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Optimus Prime

Thanks a lot!

Doge

Personally i'd go with a soldering station especially if you have trouble soldering.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=32515


I have both the same style one above and an antex 25w iron, and I've always hated not been able to adjust the temperature on the antex iron, so it never gets any use.

And at that price you're getting the full blown soldering station cheaper than the antex iron.


I'd leave the antex irons for gifted pros like Myrddin.
It reminds me of DJs who can mix on the crappiest belt drive turntables!

Steve X2

Doge wrote: »

Personally i'd go with a soldering station especially if you have trouble soldering.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=32515


I have both the same style one above and an antex 25w iron, and I've always hated not been able to adjust the temperature on the antex iron, so it never gets any use.

And at that price you're getting the full blown soldering station cheaper than the antex iron.


I'd leave the antex irons for gifted pros like Myrddin.
It reminds me of DJs who can mix on the crappiest belt drive turntables!

Surely a basic Antex iron is better than a no name cheap soldering station?

I'm no expert on irons though.

Doge

Doge wrote: »

Personally i'd go with a soldering station especially if you have trouble soldering.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=32515


I have both the same style one above and an antex 25w iron, and I've always hated not been able to adjust the temperature on the antex iron, so it never gets any use.

And at that price you're getting the full blown soldering station cheaper than the antex iron.


I'd leave the antex irons for gifted pros like Myrddin.
It reminds me of DJs who can mix on the crappiest belt drive turntables!

I think there are actually counterfeit hakos,
seen a thing about them on youtube.
possibly a fire hazard !

Myrddin

Doge wrote: »

I'd leave the antex irons for gifted pros like Myrddin.
It reminds me of DJs who can mix on the crappiest belt drive turntables!

You wouldn't been saying that if you seen some of my earlier 'work'. I've actually only got half decent at soldering in the last two years prob, before that my work was rough, using the wrong type wire, the wrong type solder, the wrong tips, & I made all the usual mistakes people learning to solder make. That said, I've used Antek's from the very beginning & couldn't fault them. They're cheap enough to have a selection of wattages, they have replaceable tips, & they seem very decent for the likes of console modding/arcade stuff (with the right tip of course).

I would like to upgrade to a station at some point, but I'm doing less modding/soldering these days than I've ever done & can't really justify the cost...not when the Antek's I have seem more than good enough for what I need them for. One thing I do need is a new rotary tool, the cordless one I had bit the dust, thankfully, as it was the biggest pile I've crap I've ever used. 12 hour charge for 15 seconds...going with a proper Dremel next time, a corded one.

Optimus Prime

I got a dremel at christmas, brilliant tools, dont know how i lived without one! what sort of tip should i be using with this iron? is the standard one that it comes with not good enough?

Myrddin

keithgeo wrote: »

I got a dremel at christmas, brilliant tools, dont know how i lived without one! what sort of tip should i be using with this iron? is the standard one that it comes with not good enough?

Did you get the Antex? Just pick up a few different tips so you've a range to work with (make sure they're the right ones for your iron). I find a smaller, almost needle nose tip is a good starting point. If you find solder hard to flow/melt with that tip, maybe a bigger one to spread the heat contact might work etc etc

CathalDublin

I'm with the Antex Iron crew too, in my eyes a antex is better than a cheap station, i can do most work on the xs25 but like i said above you might wanna go for the cs18 for pcb work especially if you are beginner to save burning the pcb. I've had a Maplin solder station too briefly before it died,and it was muck.

Doge

Steve SI wrote: »

Surely a basic Antex iron is better than a no name cheap soldering station?

I found the 936 much easier to work with, been able to use it a higher temperature means the solder will flow much easier, and makes desoldering much easier.
And it does have twice the power at its disposal.

urbanledge wrote: »

I think there are actually counterfeit hakos,
seen a thing about them on youtube.
possibly a fire hazard !

