Best repair tools

[Russ]

I work on many different types of coin operated equipment. Half the time
not very successfully. I have a lot of stuff but am wondering if there are
some other things that can help save time and speed up repairs. I have.
Cap Wizard, and the Dick Smith ESR meter, LOPT tester,( Works well) O-Scope,
Desoldering station which is great I can finally remover IC's without
destroying everything. A self made Curve tracer-which I am not sure how to
use that well, Meter, PS, and odds and ends. Is there anyother things that
can help. What about that Leekseeker. or the Huntron stuff. Is it that
much better then my self-made curve tracer. Anything else that people find
real useful? I work on Arcade game boards and Monitor chassis and Power
supplies, Pinball machines etc. Right now I am working on a bunch of Rowe BC
25 change machine control boards. I can't apply power to them. They use 20
year old technology but I am at a loss on how to go about working on them.
Thanks for the feedback.

 

[NSM]

Right now I am working on a bunch of Rowe BC
25 change machine control boards. I can't apply power to them.

Why not?

They use 20
year old technology but I am at a loss on how to go about working on them.
Thanks for the feedback.

N

 

[David Gersic]

I work on many different types of coin operated equipment. Half the time
not very successfully.

The most commonly used tools in my shop are the soldering iron, the
desoldering iron, and the digital meter. Most of the rest is the
schematics for whatever I'm working on. I've got other stuff, like a
scope, and such, but those only get limited use.

I won't claim to be especially fast, unless it's a repair I'm familiar
with and have done lots of times, but I have a good sucess rate (pretty
close to 100%).

I have a lot of stuff but am wondering if there are
some other things that can help save time and speed up repairs. I have.
Cap Wizard, and the Dick Smith ESR meter, LOPT tester,( Works well) O-Scope,
Desoldering station which is great I can finally remover IC's without
destroying everything. A self made Curve tracer-which I am not sure how to
use that well, Meter, PS, and odds and ends.

Lots of stuff there. I do pinball repairs, but not video stuff. Haven't
run in to any jukes yet.

I guess I'd start with asking why you say that your repairs are not very
successful? Is it that the stuff doesn't work when you're done, or that
it's just taking "too long" to do it?

supplies, Pinball machines etc. Right now I am working on a bunch of Rowe BC
25 change machine control boards. I can't apply power to them. They use 20
year old technology but I am at a loss on how to go about working on them.

20 year old tech is good stuff, easy to work on. The only down side is that
some of the parts supply is drying up. Why can't you power these boards?
If you have the schematic, and a power supply, you should be able to power
them up.

The work is the easy part. It's figuring out what part needs working on
that's usually the hard part. Got the schematic? If not, at least a working
board to compare against?

 

[Matthew Smith]

...
Is there anyother things that can help.
...

Coming from a digital background, I use:

1) If you're handling digital stuff, logic source/measurement can be
handy. You can cobble something simple for this using a
microcontroller if you don't want to spend $$$.

2) Soldering iron, desoldering station, flux pens and a selction of
desoldering braids for SMD stuff.

3) Scope

4) Decent (Wavetek/Meterman) DMM, cheap DMM for heavy stuff that might
cook the good one (done that twice).

5) Component analyser - little PIC based thing that checks basic
parameters of simple semiconductors. Handy beast.

 

[Rheilly Phoull]

I work on many different types of coin operated equipment. Half the time
not very successfully. I have a lot of stuff but am wondering if there are
some other things that can help save time and speed up repairs. I have.
Cap Wizard, and the Dick Smith ESR meter, LOPT tester,( Works well) O-Scope,
Desoldering station which is great I can finally remover IC's without
destroying everything. A self made Curve tracer-which I am not sure how to
use that well, Meter, PS, and odds and ends. Is there anyother things that
can help. What about that Leekseeker. or the Huntron stuff. Is it that
much better then my self-made curve tracer. Anything else that people find
real useful? I work on Arcade game boards and Monitor chassis and Power
supplies, Pinball machines etc. Right now I am working on a bunch of Rowe BC
25 change machine control boards. I can't apply power to them. They use 20
year old technology but I am at a loss on how to go about working on them.
Thanks for the feedback.

