Well yesterday afternoon something happened that I would never have expected. I found a set, that I would actually consider adding to my collection, on the road side! All winter a few BPC sets and a moldering couch have sat on the roadside near a place where three driveways converge at the side of the main road a couple of blocks from my home. I've considered taking everything but the CRTs and cabinets from these sets for spare parts but didn't feel the need. Then yesterday while out for lunch I spotted some new additions a couple of consoles that looked to be late 70's-80's solid state models. These piqued my interest as the possible chance to get a new delta gun CRT to replace the dying one in my '67 Admiral remote console for free proved irresistible. I figured they were probably inline(and was right) but biked over later to check it out. After observing the carnage of the several BPC sets that had already been plundered in the way I was contemplating and the beat up SS Sylvania inline consoles I noticed a metal cabinet Sylvania table set laying on it's back that I almost instantly knew was a delta gun set.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2217_zps6455b354.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2217_zps6455b354.jpg.html)
From it's cosmetics I figured it was might be a SS set, and I further figured the CRT was toast seeing as it was on it's back and there was an ugly chip/crack on it's face...either of which could have broken the vacuum.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2218_zps44b4ea5f.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2218_zps44b4ea5f.jpg.html)
Well I was curious so I put it on it's feet and looked at the warped scrunched in back and figured it was necked for sure, But to my surprise after peeling the back off I discovered the CRT neck was intact and whats more it had tubes!....Five of them.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2222_zps82fea53d.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2222_zps82fea53d.jpg.html)
Upon seeing this I called in for backup and when my Dad arrived I loaded it into the C-RV and raced on my bike back home to unload it and give it a more detailed examination/damage report. The wood grain vinyl is toast, the UHF dial string is snapped, some knobs are stiff,the back severely warped, the speaker grill damaged, the set was full of leaves/mouse nest , the degauss coil and HOT plate lead were unplugged(prompting me to hazard a guess that this set was dead before it's days outside). I also observed that this set is a five tube hybrid with a trippler for HV and focus which I've never seen on a set with a tube horizontal section before.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2219_zps10d51822.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2219_zps10d51822.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2220_zps6de376bc.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2220_zps6de376bc.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2226_zps3e2a834b.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2226_zps3e2a834b.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2225_zpsfbc84288.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2225_zpsfbc84288.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2224_zps5edd077d.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2224_zps5edd077d.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2221_zpscc0cc672.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2221_zpscc0cc672.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2227_zps6f977918.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2227_zps6f977918.jpg.html)http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2223_zps6d551770.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2223_zps6d551770.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2228_zps160cf7e4.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2228_zps160cf7e4.jpg.html)
The chassis was a cinch to pull just two screws holding it, two more holding the hardwired pencil box control board, and a bunch of things to unplug. Service techs must have loved this back in the day. I then checked the CRT which read bad on all guns. Unbothered by this I cranked the heater up to 8 volts and let the CRT cook for a few minutes as I tried to get some of the yard waste off the PCBs. In that time it went from the middle of bad to the middle of good on all guns so it seems the CRT lives.:banana:
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2229_zps439b4143.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2229_zps439b4143.jpg.html)
The chassis looks like it can be saved. There about 6 cracked to hell ceramic caps, half as many similarly ruined orange drops, a couple of scary power resistors, and some questionable ceramic peaking coils, but it still looks like I may be able restore it. If I can make it work I'll be left with the choice of whether to get new wood grain vinyl, sand and paint, or leave it as is to shock visitors that such an obviously ruined looking thing actually works.

If anyone knows what model this is it would be appreciated as I doubt a readable ID number can be found. I've never in all my 21+ years in this world found a vintage tube set at the curb that genuinly might be restorable before or came upon a Sylvania in the wild before so it must have been a real cold day in hell yesterday.

I'm curious how these sets compared to others at the time(I have several 70's Zeniths as a yard stick for that brand) performance wise. I wonder how did the picture detail and color compare to other makes, and what service issues were common?

this is either a d12 or d16.very good sets.crts were amazing.sylvania developed a reputation for outstanding picture and easy repairs starting with this set.later,a slide control model was built and that was the best set sylvania ever manufactured.you should see the 25v crts of that era.good find,rough but i hope you can save it.not many out there

I don't remember working on that model. I worked on simular models, but they were transformerless 19" models. That set is a little beyond hope.
I have a Panasonic that has a chipped CRT screen like that. It still has a great picture.
I think some kid, heaved a rock at it, when it was laying behind a thrift shop.

