In this thread we tube and yoke swap monitors

[jassin000]

@jjh2882 back in the day the tube itself was only made by a few (I think 4 for the entire world or something crazy) manufactures (yes because its always been very hard to do).
So even if you owned a Sharp branded TV, it likely had a RCA or Toshiba tube inside it.

For this reason, while TV model numbers can be handy for identification, they aren't really what you are looking for at all...
You need information on the tube type contained inside. Best way to get that is start buying up/hording ALL the 27" TVs you can find and rip them apart.

You'll also find out other fun facts once you get into tube swapping, like curvature of the glass and how very few tubes will correctly fit something like a Blast City's bezel (without leaving major/ugly gaps at the four corners).
Continuing to speaking about the Blast swap, you must recycle the original Sega/Nanao frame, and then you'll have to use a trick called "backmounting" I learned from @300wins to make it sit flush with the body (its a gigantic pain in the balls).

Good luck, you'll need it

 

[jjh2882]

@jassin000 Thanks! All of us with MS9s need the luck. Afraid to say that I don't have the resources to go through all the 27 inch CRT in my area but local guy who does RGB mods and resells TVs knows what I'm after. The Samsung version I found is a curved SF and the LH is 0.33 and LV is 18.6 and it was mentioned here as working for CH-666A-29 chassis. Hope it'd be compatible with the MS9 without having to do a yoke swap. Ideally I'd like to keep my Toshiba tube even with the burn in.

 

[nem]

The Samsung version I found is a curved SF and the LH is 0.33 and LV is 18.6

Yeah, that should work with a MS9.

 

[RealMFnG]

So here is the Phillips tube side by side next to the Toshiba MS9 tube. Gives you an idea struggle to get convergence and geometry correct. The yoke simply sits further away from the screen so the sweet spot is very narrow for the beams to converge properly with proper purity using the Phillips donor tube. Also, the neck on the MS9 tube is offset towards the bottom, whereas with the Phillips, the it is dead center. As such, the top of the yoke has to be angled away from the screen as well.

Fun stuff!

 

[nem]

So yeah, I think there be might truth to that legend that Philips tubes don't work with anything else other than Philips yokes. The tube shape is indeed so different from anything else. You can likely put dozens of hours in it, all the magnets and yoke strips you can think of, and ultimately you will still be left with convergence issues. Even uncletom couldn't get a decent picture out of one, and he's a legit magician.

However, that doesn't mean Philips tubes should be discarded altogether. At least in Europe Philips released a number of 100Hz TVs with 0.300-0.350mH yokes, in A59 (25"), A68 (29") and even A80 (33") sizes. No idea if any of those made it to the NA market.

 

[Hedonism Bot 2.0]

I have had a successful swap with my windy. The yoke in it was making a loud grinding noise whenever powering on. I tried two different yokes, one toshiba 6643 and one nanao ms9 and neither worked. Both had purity and convergence issues that would not go away. Tried the 3rd yoke and it’s perfect. So besides tubes, some of these yokes may be problematic. TLDR, there are a lot of X factors in doing these swaps.

 

[BlinG]

Successful tube swap for Sega Blast City. Old monitor always had focus issues, but it finally gave in and went completely out of focus. No adjustments on the flyback made a difference. Chassis swap with known good chassis didn't change focus issues. Rejuve also failed. Tube had a good amount of burn that I didn't like as well. So tube is trashed and needs to be swapped.

Found a 27inch Samsung CRT on offerup with a Hitachi A68KSA30X tube. Tube swap commence...

Rekt original monitor

Potential tube for swap

Tube needed to be back mounted and a couple of spacers to fit nicely with the bezel.

Used old Nanao 2930 yoke and hitachi tube convergence rings. Did some minor adjustments and it looked OK. Need to adjust purity on those corners.

After almost 2 nights of fucking with the rings and yoke adjustments, I have decided to just deal with some of the convergence and geometry issues. It's not too noticeable in gameplay so I am going to call this good.

 

[vaughan14]

I've done maybe 4 yoke swaps in the past, 2 have been successful and 2 have had bad convergence and geometry.
I have been meaning to give one of mine another go, In Australia is really easy to get ahold of 68cm tvs but as of late people are charging too much.

I'll have to post my next attempt.

I have swapped semi curved blast city and naomi universal tubes with tubes from loewe tvs, perfect swap. im not sure if youll get them in the US though.

