Cap Kit Time - Gran Trak 10

[Superully]

because i had already set up my soldering equipment, i thought it would be a good time to do some cap kits on various monitors. one of those monitors, an old 23'' motorola xm700, is installed in my beloved gran trak 10 - the first ever driving game and the second cab i picked up for €12,50 on ebay (wrong category, horrible description). i wasn't into the pictured roadtrip business back then, but i do have a photo of the cabinet after unloading it at my mother's place (in my former living-room)



not a lot of capacitors to replace on those old b/w monitor boards - a mere six pieces!



today, i put the circuit board back into the monitor and anxiously turned on the machine

the picture has gone from this ...



... to that!



wonderful, just wonderful! there are still some problems with the orientation, but this will (hopefully) only be a matter of some knob turning. i haven't credited the game and tried whether the pcb was still working, but for now it looks great and i'm one happy camper!

[level42]

Not bad...not bad...

Were you finished replacing them on that picture ? Because I still see 1 old one...

[Superully]

Were you finished replacing them on that picture ? Because I still see 1 old one...

i was - which one are you talking about?

i got the cap kit from bob roberts and asked on klov about those other capacitors and the guys over there told me that those caps are either film caps or polypropylene - whatever that means ...

[level42]

Mmmm, I thought the one on the top-left to the right of that potmeter (marked 0,47/630) but that could indeed be a different kind of cap.
Anyway the result is very worth while !

Was the inversion of the "color" also caused by the cap-kit ? That's pretty impressive

[mchay]

It's literally like night and day - great job

[atarimania]

Yes, very impressive improvement!!!

[Etienne MacGyver]

great, youre starting to get the hang of it 

You also see that the originals where axial caps, and you installed radials

And as you can see , not a problem, they are the same 

[Superully]

Was the inversion of the "color" also caused by the cap-kit ? That's pretty impressive

yes it was! turning the potis on the original setup only made the screen go even brighter, after the installation of the new caps this is exactly how the screen looked. i was blown away myself. keeping the fingers crossed that the game is working. i'll probably try that tomorrow!

great, youre starting to get the hang of it 

absolutely! and to be honest: from being one of the most hated arcade-related jobs this has become a lot of fun to do. i like it when the solder starts to melt, when the old caps come out and the way the new solder flows to the joint - very relaxing to watch never thought i would say that ...

[Alpha1]

Ully.

I love your Gran Trak 10. Think of me if you decide to let it go. I would have it

Oliver

[level42]

Ully.

I love your Gran Trak 10. Think of me if you decide to let it go. I would have it

Oliver

Hey Ully, here's you chance to get the Pong....maybe Olly will trade it for the GranTrak 

[Etienne MacGyver]

.... i like it when the solder starts to melt, when the old caps come out and the way the new solder flows to the joint - very relaxing to watch never thought i would say that ...

and don't forget the loveley smell of old solder 

[Superully]

Hey Ully, here's you chance to get the Pong....maybe Olly will trade it for the GranTrak 

or for his cosmic chasm - still my favorite vectrex game btw!