There was a chronic problem with hybrid Sylvania chassis that looked very much like this one.
The collector load resistors for the two demod transistors were 2 watt carbon composition. IIRC, they were 27K (possibly 22K). They ran very hot, and over time their phenolic casing would char and carbonize, creating a low resistance shunt that dropped the ohms value drastically. This applied higher and higher voltage to the transistor (supply was something like 150V) until one of the transistors shorted out from overcurrent.

The sets would come in with a complaint of "bad color" from one of the demods being dead. The other demod was still working but severely overheating.
We would replace both transistors, and replace each collector load resistor with two 2-watters in series, giving each string a 4 watt rating. The values chosen were something like 12K and 15K.

Looks like that set sat out in the weather for a long time, and might not be fixable...

You might be able to use one of those car windshield chip repair kits to fix the chip on the CRT face.

Well it seems to be a D16 chassis(it is painted in big letters on the HV side) there was a somewhat readable model sticker on the chassis that read CF701W-20 (everything after the w I'm not sure about). I hosed the chassis off, let it sit in the sun and it looks a lot better. If the transformers are still good, potentiometers are good/obtainable(I do have a spare convergence board of another brand to pirate from some of those from), the transistors are good, and something can be done about the tuner then I think it might be restorable....If not is is a good source of parts. I may pursue the windshield repair kit idea for the CRT.
Here are some pictures of the chassis as it dried.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2230_zps9ca4d0e5.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2230_zps9ca4d0e5.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2235_zpsd5ce5ed2.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2235_zpsd5ce5ed2.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2236_zpsb54d79d2.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2236_zpsb54d79d2.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2233_zps3536dfe1.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2233_zps3536dfe1.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2244_zps8b55f7fe.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2244_zps8b55f7fe.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2237_zpse2bdb3c1.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2237_zpse2bdb3c1.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2238_zpsd82b2fb8.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2238_zpsd82b2fb8.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2239_zps473f49af.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2239_zps473f49af.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2240_zpsd3275500.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2240_zpsd3275500.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2234_zps3329d472.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2234_zps3329d472.jpg.html)

big tuner d16!really good sets and oldcoot is right on the money with his post.i remember those days too.fixed too many demod issues on these.also power switch had 2 sections.on contact would break off and the set would go up in smoke

Does that CRT have a bonded faceplate? If so it might be possible to remove it and replace it with a good one.

Nope! Bare screen as far as I can tell....Unless it has the most transparent safety glass and PVA ever.

Sampson: Would you recommend taking the power switch out of circuit or anything else to prevent the set from burning up from that switch?

Well, it looks a lot better than before. If you can get it working without putting too much money in it, strip off the vinyl, sand it smooth and paint that cabinet gloss black. I think it would really look nice, it worked for the metal roundies:D

i wouldnt recommend taking the switch out.its a double part switch.just be careful.you ll know when the switch mal functions.you will get a picture with no color,pulled in from the sides and top,and weak audio.shut off immediately.only happens when you power up.

Does that CRT have a bonded faceplate? If so it might be possible to remove it and replace it with a good one.

Sylvania used tension band CRT's earlier than some of the others.
That's the CRT, that has the chip.

Well the hot cap was off for two good reasons. First off the original(?) blue label Sylvania 6JS6C HOT tested in the bad range on my tester. And second the top cap don't want to grip the 6JS6A(the big difference I see between A and C is the big heat radiator plates on the anode of the C) I dug out of my tube stash. The 6LU8 vertical output is too weak as well, and short of grunting my '67 Admiral and the Silvertone roundy on top of it away from the wall I don't have a spare(just a few 21 prefix series string types and a 6 that is worse than the original). If a local TV repair shop which actually still has tubes don't have a spare I guess I'll have to keep an eye out at the swap meets.

I may take some time to pick away at this set in the next few weeks, but between college and an experimental tube amp design I'm working on there may not be much time to steal for it.

