Next PCB . . Amplifone Deflection Boards (Bare PCB) Color Vectors

2 or 3 boards for me.

But we shall stay close to the original layout and design -> plug & size compatible and only improving where we see really issues. Eg I don't think we need a connector for the wires going to this board. How often will that fail in a home use environment?
 
speleo_de said:
2 or 3 boards for me.

But we shall stay close to the original layout and design -> plug & size compatible and only improving where we see really issues. Eg I don't think we need a connector for the wires going to this board. How often will that fail in a home use environment?
Click to expand...

Well, the plug idea needs to be debated. Once the design is done, that's it

What I was proposing, as suggested earlier, was to have both on the new boards

If you want the on-board plug, solder one on (Or both as the case may be). If you don't want plugs, solder on the 14 x wires.

Here's a quick mock up of the idea just quickly



The plugs are circled in red
 
Last edited:
dezbaz said:
Well, the plug idea needs to be debated. Once the design is done, that's it

What I was proposing, as suggested earlier, was to have both on the new boards

If you want the on-board plug, solder one on (Or both as the case may be). If you don't want plugs, solder on the 14 x wires.

Here's a quick mock up of the idea just quickly



The plugs are circled in red
Click to expand...

IMHO theres a good reason not to have the plugs directly on the board... reach. The harness may not reach the board or at the least it will be a stretch and may put a strain on the components. Obviously some people will put the plugs directly on the boards..but I think the original way with the wires is better.
 
I have another question.. and I'm not educated about board design.

Isn't there a program out there that you can input the original design schematicts in and it will work out a way to do the same job..only with more modern and efficient parts..possibly shrinking the size of the board and lowering the costs of components?
 
That80sGuy said:
IMHO theres a good reason not to have the plugs directly on the board... reach. The harness may not reach the board or at the least it will be a stretch and may put a strain on the components. Obviously some people will put the plugs directly on the boards..but I think the original way with the wires is better.
Click to expand...

Well, I thought the assumption here was that with the plugs on the board, you'd require a sort of extension cable, which plugs into the board, with end result being about same length as original harness.

It's either
-have wires soldered to board with no stress relief as original, or
-have connectors on the board, adding another 'connection' for each wire, which can lead to oxidation, resistance, voltage drop, etc.. but in a restored collector's game, would this even be an issue?
 
That80sGuy said:
I have another question.. and I'm not educated about board design.

Isn't there a program out there that you can input the original design schematicts in and it will work out a way to do the same job..only with more modern and efficient parts..possibly shrinking the size of the board and lowering the costs of components?
Click to expand...

Yes. Design software can do it. It costs a lot and needs all pinouts entered in manually anyway. Earlier in this thread, It was asked did we want to keep orig or re-design. Most were keen to stay orig, albeit modified :)
 
That80sGuy said:
IMHO theres a good reason not to have the plugs directly on the board... reach. The harness may not reach the board or at the least it will be a stretch and may put a strain on the components. Obviously some people will put the plugs directly on the boards..but I think the original way with the wires is better.
Click to expand...

You could easily make a new harness, it's just wire and molex plugs x 3 :)
 
Sure there are these kind of programs.
But these are not magic things. There is not a single chip on the Amplifone deflection board and it's all analogue stuff. There are several good reasons to keep to the original size and mostly original design:

1) it will allow direct placement in original cabinets, a MUST to allow for a good number of these boards to be sold
2) the large board with a roomy component set-up allows for heat dissipation where needed AND makes it really easy to work on (not only in repair, but remember these boards will need all parts to be hand mounted and soldered.
3) it's a great and very good working design. Don't go changing specs, parts etc. UNLESS there is a really good reason for it (like the TO-220 resistor instead of the big regular one's)
Another idea _could_ be to use more commonly available transistors (all the one's on the heat-sink would be good candidates) BUT these usually have a different pin-out which makes this again pretty hard to choose for (introduces possible mistakes)

Lowering the cost of components is a good point but often hard for old designs like this, unless you're going to rigorously change the design.

Anyway...I _think_ these are at least some of the reasons.

I like the plug set-up Dezbaz, both options is great !

And of course.....I've got another idea, and it is GREAT if I may say so myself:

We need to incorporate a pincushion corrector !!!

That is the main problem I still have with my Amplifone. Everybody talks about that the WG6100 will show pincushion when changing tube, but I have STILL to see my the first Amplifone that does NOT have inward bent pincushion ! (Anyone who says not, PICS or you're lying !)

Now...Atari designed a pincushion correction circuit that was on the early color vector games like Tempest. However, they left it out of the later games like SW because a "specially designed yoke" would take care of the pincushion correction, well either that yoke never happened or it works like.....

