Arcade Monitor Convergence

TechnoFreek

So as not to hijack paul's thread I've created this.

My arcade monitor has some curl in the corners. Grant serviced the chassis and noted that the curl wasn't due to the chassis itself, rather the monitor and that it was acceptable for "industry" use. But things like that cut through me like the eye of Sauron.

Grant gave me a convergence strip to stick in between the tube and yoke to try pull the image into the corners.




I tried the strip but it had no impact. So then I tried some of those rubbery fridge magnet strips. Bingo.

Impact was obvious. Granted its not perfect yet and a bit wobbly but you can clearly see the bottom left corner pulling down.

I literally only spent 15 mins at this with only a few strips so I'll cut some more over the weekend and keep at it.

Before:


After:

o1s1n

Interesting, I've never heard of this before. Must look it up as a matter of interest.

Is there no risk of the fridge magnet causing discolouration? (although I guess the degauss on boot would sort that out)

Casey120

Here Andre explains how to go about it :

You can make your own convergence strips .
Simply use plastic strips and pieces of box cutter blades. Use electrical tape to hold and insulate the blade piece at the end of the strips. Then use double sided tape at the other end....

Andrew76

Great info that is thanks.

TechnoFreek

Agreed Oisin, Grant had said that I coul use strong magnets if the strip didn't work. I interpreted that as those fridge magnet strips. I have to update him on my progress so hopefully he can confirm if its safe or not.

Casey, that's the video i was following. The strips Andre makes are a diy version of the one grant gave me. It had no impact from what I could see so I went straight to magnets and didn't try the DIY route.

Jack burton

Glad to know this works.

Good results!

Casey120

If Grant says it's no problem to use small magnets I believe him !

TechnoFreek

Grants response to the degauss query.

if your magnets were too strong the picture would go strange colours,like if the degaussing circuit was not functioning
if that is not happening then you are free to cut shapes and play around as much as you please

Good thread.
Following with interest!

TechnoFreek

urbanledge wrote: »

Good thread.
Following with interest!

Grant applauded my tenacity as techs like him are mostly interested in the image and colours apparently.

I'll go at it again and take some photos of the strips behind the yoke!

Any updates?

TechnoFreek

No. No more updates other than I did a bit of tweaking. Haven't had much time to get to it to be honest!

I did try various thicknesses of strips, some with a pointed top etc and that too makes a difference to the impact on the duel.

I also want to try a small square of magnet stuck to a strip of card I.e. mimic a convergence strip to see the impact of that.

Jack burton

Going to give this a go tomorrow on the blast city. I'll let ya all know how I get on

TechnoFreek

Jack burton wrote: »

Going to give this a go tomorrow on the blast city. I'll let ya all know how I get on

Great stuff. You'll know if the magnets are too strong when the rgb colours start to separate!

Jack burton

TechnoFreek wrote: »

Great stuff. You'll know if the magnets are too strong when the rgb colours start to separate!

I was going to use bits of a Stanley blade, magnets a better bet?

I'm going to do this when Im capping my blast city.
Come on jack loads of pics!

TechnoFreek

Jack burton wrote: »

I was going to use bits of a Stanley blade, magnets a better bet?

Try the blades first. I tried some convergence strips from Grant which are the same principle as the blades.
Made no difference for me so I went straight to the fridge magnet strips.

Thats the kind of soft flexi magnet yea?

Edit - rereads first post! yes it is

Jack burton

I'll be picking up stuff later on for them so I'll get both

CathalDublin

There
I fixed it!

Jack burton

Looks like I might need something else, maybe a chassis service

I'd post them pics on j+ and get options there

TechnoFreek

urbanledge wrote: »

I'd post them pics on j+ and get options there

Yeah. That doesn't look like a typical convergence issue.

Casey120

Did you try a small adjustment of the V-sync pot ?

Jack burton

Going to give it a few adjustments now, would it be anything to do with the video mode?

Steve X2

CathalDublin wrote: »

There
I fixed it!

Haha, this reminds of years ago when I had to always use magnets to fix our old CRT tv in the kitchen. It was always getting distorted and the colours going weird. I'd hold 2 magnets in the hands and wave around the tv until it looked ok.

I'm pretty sure my mum thought I was some sort of wizard or something

Casey120

Casey120 wrote: »

Did you try a small adjustment of the V-sync pot ?

Looks like H-sync, had similar issue before on the astro, tiny tiny adjustment should sort it

Jack burton

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Looks like H-sync, had similar issue before on the astro, tiny tiny adjustment should sort it

Exactly what I was told on jamma+. Now to just find the pot on the chassis

Its not in the user manual

Jack burton

Its one of the pots in the chassis alright. Not in the manual and they are a basatrd of a machine to try and get in at the back.

Wish I had the Naomi again :P

There's only one lad now with all the naomi's in the country I think

Casey120

Deleted User wrote: »

Looks like H-sync, had similar issue before on the astro, tiny tiny adjustment should sort it

It is but that's what you get when your cabs are vertical all the time

Jack burton

Casey120 wrote: »

It is but that's what you get when your cabs are vertical all the time

schmup addict problems eh? :P

o1s1n

Or addicts of.. err.. 'other' types of vertical games

Doge

CathalDublin wrote: »

There
I fixed it!

Mr Vestek sent me this gif of a guy holding a whopper of a neodymium magnet upto a CRT, on Saturday!


http://imgur.com/gallery/Nz2HqmX