From the sounds of it you need to further your knowledge, beats having good
tools ya dont know how to use.

 

[Charles Schuler]

From the sounds of it you need to further your knowledge, beats having
good
tools ya dont know how to use.

Amen to that. One needs, at least, a system view to isolate problems. You
must understand (to be at all efficient) what each stage is doing (as
perhaps opposed to what it is supposed to do), what the input to a given
stage is and where it comes from, what the output from a given stage is
supposed to be and where it goes. Then, feedback often makes the whole mess
deeper and much more murky!

Tools allow you to observe the system but will never, by themselves, help
you understand it.

 

[Russ]

Thanks to all for the advise. Sounds like I am on the right track. More
knowledge I guess is top on the list.
To clarify a few things.

On the Rowe: where I can't apply power. I can but it is very difficult
because of the harness. It is real hard to get to. And there are times
where if the problem isn't repaired it will fry parts on the Main CPU. I
would like to work on this with out power. I probably have 10 of them and 3
or 4 are fully working. This is where I think the Huntron might be helpful.
But I am not sure. But if my self built curve tracer is just as good i will
try again with that.

My industry has tons of manufacturers with most of them out of business.
Only on pinball's and some monitors to I see more then one of anything. I
will spend an hour or two on something's then if I can't get it going I will
send it off. Keeping them running is what makes money but since I do most
all of everything I only have so much time to put into repairing stuff.
That is where I am always looking for things to help speed up the repairs.

Here is another example: I have a gun game pcb where the video screen goes
blank and then the game resets. I don't have schematics. The company is
history. So I heard that if you can check the temperature of the individual
chips and if you find one that is real hot that might be a problem. Can I
use one of those
non-contact temp probes? What type would work best for this? Also, There
are a few surface mount things which I am getting better at. But how in the
world do you separate bent legs. Is there a good stereo microscope for a
cheap price. So that i can see what I am working on. Someone mentioned a
component analyzer. What exactly does this do? The LeekSeeker uses a real
low ohm meter to help track down shorts. I am not sure if this would be
useful or not.

The trouble with the equipment is there is so much stuff and even on a
Galaga board you really have to understand what everything is suppose to be
doing so that you can track down problems. This takes time. Some people
specialize in a few types of boards and can repair them in a timely manner.
But I have over a hundred boards, (most of them work) and it is very hard to
learn the whole system. (no excuse) That is why I am looking for anything
that can help speed up the repairs. The Flyback ringer works well, the ESR
meter works OK. etc. So I am wondering if there is anything else I could
use that would help.

Thanks to all for the feedback.

Russ

 

[NSM]

On the Rowe: where I can't apply power. I can but it is very difficult
because of the harness. It is real hard to get to. And there are times
where if the problem isn't repaired it will fry parts on the Main CPU. I
would like to work on this with out power...

If I have enough to fix I'll build a jig.

N

 

[Seafarer]

I work on many different types of coin operated equipment. Half the time
not very successfully. I have a lot of stuff but am wondering if there are
some other things that can help save time and speed up repairs. I have.
Cap Wizard, and the Dick Smith ESR meter, LOPT tester,( Works well) O-Scope,
Desoldering station which is great I can finally remover IC's without
destroying everything. A self made Curve tracer-which I am not sure how to
use that well, Meter, PS, and odds and ends. Is there anyother things that
can help. What about that Leekseeker. or the Huntron stuff. Is it that
much better then my self-made curve tracer. Anything else that people find
real useful? I work on Arcade game boards and Monitor chassis and Power
supplies, Pinball machines etc. Right now I am working on a bunch of Rowe BC
25 change machine control boards. I can't apply power to them. They use 20
year old technology but I am at a loss on how to go about working on them.
Thanks for the feedback.

I've got logic testers in my shop,can't remember last time I used them
but like the Freq.counter it's there when needed.