Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited

Posted by: pgrzelak

Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 13/02/2004 19:04

Greetings!

I have had a recent series of requests for VFDs specifically to repair damaged players. My last (personal) spare was shipped out last week. Fortunately, I was able to order a few more from Noritake, so I will soon have a few more spares in case of future breakage.

I am not offering them for general sale (unless we have already spoken about it - you know who you are even if I accidentally deleted your email address), but if you find yourself in need of repair, contact me.

Meanwhile, please be careful out there!!!
Posted by: FireFox31

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 13/02/2004 20:47

Haha, you rock. Do you officially own stock in Noritake yet?

I saw that $100 empeg on EBay with the dysfunctional screen. I wonder if a new one would fix it. Though I think I remember reading about that one on here. And if Eutronix couldn't fix it, I don't know who can (besides Rob and David). But I digress.
Posted by: mlord

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 13/02/2004 22:41

$100 empeg?? Got a link? I can fix anything!

Cheers
Posted by: krburrell

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 13/02/2004 23:52

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3078061364

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3078182180

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3077254308
Posted by: mlord

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 14/02/2004 09:13

From the second eBay link (above):
First of all, this unit needs to be repair. I dropped the unit and broke the display nipple. I had the display replaced by Eutronix but while removing the display from the unit I damaged the display cable. Eutronix attempted to repair the display cable as well but were not successful.

After I installed the new display in the unit, the unit turns on but the display does not fully light up (see pic below). I figure the display cable is still damaged and/or some fuses need to be replaced. Regardless I got a new car and can no longer use the Empeg.

That's odd. Stu?

I recently revived a similarly "dead" player here, which had a horribly mangled display cable. I desoldered the original cable from the displayboard, cleaned out the through-holes, soldered in a 20-pin header, and then used a new ribbon cable with crimp-on 20 pin female connectors to complete the repair. Better than new!

Cheers
Posted by: maczrool

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 14/02/2004 11:30

Well, the problem was the destroyed connectors. I can't remember which half or if it was both, but we couldn't find a suitable connector that would match up the holes in the board. That's really all there is to it. I was actually thinking of buying that player myself.

Perhaps if we had gotten more creative...

Stu
Posted by: mlord

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 14/02/2004 11:59

If you want to bid on the dead display player, here are the DigiKey numbers for the replacement parts:

3M1120-ND 20-pin 2mm header gold (need one of these)
111626-4 20-pin 2mm recepticle for 1mm ribbon cable (need two of these)

You'll also need some 20 conductor 1mm ribbon cable, which can be cut from the same stock as for the Empeg's HD cables.

EDIT:
To do the repair, first remove the old connector from the displayboard:
- rip off the ribbon cable
- use very fine snips to chew away the black plastic a little at a time
- desolder the pins one at a time
- solder suck the holes clean (may need to add some solder first)
- solder in the new header
- cut & crimp a new cable with identical connectors on each end.
- plug it all together and Bob's your uncle!

Cheers
Posted by: maczrool

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 14/02/2004 12:08

Thanks Mark. We looked through Digikiey for quite a while and got half of the cable connectors when we were trying to do the fix. The other half eluded us. The second part number is really a direct replacement huh? That's the half we couldn't find. The drawings provided don't really show any pins.

Edit- I see what you did now. It's not an exact match, but rather a functional one.

As for the directions, we do things a little differently here, but that's more or less how we operate.

Stu
Posted by: mlord

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 14/02/2004 12:33

I see what you did now. It's not an exact match, but rather a functional one.
Yes. Rather than soldering the cable connection to the displayboard, I replaced it with a soldered-in header, than then just used a replaceable (in future) ribbon cable with standard connectors to complete the repair. Looks nice, and works very well.

The ribbon connectors are not as low profile as the originals, but there's still plenty of clearance for them.

Cheers

Posted by: Rod

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 15/02/2004 21:55

I wish people would ship outside the US!

Rod.
Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 15/02/2004 22:41

Wow! I would have snatched that up as a home player and controlled w. Tony's empegFace! Oh well, too late now!
Posted by: msaeger

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 16/02/2004 00:53

I wonder if the seller read this thread because it was pulled early
Posted by: Micman2b

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 16/02/2004 00:58

The auction read like he needed money . Maybe someone made him an offer and he canceled the offer.

Sean in NC
Posted by: mlord

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 16/02/2004 09:21

The $100 (dead audio) player was apparently sold privately to another BBS member, according to the "seller".

Cheers
Posted by: altman

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 16/02/2004 10:43

I have some 20-way assemblies here (20 pin solder header -> cable -> socket for empeg main board), but as usual would need to get someone else to deal with sending them out. Should have bunged some in the package to maczrool really but must have forgotten...

Hugo
Posted by: pgrzelak

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 16/02/2004 10:49

Not I, unfortunately. I had the high bid before it was cancelled... Pity...
Posted by: genixia

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 16/02/2004 10:52

The $100 (dead audio) player was apparently sold privately...
Yeah, I had been keeping my beady eye on that and was going to bid on it. Thanks Firefox31 for yelling about it

Posted by: canuckInOR

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 16/02/2004 11:38

Not I, unfortunately. I had the high bid before it was cancelled... Pity...
Yeah, like you need another spare.
Posted by: mlord

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 16/02/2004 12:09

More goodies for Amersfoort?

Cheers
Posted by: Rafy

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 10/03/2004 22:10

ARE the VFDs available for SALE still ?
Posted by: pgrzelak

Re: Replacement / Repair VFDs - revisited - 11/03/2004 05:48

Greetings!

I should have some arriving at the end of the month for people who need repairs. So, the answer is "not yet, but soon".

I saw your post in the other thread. You may not need a VFD, depending on what happened. Please see the other thread for details.