hyperneogeo
Well-known member
Sega Hikaru Packing/Shipping/General Reinforcing Methods
I put this in this area rather than the shipping area because there are a few things you need to do to the board in order to prep it..with that said, let's begin!
Edit: Also I would recommend doing this mod even if you don't plan to ship it as any sort of reinforcement will help prolong the board's life
I was talking to Ken (irepairsega.com) for a few hours today about Hikarus and such and after talking to him I thought it would be nice to make some sort of thread to help people with shipping these since these boards that don't do well in shipping at all. I made a thread on a more Euro oriented forum, but I thought it would help if I put one here as well.
Sega Hikaru Games:
Brave FireFighters
Planet Harriers
Air Trix
Nascar Racing
Virtual On: Force
Star Wars Pod Racer
So you want to ship or purchase a Hikaru that isn't local? Well, don't......BUT if you have to, here's a few tips to follow. If you are buying a Hikaru, relay these tips to the shipper and if they refuse to do these things, then don't buy it since the board will more than likely arrive dead. Why is this? To put it simply Sega contracted a 3rd party to put on the chips and they didn't do it properly. What does this mean? Well, the chips fall off easily taking the traces/pads with it
Tips:
1) Hot glue all the heatsinks on the board down. Meaning... go around the heatsink with a glue gun and make sure you get all the areas glued down. On all Hikaru boards you will see little dabs of hot glue on the heatsinks/fans from the factory and from what Ken told me it was a last resort after he told them about the problems with the board. So instead of fixing the problem IE sending them back to be put on properly, they just put a little dab of glue on them.
What does a complete glue "fix" look like?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/v9nwi3qdy0a3ukl/Photo Dec 23, 12 44 14 PM.jpg?raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fo9obnvatq8inxm/Photo Dec 23, 12 44 18 PM.jpg?raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/50dmlk6wrfub1ua/Photo Dec 23, 12 44 22 PM.jpg?raw=1
Yes it looks like (insert favorite porn star) has let loose on it, but it can't be helped.
2) Don't ship the board as is. Take the board out of the cage and only ship it on the metal plate it's on...NOT IN THE CAGE, IT WILL BE DESTROYED!
3) Wrap it up in a ton of bubble wrap and I mean a TON.
4) Get a big box (Ken says min 20"x20"x20") and fill it with peanuts half way, gently put down the board and fill the rest with peanuts making sure there is no room for it to shake around.
5) Ship it by an air method, IE priority mail shipping. Try to avoid ground shipping.
This isn't a 100% full proof way of shipping it. There is no full proof way of shipping it, but following these methods I have shipped 5/5 Hikarus successfully. However I've only received 1 Hikaru working out of probably 10-12 that someone else has shipped because they failed to do any of this.
With that I wish you luck in Vegas.
I put this in this area rather than the shipping area because there are a few things you need to do to the board in order to prep it..with that said, let's begin!
Edit: Also I would recommend doing this mod even if you don't plan to ship it as any sort of reinforcement will help prolong the board's life
I was talking to Ken (irepairsega.com) for a few hours today about Hikarus and such and after talking to him I thought it would be nice to make some sort of thread to help people with shipping these since these boards that don't do well in shipping at all. I made a thread on a more Euro oriented forum, but I thought it would help if I put one here as well.
Sega Hikaru Games:
Brave FireFighters
Planet Harriers
Air Trix
Nascar Racing
Virtual On: Force
Star Wars Pod Racer
So you want to ship or purchase a Hikaru that isn't local? Well, don't......BUT if you have to, here's a few tips to follow. If you are buying a Hikaru, relay these tips to the shipper and if they refuse to do these things, then don't buy it since the board will more than likely arrive dead. Why is this? To put it simply Sega contracted a 3rd party to put on the chips and they didn't do it properly. What does this mean? Well, the chips fall off easily taking the traces/pads with it
Tips:
1) Hot glue all the heatsinks on the board down. Meaning... go around the heatsink with a glue gun and make sure you get all the areas glued down. On all Hikaru boards you will see little dabs of hot glue on the heatsinks/fans from the factory and from what Ken told me it was a last resort after he told them about the problems with the board. So instead of fixing the problem IE sending them back to be put on properly, they just put a little dab of glue on them.
What does a complete glue "fix" look like?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/v9nwi3qdy0a3ukl/Photo Dec 23, 12 44 14 PM.jpg?raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fo9obnvatq8inxm/Photo Dec 23, 12 44 18 PM.jpg?raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/50dmlk6wrfub1ua/Photo Dec 23, 12 44 22 PM.jpg?raw=1
Yes it looks like (insert favorite porn star) has let loose on it, but it can't be helped.
2) Don't ship the board as is. Take the board out of the cage and only ship it on the metal plate it's on...NOT IN THE CAGE, IT WILL BE DESTROYED!
3) Wrap it up in a ton of bubble wrap and I mean a TON.
4) Get a big box (Ken says min 20"x20"x20") and fill it with peanuts half way, gently put down the board and fill the rest with peanuts making sure there is no room for it to shake around.
5) Ship it by an air method, IE priority mail shipping. Try to avoid ground shipping.
This isn't a 100% full proof way of shipping it. There is no full proof way of shipping it, but following these methods I have shipped 5/5 Hikarus successfully. However I've only received 1 Hikaru working out of probably 10-12 that someone else has shipped because they failed to do any of this.
With that I wish you luck in Vegas.
Last edited: