Rare Sega Mega-Tech Restoration | Trash to Treasure (PT2)

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Washing a CRT and Cleaning PCB's is the order of the day as I do more work on the Sega Mega-Tech restoration today.
Watch the whole series at: • Sega Mega-Tech Trash t...
#sega #restoration #retrogaming
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● Visit The Cave (Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK)
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● Chapters
00:00 Sega Mega-Tech Plans for Today
01:47 Who are PCBWay.com
02:11 Cleaning the Mega-Tech system board
07:45 How to clean a CRT Monitor
10:04 More Cleaning with Richard
14:57 Testing the Mega-Tech system board
18:27 Washing a CRT Tube
21:05 Safely Powering Up and Old CRT Monitor
23:35 Testing the CRT
24:26 Outro
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[@RMCRetro]

Hello Cave Dwellers! If you'd like to visit The Cave and try this out for yourself then book a visit at retrocollective.co.uk! If you'd like to support the museum and the videos then please head to patreon.com/rmcretro Thanks so much! Neil

[@thejackofeverything7961]

Looks like a vinegar based window cleaner, might be worth pointing out as most are amonia based and amonia is an oxidizer.

[@theatheisthammer]

Wouldn't it be easier to put a carbon linear voltage dial instead of all the bulbs ect as this would give a more precise power adjustment seems a bit complex when the circuit could be much more efficient..

[@ThisSteveGuy]

1:16 - Please, somebody, fix that Nintendo logo in the bookcase, the one that's made from the magazine spines.

[@sharptoothtrex4486]

That looks more like the Sega Genesis/Megadrive and Master System console arcade to me.

[@willrobinson7599]

Can't wait to play on this and all the other retro stuff .looking to come down 20th april

[@Appellation]

Hats off to Holly for building 3999 versions of the CRT Tester before arriving at the current iteration.

[@mysticgreg]

"I would very much appreciate you not dying please. Thank you" has to be the one of the most British phrases ever 😆

[@CharlesAnjos]

it's funny to see an arcade like this, which operates on time, not on lives. here in Brazil, in the poor parts of the country, was very common to have "illegal arcades", which offered access to home consoles, charging by the hour. one would go there, pay for the desired time, choose a game and a console, and have fun for the time paid. I've myself played a lot of SNES and PS1 games like this

[@HalianTheProtogen]

When I was a teenager, there used to be a similar business in my neck of the woods (Central Florida) that charged by the hour or the night and had consoles, microwave food, & soda.

[@damianvila]

If I'm not mistaken, the order of cleaning is water and then IPA, and not the other way around. IPA will capture and eliminate (by replacement) water from electronic components, and then evaporate, so you won't have a short circuit. Water gets into the weirdest places, and can cause troubles. :P

[@IcyEyeG]

Very true, and water should also be used first, as it dissolves salts and detergents from the window cleaner a lot better than IPA.

[@paulklasmann1218]

I use 99.9% pure IPA first in an ultrasonic cleaner. Then its drained and deionized water is used to rinse because IPA will leave a coating of dissolved dirt on the surface. The water washes it off. Then after gentle blowing mostly dry with an airbrush the PCB is left in a warm dry place overnight. Also use only conductive antistatic brushes.

[@emmettturner9452]

@@paulklasmann1218 As someone who just bought 12 gallons of 99.9% pure anhydrous isopropyl alcohol for hundreds of dollars and already had gallons around labeled “Electronics Cleaning Grade,” let me just offer some advice: The water gets under chips and in places that the dry air can’t and will stay moist a very long time, causing corrosion. This is especially so with an ultrasonic cleaner. This is why you need something (the isopropyl) that more readily evaporates to dilute and displace it. The heat required to ensure water evaporates could cause damage and accelerate corrosion where 100% isopropyl will evaporate almost instantly with minimal heat. Use water, THEN isopropyl. If I were you, I’d maintain two isolated vats of isopropyl: soak and rinse. As the “soak” bucket becomes progressively more soiled with additional cleanings, eventually you should consider replacing it with the “rinse” and starting a new rinse bucket with fresh isopropyl. Introducing a distilled water “pre-rinse” stage in between will keep the “rinse” clean longer and the “soak” doesn’t really need to be 100% isopropyl anyway (I wouldn’t go below 70% though). Hope this helps!

[@VincentGroenewold]

@@paulklasmann1218 I would do a second IPA wash then perhaps?

[@TheArseen]

True but he used distilled water which does not conduct electricity.

[@sierraboney1394]

That's definitely a USA version MTC9000 monitor in there Neil (as I mentioned in the first video comments). Strange to see it in there if the cab's a UK build - maybe it's a later transplant? Anyhow, if you've not done it already, you might want to check a few caps on it at some point (even though it's working). There's one or two that can go bad and the monitor still work ok (oddly enough!) The main one to check is the 22uf 160v at C34. It's on the 130v B+ line and it's quite common to see it starting to go - if it goes it usually takes out the B+. Also, there's a couple of 1uf 200v caps that go dead quite often, one is at C45 and is on the -190v line (nearly every one of these i've seen is dead from heat damage as it's right near the heatsink), and the other is at C56 (occasionally this one's bad, it might be a 160v cap). Also, the 22uf 200v at C54 is worth checking, and the 10uf 250v at C205 on the neckboard. That one's probably fine though looking at the image quality. Also, on the first Megatech you might want to tweak down the brightness or the screen pot on the lopt of the 10" monitor as the background behind the text should be black rather than grey! The brightness pot is behind the lopt on the chassis by the heatsink, but you're probably best off just tweaking down the lopt's screen pot. 😀

[@mickm6309]

Built in the UK with a US monitor and Australian joysticks, maybe it was made by AUKUS, they might be spying on the cave. 🤣🤣🤣

[@oldschoolanthems]

I absolutely love the restoration videos, they really are the bread and butter of the channel. Can we have plenty more of this type of content please Neil. :D

[@RMCRetro]

Sure! Let’s do it

[@tuborice4571]

I agree

[@dazsly]

Why is cleaning electronics so relaxing?

[@aukondk]

Love the cleaning episodes. Someone needs to make a Retro Electronics Repair Simulator game, something like Power wash sim meets PC repair sim.

[@furrymessiah]

I'd play the hell out of that

[@whetphish]

“I’ve got a filthy Sega” sounds like a bad chat up line.

[@rickee2652]

Itd work on me

[@kazinwho]

I'm so glad that monitor worked out. What a delightful instance of seeing the word SEGA appear on a screen. Lovely.

[@tony359]

Hantarex, Via Galluzzi, 30, Florence, Italy. I used to work 5 minutes from there and half of my family lives/lived in that neighbourhood! :) That's a nice drying oven, I am very jealous :)

[@timwatson3157]

Looking forward to seeing and hopefully playing on this when we visit in Feb. That CRT tester is pure genius!, well done Holly. It's great to see so many people chipping in and making all this happen. I've watched many YT channel repairing arcade machines with one person, and they can go on for months and months with no end in sight so, the learning curve on this project is massive! Thank you all!

[@techboogaloo]

This is so incredibly satisfying. Your restoration videos feel like an enjoyable documentary, like we are going on a little journey and you are just telling us all about it. I'm excited as always for part 3!

[@markspencer9165]

They had the mega tech in a pub in cheddar in the Main Street, not far from you. It was about 1990 I saw altered beast, in awe at the graphics

[@neilh990]

I enjoyed seeing places and people I recognised from my visit last year!

[@larryk731]

Holly is the best person you could ever have working with you.

[@summerlaverdure]

This is one of the best restorations I've seen so far on youtube, thank you for going so in depth and showing us all of the steps that you took to bring this one back. I love when people genuinely care for old games and do everything they can to fix them!

[@artofnoise5013]

Here in the States we're still using the CRT Tester 3000. 😭

[@gregsmith9183]

Glad this all worked after spending all this time restoring it.

