The Force Is Strong!

[FrizzleFried]

W00t!  Last night I got my Star Wars upright working mostly!  I received my boards from Mark Spaeth a couple days ago,  he repaired the boards and installed the Empire Strikes Back multi-kit...

I replaced the neck board on the WG6100 I had...

Put it all together and it WORKS!

The only issue I have is that I loose focus then it comes back,  then I loose it again,  then it comes back again.   I am going to order a cap kit from Bob Roberts today and go from there.

Even with the loss of focus that game is still playable.   Controls work too!  I was worried.

[ChadTower]

 

Mark does excellent work.  I watched him install one of those kits on someone's Star Wars this summer... it's a nice piece of engineering.

[FrizzleFried]

This is my most expensive game to date....though what Mark charged me was more than fair considering all 3 of my boards had issues.   He fixed the boards,  installed the ESB kit,  and shipped it back to me for $300.  Not bad considering he sold just the kits (not installed) for $175 and he just sold his last kit for $250...

I'd never played ESB before.  It's fun,  but it's no SW IMHO (though i am sure it will grow on me).

[ChadTower]

You're right, it's a decent price... not a low price but you are not going to find a better arcade PCB tech out there.

[Level42]

Well 300-175-shipping costs leaves about $100,- for apparantly 3 bad boards fixed, including the parts.........that's a serious steal if you consider the working time.

[FrizzleFried]

Well 300-175-shipping costs leaves about $100,- for apparantly 3 bad boards fixed, including the parts.........that's a serious steal if you consider the working time.

That is exactly how I saw it too.  Actually,  I figured $100 or so for fixing the boards AND installing the kit (which isn't an easy drop in like the Brasington kits)...

So far I have:

$300 + a 25" cab with a bad monitor and Primal Rage in it (wow) initially
$30 to ship the boards to Mark
$300 to Mark

TOTAL: $630 in to the cabinet.  I'm going to buy a LV2000 board + a Bob Roberts Cap Kit so add another $50 or so to that...

$680 for a working SW upright in pretty damn good condition.   I can't complain.

[leapinlew]

Well 300-175-shipping costs leaves about $100,- for apparantly 3 bad boards fixed, including the parts.........that's a serious steal if you consider the working time.

That is exactly how I saw it too.  Actually,  I figured $100 or so for fixing the boards AND installing the kit (which isn't an easy drop in like the Brasington kits)...

So far I have:

$300 + a 25" cab with a bad monitor and Primal Rage in it (wow) initially
$30 to ship the boards to Mark
$300 to Mark

TOTAL: $630 in to the cabinet.  I'm going to buy a LV2000 board + a Bob Roberts Cap Kit so add another $50 or so to that...

$680 for a working SW upright in pretty damn good condition.   I can't complain.

 

Nice one dude...

[Level42]

The kit should be a drop-in actually.

You don't have to solder anything. But still, it's a more than fair price IMHO.

[ChadTower]

You don't have to solder anything but it's more than just dropping in a chip or two.  There are jumpers and such that need to be put into place.

[FrizzleFried]

You don't have to solder anything but it's more than just dropping in a chip or two.  There are jumpers and such that need to be put into place.

All I know is there are multiple mini PCBS and wires going from one board to the next, etc.

Surely not as easy to install as the SI kit which requires a single chip removed and installed on to the riser board which goes in to the same socket the chip came from...that takes more time to remove the boards than it does to install.

[hatrick]

Sweet! Glad to hear you are almost there. Sounds like you have it mostly figured out, but if you get stuck, let me know and I can see if my dad has any input to help.

[FrizzleFried]

Oh yeah!  The Force IS Strong!  When I got the boards back from Mark and installed them the monitor worked but would lose focus.  I also had a cold solder joint on one of the deflection pins as it would lose deflection and I could regain deflection by wiggling a wire... I installed a Bob Roberts WG6100 get well kit and reflowed all the headers...I've also just bought a LV2000 low voltage board for $30 shipped...and will be installing it when I get it to ensure proper functionality in the future.

Has anyone bought a yoke repair kit from RAM?  If so,  was it worth it?  My yoke functions perfectly but is quite loose with a lot of play back and forth, etc....

[Level42]

Heheh, glad you figured out the elctronics too