At least your CRT is in better shape than the one in a set Elvis had...
http://images.travelpod.com/tripwow/photos/ta-0099-0590-c0cc/the-tv-elvis-shot-memphis-united-states+1152_12731881491-tpfil02aw-27180.jpg

At least your CRT is in better shape than the one in a set Elvis had...
http://images.travelpod.com/tripwow/photos/ta-0099-0590-c0cc/the-tv-elvis-shot-memphis-united-states+1152_12731881491-tpfil02aw-27180.jpg

Where was that picture taken?
It had been said that Elvis shot at the TV, when Robert Goulet was on.
Elvis must've been really high that time. He was never any kind of a threat to him or his fame.

Elvis might have been alive today if he only had someone to smack him up side the head when he was doing stupid stuff like the above pic is evidence of.

That pic sort of reminds me of my first cataract removal attempt....It devolved from normal procedure to chipping off the safety glass to putting a sun HEATED CRT into a COLD vat of water then realizing as I put it in that I had just done the equivalent to pulling the pin on a grenade. If the heat hadn't messed with my judgement I most likely would have put 2 and 2 together before loosing a good CRT...At least it was only a the CRT that was harmed.

"Elvis, that's not the remote!" .... :(

"Elvis, that's not the remote!" .... :(

Oh yes it is, but only for the off function! :D

The recent direction in this discussion has Zappa's "Help I'm a Rock" playing in my head.

The remote in the picture really isn't the remote, it's for a Zenith, how did that get in there?

Back on topic.
I cleaned the VHF tuner(with a pencil eraser) and restrung the UHF tuner. The restring was simple enough to figure out without a diagram or sams(worst thing I could have done is make something move in reverse relative to something else). I also cleaned the tuner/control sub chassis pots and switches with WD-40(I lubed some other stuff too while I was at it).
I'm going to hold off on messing with the power switch since, judging by the number of contacts, this set has instant on which would make replacing it or removing it from circuit complicated without the sams.

I think I'll check all the caps, the deflection resistors, and the scary looking resistors then give it a go on the variac and see if there is life when I get the chance.

It might be a good idea to check those 2-watt carbon comp resistors in the chroma/demod area. If the set has a lot of hours on it, some of those are almost guaranteed to be low in value from charring on the inside.

Um RCA tv CTC38 ? seems non remote but has a Zenith
remote ? Digital clock ? Elvis with a low end TV ????

Actually had an Admiral shot by a 45ACP by an unstable customer.
He was pissed at a Bruins game. Round went down the neck, didnt hit yoke
& exited wound in the cup. Lots of shrapnel in the wall, metal, glass, plastic etc.
Great marksmanship. Oh to go back to those days..........

73 Zeno

Set is probably a CTC-31. And yep.. wherever the display is, they used the wrong remote. The RCA remote would have been better. ( Everything motorized, and not step-up, like Zenith) That set was not that old when he shot it. Elvis had in the basement rec-room, 3 sets mounted in the wall, each tuned to a different network.
In his bedroom he had the $2000.00 RCA Console. I'm pretty sure his sets, up to a point, were all freebies from RCA. I also read nothing got pitched, which is why a CTC-5 is on display at Graceland. When Elvis died, Graceland was up to date with the utmost tacky 70's decor. After he died "Cilla" put it all back to the way it was in the 60's when Graceland was opened for tours. I also read Elvis was fond of Sony's when they came out, and am sure one is on the "Lisa Marie"
Sorry to go off-topic.... as for the Sylvania.. poor set looks beyond repair. Talk about rode hard and put away wet.......

I had a CTC-31 remote set just like that one, should have kept it, another Vk'er got it. The remote sensor is that hole between the channel selectors.

I won't knock anybody for trying to resurrect something like this Sylvania; I've done it before. Never really worth getting all the cosmetics back to new, especially on the chassis end, but they can be brought back to life. Amazing sometimes how a set can be revived despite a chassis caked with rust/dirt/leaves. I've never seen many tube Sylvanias in the wild, though I have drug home a few. I still have a project 23v metal table top model myself, late 60s, that I would all but give away to somebody willing to come get it.

...

It's certainly fun to try and resurrect something in this shape, nothing to lose but a little time and effort. I've done some in about the same condition, just older.

It might be a good idea to check those 2-watt carbon comp resistors in the chroma/demod area. If the set has a lot of hours on it, some of those are almost guaranteed to be low in value from charring on the inside.

There are no 2 watt resistors by the 'X' and 'Z' color demod transistors unless those rectangular resistor coded pieces of brown ceramic that I always thought were chokes are actually resistors.