[@ThePoxun]

A lot of these weren't actually in arcades which means some of the games like Outrun make a little more sense... my local leisure pool had one alongside two drinks vending machines and one snack machine and that was all the space they had. The layer of grease on your system may hint that it was maybe in the corner of a takeaway for people to play while waiting on their chicken curry to be ready. The target players aren't your arcade resident, rather passing children and the occasional adult looking for something 'exciting' to do while waiting on someone. Infact games like sonic that the players would have been familiar with might have attracted more 10 pence coins.

[@Archer-qv4sk]

Really enjoyed this episode. No flat screen! Original all the way !

[@matthewmartin238]

Awesome progress! It is really wonderful seeing the whole crew pitch-in with all their expertise to bring this cab back to life. Looking forward to the rest!!!

[@RageofCrom]

Perhaps the gun is the gun for the Master System?

[@sergeleon1163]

My thoughts as well, as the Master System light phaser seems to have far better compatibility and more games available.

[@FennecTECH]

Plenty of people up here in the US like those sticks too. They are great quality

[@francoisbeaulieu179]

I was not aware that wiring harnesses were referred to as “looms” in the UK! Learn something new every day…

[@BackForwardPunch]

You should grab an ultrasonic cleaner for the cave! So amazed you have a great group of people to help with all this!

[@p_mouse8676]

A dishwasher also works well actually. 😎👍 But yeah, I would use both above just brushing around. 😊

[@djsquarewave]

I *think* Neil mentioned in the previous video that they do have one, but decided not to use it for this restoration because they can potentially damage some components like the flyback.

[@BackForwardPunch]

@@djsquarewave Ah ok! Makes sense

[@eddiehimself]

Does the control panel have genuine Sanwa arcade parts? 🤔

[@daKaosjr]

Sounds like it might in the future!

[@sandmanxo]

Nice work, I've never seen a Sega Mega-Tech before and didn't even know they existed. As far as the crt tube itself, I've found that covering the anode hole with tape and soaking it in Simple Green cleaner, then hosing it down 10-15 minutes later with a garden hose yields a very clean crt without all the scrubbing.

[@MagisterHamid]

I just love this restoration. I would love to come and visit you someday. I’m in Sweden :-)

[@Mechanicoid]

Wonderful find! I saw the first episode, and seeing the board and monitor come to life from the initial state is great.

[@oliverw.douglas285]

Nice work on a project well worth the effort, not to mention it was an awesome find. This proves there are still some gems out there from our youth, just waiting to be found. :)

[@JakeBirkett]

Box of e-waste lol love it. Sounds like a great insult to level at your friend's PC/console.

[@iftheshuafits4268]

Great video! I love seeing the collaboration and everyone sharing their knowledge and skills to bring this old machine back to life. Can't wait for more.

[@EsotericArctos]

That "CRT Tester" is what is commonly known as a dim bulb tester. It's used to limit current to a device when testing devices that may have potential faults. It's not a replacement, or equivalent of a variac. Often dim bulb testers are used in conjunction with a Variac and Isolation transform. With the dim bulb tester, if the current drawn is low, the voltage drop is a lot lower and as such a higher voltage at the output. You could look at it as a current limiter rather than a "variac" . Variac's don't limit the current, only the voltage. If you are going to keep working on high/mains voltage devices, an isolation transformer would be a great addition to your collection of test equipment, along with a proper variac device.

[@kins749]

Great teamwork guys and gals

[@GYTCommnts]

I love the Teamwork! Awesome to see you all in this! Wonderful!

[@LucaBlightOfHighland]

Absolutely love this kind of content

[@Colin_Ames]

Another excellent episode. I loved the CRT tester, it’s a very sophisticated version of a “dim bulb” tester used in the repair of old valve radios.

[@illytothaj]

What an amazing video again! Really excited on to see the next one. Also cool to see a lot of the retro collective working together.

[@snowman5020]

Great start to the year Neil, another great video! Looking forward to more videos in this series. You really have gotten in with a fantastic group of people. Good work from all involved.

[@willrobinson7599]

Great part 2 . Amazing that the board and screen actually worked after a good clean

[@MoTheBlackCat]

Amazing as it was for the 1st episode! Can't wait for the next episodes! Thanks!

