How to Remove a Monitor from a Cabinet?

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Permalink Reply by zork40 on December 4, 2008 at 12:59am

Hey Jon,

You don't need to remove the entire monitor...just the chassis. The chassis is the part with all the electronics. The most important thing is you need to discharge the monitor. That process is explained here:
http://www.instantarcade.com/discharge.php

Here's a video on discharging:

I like to keep my other hand in my pocket when I discharge just in case, so I don't accidentally complete a circuit.

After doing that, you disconnect the anode (suction cup/wire attached to the tube). Then, carefully remove the neckboard by gently pulling it straight back with maybe a very slight amount of wiggling. The neckboard is the small PCB that sticks on the back of the tube.

Once you get that far, disconnect anything else that is keeping the chassis in the cabinet - AC power, ground connection (small single wire connector on the neck board), video connector, and degaus. If you take a picture of it first, just make sure you put everything back the way it was and you should be fine.

After everything is disconnected, most chassis have a couple of screws that need to be removed and the whole thing will come out.

You also need to discharge again before connecting the anode cap, just in case.

Here's a cap kit video:

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Permalink Reply by Parabolic on December 4, 2008 at 1:02am

Well,
I would say that most cabinets are alike, but many are diffrent. Midways like Pacman, Galaga, Burgertime, you can remove 4 bolts on the brackets and slide it out from the rear. now on a Tapper its a shelf mount (Defender is like this also) where you have to unbolt the frame from the "shelf" and slide it out the back. Sometimes removing the bezel is a must as well to get at it easier. My final example is Tempest. It actually goes in from the front mounting to a board via studs and nuts. So many diffrent styles
I had to pull the Monitor from my Journey today, it had brackets similar to a pac man, but they sit up almost vertically, so you cant slide the monitor out. I had to remove the top bracket and lift and pull it out from the rear.
I guess my point is - what kind of cabinet do you have? We can go form there. OR look for the manual online, and sometimes they show a pretty good parts breakdown on how these come apart.
Good Luck!!

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Permalink Reply by Paul Olson on December 4, 2008 at 1:26am

If the board(s) are easy to remove while leaving the monitor in place, just leave it. Nintendo cabs are much easier to just remove the whole thing. Just take out a couple of screws, unhook the harnesses and pull it out. Don't forget to take pictures as you unplug things, it will make it much easier to put back together.

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Permalink Reply by jonceramic on December 4, 2008 at 1:29am

Arg, my reply is gone! (Jeff, can you set this Ning thing to make all links external to a new page/tab? So I don't have to keep hitting back?)

Thanks for all the info guys. Checkout here... I bought a probe off of ebay. It's been _awesome_ to use. Nice little banana clip. Nice little dial. Cool little flips and flicks as it discharges.

Really nice/cool links/videos guys. I never thought of just removing the chassis. Duh.

Okay, so long post gone - cut to the chase questions...
1. Sega Turbo Upright - Anyone tackled one of those? Any Advice? Seems like the cage is exceedingly well done for keeping everything solid. Don't know if I can get a screwdriver to every screw. If I do want to get the monitor out, it looks like it pulls out the front... Can anyone confirm? If so... how the heck do I get the CP off to get to the bezel? (The 2 clasps don't seem to be the only things holding it in?)

2. Any advice for pulling out a monitor? Is it a 1 man job (for a 19 inch?) Just use my hands on each side? Or a strap? Or suction cups?

TIA,

Jon

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Permalink Reply by Chris A (driph) on December 4, 2008 at 3:26am

It's like a little tv, so as long as you've got room to move around, one person is fine.

Check out youtube, there are quite a few good "how to solder" videos. Also, if you want to practice, there are kits available for a few bucks for that very purpose:

http://www.cs-sales.net/solderingkits.html

(and some cool kits for when you get a bit more experienced)

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Rothe on December 4, 2008 at 9:18am

@Jon,

Lucky I happen to read this today. Make sure if you have a question to hit me via my profile, I will probably not find all questions nestled in individual topics.

I can't set all links to default open in a new tab. That has to be done manually with the target on the anchor tag.

target="_blank"

Sorry.

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Permalink Reply by jonceramic on December 4, 2008 at 9:16pm

Chris A (driph) said:

It's like a little tv, so as long as you've got room to move around, one person is fine.
Check out youtube, there are quite a few good "how to solder" videos. Also, if you want to practice, there are kits available for a few bucks for that very purpose:
http://www.cs-sales.net/solderingkits.html

(and some cool kits for when you get a bit more experienced)

Thanks Chris. I guess you're right. After working on that 32" TV this summer, it became pretty obvious to me how similar TV tubes and arcade monitors are.