There are no 2 watt resistors by the 'X' and 'Z' color demod transistors...
Yes that's apparent in the photos that were posted subsequently. It is a different chassis than what I was referring to, possibly with factory mods to eliminate the charring resistor problem.

Well I replaced some caps and brought it up on a variac. Aside from pretty bad HOT redplating :yikes: that went unnoticed for a minute or two it seems to be doing okay. I'll try it with a signal source tomorrow, but I'm already pretty sure I'll get sound as the white noise from the speaker was definitely affected by changing channels on the VHF tuner.
Once that is done I'll try to figure out what is the deal in the horizontal section(maybe that roached VDR is the issue).
I should probably look into getting the sam's for it as I can only fly blind for so long.

Hi Tom, I applaud your efforts, and in my opinion, this classic older "Sylvie" is worth saving! :-) If you can PM me the model and or chassis number(s), I may be able to help you with a Sams! Thanks for keeping us posted on your progress, Dave, Bigdavestv.

Thanks Dave! PM sent.

I got a few minutes to test it before going to School today I pulled the HOT cap to save the tube from redplating, connected a VCR to the set and.....It has good sounding audio coming thru to the speaker. :banana: This tells me that the RF and IF are likely just fine and that there are good odds that the SS signal board is likely still in decent operating condition.

If I get a chance tonight I may hook up the horizontal plate drive from my B&K analyst to the HOT lead off the fly to see if that gives me horizontal sweep and HV...If it don't then I will have to worry about the fly, HV trippler, and possibly the yoke(or my decrepit analyst LOL.).

Well the analyst did fail to produce a raster about a month ago when I tried it.

I've gotten the sam's for this set so I can start to do proper troubleshooting on it again.

I had a CTC-31 remote set just like that one, should have kept it, another Vk'er got it. The remote sensor is that hole between the channel selectors.
Really? I thought the remote sensor was the hole in the screen. :D By the way, I recall reading that Mel Torme was another one of Elvis' "arch rivals".

Seriously though, good luck getting that set to go. Looks like it would be pretty sweet if fully restored. I like the "sweep" style UHF indicator (not sure what else to call it, if anything).

If it is not a digital tuner or a turret type(click-stop) then it is called a continuous tuner. The indicator of the UHF tuner is called a slide-rule dial...Common on UHF tuners before the mid 70's and radios since before TV.

The fly ohms out fine, and the horizontal oscillator is running, but the wave shape is significantly off. Also the grid of the HOT which is supposed to be about -32V is 0V or higher depending on the HV control setting.
Because I could not get a raster with the HOT plate drive from my B&K analyst there is trouble either in the fly/damper section or the HV tripler.

I think I'll try testing the tripler by disconnecting it from the fly and connecting it to the plate drive of the analyst to see if it produces HV....I seem to recall someone suggesting removing a shorted HV winding on a fly and deriving HV from a tripler connected to the HOT plate which should be electrically the same as the test procedure idea I have.

Well after replacing most of the resistors in the horizontal section and fixing a bad PCB trace, I was able to get the HOT to stop redplating and get between 10-15KV on the HV lead(with the yoke unplugged).
At which point I figured it was a good time to put the chassis back in the cabinet for a test power up. At first there was no noticeable light(with the florescent lights on), but there was 20+KV of HV so I tried some knobs.

The result shown below.

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2345_zps4a398c3f.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2345_zps4a398c3f.jpg.html)
:banana::banana::banana:
There is now sound and raster, but no hint of video so more troubleshooting still lays on the horizon.

I'm feeling a lot more confident now, that I will make this set usable again.

I'm probably going to pause work on this set here for a while so I can fix a vertical problem on my Zenith roundy.

MORE Bananas!!!!:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :D

That's pretty awesome for a rusty old set someone though out in the garbage! Congrats! You can fix anything if you put your mind to it.

Great job, it's good to see a raster on that Sylvie! :-) :-) Looks like it will be useful again after all, good save!

You should display the "before" pics near that TV once it's restored. The back panel looks a bit too far gone though, perhaps it can be used as a template for a new one?

Thanks for the encouragement everyone!

"You can fix anything if you put your mind to it." This set will probably exemplify that saying more so than anything I've ever worked on before.

I plan to try and save the back. It was warped by moisture originally so I figure if I lay it flat on the drive way and hose it down until it softens gravity and perhaps some weights will flatten it back to a decent approximation of it's original shape. Then all I need to do is let it dry, and maybe paint it... I have nothing to loose trying that, so it is worth a shot.
I seriously doubt that I have the tools or patients to make a decent reproduction.

