First score of the year Tempest!

What VC said about recommended reading. Add to that my 6100 setup guide, which is mostly useful if you're setting up a monitor with a repaired set of boards.

However there is some other good info in it, including a method for quickly testing the six frame transistors. It's a handy skill to have if you're going to own almost any vector monitor, as checking the transistors is often the first thing you want to do if you run into issues.

Download here:

https://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=404600
 
Ain't she a beauty ... ;)

AR2_2.jpg


Tempest (A035435-02) but the -04 board will work just as well
 
Thanks for the extra info.
I watched the tempest show on Johns Arcade and the issues he was having with his.
So are 6100's self discharging like he states in his videos?
 
Why take a chance that the monitor is discharged or not?
If you have a few arcade games in your collection it makes sense to own a core set of test/rework equipment INCUDING a HV PROBE (such a Fluke 80K-40).
 
The marquee on this Tempest is one of the weird ones where the cloud is actually in white and the monsters are drawn kind of funky and missing some of the detail. Im not sure what the deal is with those, but one of the machines in Banning has that and it looks weird as hell. Banning has a couple Tempests and looking at this one side to side with another one, it is way different.

Maybe someone can shed some light?

I noticed that when I was in Banning too, and thought it was a horrible repro or Willis. It turns out that is the Atari-Ireland produced Tempest.
 
The game is from north America. Here's a pic of the serial number. Did they produce the white cloud side art in the states as well?
 

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Nice, Tempest has long been one of my all time favorite games, I never get tired of it.

That side art looks fantastic, it's nicer than mine which itself is nicer than quite a few of the others I've seen, I would definitely keep that original.

I have the LV2000 in one of my vector games but frankly I'm not sold on the benefits. Once I figured out the problem that causes most of the failures in the first place I have not had a single WG 6100 burn up including the four I own in games and countless others I've repaired.

There are two main issues, one is the traces around the connector pins on the deflection board are thin and crack easily, I desolder the pins one at a time, scrape off a bit of the solder mask on the trace(s) to the pad and then resolder the now slightly wider joint, this provides added mechanical strength.

The other issue is with the chassis mounted transistors, the sockets can get crusty or the contacts become loose, after removing a transistor cinch up the socket pins a little and make sure they're not all corroded. Then when you reinstall the transistor clean off ALL the old heatsink paste and apply a thin even coat to both sides of a new mica insulator, often I see these installed with WAY too much paste and that is worse than too little. Tighten the mounting screws firmly but not so tight that you strip the sockets, you don't have to crank the hell out of them.

If you do that, these monitors are actually pretty reliable in my experience. The only thing I've had fail in any of mine in close to 20 years is the HV transformer in my Tempest burned up recently.
 
Thanks for the extra info.
I watched the tempest show on Johns Arcade and the issues he was having with his.
So are 6100's self discharging like he states in his videos?


Every color monitor I've ever seen is self discharging due to the focus/screen divider driven from the 2nd anode voltage, B&W monitors on the other hand tend to use a lower focus voltage and don't work this way, they can hold a charge for quite a long time.

Even so, it's always prudent to discharge even if you know it's already dead. Simply ground a screwdriver to the frame and poke it under the anode cup until it touches the contact. I usually then use a clip lead to keep it grounded until I put it back together, charge redistribution will cause these to charge back up to a point. The HV is extremely unlikely to hurt you directly but it can easily make you jerk away and cut yourself or drop the tube and break it, best to just avoid that.
 
- Don't replace that sideart. Always keep original anything, unless it absolutely can't be salvaged. 20+ years from now, it will make a big difference in value, and it's nice to have the character and wear of original anything IMO, over shiny new repro stuff. Only replace as an absolute last option.

- There are multiple options for Tubes, depending on how technical you want to get. The easiest option is to contact brzezicki. He makes a simple kit that can drop in, and give you Tubes, and bypasses all of the ROMs, making the board more reliable. There is also another guy here (I forget who) who has a 'kit' that is basically just a replacement for the one ROM that holds the tubes code (as it's only one ROM that changes).

- The original Tempest spinner knobs didn't have Atari logos (as far as I'm aware, unless there was something different in Canada). My guess is you probably have one of the later spinner knobs that was used on Blasteroids and I think other games, assuming the rest of the spinner is the same. (Post a pic of the underside.)

- Marquees are tricky for Tempest. I'm not aware of anyone that makes a really good repro. Some here may tell you Phoenix Arcade, but theirs has issues, as I've documented in the thread below. My personal suggestion would be to find another original replacement, as replacing the overlay is a massive pain anyway, and there should be a fair number of originals still around.

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=386506&page=4


Aside from that, I repair everything vector, and especially Tempest. If you have any other questions, feel free to post here, or PM me anytime.
I just installed brzezicki's kit last week in my tempest. It works great, and is easy to install. I would recommend it if you want tempest tubes and to get rid of a bunch of possible rom/socket failures done the road.
 
I don't have much to add other than - replacing the marquee overlay on my Tempest was one of the most miserable game projects I've ever undertaken. It took hours of scrubbing, scraping and about a half gallon of stripper to get the goo from the old one off.
 
Every color monitor I've ever seen is self discharging due to the focus/screen divider driven from the 2nd anode voltage, B&W monitors on the other hand tend to use a lower focus voltage and don't work this way, they can hold a charge for quite a long time.

Even so, it's always prudent to discharge even if you know it's already dead. Simply ground a screwdriver to the frame and poke it under the anode cup until it touches the contact. I usually then use a clip lead to keep it grounded until I put it back together, charge redistribution will cause these to charge back up to a point. The HV is extremely unlikely to hurt you directly but it can easily make you jerk away and cut yourself or drop the tube and break it, best to just avoid that.


++1 to all of this.

That said, I never discharge 6100's anymore when working on them. However even though they do self-discharge, that's mainly because I don't actually touch the anode hole, or the metal clip. It's fairly easy to insert and remove the cup without touching the metal, if you only touch the rubber. You can peel it back and lift up both sides, and pull it sideways and up to get it out. (And do the reverse to insert it.)

However, I always work on mine on the bench, where there's more space than in a game. And sometimes you do see a small spark when inserting, as the tubes can and do build up a small charge when sitting, after being discharged. So it's still enough that you'll feel it.

Also, James is 100% right in saying it's not the electricity that will hurt you, it's the damage you do (to yourself and/or the tube) when you jerk your hand back involuntarily.

This similarly applies to when you remove the connectors from the deflection and HV boards. Many tubes get necked when people pull hard, and the connector pops off, and the back of their hand goes with it and whacks the neck board. Hissss.....

PROTIP: Putting a little DeOxit on all of the connectors and headers lubes them up just enough to make them slide on and off MUCH more easily. I spray some into the plastic cover of the DeOxit can, and then paint it onto the headers with a small art paintbrush, so it doesn't spray everywhere. (And you use a lot less, too. One can lasts me a year, and I use it almost daily.)
 
I don't have much to add other than - replacing the marquee overlay on my Tempest was one of the most miserable game projects I've ever undertaken. It took hours of scrubbing, scraping and about a half gallon of stripper to get the goo from the old one off.

I'm going through that in addition to the CP right now. The large CP is cake compared to the $#*@! marquee.
 
The Cp on this machine looks great except for the bottom. Luckily i'll just have to clean it up and leave it like that. The marquee will needed to be looked at as well. Ordered touch up paint sticks to clean up the side art work.
 
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