Hello from Kansas

LegoTekFan486

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I don't currently own any machines, but I'm in the vicinity of several public places with very well-kept pinball machines, and I know the guy that does the repairs. I used to own a Stern Meteor.

I also work part-time with a route operator (more like he does the repairs for a few local arcades - and does the legwork of actually placing the games there) and I've done both electrical repairs and mechanical repairs of pinball games for him as well as other "ball" games (so far, just Skee Ball and/or clones) but he has introduced me to CRT chassis repairs (the well known models like the G07 and the K- something - I'm probably not at the point of visually recognizing them yet)
 
I don't currently own any machines, but I'm in the vicinity of several public places with very well-kept pinball machines, and I know the guy that does the repairs. I used to own a Stern Meteor.

I also work part-time with a route operator (more like he does the repairs for a few local arcades - and does the legwork of actually placing the games there) and I've done both electrical repairs and mechanical repairs of pinball games for him as well as other "ball" games (so far, just Skee Ball and/or clones) but he has introduced me to CRT chassis repairs (the well known models like the G07 and the K- something - I'm probably not at the point of visually recognizing them yet)
Welcome! and good on your OP guy for actually repairing CRT's and not replacing with LCDs! Respect.
 
Welcome! and good on your OP guy for actually repairing CRT's and not replacing with LCDs! Respect.
Most of the games on his locations bear CRTs that are in good working condition (good color and contrast / brightness) which IMO puts his locations a cut above the rest. Most of the original CRTs had more documentation available for them, and almost nothing was surface mount except for *maybe* the micro-controller on monitors that had them (electronic adjustment controls and such)

Compare that to an LCD panel where you're lucky if the box or manual tells you what type of signal it can display, or even whether it's supposed to be powered from 120VAC or 24VDC. (Actually I just made that up :) )

I rarely saw an actual bad tube with CRT TVs in home or light business use (i.e. things that weren't running for 12 to 16 hours a day) though that's probably because total "on time" is more of a factor with the life of the actual CRT, whereas everything else around it tends to wear more from power cycles than from on time (assuming it's not boxed in with too little air space for heat to escape, like if you put a TV in too small an entertainment center that surrounds it on all sides)

But with arcade machines almost by definition being on all day long, you're more likely (relatively speaking) to come across a worn out CRT (usually an overall dim picture but sometimes uneven gun wear skews the tint) but with the number of machines this guy gets from auctions and such, he's got more tubes than you can shake a degausser at.
 
Welcome to KLOV.

Where in Kansas? There is a healthy collecting community on both sides of the Missouri and Kansas state line.

Scott C.
 
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Welcome to the fun. When you start collecting, this community is THE source for technical and repair info.

BTW, I'm not too far from you.

Scott C.
 
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