Vector-gasm... Cosmic Chasm!

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Zebidee:
The CRT still uses the same purity/convergence rings right? So you'd just move through the three phases? Guess the next question is, what test patterns can you use?

bobbyb13:
This is a good question, because with some of the patterns everything appears perfect and then with some images, there is weirdness in the upper left corner of the screen- and then that doesn't appear to show up in any of the games I have run.
Still a mystery.

--- Quote from: Zebidee on April 13, 2023, 02:42:19 am ---The CRT still uses the same purity/convergence rings right? So you'd just move through the three phases? Guess the next question is, what test patterns can you use?

--- End quote ---

Well I got a coin door to use for this thing that didn't cost $250 but it is just a shell and I have no idea what parts it takes.
Is this a CoinCo door anyone?

The other thing is that this does not need to have fully functionaly coin mechs and the rest either, so I would be happy to fabricate something to receive a tasteful coin up button/switch that actually LOOKS like a regular old coin reject button.

Hoping for wisdom and suggestions here anyone!

Still trying to mentally work through building a bezel for this thing.

The original has a rectangular box at the bottom and then the triangular boxes on the sides- and then yet another panel at the back.
I left space to be able to include these as well as the backlit panels that the original uses but this part is a bit intimidating actually.

bobbyb13:
And so before I even got the first iteration of this done it is off to version 1.1
Or maybe 2.0?

So I learned of what I thought was a very cool project being worked on by two guys a hell of a lot smarter than me and since using their genius was appropriate here (and I could learn a whole bunch of other fun stuff while I was at it) it became time to start acquiring some original machine parts.
Explains where I've been for a bit maybe?

It also gives me a reason to use the pile of monitor parts I have been assembling for a few years now and see if I can get another type of vector tube fired up.

If you know the original game this stuff is for you can probably guess before you see it running.

Harness.

Not complete, but I can build the other parts.

Brick. Holy crap are these things heavy.

Super crusty but the proper one- so doesn't matter.
The transformers practically never fail and the other crap I will replace anyway.

Power supply. This one had a runaway +5V issue in its former life so needed a little love before I could get it running what it needed to.
Not to mention it wasn't fully populated for all the voltages I needed either so it took a bit of fun learning to get it functional.

On to the central part of the whole thing.
Now this set I had stumbled onto a while ago and at a glance it looked like the right vintage to be what I wanted for this all along really.
Vintage 1985- straight outta Bloomington.

Disassembly of one this old was really fun.
Crazy what it took to build a regular old TV set back then.
Look at all these individual components!

I felt a bit guilty for gutting the thing but it didn't run and was going to the recycler otherwise and I have a plan for the case- which I am saving for another fun project.

The best part was looking up the details on the tube and discovering that it is a dead ringer for a 19VLUP22 but has a different yoke.
The other monitor parts I have been collecting for quite some time.

I got a 6100 deflection and neck board which happened to have been rebuilt back in 1983- and then sat on a shelf since apparently!

As I am starting from scratch with this particular monitor anyway, getting an original monitor frame and side pieces is pretty much out of the question for me here, and the most problematic part of an original WG 6100 appears to possibly be the chassis bottlecap transistors as it is then it was a no-brainer to get an Alan-1 transistor upgrade kit because it is a one shot solution for me in this instance.

While I was continuing to pile together stuff to pull this whole assembly off miraculously an original unused 6100 high voltage unit comes up for sale.

Done. I now have all the parts to FrankenWeenie mysellf a WG6100- INCLUDING a small dot pitch tube.
Vector glow nirvana.

I had been agonizing over how to deal with the neckboard bit since the original 6100 is a CR-24 (?!#$) and I had not idea what the hell that was- until I opened this thing up.
The neckboard in this was a surprise. Newer saw one in mulitple pieces before.

And the cherry on top of the fine dot pitch tube find was this.

Plug n play with the neckboard I had.

I got the brick back together and confirmed I had proper voltages and got the monitor parts all piled on the rolling bench for the scary eventuality of having to actually energize this thing and then discovered that the LM305 regulator on my AR-II was spent and had gone from not even putting out 5V to pumping out 14V in under a minute.

Glad I decided to check ONE last time before I plugged this sexy board I got into the harness.

Back to the waiting game for parts-

bobbyb13:
Gotta love the USPS in my hood.

So I got a few LM305 voltage regulators because it seemed like that was the crispy element on my AR-II.
Cutting the old one out sucked.
A tenacious little bug looking thing that Atari must have felt needed to be shoved as close to the pcb as possible for soldering.
No big deal when fighting two legs, but when you get to this many it is a real PITA.

While I was waiting for those to arrive I discovered that the main board harness connector was cracking.
Old parts sent to me from a friend in Canada to the rescue!