Here is the whole story by Jed Margolin (the guy who designed the SW hardware):
http://www.jmargolin.com/xy/xymon.htm#Magnetic

Now, you don't have to understand how it works to use it AND AFAIK there is no reason why it can't be put on the deflection board since normally it is taking the OUTPUTS of the SW signals, procceses it and than output it towards the monitor.
You can just as well use the INPUTS of the monitor side of course. The schematic does need a +15V supply but that can be derived from the +30V.

I'll admit that this would be the most challenging change on the board, but IMHO it would be totally cool to have pincushion control especially because these boards are probably going to be used on various kind of tube set-ups.
 
Level42 said:
Sure there are these kind of programs.
But these are not magic things. There is not a single chip on the Amplifone deflection board and it's all analogue stuff. There are several good reasons to keep to the original size and mostly original design:

1) it will allow direct placement in original cabinets, a MUST to allow for a good number of these boards to be sold
2) the large board with a roomy component set-up allows for heat dissipation where needed AND makes it really easy to work on (not only in repair, but remember these boards will need all parts to be hand mounted and soldered.
3) it's a great and very good working design. Don't go changing specs, parts etc. UNLESS there is a really good reason for it (like the TO-220 resistor instead of the big regular one's)
Another idea _could_ be to use more commonly available transistors (all the one's on the heat-sink would be good candidates) BUT these usually have a different pin-out which makes this again pretty hard to choose for (introduces possible mistakes)

Lowering the cost of components is a good point but often hard for old designs like this, unless you're going to rigorously change the design.

Anyway...I _think_ these are at least some of the reasons.

I like the plug set-up Dezbaz, both options is great !

And of course.....I've got another idea, and it is GREAT if I may say so myself:

We need to incorporate a pincushion corrector !!!

That is the main problem I still have with my Amplifone. Everybody talks about that the WG6100 will show pincushion when changing tube, but I have STILL to see my the first Amplifone that does NOT have inward bent pincushion ! (Anyone who says not, PICS or you're lying !)

Now...Atari designed a pincushion correction circuit that was on the early color vector games like Tempest. However, they left it out of the later games like SW because a "specially designed yoke" would take care of the pincushion correction, well either that yoke never happened or it works like.....

Here is the whole story by Jed Margolin (the guy who designed the SW hardware):
http://www.jmargolin.com/xy/xymon.htm#Magnetic

Now, you don't have to understand how it works to use it AND AFAIK there is no reason why it can't be put on the deflection board since normally it is taking the OUTPUTS of the SW signals, procceses it and than output it towards the monitor.
You can just as well use the INPUTS of the monitor side of course. The schematic does need a +15V supply but that can be derived from the +30V.

I'll admit that this would be the most challenging change on the board, but IMHO it would be totally cool to have pincushion control especially because these boards are probably going to be used on various kind of tube set-ups.
Click to expand...

OK

So what are the unknown ICs? Quad Multipliers?



 
Last edited:
Andre, where does this circuit attach to on the tempest game / board?

Is it only needed for vertical games?

If we did this circuit, which can easily be done by the way, it might be worth having a little dip switch, to allow people to turn it off if they don't want to populate that area. Some may choose to use wire links.
Good idea though - If it's needed
Just wondering what others think of this proposal.

Another thing, what is everyone doing about them 3 legged capacitors? I imagine they used 3 leg caps to stabilize the cap, as the middle leg is not used anyway . . Are you guys just replacing them with 2 legged ones?
 
dezbaz said:
If we did this circuit, which can easily be done by the way, it might be worth having a little dip switch, to allow people to turn it off if they don't want to populate that area. Some may choose to use wire links.
Good idea though - If it's needed
Just wondering what others think of this proposal.
Click to expand...

You're talking about pincushion correction on the monitor, or an add-on board for it? If so, yes, I think that would be a good thing.
 
When replacing the big caps I guess everybody simply solders in the two-legged new caps. The new caps are quite a bit smaller anyway and don't really need the extra support pin.

If you're anal about it you can add some hot glue to fix 'm but unless you move the cab very frequently on a trailer I don't see the need.

Dez, I PMed you about the pincushion...
 
I just read a few sites regarding this pincushion correction circuit. It seems to be mainly for WG6100, from what I read

Has anyone got a pic of bad pincushion from an amplifone - how bad does it get on an Amp?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

FighterFly
Top 25 Vectors
2 3
Replies
49
Views
2K
gwarble
gwarble
Esom
PCB Identification
Replies
1
Views
144
HudsonArcade
HudsonArcade
Bebopboom
Orca PCB ID
Replies
3
Views
170
Georgian
Zud
PCB Identification
Replies
3
Views
303
geech
geech
Zud
Arachnid PCB Identification
Replies
0
Views
108
Zud
Zud
Back
Top Bottom