Machine throwing off other monitor

Kyrosfear

Well-known member

Donor 4 years: 2012, 2018, 2020, 2025
Joined
Apr 4, 2012
Messages
3,074
Reaction score
36
Location
Pennsylvania
Gentlemen,
I just recently put two arcade machines side by side. Now the colors on one of the monitors is all screwy (as if it needs degaussing). When I pull the machines apart, all is well. But as I slide them together again, the colors start messing up. Both machines' degaussing coils are operational. What am I missing? Thanks for the help.
 
Could just be the electrical fields of the cabs. Or one cab could have something in it that gets close to the other's monitor - like a speaker or transformer...
 
Is there anything I can do? I do not have the space to put these things across the room from each other.
 
Not yet. One is a four player game that needs considerable room, and the other is a smaller two player game that I can tuck in the corner of the room much more easily, so I was reluctant to switch there places because of the 30% more floor space that would be required. However, at this point I am mostly using this experience as an educational opportunity because I have never had any of my games affect the magnetic fields in another, and I know arcades typically stack these things on top of one another, so I was hoping there was something I could do inside the machine to eliminate this problem since it seems to be only this one affected. That being said, I will of course switch them or place them apart if that is required.
 
Shit happens, usually something wierd. I capped my Joust and it played perfectly, until I rearrange the lineup and had it next to a sterio speaker. The red background on the side next to the speaker just bled off to black the entire (short) time I had it there. When I moved it it was back to normal. Ive had 20 games sitting beside those speakers and never a problem til then
 
Wrap a large piece of cardboard in aluminum foil and try sticking it between the cabs to see if that helps.

And have you tried degaussing after you put them there?
 
Yes, I have a degaussing coil and it does not help at all. Also, just as another strange twist, I moved this machine to another room in the house (to the threats of a divorce from my wife) and it still has the colors washed out in the corners. Now I am stumped. Last night I pulled it away from the other game and it cleared up. Then I slowly pushed it back side by side and it got progressively worse. Now I move it to another room and it is still washed out.

Should I just shoot it?
 
Loose yoke check for sure...I once had a loose shadow mask in the CRT do the same thing...found it by hitting the tube face with the heel of my hand.
 
Sorry guys, yoke is tight. I do appreciate the help though. Any other suggestions?
 
I can almost guarantee that moving the machine is what caused this problem, and not the proximity to other machine as I once thought. Besides the yoke, are there any other common mechanisms that typically can come loose or jarred after moving a machine and cause this problem?
 
The machine in question houses a K7000. I swapped it for a different K7000 and I still get the same effect on the screen (although less drastic). I even took the original K7000 that was in this game, and put it in another game, and it worked perfectly. This narrows the problem down to the cabinet. This cabinet holds only one speaker, and the area of the screen most affected by the washout is directly under where the speaker is located. Although the speaker is firmly mounted, I am guessing that moving this cabinet around so much shifted the speaker somehow. Tomorrow, I am going to relocate the speaker to determine if that is, indeed, the root of this evil. Thanks a lot for the help guys and I will let you know how it turns out.
 
I relocated the speaker and changed the degaussing coil around the tube to a new one I bought from Bob Roberts. The picture is still washed out. I am stumped.
 
Any chance you had recently changed the speaker. If its a 6x9, look at getting a shielded speaker from Bob Roberts. If its smaller he may have those as well (with shielding), but you could always just put a larger 6x9 in there. Or a pair of them if the machine has room. I just mention it, because it sounds like the magnetic field from one of the speakers in the two machines is degaussing the monitor.
 
Matrix,
Thanks for the idea. Actually, I just figured out what the problem was. The north and south poles were throwing it off. I have heard of this before, but have never experienced it myself. I put the game in the middle of the room and turned it on. I slowly rotated it 360 degrees and watched the washout become intense, then slowly dissolve completely. Now the machine is facing south and looks great. These machines, combined with this forum's knowledge, educates me on a daily basis. Thanks for the help guys.
 
Back
Top Bottom