Of course they're counterfeit Hakkos!
The Hakko 936 cost exactly 10 times the amount and it was discontinued a few years ago.
I think the brand name "YiHUA" is a dead give away too!

When you think of it, any soldering station that's left on is a fire hazard if its unattended.

I must point out that the 936 clone (of which there are many) I bought about 5 years ago is made by Atten and I payed between 40 or 50 euro.
The MIDIbox MB-6582 I soldered with it is the largest project I used it for and the ceramic heating element that came with it is still going strong. That can be replaced for a few dollars if needs be.

I'd imagine the one on hobbyking cut a few more corners to get the low price, or at least i'd like to think so considering how much more
I payed for mine.

CathalDublin wrote: »

I've had a Maplin solder station too briefly before it died,and it was muck.

I agree, the Maplin irons are muck. I bought the blue plastic station for 25 euro on sale and within a few weeks when turning on the pot, the circuit breaker tripped and the iron wouldn't turn on anymore. I even tried replacing the fuse in the plug and station.
I've never looked back after buying the Attend 936 shortly afterwards.

I guarantee that station on hobby king is much better than most of Maplins overpriced garbage irons.

If you guys prefer fixed temp irons over stations then I would suggest getting a Weller iron over an Antex iron any day. The Weller irons are known to last for years and are highly rated.

Doge

There's a great side by side comparison and tear down of the hobbyking station and an original Hakko 936 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP0etU7mTwU

And here's eevblogs review and teardown:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GdV7XBae74

They're pretty much the best expert reviews you'll find for the station.

As you can see from both videos the temperature calibration is out on both units
In the first video its 30 degrees C higher and in the second video it'd almost 30 degrees C lower.
There is a hole on front panel which let's you access the calibration pot with a small screwdriver and EEVBlog knew this.
Yet he fails to adjust it before doing his thermal capacity test knowing full well it was 30 degrees less than the other irons. So not the fairest test there!

Did a bit more work on Jurassic Park last night.
Sega shipped games of this era with only 2 speakers.The left channel and a subwoofer.
They just left the right channel amp unpopulated.
So in this pic each heat sync is an amplifier circuit.

all you gotta do is take out the solder and solder in the components and hook up the speaker.


Like it came out of the factory!My soldering is shocking.I'm blaming the pos iron I have atm tho.
Only 12euro for the parts inc the speaker.
I also moved the battery pack off the PCB to avoid acid damage.They batteries had just started leaking so I was lucky!
Going to ad a real reply knocker later and I think thats it!
It might be hitting a market place near you:D

o1s1n

So my cheapo 'untested' Outzone PCB came in the post today and as to be expected, it's not functioning properly.



The bad

• most of the sprites are glitching out.

The good

• The game actually runs 100%! you can insert a coin and shoot all the glitchy sprites. Oddly enough the character sprite is fine

• All of the sound works perfectly
• I tried resocketing a few roms etc, but no joy. Until I pressed down on a few of them while the game was running and what do you know;

Working!



Okay so you need to keep the pressure down or all the sprites turn back to ****e, but the game literally works 100% when doing so.

Now there's one obvious flaw on the PCB, it's missing a cap. So the first port of call is to replace that and see what happens.

Myrddin

Prob a damaged trace or bad chip/leg contact causing the glitch. The good news is it should be a handy fix

Star Lord

Sounds like the contact points if pressing down fixes it, perhaps one leg isn't making proper contact. Worth checking each of the legs to see if one's snapped or isn't making contact with the board/traces/solder.

o1s1n

I've a feeling it might be a trace somewhere alright. Where exactly might be a bit hard to locate though!

Initially I thought it was the legs on one of the graphics eeproms, as whenever I pressed it down it worked.

Just to troubleshoot it further I tried the same thing with a few different chips and it had the same effect. So there must be a trace somewhere randomly which is being reconnected when I apply pressure.

Still dunno whats up with that missing cap though! I've asked over on AO anyway just to see if someone might know the value.

