Hey'all monitor repair wizards! Hints on universal repair component list?

bobbyb13

Well-known member

Donor 4 years: 2020-2021, 2023-2024
Joined
Oct 17, 2019
Messages
3,643
Reaction score
4,330
Location
Waialua, Hawaii
I know there are a number of you who are pros repairing games as a regular job (and also a few who claim amateur status but are absolute monsters at repair) and the more I read Randy Fromm's Big Blue and Green books the more it seems to me that there COULD be a fairly (although maybe pretty broad) universal list of components to have on hand while working on monitors.
I would like to assemble that kind of assortment in my shop.

It was an eye-opener to learn that you can actually substitute for exact model transistors in the same vein that you can with capacitors to some degree and it dawned on me that since we wind up using so many of the same package components with only slight variations that a universal set could be a thing.
Things like voltage regulators, HOTs, ICs and any of the other transistors and caps sprinkled around chassis boards for example.

Of course it may wind up that you have a WG set, a Hantarex set, Sharp Image set, Nanao set, etc. just to keep things manageable but I thought it would be cool to fill my parts bins with known good components that could be used on any number of chassis (since I have SO many different ones in my games here now and I'm over the fear of trying to work on some of them myself.)

Any thoughts from those of you who know a lot more than I?
 
Depends what models of monitors you will be seeing mostly to determine what kinds of parts to stock. Lots of chassis use very different parts. What I can say is stocking up on cap kits, voltage regulators, potentiometers, flybacks, hots, diodes, resistors, and filter caps will do you much good. Filter caps are good to stock up on as they're typically not included in cap kits, usually over 200v will work in 99% of monitors usual values can be 220uf, 330uf, 470uf etc
 
Cap kits are best for most people, but they also make repair far more tedious than it needs to be. If you do a fair bit of chassis every year and plan to keep at it a while, just buying bulk caps and putting into a parts drawer you keep at-hand on the bench makes life waay easier. It'll be less expensive as well.

You'll know which drawer to reach to for a cap you need and you won't have to sift through the kit. Monitors like 4900s that rarely need more than just caps are a 15 minute job.

I stopped using kits in the late 90s and initially stocked Xicon 105s (lol) since they were "better" than the surplus caps Zanen was putting into their kits. We all know better now and the Xicons (and Zanen caps) are long gone from my monitors, but it's also really easy to order the right stuff (Japanese caps) from Mouser & Digi these days.

I'd just start with caps and maybe get into some resistors, poly caps, trimpots and other components for common chassis if you really think you'll do a few of them. Mostly K7000 stuff. If you do tube swaps, harvest the large poly caps, HOT/reg/vert and whatever else seems useful off the old TV chassis. It only takes a few mins if you have a good desolder rig and you'll run across some stuff you can use fairly often. Panasonic TVs often have a STR30130, for example.

Here's my bench caps drawers. This covers nearly everything.


1000013223.jpg
 
Some thoughts:

The semiconductors you stock will almost never be the ones you need. I literally have hundreds on hand. They are almost never the right ones. (I had one case where I had a 4116 RAM from Radio Shack which fixed my Star Gate when it had a ram failure - otherwise, none of them have ever been the right one.

Yes, you can use a cross reference and find other transistors which can work.

Electrolytic Capacitors are life-limited. Stocking them just throws money away.

Resistors - I have a thousand on hand, my last project used 3 of that 1000. The BOM had over 100 parts on it.

My suggestion (it's your $, do what you want) is to order what you need, just what you need, and order it when you need it.

I literally have boxes of stuff, coded into an Excel spreadsheet so I know where to look for it.

When I (or someone on here) needs something, I just search the right page. I have looked for a dozen people here - I don't have the right parts.

Maybe I should put them in a "if it fits it ships" box from USPS and send you what I have?
 
Have a good set of tools!

- TPG
- Nylon tools for adjusting stuff (I think you already have the GC electronics tool that's like 1 foot long, IIRC)
- A monitor mirror is a plus to adjust things while they are still in the machine
- ISO for working with various voltages for different monitor manufacturers. I use a B&K ISO like this one:
ISO.png

And of course, the BEST tool I've used so far... Mike's YT channel:

Del
 
This is awesome. Thank you!
Cap kits are best for most people, but they also make repair far more tedious than it needs to be. If you do a fair bit of chassis every year and plan to keep at it a while, just buying bulk caps and putting into a parts drawer you keep at-hand on the bench makes life waay easier. It'll be less expensive as well.

You'll know which drawer to reach to for a cap you need and you won't have to sift through the kit. Monitors like 4900s that rarely need more than just caps are a 15 minute job.

