Tools of the trade

[cliffeby]

I'm a hobbyist getting started with slots.  I'm looking for a list of recommended repair tools and supplies.  I would be happy to curate a spreadsheet for all the options/opinions if there is interest.  I have five slots: two in great shape, one needs sound, and two waiting parts.  Feel free to be critical of any of this.  Trying to get opinions on whether I need Snap-On or can get by with Harbor Freight.

Here's what I have:
Fluke 87III rms multimeter
HP570C Clamp multimeter
Soldering iron with holder - Amazon's cheapest
Cheap chip pullers - I do better with a screwdriver
12VDC power supply unregulated
0-18VDC, 15VAC HO train transformer
330# hydraulic lift table - I'm old and it's a back saver
PCB holder/flipper - small

Supplies
resistors, caps, leds
switches
jumpers, probes, alligator clips
bulbs

Wish List
Capacitance meter
Oscilloscope - I have no idea how to use, but they make you look like you know what you're doing.

[dailey]

I have some tools that I can recommend. Things I find very useful.

1) A wrist grounding strap and a work bench grounding mat for ESD protection.
2) A chip extractor, Jonard Tools EX-2  DIP IC Extractor 24 - 40 Pins
3) If you are going to have an Oscilloscope, you might want to consider an isolation transformer for safety. Used to power your test piece to isolate neutral from ground.

4) Powered Stair Climber:  Very extravagant and expensive, but I find it very useful for moving my slots up and down stairs. I have an electric Escalera stair climbing hand truck with a forklift attachment and lift base plate. The forklift is detachable when not needed. There is a flat plate adapter you can mount over the fork. Available with hand winch forklift or electric drive. With this I can lift and move my slots and easily navigate up and down stairs alone without assistance. It has a 1200 lb capacity and is easy to use. It is made in the USA and parts are always available.

[cliffeby]

I have an Evac chair.  Never occurred to me that it might work. Thanks

[LuckyDog]

When using Oscilloscope's, in the lab we always used an adapter on the scope power cord.
It floats the scope chassis so we could probe TV's or anything else.
(Have used this method for many years without incident.  I should note that all scopes I've used with the adapter plug, have the scope front panel grounds tied to the ground pin on the power plug.  The AC-Hot and AC-Neutral are both insulated from that (inside the scope).  I've only used & HP, Philips & Tektronix models, I can't vouch for any others.)

Dummy Loads (just got new ones on ebay ~$2 each for 50W  & 100W chassis mounts)

MAGNIFIERS for the old farts like me!

Not sure about a Capacitance Meter's worth yet ...Spent $80 on my first one last year, but somewhat disappointed.  Have run across numerous caps that were visually leaking but still measured good.  Recapped several bad CRT boards that worked after; none of the caps measured bad.  It does work great for measuring parts with no readable markings!

[dailey]

The danger with that cord adapter is that there is still a connection to ground. The neutral is bonded to ground at the service panel. An isolation transformer is used to isolate the neutral from ground.

[jay]

You can get board testers for PE+ and S+ but they are big and heavy and while fine for a shop I would not consider this a throw it in my bag tool.
An oscilloscope is a great diagnostics tool but its not something I would lug around. Your only going to do this for board level repairs where you have something funky going on.
I would be more inclined to have a couple of spare MPUs that you can swap in to test if the issue is the board or the chassis.

Stealing from the Delfi forums, "The brotherhood of the bent screwdriver"
I would definitely add a small flathead screwdriver as a solid alternative to a chip extractor tool. Dailey called out the chip extractor but more often than not you don't get the leverage to pull chips with these.
When you pull straight up with the extractor you can sometimes bow the board especially on old machines.

Fuses, batteries..... alternative battery holders - I change out my standard 3.6 soldered in battery to a coin style battery which involves soldering in a different holder
You mentioned bulbs but you might consider short florescent tubes for belly/behind the payglass, if your repairing these commercially then you might want to consider LED conversion kits, its a nice upsell.

Set chips, Clear Chips, Key Chips


You might add a laptop with a serial to usb adapter cable.
- I need this to program my Mikohn Progressive displays, along with DOS BOX (16bit emulator) and PSP.
- Then I would add a usb attached eprom reader/burner and a sleave of various blank eproms suitable for your collection of machines, along side a hard drive full of binarys.
- There are also a number of serial cables that are used to flash JCM and MEI heads. You would also need the software for that.
- CGA adapter cable to test older CRTs along with any adapters needed to generate a CGA signal - newer laptops output in HDMI