 

[RealMFnG]

I have swapped semi curved blast city and naomi universal tubes with tubes from loewe tvs, perfect swap. im not sure if youll get them in the US though.

In my experience here in the US, finding semi-curve tubes for Blast City/Net City/Naomi happens at a rate of 40% of 27" US TV's (68cm tubes).

 

[nem]

I have that exact same Hitachi (A68KSA30X) in my Neo 29. Cool find!

 

[nztdm]

Just swapped the yoke stolen from a new unknown Samsung tube, to the Philips tube in my 1084S-P (same as CM8833, not same as 1084S-P1 or CM8833-II).
The original yoke was very burnt from corroded rubber wedges, but the tube and electronics are fine.
At first, I just threw it on there to ensure the electronics were compatible (R and L readings of the yoke are similar, but they look a lil different inside).
Seems to work well!
Now I just have to do convergence from scratch, which I've never done before haha...
I need to find me a thick glove for fiddling with the yoke position while it's on.

 

[nztdm]

To add onto my previous post, I converged it the best I could. The vertical dynamic convergence is still bad and can't be fixed no matter where the yoke is.
Perhaps strips can fix this? Seems like I'd need a lot of strips.

 

[nem]

You only had the original ring set and not the Samsung one?

I would definitely try with a few strips, it's not that far out.

 

[nztdm]

You only had the original ring set and not the Samsung one?

I would definitely try with a few strips, it's not that far out.

Both ring sets have similar effects. Right now the Samsung rings are on.
If I move the yoke towards the screen, it gets better, but purity goes way out. That vertical dynamic convergence never solves entirely no matter where I put the yoke or tilt it, ignoring the purity.

 

[RealMFnG]

So I tube swapped a Wells Gardner 13K4806. According to Ken Layton, it is the 13" version of the 19K4900 which is his favorite monitor of all time. He is a classics guy. This was my easiest swap yet due to the small size of the monitor. Here was my process:

1. Matched relative size during pickup (close enough plus it was free)
2. De-cased and discharged donor TV
3. Matched neck/neck pins
   • At this point, if there is no match, I put it back together and take it to the recyclers. But it worked out
4. Matched tube size
   • Prefixed with 37 on OG tube and donor TV
5. Removed tube from donor TV
6. Removed tube from arcade monitor
7. Washed everything using Simple Green
8. Used summer heat and allowed everything to dry under shade for a day
9. Compared screen curve by installing burnt arcade tube into donor TV case
   • Screen curve was perfect
   • Fitment was also perfect as I didn't need washers/spacers to close any gaps between monitor glass and tv bezel
   • Important because many early classics had molded bezels before giving way to felt bezel/shrouds
10. Cut grounding strap from monitor tube and neckboard somewhere closer to the neckboard than to the tube
    • Makes for easier connection/reconnection in the future
    • And needed as many US domestic monitors don't have quick disconnect fittings
    • Installed quick disconnects
11. Transferred ground strap and degauss cable from arcade monitor to new donor tube
12. Reconnected everything

Pics below:

These pics show the perfect fitment of the donor tube by installing the old burnt tube into the donor TV case:



And these are the pics of new tube in action. Old donor tube shown side-by-side with new tube running for reference:

 

[kikaso]

That burnt tube looks pretty funny in the consumer case.

 

[RealMFnG]

That burnt tube looks pretty funny in the consumer case.

Makes it easy to recycle though.

 

[duffcon]

Most recycle places will not take a uncased tube. Also it's funny AF that you have a Katana leaned up against a Samsho display.

 

[RealMFnG]

The Katana just arrived yesterday from Amazon so that was somewhat accidental. Pretty good functional quality for a $70 Katana =).

My recycle center has a drop off bin for E-waste. I tend to put TV donors back together for them. If anything, makes it easier to transport.

 

[Microfinne]

Hi, reading through these posts inspired me to do a tube swap on of my BAS cabinet with Orion tube (A48JRV70X07) and MTC9000 chassis. Found a good condition donor 19" Goldstar consumer set with tube number A48KMX02XX.

I´m a newbie and this is the first tube swap for me. Is there a chance something break if I swap tubes without moving the yoke from the Orion tube to Goldstar tube, and connect it to the MTC9000 chassis?

I have seen the same Goldstar tube in an original Operation Wolf cabinet paired with MTC9000 chassis. A friend will help out with the tube swap tomorrow, but would appreciate your comments first before I dive into it..