If I don't go one wire at a time with this kind of crap I'm sure to screw it up royally.
I was still paranoid even doing it like this even.

So after I got through that it seemed like I was ready to do something real and put the whole mess together and power it up to see what explodes first.
50 shades of paranoia.

I have had such drama with ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- smoking or having things not work at all that every time I get to this point it is terrible blend of anticipation and cringing.
I lost track of how many times I checked voltages and every connector.

I figured this freakshow merited having something close to an original spinner now (which I couldn't find anywhere for quite some time) so I kind of built one.
New ball bearing wearing frame from arcadeshop, original dial base, enocder, cap and shaft from Stephen of arcadefixit fame, and repro dial and a whole big pile of $$ later I have what should work for that.

And the moment of truth...
I flipped the switch, heard the fan on the Alan-1 transistor block fire up, watched the spot-killer LED on the deflection board go on- then off! and a few seconds later-

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- I have a functional 6100.
Well, mostly functional.

No frakkin red.

Of course I'm getting less scared of messing with things at this point since I'm getting comfortable with soldering out and in components that I have blown up through sophmoric decisions, so why not play a little?!
This was a lot less dramatic than that because only trying to adjust the individual color drive pots on the neck board led me to the diagnosis of a cracked trim pot, unsurprisingly on the red drive.

Not used to pots that look like these things but I happened to have a 500 ohm one of a style I could make fit so what the hell.
Why wait for one in the mail?!

A little time huffing solder fumes, reassemble and paranoia check everything again- twice- even though I hadn't touched anything but the neck board- and give it another go.

Hot damn!

Now, I have to say that the first setup I built for this, using what is now Barry S's Amplifone monitor project and just any old 19" tube with a properly rewound yoke, the now difficult/impossible to acquire USB-DVG, and Mario's brilliance with the Raspberry Pi AdvMame version and Chad's vector menu worked and looked great- it is still what happily resides in the horizontal cabinet I still have to finish.

But, this current monstrosity, using a fine dot pitch tube, rewound yoke, Franken6100, and ArcadeJason's multiboard...?

WOW is this image crisp.

Having not played Tempest on an original machine in decades I was MORE than satisfied with what I had put together first for this cabinet, but the current iteration here is next level repro from my seat.

Granted, the software for this board (which Jason's co-conspirator Ralf is developing) is still in beta but holy crap is it something to behold already.

Looking forward to when Ralf has time to work on updates (which hopefully will include Cosmic Chasm and Tac/Scan in their arcade form- maybe even Quantum?!) because this is outstanding.

Time to stuff all this into the cabinet it will reside in.

If nothing else with this project I can say that my eyes have been opened as regards putting together a vector capable machine.
For a good number of years after getting into this hobby I figured proper vector game play was unobtainable for me here.

Buying any original ones out here is pretty much out of the question (I know of ONE original vector machine in the islands) and with all the mystique surrounding "a true vector monitor" I had bought into the ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow--- that outside of original parts you are TSOL.

Not true.

It is entirely possible to build your own vector monitor with an old consumer tube, a properly rewound yoke, and some occassionally available (but also soon to be more currently available) parts.

If you really do want to build one with new updated tech then keep an eye on the site vectorheadarcade.

The site appears to be getting rebuilt as I'm typing but at some point you can get in line for all the parts you need to build an Amplifone clone (but better!) monitor.
Except the tube of course.
Barry just bought an amazing assortment of machinery to be able to really fire up the production line so hopefully soon he gets time to get started.

In the meantime go find yourself an old consumer tube with as LOW a horizontal resistance/inductance value as you can find.
My experience here tells me that a measurement even up to 2.0 ohms for the inner windings works.

You need to rewind the outer vertical coils anyway so their original values are largely irrelevant, unless you can find one that is already between 0.6 and 1.0 because then you could leave it alone.
If you follow the 100-120 wraps recommendation for rewinding the vertical ferrites you will get there though.

Vector joy is within the grasp.

Zebidee:

--- Quote from: bobbyb13 on September 15, 2023, 04:02:12 am ---In the meantime go find yourself an old consumer tube with as LOW a horizontal resistance/inductance value as you can find.
My experience here tells me that a measurement even up to 2.0 ohms for the inner windings works.
...

Vector joy is within the grasp.

--- End quote ---

Man I am impressed, though not sure if/when I can get some "vector joy" into my own grasp.

A quick tip for measuring these low-ohm horizontal yokes - make sure you zero-out the DMM/ohm meter first. Put the leads together until you get a 0.00 reading before measuring the yoke ohms. This can make up to 1-2 ohms difference in your measurements, which is obviously important in this context.

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