Myrddin

Go over the whole underside of the board & inspect it visually, you might see a little nick in a trace. Concentrate on the areas the board flexes when you press down on it It could also be a broken solder joint somewhere too

The Last Bandit

Missing cap is just a coupling cap I'd say so it'll work without it but probably cause trouble if you crank up the volume .

Dodgy trace will be fun to track down clean the board and you might see the problem

Doge

Speaking of dodgy traces, did you try and bridge the traces in the cracked circuit board of your PVM?

Or is it beyond repair?

This video popped up in my youtube feed today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY3lVmh1ng0

o1s1n

Fixing the neckboard is definitely doable (it'd be something similar to that video), but unfortunately I ain't got the skills for such a job!

Doge

o1s1n wrote: »

Fixing the neckboard is definitely doable (it'd be something similar to that video), but unfortunately I ain't got the skills for such a job!

Ah you could do it handy enough id say!
You solder dont you?

It would just involve sanding off the silkscreen to expose each trace and soldering a wire to bridge it.

I could ask smash tv, my arcade repair guru friend in the states if he knows ofa better way of doing it!

For the first time in a few years, hes gone back to working full time in arcade repairs. He may even have a facebook page soon.

o1s1n

The only thing I have ever successfully soldered in my life was button 4 on a jamma loom.

And I burned my finger and melted some of the jamma edge plastic in the process

Ciderdude has dibs on it anyway, maybe Kerbster can get it going

So I cleaned down that Outzone PCB in the sink and then went to town with rubbing alcohol to try and de-crust all the little processor legs.

Also popped out all the socketed chips and removed any sign of corrosion with fine grit sandpaper from their legs.

Now just have to wait for the thing to dry off!

Optimus Prime

The Sunset riders board i bought kept randomly resetting when playing. so i cleaned all the chips and noticed this,



Thought i might have broken it myself taking it out, but when i stuck it back in the game does the same thing, plays and resets sometimes. will have to burn a eprom to replace it.

CathalDublin

Solder a new leg on, a piece from a broken chip or leg from a resistor, capacitor

Optimus Prime

CathalDublin wrote: »

Solder a new leg on, a piece from a broken chip or leg from a resistor, capacitor

Ok cool, wasnt sure if that would work. ill give it a go tomorrow so, thanks a lot.

CathalDublin

keithgeo wrote: »

Ok cool, wasnt sure if that would work. ill give it a go tomorrow so, thanks a lot.

Easiest to solder it while its in the socket with new leg in there too, just tape up the side on the socket incase you burn it with the iron

Optimus Prime

Ok i put a wire on the Bubble Bobble Boot Board, no joy still no sound just humming noise that gets louder as i higher the volume pot. I checked continuity between both sides of the adapter and its fine. not the best job but should work? this is literally the second thing ive soldered in my life.

Any suggestions on why the sound isnt working, what i could look at?



Edit:

Just found this, sounds exactly like whats happening.

Symptom: No game sound or music, just a constant buzz/hiss that increases or decreases when the volume pot is adjusted

Cure: Replaced LM324N at location IC39

Need a LM324N now, so just bought a few off ebay.

Get some sockets for the chip too

Optimus Prime

Yeh i have some of them already, ive been stocking up on bits and pieces, turns out ive a different chip in IC39, GD74LS139 Which is the OP-Amp according to a lad on J+ So ive no idea what to do next.

The Last Bandit

You've a different bootleg version I guess then.

74LS139 is a digital logic chip whereas the LM394 is an analog opamp - completely unrelated devices.
Since the hum is adjusting with the volume pot then the power amp might be ok and its not getting anything to amplify.
You need to trace back further into the audio circuit from the power amp back to the the logic creating the sound.

Optimus Prime

Cool, ok, ill keep messing with it.

Meanwhile... put a pin on the Sunset Riders Chip, Game is now working perfect. wasnt as bad as i was expecting getting it on, probably not the best work but it does the job! i didnt even attempt to do it in the socket, i would have wrecked it haha..