Star Wars wells-gardener monitor

[phantom-menace]

[ukvac] Star Wars wells-gardener monitor
Mornin,

I am after the above monitor for a cockpit 1980's Star Wars video
machine.

I am looking for a friend who has the Star Wars but the montor on it he
says has gone.

Are they difficult to get hold of?

The thing is I have an Atari Tempest and I guess that it also has a
Wells-Gardener monitor and so if they are that scarce it wouldn't be a
bad idea for me to have one spare in case mine goes as well?

Any thoughts about this guys!!!

Paul

 

[Zektor]

Re: [ukvac] Star Wars wells-gardener monitor
when you say gone do you mean broken or missing? why not repair the one he has?

 

[guddler]

Re: [ukvac] Star Wars wells-gardener monitor
Also, with regard to the SW cockpit, i think i'm right in saying it
should be an amplifone, not a Wells Gardner (although it could have a
WG in it now?)

Someone shoot me if i'm wrong

As for how rare? Well, they are out there as Sculley would say but
yes, they're fairly few and far between these days. Working ones in
particular. It would be overkill (and certainly an expensive
excersise) to keep an entire spare monitor for you tempest, better
just to source some of the more typically needed spares for when it
goes wrong on you.

I think amplifones are harder to come by than WG's BTW.

Martin.

On 5/27/05, simmonhanlon <simonjhanlon@btopenworld.com> wrote:
> when you say gone do you mean broken or missing? why not repair the one he
> has?
>

 

[david_orton_2000]

[ukvac] Re: Star Wars wells-gardener monitor
Paul,

Check that is it definately a WG type, however as Martin(Guddler) says
they are normally Ampliphones in the sit-down cabs.
Check for make and model numbers, also any numbers on the monitor
circuit boards - this will help us to help you further.

The power-transistors are the first thing to check - these are located
on the monitor chassis(normally 6 of them).
Are they any obvious signs of trouble - burnt/damaged/missing
components on the monitor deflection board?

Cheers,
Dave.

 

[Guests]

[ukvac] Re: Star Wars wells-gardener monitor
From what I've learned, the Starwars games came bundled with the
Ampliphones (cockpits have a larger screen) but a lot were replaced
with WG ones due to reliability issues ( I think also that some upright
machines were supplied with WG as standard at one point in time - but
dont quote me).

Its cheaper and easier to repair the monitor that has 'gone' than try
to source a working one... especially the ampliphone which is of higher
quality (has a higher resolution tube than the WG).

Most of the parts are availabe to repair the monitors including a more
reliable replacement for the fabled Ampliphone RED transformer, which
has an inherrent design/manufacturing fault and tends to die.

Wg also suffers from a bit of non-linearity and the aftermarket
correction boards are not available at the moment

Hope this helps,
Regards,
Colin

 

[Zektor]

Re: [ukvac] Re: Star Wars wells-gardener monitor
You can also run an Ampliphone large Tube on the W G chassis

 

[phantom-menace]

[ukvac] Re: Star Wars wells-gardener monitor
Thanks guys for your advice,

I had a feeling that someone would question my meaning of "gone"
which to me means broken!!

It could be that the monitor is repairable and if so then that is
another option open to the owner.

He runs an arcade and from what he said sounds that it was
unrepairable but who knows he may just think it is and doesn't know
if fixing it is an option.

The advice you all have given I will pass on to him and get some more
info.

The owner is thinking of retiring and selling up his business and he
has some really old gear - he's been going probably 40 years!!

The arcade he has is massive and worth a visit if anyone is
interested?

The Star Wars he has may well have the other monitor but he sad WG
and so if he's been in the business that long one really can't
question him - although I will!!

BTY anyone going to Matts UKVAC meet tomorrow?

Thanks again

Paul

 

[guddler]

Re: [ukvac] Re: Star Wars wells-gardener monitor
To him, yep it's probably unrepairable. Agreed.

To a hobbyist, in actuality it's only really unrepairable if someone
has nicked off with the chassis or the tube is broken.

Then again, either of those things can be replaced!

I'm guessing unrepairable really means uneconomically repairable or
perhaps he simply doesn't know that sources for the parts still exist.

Oh well...

Martin.

> He runs an arcade and from what he said sounds that it was
> unrepairable but who knows he may just think it is and doesn't know
> if fixing it is an option.