MAME cabinet, more video “fun”..

..and maybe moreover “video related electronics “fun””. Whilst installing the SCART switcher to the cabinet, I managed to swing the tv tube assembly carelessly.

*CRUNCH* .. “Hmm, now that didn’t sound too good”

Peeking inside the cabinet, it turned out that the electronics board of the telly had gotten stuck between the tilting mechanism of the tube assembly and thus swinging it fractured the board. End result: About 20 damaged conductors on the solder side of the board.

So with the following power up, the internal diagnostics of the telly just reported a ‘jungle controller fault’ (LED on the front panel blinks 11 times in a row). Not that I have any idea what the hell is a jungle controller, but the root cause of the fault sure was easy to analyze. Board repairs it is then!

The source for the crunchy noise..

..and this is what it looks like on the solder side. A couple of foils on the left bridged already.

Lucky for me, the fracture was small enough that wire bridge was needed on a single conductor only. All the remaining ones were fixable by scraping away the green protective paint and making a small bridge with solder alone. Here’s a couple of shots from the repair process photographed through the viewfinder of the microscope. They’re blurry for a reason ;)

Removing the protective paint..

..copper exposed and ready for soldering.

When repairing board fractures, I try to install some kind of a supports on the component side. Somewhat like putting a cast over a broken bone, except this one isn’t coming off :). The supports help the repaired foils on the board to withstand handling better. My repair method is to use pieces of blank PCB cut to appropriate size/shape and glue these to the board with whatever super-glue.

Supports on the component side of the board.

The only foil that needed a wire bridge. Just tu put it in scale, the resistors in the picture are of size 0805 (2mm x 1,25mm).

All in all it was about 2 hours worth of repairs, but I sure could’ve done without this “detour” as well.. Anyway, while at it I soldered a extra button (on a long cable) parallel to the switch that is used for selecting video input. This will be mounted somewhere “convenient” on the underside of the controller console, as the switches on the board itself are located anywhere but that in the final installation.

Other than these repairs, at least the lack of a remote controller resolved almost by itself. I checked through some second hand shops as well, but eventually found one in a electronics recycling dumpster. The remote is of different model (RMT-V220B), but it seems to transmit the proper codes. And so, the input indicator graphic gone from the screen!

Now if only the video converter would arrive..