Well since it was raining this evening and fixing the back was on my mind I went ahead and did it.

The plastic neck protector cup was easy to remove which both makes work easier and will likely lead to a better end result as it's mounting tabs on the inside would have prevented the fiber board from laying flat if I left it on. I started by laying it flat on concrete, and letting it get saturated in water which got it started straightening out. After letting it sit a bit; I then used the stub of a brick in the photo below as a weight to slowly work the the milder warps out and diminish the worse ones until it got flat and pliable enough to do what is shown in the photo below...Put a flat board(in a garbage bag to keep it dry) on top of most of the warped area, weigh that down with a tire(with water in the concave parts), and use some water filled milk jugs and that chunk of brick to weigh down the remaining parts.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2350_zps1b7f425e.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2350_zps1b7f425e.jpg.html)

The result is that it seems to be flattening decently.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2354_zpscd9fa147.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2354_zpscd9fa147.jpg.html)

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2356_zps04db981b.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2356_zps04db981b.jpg.html)

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2351_zpsfafc29b9.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2351_zpsfafc29b9.jpg.html)

I'm going to let it sit weighted like this outside overnight. Hopefully tomorrow there will be sun and it will dry and hopefully it will dry straight.

Once I have it working better, if I decide to restore the cabinet, I'll either lacquer the whole back or lacquer the labels(to preserve them) and paint the rest.

The reaction of the folks upon seeing the warped back before the straightening, was a shocked "What's that!?" from dad, and mom joking that one could put it on a stand and call it modern art, then observing that it is a bit moldy. LOL.

Looks good so far. Are you planning to keep it weighted while it dries? I reckon the results would be better that way.

...

I don't have enough clamps or plywood to to clamp it, but I can and likely will keep it weighted.

Given that tossing the back and doing without was an option before I thought of this method, it does not have to be perfect. As long as it is fairly flat, mounts well, and don't look ridiculous I'll consider this a success.

I'm impressed. I love seeing something like this come back to life again. Way to go!

Well after replacing a lot of resistors around Q205, Q206, a and few transistors that were rusted in to their sockets(the sockets were removed too but not replaced) it now has video!

I had to mess with the AGC and fine tuning to get it, but it is there!
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2358_zps1c652608.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2358_zps1c652608.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2361_zpsa40bf39a.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2361_zpsa40bf39a.jpg.html)
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2363_zps5cb9d250.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2363_zps5cb9d250.jpg.html)

I still need to address the dead color circuitry, and the BAD vertical jitters which video has now revealed, but I'm very happy to have gotten this far. The vertical hold control is at the end of it's range, and despite being sort of locked for most of the photo op it was bouncing rapidly the whole time.

I never thought I'd be working on a set with PCBs and transistors together until I got this one, and after working on the SS mono video chain I'm starting to miss working with good old terminal strips and tubes.

...

Good job, here's your next project. :D

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQFWfwzoPRvfGW8x3c2JQ2jGxDnO3do3 SGZ03Xk7p6yuLWCAoFEAA

...

Ponti ick!

Yeah, but look how nice the interior panel survived.

At KV-1926R: I 'admitted' that for the sake of comedy...

Most cars past the 70's are WORTHLESS JUNK IMHO(and that includes most new cars). What you show is likely 70's and probably not even good for parts anymore....

At Eric: Yeah, if it is free I'll take it! It will probably be like a big old version of the Sylvania...Hose the mud off, replace some parts, spray paint over the rust and ride off into the sunset... :D

Seriously where the heck have those cars been, how did they get that ruined, and why would someone do that to them!?!?

I like 50's era styled cars like that Chrysler. The bold futuristic look back then with the fins was really cool. My favorite era was the late 30's through around 49' when most makers switched to an ugly bland look(like they were trying to imitate those hideously plane Kaiser/Frazers) that stayed through to about the mid 50's.

I do appreciate the humor, but please don't drag this thread off topic for too long. Near the end of the Elvis discussion I was so sick of it I considered gathering and burning all the Elvis recordings I have....

...

Good work Tom! Nice to see the Sylvie display video again! Is there sound with the video now? I also like that you can save the back panel of the set, good idea! :-) :-) :-) Someday I'm sure we'll see COLOR on that set, too! Best wishes on the Zenith roundie vert. work, as well.

