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Tech: Clowns

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dlw...@mindspring.com

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Oct 14, 2000, 3:00:00 AM10/14/00
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In my first buy, I managed to pick up a non-working Clowns (Midway) and was
going to wait on its restoration, but had a little down time on another
game, so I dove in.

What I found is NO VIDEO BOARD!, just a plastic 12 pin connector from the
mother board that goes to the general area of where I would expect to find
the video board - only 5 pins are used for the 2 green, 1 dark blue, 1 blue,
1 violet, 1 clear, 1 bare wires that feed into this connector. The
schematics don't show anything for the video circuitry. The monitor is a
GTE Sylvania 22VATP4 and has no connector or board (whatever it's called) at
the back of the tube.

- Does anyone have any idea what parts I should look for? Are they specific
to Clowns or could I use parts from other games?

- By the way, when I turned it on, the marquee lit up, there was silence,
garbage sounds, then silence again.
Any ideas on this?

This may turn out to be a long term project - the cabinet is nice though!

Thanks,

David


Anders Erlandsson

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Oct 15, 2000, 3:00:00 AM10/15/00
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dlw...@mindspring.com wrote:
>
> In my first buy, I managed to pick up a non-working Clowns (Midway) and was
> going to wait on its restoration, but had a little down time on another
> game, so I dove in.

I have a Clowns.

>
> What I found is NO VIDEO BOARD!, just a plastic 12 pin connector from the

Don't know what you mean by VIDEO board. There is no such. There is
the motherboard,
and a game specific board that you plug into the motherboard (sound,
video).
So there SHOULD be a big slot on the cpu board.

2 board in a v-shape. (90 deg)

> mother board that goes to the general area of where I would expect to find
> the video board - only 5 pins are used for the 2 green, 1 dark blue, 1 blue,
> 1 violet, 1 clear, 1 bare wires that feed into this connector. The

The connector on the cpuboard goes to PS and monitor.

On the daughterboard there are 2 connectors, one go to paddles, the
other goes
to speaker and coin mech.



> - Does anyone have any idea what parts I should look for? Are they specific
> to Clowns or could I use parts from other games?

If it is the daughterboard missing, then you must get one of those.

>
> - By the way, when I turned it on, the marquee lit up, there was silence,
> garbage sounds, then silence again.
> Any ideas on this?

H, if you have sounds the daughterboard is there.

> This may turn out to be a long term project - the cabinet is nice though!

Urg, they break all to often.


--------------------------------------------------------
Startrek: http://www.algonet.se/~ncc1701d
Classic Videogames: http://home1.swipnet.se/ncc1701d
Email: ncc1...@algonet.se
--------------------------------------------------------
Amiga, PC, C64, Intellivision, Colecovision, Vectrex,
Atari2600, Fairchild/Luxor, Philips G7000
--------------------------------------------------------
Arcade Collection:
Clowns, Seawolf, Shark, Flotilla (EM)
--------------------------------------------------------

John in NH

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Oct 15, 2000, 3:00:00 AM10/15/00
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The Clowns I just got has control problems - the spinners don't work.

I saw a thread a while back on Omega Race's spinners. Are Clowns' spinners the
"optical" (think that was the term) or the other type - standard, maybe. I'd
guess standard since I think it came out in '78. Anyone know for sure?

