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Repair Question
Question from John: Hi,
I just picked up a popeye machine that has a sanyo ez20.It plays with the game showing up. The monitor colors are washed out, and has white vertical lines going across it. In addition it has dark bars going horizontally. Everyone I talk to think its time for a cap kit which I have on order from Bob Roberts.
I’m brand new at this and I have some concern in my ability to not screw up the traces. I have a few questions.
In your experience in boards that are from 1982 – do you think its safer to remove the solder using copper wick or a solder sucker? How hot should my solder gun be set to?
I know in your videos you take chassis in to do repairs. How much would a cap job be for a board like mine? Whats the typical turn around for repair?
Love the videos and thanks for the help,
John
1 answer
Response from Jonathan: John,
It definitely looks like you need to install a cap kit. Since you are new to this process, we would recommend either a solder sucker or a desoldering iron for removing the caps. Tim and I both started out doing cap kits with a desoldering iron until we felt comfortable with the solder wick. Solder wick is the best overall way to go but it does take some practice to use it properly. Solder suckers also work well but we’ve found that it’s sometimes hard to position them in the right spot to suck up the solder. If you’re going to use solder wick or a solder sucker, it’s best to set your iron around 650-700 degrees F.
The key to preventing permanent damage to your chassis during a cap kit is to limit the amount of time the iron is in contact with the board. This is one of the reasons we usually suggest starting out with a desoldering iron. The desoldering iron allows you to “feel” the solder melt. Once the solder has melted, you can quickly suck it up and remove the iron from the board. Desoldering irons are also pretty cheap (around $15 or so at your local Radio Shack) and can usually be picked up locally. Just a couple of quick tips: always make sure that you depress the bulb before placing the desoldering iron on the board and that you blow the solder out of the bulb before placing the iron back on the board.
Unfortunately we are not taking repairs at the moment. If you would like to have it professionally repaired, we recommend our friend Chad at arcadecup.com. Chad does a great job and has a pretty quick turn around time. We have some other monitor repair guys listed on our Resources page as well.
Hope that helps, John. Thank you for your question and good luck with your repair.
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