The Plymouth in Eric's post is the one which was sealed in a time capsule (http://www.allpar.com/history/auto-shows/time-capsule.html) for 50 years. They tried to preserve it, coating it with cosmoline and wrapping it in plastic, but the vault turned out to be far from waterproof. According to the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Belvedere), several attempts were made to restore it, but it's too far gone (well, maybe it can be done, but it'll probably be akin to "grandpa's hammer").
-Adam

Hi Dave.
The sound is there, but there is some buzz with the video fine tuned in. It has had sound since before I got the horizontal section to function...Though before I worked on the video and AGC it would loose sound well below the highest AGC setting that produces video.

I've been working on my TVs less lately as there are radio meets I need to prepare stuff to sell at in order to have money to keep getting stuff I need for my projects, and to make space so I can accommodate new finds...I do get sick of radio work from time to time and switch to TVs to keep sane.


I know you did, and my response was a light-hearted joke, it wasn't intended to offend. Take it easy.

The Pontiac is from the 60s. I suppose what you said about cars made after the 70s was a thinly-veiled dig at my love for the Mercury Lynx.

As I recall, even YOU made a crack about Elvis' TV the last time it was posted here. Edit, after some investigating: You did! And in this thread no less! Go ahead and burn your Elvis records if you want, makes no difference to me.

I'm outta here. Taking my jokes, and my support, elsewhere.
Touchy, touchy KV-1926R!...
You are reading things in my post that were never written, implied, or thought. I was not offended, but I did not get much of an impression comedic tone from the quoting of the 'nut' comment so I was merely pointing out that I said it for humor lest you think I'm actually someone who thinks of himself as nuts(which I don't...Usually:D). There was never a 'dig at your love of the Lynx'. That statement about my taste in cars was if you actually meant to post a picture of a 5 year old ruined Ford(one of those I would not touch with a 10' pole). As far as taste in cars goes to each his own...I may not find anything redeeming in the styling or mechanics of a Lynx, but that is no reason for you not to. Even the Yugos of the car world should at least have an example or two preserved so future generations can see what tradeoffs were considered acceptable by a given maker at a given time, and it is folks with different tastes from average that keep cars like that existent for future generations that may come to love once odd ball cars or need to gain historical perspective from them.
The comment about the Elvis tangent was not addressed to you alone but to every one who commented on the Elvis TV and posted photos of stuff not related to Sylvania TVs. The burning records comment was a bit of a comical exaggeration of my dislike of the thread being driven off topic by that. I did comment on it twice(the second time had a 'veiled' attempt to imply I was getting tired of the off topic posts and it was direct and strongly implied when I later started a post with 'Back on topic'). To be fair I did not start the Elvis tangent which occupied nearly one third of the first two pages of posts and about two thirds of the second page as well. There was a thread on or derailed by the Elvis TV months before this topic, discussion of it here is redundant.
I have seen threads on here get SEVERELY topic hijacked, and want to prevent that in my topic here. I want to prevent that because if It gets too out of control I'll have to either abandon this topic and start a new one on the same thing, or ask the mods to edit out and or delete the hijack posts....Both of which would likely ruffle a few feathers, and be very rude. Do you have a problem with me trying to prevent things from getting to the point of having to stoop to that? I'm fine with and, given what I'm working on, expect some jokes, but when a tangential topic dominates a page or more of posts in my thread I have every right to ask that it not turn turn in to a hijack, and continue on under it's own separate topic, and that tangents in the future not go too far. Perhaps I went too far with the 'burning records' comment, and am now making an ass of my self over explaining it...
NO offense or insult was intended now or before. Sorry if it sounded that way...
What is the story on that Pontiac BTW?


Adam, that Plymouth story is really interesting thanks for the link. Too bad they did not do a better job of keeping the water out... Someday I'm going to have the money and or luck to have a vintage car of my own to work on.

PS: to the mods I don't feel any need to edit anything in this topic presently.

It's now a usable set again!

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2667_zps1df9e93c.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2667_zps1df9e93c.jpg.html)

Last night I got the color osc. to properly synch fixing the last major lingering issue.
I still need to preform some gray-scale adjustments and other control tweaks but it is now producing a watchable color picture.