[@abn0rm1]

Great team effort, hats of to Holly !

[@ThunderdomeDoc]

Looking great. Thanks for the update. I have a play choice 10 and this has such similar vibes.

[@parrottm76262]

I love restoration videos. I've been glued to my screen watching these. Can't wait for the next one.

[@Dan-zr5em]

Great work folks, great to see some really experienced techs at work, much appreciation at seeing their skills at restoration come to the fore in this video!

[@spitfireraf1003]

Awesome video, loving this series. Nice one RMC

[@Xaltar_]

Loving these restorations, awesome content, well worth the watch :)

[@Dwarfboysim]

Loving this series. You have an awesome team!!

[@lukasjozef1774]

Beautiful machines, I remember playing all those games in arcades. Thanks for the video.

[@naviamiga]

Fantastic job!

[@colinr0380]

Just seeing that thumbnail was exciting : we're in for a cleaning montage!!

[@andrewdickson1556]

Holly's a bit clever isn't she? also appreciated the pretend "I'm going to drop the tube" gag, because it's something I would have done, only unlike Holly I would have probably dropped it. (which is why I watch experts restore things on KZbin instead of doing it myself)

[@DaveRepairs]

Good to see you had a good run on that cab, looks amazing. See you soon

[@GreyMatterShades]

I love these restoration videos. It's so satisfying to watch you all lovingly bring these interesting devices back to working order. Fantastic that the investment is already worthwhile. Hopefully it'll be more good news in the future episodes. Can't wait!

[@RetroMatt67]

Great content as always Neil! Can't wait to see the finished product!

[@DarrylHall80]

Brilliant video, love the trash to treasure series!

[@jeremybowers3181]

Awesome video series GUYS! Can't wait for part 3 and possibly 4 lol!

[@gwheeler1609]

You chaps take such care of the inner workings of these machines, it seems such a shame to hide them inside where they can't be seen. Any thoughts on maybe plexiglass windows and lighting for those of us interested in the micro evolution?

[@RMCRetro]

Thanks! We have discussed this idea in the arcade but it would be on a generic or new build cabinet as a display rather than chopping up a classic. Glad we're on the same wavelength!

[@canisrufusuk]

@RMCRetro Maybe some day you'll find one with working electronics but a rotten cabinet and it might make a good plexiglas candidate. It would be facinating to see, but I totaly understand not wanting to butcher an original.

[@VulpisFoxfire]

On the lightgun thing...remember that in addition to the Menacer for the Genesis/Mega-Drive, the SMS also had a light gun...called the Phazer, I think?

[@tomtuul]

Great episode again, thank you :)

[@munro12345]

Beyond joyful to watch - the collaboration, the subject and the results have made my week! The CRT Tester 4000, explanation then watching it in action was just fantastic - I could literally feel the electrons of retro pleasure pulsing as it did its thing 🤩🤩🤩

[@usagiakimbo2506]

I love your restoration videos, they are so satisfying

[@ownageDan]

awesome. wish i had the time / knowledge to do cool projects like this. great job! 😊

[@MrRustynutts]

Yessss, epic! love it, great work everyone :)

[@alpharisc]

MCA are my favourite joysticks. They seem to work forever too (unless you know, they don’t). Cool cabinet, I saw one at a place in Melbourne Australia called The Jam Factory, it also had a Nintendo Play choice 10 which was quite confusing to see, would have been the early 90s and my interest in playing it was very low seeing they had street fighter 2

[@RxMxG]

CRT maintenance always make me scared lol

[@BollingHolt]

Very nice!

[@hadesmcc]

The tube looks nice but it does look like it has a purity issue on the top right corner. I'm sure that's something you can sort out. That was indeed a bargain of a find. I'm glad you guys took it in and are bringing it back to life.

[@ReinMixTape]

Loving the content. It's cleaning up good.

[@mcduckuk]

What a great video! A friend and I are planning a visit. Maybe tie up with the new megatech launch!

