Hello Tim,
I really miss the days of running the repair shop full-time—it was open six days a week. Tonight, I was going through my parts to see what I had on hand and what I still needed. One of the coupling capacitor values I needed was 0.015 uF at 600 volts, and, lo and behold, in my cabinet was a Sprague orange drop. I also noticed that all the tubes are RCA, most with orange writing and a date code of 59-48.
So, Tim does this mean I need to restore my late 50s 21inch B/W General Electric console, but it has a oval shaped cabinet so this portable would not fit on it very well .
Hello Guys,
The worst part is getting to the backside of the circuit board. I really don’t want to pull the picture tube, but the darn tube’s male end has a cracked Bakelite, and there’s a metal frame soldered to the circuit board—it’s just a pain.
Bob Andersen has worked on some of these steel cabinet TVs, I'm not sure about whether he has done a an RCA but I seem to remember a G.E, some Admirals, and at least one Philco. One big issue with P.C board construction and tubes is you will need to resolder all of the joints around the tube sockets, I'm not sure whether this set did so but many of these used to mount the power tubes like the horizontal output, vertical output, and damper tubes on steel chassis mounted sockets. If you are luck you will be able to unbolt things enough to swing the P.C board out enough to work on the foil side. One thing I noticed straight away is that the board has a lot of disk caps, and what looks like brown drops, so you may not have to recap it all, the Bumble Bee will have to go of course, unless it is paper-mylar, some of the later ones were.
Regards
Arran
Hello Arran,
Yes, there are plenty of disc capacitors, and you noticed those brown drops. Funny enough, I was looking through my cabinet and came across some NOS brown drops, plus one green-colored capacitor and my favorite orange drops, since my business used to be an RCA dealer. As for Bob, I spoke with him, and he hasn’t restored this model before, but one of the ARF members named Eric has.
I will try to do as much as I can without removing the picture tube too as the Bakelite around the tube base is cracked and I also don't want to disturb the yoke either.
I know about the PCs and tube sockets with those later radios too had the same issue.
I have yellow coupling capacitors and orange drops plus the reddish film type made Panasonic to choose from .
I am pulling out the brown drops to check them I also got new one to replace them with .
Mr Fix, Believe me, I certainly remember many a time when a small black and white TV sat atop our color set! Borrowed from my grandparents, it was a spare replaced by a Porta color in their kitchen. Oh, I still have it - and have the "green Wards" porta color. Both are on my bucket list to restore. The GE had 'pie crust', and the Porta snaps and crackles
I have a beautiful Zenith console B&W scored from a neighbor lady next to my grandparents, at her estate sale, and same story, she had a small portable on top that had no sound, and used the sound from the Zenith that only had a bright line across the screen! Need I say more?
Well, I do have a NOS tube, still in the original box for it.
Rich, I really feel for you about separating the tube from the chassis. Some of those old yokes kinda went to pieces. I've had the same problem, but with a little patience, you can do it. I normally have the problem getting it to break loose from the bell area. A B&W is simple to get back right - normally. The worst thing is the centering rings (if yours have them), combined with a non-existent ring holder. They can cause neck shadows, width problems and all kinds of weird things that may have you chasing a ghost!
If I could find the place called "Somewhere", I could find "Anything"
Tim
Jesus cried out and said, "Whoever believes in me , believes not in me but in him who sent me" John 12:44
Well, I got the sideboard recapped. As far as the capacitors go, they were mostly old Black Beauties. I replaced nine coupling capacitors, and Tonight is the night I hope to pull the chassis from the picture tube to do the point-to-point coupling and replace the electrolytic capacitors.
Hopefully I won’t run into any issues, though the yoke is what worries me the most. I’ll lay the set on its face again and start by gently pulling off the picture tube socket, since the tube base is cracked, then loosen the single yoke clamp screw and remove the three screws holding the chassis to the tube safety banding.
I haven’t had much time to work on the TV, between helping my father, who’s almost 90, caring for my dog who just turned 13, and helping my brother out. One thing I can’t believe is how many of the original tubes are still in this set, with all but one or two being RCA branded.
Tim, when you fix the Vertical, that nice horizontal burn line just adds character. You can probably see the electron gun through it.
Somewhere in the archeological dig area of the basement, I have one of the original all-tube (Compactrons) GE Porta-Colors. Set rolls vertically as it warms up but the CRT is good. Found one on the street many years ago but returned it to the street when I found the tip broken from the neck of the CRT and the vacuum gone.
"Do Justly, love Mercy and walk humbly with your God"- Micah 6:8
"Let us begin to do good"- St. Francis
Years ago when my surviving aunt and uncle moved to an adult continuum of care community, I was offered their late 1959s (or was it early 1960s) 23" GE B/W TV with that giant coaxial oval speaker. I had no room for it and Ms. Fixr has no patience for it so I had to let it go.
Fast Forward to about 3 0r 4 years ago when Gutfeld! premiered (or was resurrected) and on the Gutfeld set was the same model as a prop! I wonder if they are worth money.
OOOh for a 3500-4500 Sq Ft house with a 2 car garage, with about 3 or more acres, and a barn that could hold about 6 more cars. Oh, and about another $500K of totally disposable income; all of this at the age of 50 and early retirement.
Oh Well, all things considered, I am blessed, nonetheless!
"Do Justly, love Mercy and walk humbly with your God"- Micah 6:8
"Let us begin to do good"- St. Francis
Hello Mr Fixxr,
This hobby is starting to get expensive as parts prices rise like everything else. I should have started restoring my 12-inch Philco Bakelite TV—it would have been so much easier. The one Philco TV I’ve always wanted is a Surfari.
It's kinda challenging sometimes to get a tube separated from the yoke. Had the same issue on a RCA 12ap4. It was very content with it's current location, however, with some patience, it did finally give up the fight with everything intact. That yoke looks good! Sometimes those aren't much more than a few coils of wire hanging loosly around the neck of the tube.
Well, that burned line might add character, but it sure didn't look good across an otherwise great picture! I was really surprised how bright and clean that picture was when I got it working. It's on my bucket list to restore.
If I could find the place called "Somewhere", I could find "Anything"
Tim
Jesus cried out and said, "Whoever believes in me , believes not in me but in him who sent me" John 12:44
Hello Tim,
First of all, sorry for not replying to this post. Between doing things for my family and taking a day trip to Portland last Saturday went to Powell's Books store, I haven’t been on the forum much. I’ll be back to work on August 31, with the first day back for students on September 1.
In the meantime, I replaced some more coupling capacitors and a few resistors. I’ll share more about the TV tonight. One capacitor value I didn’t have was a 0.33 µF used as a bypass capacitor in the AGC line, so I’m using a 0.39 µF instead.
Hello Guys,
Here’s an updated photo of the chassis along with a couple of capacitors and resistors I’m replacing.
I still have not changed out the electrolytic capacitors yet.
One of the coupling capacitors I couldn’t find was 0.068 uF, but I do have some 0.033 uF ones. I thought about putting two in parallel to get 0.066 uF.
Sincerely Richard
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