John in NH

~~~

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dlw...@mindspring.com

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Oct 15, 2000, 3:00:00 AM10/15/00
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Thanks for your reply. The 2 boards oriented at 90 degrees are there. I
guess I was expecting some kind of video board, like what I see in Pac Man,
only simpler because Clowns has a B/W monitor. All I have coming from the
mother board set is a wire bundle with a rectangular 12 pin socket (only 5
pins used). The monitor just has a circular formation of pins.

When you say "The connector on the cpuboard goes to PS and monitor", do you
mean a separate PS for the monitor? That's what I meant by Video Board.
Sorry about my lack of terminology and experience. If so, does it have to
come from another Clowns game? Thanks again!

David

dlw...@mindspring.com

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Oct 15, 2000, 3:00:00 AM10/15/00
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I don't know what the overall value of the pots are, perhaps 25k as
suggested by Mike, but I did find something in a service insert that may be
useful. It says to adjust the lower limit to travel from 1K (lower limit)
to 9.5K (upper limit). If you want more info, I can fax this page to you.

David


John in NH wrote in message
<20001015091252...@ng-fi1.aol.com>...

4mike4

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Oct 15, 2000, 9:33:59 PM10/15/00
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The paddles use a regular pot, 25K I believe.
Mike


On 15 Oct 2000 13:12:52 GMT, rush...@aol.com--SP4M-- (John in NH)
wrote:

Mark C. Spaeth

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Oct 16, 2000, 2:16:39 AM10/16/00
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dlw...@mindspring.com wrote:
: When you say "The connector on the cpuboard goes to PS and monitor", do you

: mean a separate PS for the monitor? That's what I meant by Video Board.
: Sorry about my lack of terminology and experience. If so, does it have to
: come from another Clowns game? Thanks again!

Sounds like you're missing the monitor chassis...

--
Mark Spaeth msp...@mtl.mit.edu
50 Vassar St., #38.265 msp...@mit.edu
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 452-2354 http://arcade.ne.mediaone.net/~mspaeth

Anders Erlandsson

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Oct 16, 2000, 3:00:00 AM10/16/00
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dlw...@mindspring.com wrote:


> pins used). The monitor just has a circular formation of pins.

?? No monitor chassie? From the mb it is only composite video.

> When you say "The connector on the cpuboard goes to PS and monitor", do you
> mean a separate PS for the monitor?

No, ps for the cpuboard.


> Sorry about my lack of terminology and experience. If so, does it have to
> come from another Clowns game? Thanks again!

The ps is same as seawolf and probably the same as many other midway
games.

John in NH

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Oct 16, 2000, 3:00:00 AM10/16/00
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Thank you, I'll keep you all posted on the progress of Cirtus Atari - uh, I
mean Clowns.

:)

dlw...@mindspring.com

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Oct 16, 2000, 3:00:00 AM10/16/00
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I appreciate both of your comments. I do have a little confusion about what
parts are actually missing, since I apparently have the mother and daughter
boards (2 boards at 90 deg. + garbage sounds during start up). What comes
"AFTER" or "BETWEEN" the cable with the rectangular 12 pin socket
(originating from the mother board) AND the monitor itself is missing.
There's no card or socket at the neck of the monitor (just a circular
formation of 7 pins in search of a socket!) There's no wire attaching to the
back side of the tube itself (please forgive my terminology!). On my Ms.
Pac Man, I see an entire board devoted to the monitor - but that's color. I
don't have any regular B/W games to compare this to. It's so much easier
when you know what it's suppossed to look like! If anyone knows what parts
I need based on this description, I would appreciate it. Thanks again!

David

Mark wrote:
>Sounds like you're missing the monitor chassis...


Anders Erlandsson wrote in message <39EAD75B...@algonet.se>...
>dlw...@mindspring.com wrote:

>?? No monitor chassie? From the mb it is only composite video.

>No, ps for the cpuboard.

dlw...@mindspring.com

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Oct 16, 2000, 3:00:00 AM10/16/00
to

Thanks, I'll put that on my wish list. David

Anders Erlandsson wrote in message <39EB8D3D...@algonet.se>...
>dlw...@mindspring.com wrote:
>

>It sounds like you are missing the most vital part. The monitor
>electronics.
>You only have the tube it seems. All monitors need elektronics to
>drive the
>tube.


>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------
> Startrek: http://www.algonet.se/~ncc1701d
>Classic Videogames: http://home1.swipnet.se/ncc1701d
> Email: ncc1...@algonet.se
>--------------------------------------------------------
> Amiga, PC, C64, Intellivision, Colecovision, Vectrex,
> Atari2600, Fairchild/Luxor, Philips G7000
>--------------------------------------------------------
> Arcade Collection:

> Clowns, Seawolf, Shark, Flotilla (EM), Donkey Kong,
> Galaxian, Jumpbug, Gyruss, Centipede, Scramble
>--------------------------------------------------------

Anders Erlandsson

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Oct 16, 2000, 7:20:29 PM10/16/00
to
dlw...@mindspring.com wrote:

> back side of the tube itself (please forgive my terminology!). On my Ms.
> Pac Man, I see an entire board devoted to the monitor - but that's color. I
> don't have any regular B/W games to compare this to. It's so much easier
> when you know what it's suppossed to look like! If anyone knows what parts
> I need based on this description, I would appreciate it. Thanks again!
>

It sounds like you are missing the most vital part. The monitor

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