Arcade Repair Tips - Inspecting An Arcade Board 

Thanks for the video man ! Cheers from France !

Your video series is fantastic! I'm new to arcade cab collecting (Street Fighter 2, 2x Neo Geo 2 Slot, Neo Geo 4 Slot v.3) and these videos really take the fear out of doing minor work on my own cabs. Thanks again. I will buy your series on DVD.

Very informative! Thanks!!!

Great video as always!

Very nice video guys! Your videos are well done and have helped me learn arcade repairs. Thanks!

Great video thanks

Very nice. Thank you!

your channel is a goldmine ! :)

Great work.

Some things I didn't know, thanks!

many of your techniques work on computers as well. for instance older ram and cards will usually have tarnished connectors. That pencil trick worked wonders. Thank you!

Thanks for sharing

Excellent video, sick shirt.

Nice simple tips. Learning how to identify a bad chip is something I need to figure out LOL

The Hakko FX-888 is amazing for soldering. The Hakko 808 is essential for desoldering.

I avoid touching chip legs with my fingers for any reason and i use a leg straightening tool before re-inserting the ic, i do use a paint brush to clean a board of dust but with edge connectors its either an eraser or i get a sheet of paper,fold it as many times as possible, add a spot of contact cleaner to the rigid corner of the paper and rub the connector.If the paper is white you can see the dirt that is removed, you can also use this method to clean old Sega and Nintendo game cartridges.

888 is indeed amazing :) Can't live without my Hakko 472D either

Now in High Def!

hey thanks guys for all ur tips!! i have a question; i have the vanguard arcade system got it to turn on but it gives me bad ram 3 ..after googlin you tubin surfin the web..i still have no idea where this ram 3 is on the board.....or if it's even fixable...any type of help would be appreciated

Tim I'm thinking of buying all your DVD's. What am I missing atm by not having them?

The cut can also be fixed by gentle scraping the solder mask a little on both sides of the cut and add solder to bridge the gap. Then check continuity and brush a little soldermask paint and cure it. Or you could use a little liquid electric tape.

Do you ever wash the PCBs in the dishwasher? Will it be better than brushing them?

@zte11794591 You can test any chip but it'll be easier depending on what it is or what equipment you have. A lot of EPROM programmers on ebay now test logic ICs too. A logic probe will be your best friend with arcade boards though.

QA/QC on PCBs is a black art. Tear-downs on junk boards is standard stuff in electronics. It is one of the best ways to learn. I buy electronics from my local scrape yard for $110/ton of $10 minimum per trip. I have a giant pile of transformers, fans, heat sinks, toroids from old inductors, etc. Great way to build a junk box. Most important, you will spend hours just looking at how things are put together. If you have the money, a cheap stereo microscope opens up amazing things. You can learn to spot bad traces, cold solder joints, leaking caps, you name it. I would not go poking at a classic, irreplaceable board from a valuable collector item like an arcade game as my first board inspection. Use those TVs, VCRs or junk computers first. Pulling chips from sockets, for me, is only worth the risk if I can confirm a problem first. That almost always means a schematic and some oscilloscope probing. People pull them for the most part because it is fun. Get that out of your system on those practice boards.

You should have also recommended that you use distilled water, as other kinds of water can have impurities in it and even when it dries, leave a residue that can cause issues.

some other very useful tips are to always use an anti ESD ground strap, and treat socketed chips and board slot connections with STABILANT-22 contact enhancer after cleaning. this inxpensive treatment is very effective at fixing hard to find intermittent problems. google it

Depending on the board, that could result in a smeared, gooey blob of semi-dissolved conformal coating. Washing the board with water would be a safer bet. Just be careful around any paper labels & allow it ample time to dry before reconnection to power.

Is there any way you can test a chip?

how to convert vga to jamma

Can I dab my brush in rubbing alcohol and clean my entire board off?

You can feel and electrostatic discharge(static electricity) of 240V or higher. with chips that old, most likely being 5V and having horrible ground shielding. You are most likely to not see or feel the ESD(electrostatic discharge) that destroys you chip.

hey could you repair my board

R3dn3ck EPA

recommend a vacuum cleaner than a brush - which will just drive the dust into the contacts.... or even better yet - give the thing a shower with simple green and dry with compressed air and wait a few hours