I stopped using kits in the late 90s and initially stocked Xicon 105s (lol) since they were "better" than the surplus caps Zanen was putting into their kits. We all know better now and the Xicons (and Zanen caps) are long gone from my monitors, but it's also really easy to order the right stuff (Japanese caps) from Mouser & Digi these days.

I'd just start with caps and maybe get into some resistors, poly caps, trimpots and other components for common chassis if you really think you'll do a few of them. Mostly K7000 stuff. If you do tube swaps, harvest the large poly caps, HOT/reg/vert and whatever else seems useful off the old TV chassis. It only takes a few mins if you have a good desolder rig and you'll run across some stuff you can use fairly often. Panasonic TVs often have a STR30130, for example.

Here's my bench caps drawers. This covers nearly everything.


View attachment 852255
 
Appreciate the reply!
Some thoughts:

The semiconductors you stock will almost never be the ones you need. I literally have hundreds on hand. They are almost never the right ones. (I had one case where I had a 4116 RAM from Radio Shack which fixed my Star Gate when it had a ram failure - otherwise, none of them have ever been the right one.

Yes, you can use a cross reference and find other transistors which can work.

Electrolytic Capacitors are life-limited. Stocking them just throws money away.

Resistors - I have a thousand on hand, my last project used 3 of that 1000. The BOM had over 100 parts on it.

My suggestion (it's your $, do what you want) is to order what you need, just what you need, and order it when you need it.

I literally have boxes of stuff, coded into an Excel spreadsheet so I know where to look for it.

When I (or someone on here) needs something, I just search the right page. I have looked for a dozen people here - I don't have the right parts.

Maybe I should put them in a "if it fits it ships" box from USPS and send you what I have?

Seems like Mr. Fromm would have been carrying around a portable kit of SOMEthing that would allow him to fix many if not most things in his hurdy-gurdy travels spreading the joy and teaching.
Kind of why I'm thinking what I'll come up with might be a by the chassis assortment of known failure parts.
 
Some thoughts:

The semiconductors you stock will almost never be the ones you need. I literally have hundreds on hand. They are almost never the right ones. (I had one case where I had a 4116 RAM from Radio Shack which fixed my Star Gate when it had a ram failure - otherwise, none of them have ever been the right one.

Yes, you can use a cross reference and find other transistors which can work.

Electrolytic Capacitors are life-limited. Stocking them just throws money away.

Resistors - I have a thousand on hand, my last project used 3 of that 1000. The BOM had over 100 parts on it.
The semi conductors is so true, almost every different make of monitor will use entirely different parts. I miss RadioShack, was better than keeping a stock of my own parts on hand.

Caps are good to have on hand but a limited selection imo of common values.

I don't even bother to try and stock resistors there's just too many different values and types.

Arcadetech pretty much hit the nail on the head. Now let's say you're going to specialize in fixing Sanyo 20ezs, there would be certain parts to stock up on, it's really hard to say what to have on hand if you don't know what to expect.
 
Hey Del!
I actually have that very same bench supply (which needs a rebuild it appears.)
Have the other tools of which you speak also and I couldn't agree more about Master @zenomorp
He is one of the "amateurs" to whom I refer in post one.
He and Randy are the ones most responsible for me no longer hesitating to try working on chassis.

Agree with you guys about the universality concept and think I may need to start a spreadsheet based on what I own for monitors and go from there on a per unit basis.

Maybe I can see if a few transistors at least cross to universal replacements that I can stockpile a few of.

I need to get together an order for a few ailing monitors anyway and maybe have a look for original part lists I can dig up for the chassis I have here already.
It's a growing list and I know offhand includes these anyway!
K4600, 4900, 7500, 7203
Atari Amp XY
6100
Kortek 2914, 2938
Neotec 2701
SI 727r-ds

More I can't think of at the moment but I will try to catalogue today while it's too hot to want to work outside.
Have a good set of tools!

- TPG
- Nylon tools for adjusting stuff (I think you already have the GC electronics tool that's like 1 foot long, IIRC)
- A monitor mirror is a plus to adjust things while they are still in the machine
- ISO for working with various voltages for different monitor manufacturers. I use a B&K ISO like this one:
View attachment 852264

And of course, the BEST tool I've used so far... Mike's YT channel:

Del
 
I use an old AV cart that I mounted a couple of transformers on and have plastic bins full of parts for all the different monitors I work on. IMG_3242.jpegIMG_3240.jpegIMG_3238.jpeg
 
I have two carts at the moment actually, one with vector monitor projects and one with a bartop cab project and other parts.
Hadn't occurred to me to just put my transformer/power supply block on there!
Then I could mount a mirror on the wall and wheel it around for tuning.
Thanks for the excellent idea!
I use an old AV cart that I mounted a couple of transformers on and have plastic bins full of parts for all the different monitors I work on. View attachment 852375View attachment 852377View attachment 852378
 
Back
Top Bottom