Still more work to do

About 8 months ago I was given an Asteroids machine. It was my uncles and hasnt worked for years. The game worked but no video. He called the local coin-op repair guy and it would have cost too much for a home user to repair. also since vector monitors arent really made anymore it isnt like you can go get a new one. I did a little research on the internet about the problem. I found out it is pretty easy to fix if you arent afraid of discharging a monitor.

Heres a galery of pics
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v472/SirPoonga/asteroids/

I found out I needed to buy a cap kit (capacitors) and replace some old caps on the monitor. That almost worked. I got video but the video slowly expanded. If you look at the monitor subfolder you can see the picture expand from test1 to test2. I found out I needed to replace a diode to fix this. It happens to be the big diode between the monitor anode and the circuit board, so I needed to discharge the monitor. A scary prospect if you havent done that before as there are thousands of volts of electricity running through you if you screw up. It isnt a hard task, you just have to be careful. Luckily I have a cousin nearby that works with electronic stuff as part of his job. He helped me out.

When we took the monitor circuit apart the diode was in a socket that was corroded horribly. We figured we would just cut the socket and solder the diode directly to the wires. We did that but when we fired the monitor up electricity arced fromt he diode to the protective cage (ground). Duh, that socket was also an insulator. So right now that is where I am at, I have to find a way to insulate the diode.