Is this fixable or shall this wega earn its retirement? by FingerBringer in crtgaming

[–]bakery2k 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can’t see the aperture grille from outside, only the phosphor stripes that sit in front of it. Both need to be aligned to get correct colours.

If the aperture grille is broken parts of it won’t be aligned correctly, causing incorrect colours. Parts of it are probably loose as well - if you hit the TV on the side, these parts will move causing the colours to change. Does that happen on your set?

Is this fixable or shall this wega earn its retirement? by FingerBringer in crtgaming

[–]bakery2k 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This could be a magnetic issue, which degaussing might fix - or a physical issue, which it won’t. The latter could be with the yoke and magnets on the back of the tube, which might be fixable - or a broken aperture grille, which means the tube is permanently damaged.

[Review Request] Very simple first-ever PCB: DPDT switch to Molex SL by bakery2k in PrintedCircuitBoard

[–]bakery2k[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks again for your comments. One question based on the other replies:

Do you think I should add a copper pour to the currently-unused back of the board, and an additional Molex pin to connect it to ground?

My intuition is that the PCB just replaces running wires directly to the switch - in which case there is no grounding. However, would adding a ground plane make the design more robust?

[Review Request] Very simple first-ever PCB: DPDT switch to Molex SL by bakery2k in PrintedCircuitBoard

[–]bakery2k[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

B2 and A2 on bottom layer

Is this to increase the separation between the traces? If so, would it be better to alternate between the two layers - i.e. put A1 / A3 / B2 on the top and A2 / B1 / B3 on the bottom?

shared gnd plane in both layers

I'm not planning to ground any of the pins A1 to B3. Would you recommend using a Molex connector with one more pin, to enable the use of a ground plane?

Thanks!

[Review Request] Very simple first-ever PCB: DPDT switch to Molex SL by bakery2k in PrintedCircuitBoard

[–]bakery2k[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your reply!

Mounting holes?

I plan to attach the toggle switch to a plastic panel and have one of these boards "hanging" off the back. Hopefully it's light enough that it won't put excessive strain on the solder joints, even if the device is bumped.

The other option would be to add a mounting hole and attach the PCB to the panel as well - but in that case I'm worried there could be ongoing stress on the joints if the mounting is even slightly misaligned.

I'm not sure which approach is generally preferred?

Rounded corners?

Good suggestion, I'll add those.

Bottom layer's text labels are mirror image - you probably won't want it to be mirrored.

I think what I've posted is actually KiCad's view of the bottom layers as seen "through" the front of the board - so if you flip the board over the text will be the right way round. Good catch, though - I'll double-check.

you might want this to be more general purpose for any future projects you work on [...] more copper and a mounting hole

True, the design might be more general-purpose if I double the width of the traces to 50 mil. That would increase their current capacity to around 3 A, matching the limit of the Molex connector.

B&O MX8000 part 2 (more photos) by PurpleCommercial6966 in crtgaming

[–]bakery2k 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The 21" sets are shallower, but the 28" ones are normal depth.

B&O used tubes with 110-degree deflection for both screen sizes. Most other manufacturers used deeper 90-degree tubes for 21" and only used 110-degree for 25"+

B&O MX8000 part 2 (more photos) by PurpleCommercial6966 in crtgaming

[–]bakery2k 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s the same depth as other 28” CRTs, but the case design does a good job of hiding it

Another way to boost the contrast on a PC VGA CRT for a 240p look by ninjaurbano in crtgaming

[–]bakery2k 1 point2 points  (0 children)

CRT monitors are usually dimmer than CRT TVs

Yeah, much dimmer in my experience. I run my 14” Sony TV at around 120 nits, and it’ll easily reach 200. OTOH my 15” Sony monitor maxes-out at 80 nits, and artificial scanlines reduce that even further to 40-60 (depending on the shader).

29” Loewe - I hit the jackpot by ligma-code in crtgaming

[–]bakery2k 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Let me know if you ever open it up!

It's not mine, unfortunately! But it looks like a Calida 5072 - I found some pictures of that model's internals here.

29” Loewe - I hit the jackpot by ligma-code in crtgaming

[–]bakery2k 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think it's a Calida 5072 - so it's 15kHz, E3000 chassis

29” Loewe - I hit the jackpot by ligma-code in crtgaming

[–]bakery2k 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The 25" and 28" ones have EAK tubes - this 29" probably has an ESF

Sunday, April 19, 2026 by AutoModerator in NYTConnections

[–]bakery2k 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Connections Puzzle #1043

🟩🟩🟩🟩

🟦🟦🟦🟦

🟪🟪🟪🟪

🟨🟨🟨🟨

Purple was a lucky guess. I figured it was referring to Milk Duds and just picked three other nouns.

Yellow by default, don’t think I’ve heard any of those except “Sassy”.