[@Ragesauce]

Just started the episode, I sure hope this isn't E-waste, can't wait to find out! Edit: 20:37 you'll want to apply some dielectric grease to that anode cap since the area was washed!

[@mirabilis]

The tube is covered in graphite, right?

[@z32_workshop52]

Keep up the good work! I love these videos

[@richardcooper]

I agree about MCA Arcade Joysticks, I have a few spares in my Arcade Tool Box down here in Australia :)

[@haydengittins2836]

Love it :) Really looking forwards to if you start providing repair services... got a Candy cab that i brought as a project and got nowhere with :)

[@dennisonseeto]

I may be incorrect (So don't shoot me down) But you are correct the joysticks are MCA units (Go Australia!), they are virtually bullet proof. The ones on your other machine (red ball top ones) look like Suzo brand ones, and the ones in the brochure look like Sanwa units which are very soft feeling, but heavily used in the Asian arcade machines. 🙂

[@System_Sega]

As for the Light gun port, Could this be for the Master System 'Light Phaser' Light gun? It would of been released by 1989 and you mentioned in the first video that this thing also played Master System games.

[@Kunigun]

Super Relaxing Videos

[@my80chevettes]

Most likely the gun port would have been for something similar to the Justifier.

[@TheArseen]

My guess as well as second gun attaches in to the first gun.

[@chrismulhern6527]

We used to use a variac to test monitors we'd worked on, i like the crt tester 4k, reminds me of forbidden planet lol.

[@AfterBurnerTeirusu]

Oh man I would have loved to experience 60hz Sonic at an arcade, and end up buying the shoddy 50hz version.

[@KJW648]

Hated those monitors, you were lucky. You could tell the most popular cartridges(time and played) and replace the ones not doing well, on weekly collections, as these machines are normally found in pubs,clubs, ect.

[@libcrypt98]

.4000 Electron Volts! -Holly 2024

[@earlbrown4398]

Great video, the board looked brand new after treatment. Here is 200 THB for some more Window Cleaner, if you go Aldi you can probably get their version cheaper 😂 Great content as always.

[@tommylee4350]

Did Holly do a comedy fake trip while carrying out the monitor. Hahahah. Brilliant work.

[@RMCRetro]

Yes and she caught me out with it as well, I thought she was a gonna

[@clivejones5880]

18:07: Although the game time display was ultimately realized in software using the upper display, if you look at the CN10 area of the board, you'll see the four 7447 display drivers that were going to be used for the hardware display (think Playchoice 10).

[@SHINdanny]

3:09 I had to laugh :D ...I remember when I cleaned old Arcade-PCBs (especially the ones with yellow dust and strong cigarette smell) in the dish washer / shower after removing batteries & emptying capacitors. They all looked like new and worked 100%. Don´t know if I would still do it today :D

[@Fuartianer]

I thought wheny you guys turned on the carbinete / monitore something would blow up. Looking forward to the next episodes!

[@philtipler9086]

Chicago, IL here. I ❤❤❤ your channel!!!! I absolutely just love your tutorials, and your collection is amazing!

[@F0r3v3rT0m0rr0w]

Didn't know my country produced arcade sticks o7 from Australia. That Australian made sticker made me smile. If this was imported from Australia that would explain the grease. Fish and chip shops had arcades back in the 90s 00s.

[@P5ychoFox]

Brilliant. Looking forward to the next episode.

[@Jerome-C]

great job, it deserve it !!!!

[@easyerthanyouthink]

The old light bulbs trick used for decades.. yep money well spent 👌

[@ronaldwitteman2134]

i use those dishwasher soap blocks (they got anti corosion stuff in it) soaked in hot water and useable the next day.

[@ToTheGAMES]

Love it

[@proteque]

a whole episode of murder gloves! gotta love it!

[@IgkuitBBswm]

Wow, my X-Men Vs Street Fighter cab has that exact same MTC-9000 monitor in it!

[@EricHostile]

Holly is a genius!

[@BillyNoMates1974]

22:59 - that should be called a Throb-A-Tron 5000 with all of those pulsating lights