It's potentially bad for your shoulder more so than your wrists -- serious time attack requires a lot of arm behind it. I am also not suffering from serious wrist problems. My fingers were getting beaten up from playing TGM3 (on a Sanwa JLF, mind) and music games, but I'm not worse for the wear at the moment. Anyway, I don't disagree that a Sanwa stick would be ideal or that RSI is a serious concern to take into consideration. But c'mon man, get your facts straight.
Thank you, KevinDDR. Okay, I will not touch the CRT for both risk of injury and damage to the monitor. I will use a hand truck to move the cab. As for the Sanwa JLF. That sounds like the best option. It looks a little complex, but I want it to happen. Worth the save on my wrists, too. I don't want to get stuck playing the game with new controls either, so I suppose that prioritizes over the board. So, I've learned what can kill me in a cabinet, how to not fuck up my wrists, how to not damage the board, how to switch cartridges, how to install a Japanese joystick on a wooden cabinet, elves, the difference between JAMMA and JVC, AND whether TGM is compatible on my board! It's been a productive two days! Is there anything else I need to know?
Still, if you aren't aware of the risks, it's very easy to touch something you really shouldn't! Especially considering how heavy an arcade monitor is, you might have to move your hands around a lot to get a better grip. Moving the monitor separately from the cabinet leaves several high voltage spots completely uncovered, how is that not serious?
That's a bit of an exaggeration - maybe if you touch stuff while it's still plugged in, but in terms of residual charge with the capacitors I doubt it'd ever kill someone unless they already had a heart condition or something. I know plenty of people who have had shocks at that sort of voltage (myself included) and all lived to tell the tale. It's high voltage but the total energy is pretty low - it's basically similar to being tasered. That said it's still a pretty nasty shock and there are typically plenty of sharp bits inside a CRT for your arm to slam into when the electricity makes it spasm, so the risk of injury is pretty high.
If you've ever seen or handled an arcade monitor you'll know that the monitor frame is essentially two big handlebars that you use to pick up the monitor by and lug it around with. There is no reason to touch anything other than the mounting bolts, glass face, and frame so unless you're an absolute idiot who can't follow simple instructions there really isn't any risk. What I mean with "serious" work on a monitor is things where you actually have to go in and touch exactly those parts I said not to touch, because you're troubleshooting a problem or replacing components. Also, whether turned on or off, the biggest danger in terms of death is for a current to pass from one hand to the other, which crosses your heart in the process. If you need to get close to dangerous bits (say, for adjusting pots on the chassis or sticking convergence strips on the tube while the monitor is on), wear rubber-soled sneakers and put your idle hand in your pocket.
I'm aware of all this, so no need to go further into details - I just felt that it was really important to stress this fact when people start recommending that he disconnects the monitor, cause he obviously has no experience with arcade cabs, and I regularly see people who actually do have experience with them who still do not realise the dangers in messing with a monitor! Obviously it's never an issue if you know what you are doing. Anyway just to finish it off, it has already been stated, but might need repeating just to be safe: Turning off the power a few days ahead will -NOT- discharge the monitor
I personally think detailed information is always better than hysteria. Know what you should and shouldn't do, have a healthy dose of respect for the dangers, but stay calm and have confidence in your own abilities.
Personally I think that this attitude is responsible for every single injury I've ever caused myself while working on things
I've got my cabinet in my truck. I'm going to drive home. I will update once I'm on the road again. Needed some sharma for the road. Anyways. Arcade seller man named Richard was a decent man. He showed me everything he knew about the machine. Admittedly, he didn't seem to know much about what he had. He knew how to change cartridges, etc. He did not know how to use his game elf. All he knew was how to switch his MvC and SF Puzzle cartridges, how to enter test mode with the cartridges, on and off, how to not injure himself. So, about the game elf. I'm noticing a few input options that I recognize. A USB PORT, something that looks exactly like a VGA cable input, an input for a power supply unit for a desktop (what the hell?). Also some rectanguloid shaped input with ten little pins, and a white one with six pins. Fascinating. I'll send pictures when I'm home.
So, I've got my cabinet at home. It works just fine. I've switched cartridges between the two Capcom games and that worked fine. However, I'm having trouble getting this game elf to work. I'm going to look at a manual online to see what I need to do. There is also an Issue with MvC where every moving object has vertical lines over it. http://imgur.com/a/FhCBD My stuff! http://imgur.com/a/diHUN A problem! http://imgur.com/tUTzDYY I've found the layout of the game-elf. So far, I've only connected the JAMMA to the cabinet. That doesn't seem to work and cause http://imgur.com/BbLNHIh
Looks like you got yourself quite an awesome deal! It's a solid looking cabinet for a decent price, and with two CPS2 games to boot. The graphical glitch you're seeing in MvC is probably just due to a weak connection between the cart and motherboard, try readjusting it or cleaning some connectors. I've never had this issue with any of my CPS2 games (of which Progear is probably the only one I ever play, so I admit I very rarely switch them out), but it happens all the time on Neo Geo.
I still haven't messed with MvC yet. However, I did get a picture now on the Game Elf! However, I cannot use controls. I cannot move the controls in the test menu either.
Oh. i Read the article and assumed there was a PSU/some kind of power switching thing inside a CRT for some reason. derp derp.