I'll look into those. Although, I've found I'm okay at soldering. What I've found is that all of my soldering woes from my younger days trying to hack gamepads for MAME were due 1. to buying crappy dollar store quality irons and 2. Not knowing that cleaning with a damp sponge was really essential to keeping a wetable tip.

Finally, I begged my wife for a proper one for Christmas, and she let me get the Hakko 936 that everyone recommended over on KLOV's boards. It's been wonderful to use. I've also found that dialing in temperatures helps a lot too as different solders seem to have different temperatures.

That Hakko is one of the best purchases I've ever made (at $85, it cost me more than 4 of my 5 projects cost me... For the record, that would be $25, $45, $50, $75, and $125. LOL) But, it's certainly been worth it already for repairing extension cords and small electronics around the house.

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Permalink Reply by jonceramic on December 4, 2008 at 9:25pm

Chris A (driph) said:

Also, if you want to practice, there are kits available for a few bucks for that very purpose:

http://www.cs-sales.net/solderingkits.html

(and some cool kits for when you get a bit more experienced)

That C&S sales site is awesome. I just requested a catalog. Did anyone else have the Radio Shack kits when they were a kid that had the little metal spring posts so you could wire your own circuit? I wish I knew where my old one was.

Jon

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Permalink Reply by Flack on December 8, 2008 at 12:48pm

2. Any advice for pulling out a monitor? Is it a 1 man job (for a 19 inch?) Just use my hands on each side? Or a strap? Or suction cups?

I've never done a Turbo specifically, but every monitor I've ever pulled came out basically the same way. You'll need to get the bezel off the front and to do that you'll need to open the control panel. I'm assuming you've already done that but if not ... typically you'll open the coin door, reach up into the cabinet and unfasten the two clasps (one on each side) that hold the control panel in place. This is also a good way to find any errant screws sticking out with the soft part of your arm. ;) After unfastening the control panel, it'll flip forward. At that point you should be able to remove the bezel in front of the monitor. On most of the cabinets I've opened, the glass/plexi is held in by gravity so it should lift right up. Once that's out of the way you will see several (between four and six) bolts. You'll need to remove those, all from the front. As for the back, the monitor has (at least) power and video running to it, so you'll need to unplug those. With those cables unplugged and the bolts undone the entire monitor should slide right out the front. Once it's out you can sit it on your workbench (aka kitchen table) and do what needs to be done.

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Permalink Reply by jonceramic on December 28, 2008 at 10:49pm

Paul Olson said:

If the board(s) are easy to remove while leaving the monitor in place, just leave it. Nintendo cabs are much easier to just remove the whole thing. Just take out a couple of screws, unhook the harnesses and pull it out. Don't forget to take pictures as you unplug things, it will make it much easier to put back together.

Okay, so, it's been nearly a month since I posted this. *sigh* (Don't laugh yet, the caps from Bob Roberts have been sitting around over a year!)

A week ago, I got up in there, and discovered 2 screws and 2 little nuts I could get to on the board. On a Turbo, there's 2 nuts right in front, the 2 screws are on tabs, about 8 inches back. (The board is a square, and they're right on the ends.) So, finally, I had my "way in". That was probably my biggest mental hurdle

2 days ago, I finally had time to put my capacitors on a styrofoam block. (awesome idea from that video.) The kids helped. It was kinda fun. I'd find a cap, start it, and they'd push it the rest of the way in.

Yesterday, I got my light-on-a-stick, and assembled my tools.

Tonight, finally, I had my opportunity... Everyone was downstairs.... the kids were playing nicely in the castle, the wife was on the couch reading a book, and so I snuck off.

Unhooking the cables was a snap. I had to use a stubby phillips head to get the 2 screws in the back out. And, I had to sit on a stool, and turn my head halfway up the game just to see the lower screw in the back. Almost stripped that one's head, but, I finally got them. The nuts in front were simple.

One note that wasn't in the guides was that, on the neckboard, there is a little "V" of plastic out the back that is the actual connector. I kept wiggling the board itself, and things weren't moving. Then, I tried the "V", and it worked great.

Damn, some of the caps on that board are _really_ wedged in tight.

Now, I have a "not as dirty as I'd imagined" board, sitting beside a Hakko, and a bunch of caps. My New Year's Eve day off can't come soon enough.

THANKS!

Jon

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