacrilege" thing just seems so subjective to me when once a game owner has accepted not meeting the threshold for ABSOLUTE OCD-level authenticity on their unit, an LCD refit seems like one of the best things you can do functionally. Sort of like that multi-Williams JAMMA board.

It would be one thing if it changed the game, a la Star Wars Special Edition. But from where I sit, it just improves things, a la Star Wars Criterion THX laserdisc box set. Interested in hearing what people think about this and whether the "sacrilege" perspective really is as prevalent as the OP suggests.
 
The real argument isn't really authenticity as much as "looks good". Pac-Man Party looks good on LCD because it was made for LCD. Pac-Man wasn't. An LCD would look "acceptable" on Pac-Man, but wouldn't be anywhere near as nice as a CRT. LCD's have brightness limiters, the pixels will be too sharp, and everything will look flattened. If you had one of each sitting next to each other, you'd think the LCD looked bad when compared to the other...
 
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