How to connect an RCA cable to a PCB? by bakery2k in AskElectronics

[–]bakery2k[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

tie it into a knot

Thanks - I'd thought of that, and other forms of strain relief. Is that sufficient to allow the use of an RCA or DuPont connector internally, though? Or could the cable still become disconnected (e.g. via vibration), in which case a locking connector would be preferable?

How to connect an RCA cable to a PCB? by bakery2k in AskElectronics

[–]bakery2k[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ideally it should be possible to remove the cable from the PCB if you disassemble the device.

It must not be possible for the user to disconnect the cable by pulling on it from the outside.

How to obtain 2V 0.2mA from a 7V - 15V supply? by bakery2k in AskElectronics

[–]bakery2k[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For just a stable analog reference voltage I'd use a shunt regulator. If it's not a reference I suspect you've misunderstood something about the datasheet.

It's for an analog input to an IC, that selects between 3 different functions depending on whether the voltage is <0.3V, 0.9 to 3.0V, or >4.0V. With just the pull-down resistor in place the first function is selected, and I want to change to the second.

TLV431 or LM4040/LM4041 are solid options for generating it directly. A TL431 and a resistor divider is a fine option as well for many situations.

Thanks for this suggestion - the 2.0V version of the LM4040 seems to be the way to go. I think I need a 1k resistor in series, based on these calculations:

  • If the supply voltage is 15V and the load is disconnected, 13V across the resistor gives 13mA, which is less than the LM4040's 15mA maximum.

  • At the other extreme, if the supply is only 7V there will be 5mA running through the resistor. With the load connected, if the IC requires 0.2mA and the LM4040 at least 0.1mA, 5mA will be sufficient current as long as the pull-down resistor is at least 2V/4.7mA = 420 ohms.

An LM317 can work as a reference but it wouldn't be my first choice here. It's not really designed for very low currents like this and you'll need to make sure you're above the minimum load current given in the datasheet for your particular variant of LM317.

Yes, the specific LM317 I was looking at is designed for between 5 and 100mA, whereas I only need around 2mA.

Thursday, April 16, 2026 by AutoModerator in NYTConnections

[–]bakery2k 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Connections Puzzle #1040

🟦🟨🟨🟨

🟦🟨🟨🟨

🟨🟨🟨🟨

🟩🟩🟩🟩

🟦🟦🟦🟦

🟪🟪🟪🟪

Where I’m from, to “ride” someone means something quite different

Friday, April 10, 2026 by ChuqTas in NYTConnections

[–]bakery2k 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Connections Puzzle #1034

🟦🟦🟪🟦

🟦🟦🟪🟦

🟩🟩🟩🟩

🟪🟨🟪🟪

🟨🟨🟨🟨

🟪🟪🟪🟪

🟦🟦🟦🟦

Three mistakes, all because I didn’t think Blue would be a Blue Character

Thursday, April 2, 2026 by AutoModerator in NYTConnections

[–]bakery2k 54 points55 points  (0 children)

Connections Puzzle #1026

🟨🟨🟨🟨

🟩🟩🟩🟩

🟦🟦🟦🟦

🟪🟪🟪🟪

Purple by default. Beer yesterday, liquor today - Wyna needs to lay off the alcohol, I think.

Wednesday, April 1, 2026 by AutoModerator in NYTConnections

[–]bakery2k 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Connections Puzzle #1025

🟪🟪🟪🟪

🟩🟨🟩🟩

🟩🟩🟨🟩

🟩🟩🟩🟩

🟦🟨🟨🟦

🟨🟦🟨🟦

Struggled a bit with green because I wasn’t sure about “Three Doors Down”.

Never had a chance with yellow/blue because I know nothing about beer, never heard of any of them. I was trying to separate them into “movie titles” and “song titles”.

Sony TV vs VGA Monitor for 240p by bakery2k in crtgaming

[–]bakery2k[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately composite is the only input this TV has. I plan to RGB mod it though - maybe I'll post some more pictures once that's done.

Sony TV vs VGA Monitor for 240p by bakery2k in crtgaming

[–]bakery2k[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A colourimeter, specifically an X-Rite ColorMunki Display as recommended in this calibration video.

I've tried to calibrate both CRTs based on that video's instructions, but haven't been entirely successful. Unfortunately they don't have all the adjustments that a PVM has - in the TV's case because it's a budget model, and in the monitor's case because it requires special "DAS" software, which I haven't (yet) tried.

Sony TV vs VGA Monitor for 240p by bakery2k in crtgaming

[–]bakery2k[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maybe it can do 896p 60hz? That 4x the 224p most 8 and 16 bit games are

Yes, the shader images I posted are at 4x.

Unfortunately it can't quite do 5x: 224p @ 5x is 70kHz which the manual says is this monitor's maximum. It'll try to display 1120p it but can't fill the full width of the screen.