Repairs since last time consisted of replacing a single transistor in the color circuit to restore color video, tweaking the color osc. improperly thus making the feeble color synch and off color worse, replacing several parts in the vertical circuit to allow it to synch in the range of the hold control, and finally through dumb luck finding positions of the color osc. adjustments that allow solid color synch and proper tint range. I say dumb luck because the sam's adjustments I tried were not seeming to have the affect that they suggested, and I ended up just twiddling the two controls they had me adjust until it just popped back in to the proper setting...Perhaps my least favorite part of that procedure was that the osc. coil is located RIGHT next to the HV lead and the open terminals of the flyback and tripler thus leading to several unpleasant static(arc?) zaps before the idea of obtaining a rubber glove came to mind.

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2668_zps1eac0ebb.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2668_zps1eac0ebb.jpg.html)

Here is a picture of what all was replaced.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2665_zpsa477f883.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2665_zpsa477f883.jpg.html)
The parts to the far right as well as the tube were replaced to restore the raster, the transistors and resistors on the square were needed to restore video, the parts by the tube were replaced to fix the vertical synch, and the lone transistor on the rubber grommet was replaced to regain color.

This was a pretty cheap restoration. All the resistors and some of the caps came from my NOS/used parts bins and the transistors were equivalent to 2N2222's which da shack sells a large assortment of for around 3$.

A good portion of the resistors in problematic circuits were off or near tolerance, and I suspect more of them remain, however unless performance issues necessitate further work I think I should leave well enough alone...I've damaged enough PCB traces already.

Now that I've proved to myself that I can fix virtually anything I think I'll go and revisit some old dog project sets I shelved years back.

Once it is all back together I think I might drag the Sylvania in it's as found cosmetic state as well as a power and a signal source out to the spot where I found it. Then take some pictures of it working in the place it was found....Maybe I should take it to a flat panel dump and take some pictures of it working surrounded by trashed flat panels as a statement about our throwaway society and the comparative quality of vintage American products to the imports of today.

Excellent work! I knew if you stuck to it this would be the result. Those Sylvania traces do like to lift, don't they?

What a tremendous job-yes,you can fix anything!

good work proud of ya.

nice save, way to hang in there. :thmbsp:

Well the HV has failed.

Me and a college buddy were tweaking it and had it displaying picture quality to rival any tube or hybrid I own (even convinced me to successfully fix the inter-carrier audio buzz). I went up stairs to get the folks so they could see it and while doing so my buddy tweaked the brightness control and it went dark.... It had about 20KV of HV before and about 5.5-6KV afterwards.

All the tubes test good and the voltages on the HO-Tube seem about right so I don't think that it is before the flyback....It still has a just barely perceivable raster that fills the screen so I think it might be the HV tripler. Any one have any ideas? This is the first set with a tripler I've worked on so I'm not completely sure how to troubleshoot it.

check the HV with the CRT unplugged.

I checked the HV with the HV lead disconnected from the CRT, and there was no change in the HV.

Disconnect the wire from the Flyback to the input of the Tripler and see if you can draw a healthy blue arc from the Flyback to the tip of an ungrounded screwdriver (one with a good, insulated plastic handle) You should have (guessing) 5-8kv of AC at that point.

If you get a decent sized arc at the flyback but very little at the 2nd anode then my guess would be a bad Tripler.

Thanks for all the help and encouragement so far. Especially to Eric, your advice proved to be spot on.

I measured the HV from the fly in my B&K analyst found it to be 8KV and then drew a screwdriver arc off of it so I had a reference to compare the fly arc of the Sylvania to. The fly to tripler lead disconnected from the tripler terminal arced much stronger than the analyst so I decided to track down a new tripler.
An ebay search (after google returned random garbage) came up with this part which is specified as a sub in sam's. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Sylvania-ECG-500A-High-Voltage-Tripler-For-Tesla-Coils-Plasma-Ball-Projects-/121172894769?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item1c3677a431

I got it today and installed it...
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2677_zps09585bc7.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2677_zps09585bc7.jpg.html)
Someone clearly soldered it to something in the past.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2678_zpsb1859e5c.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2678_zpsb1859e5c.jpg.html)
The Sylvania replacement is smaller than the GC (IIRC) original.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2679_zps16949c6d.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2679_zps16949c6d.jpg.html)
The screw near the focus resistor had to be moved to the intelligently placed hole nearer to center, but other than that no significant mounting changes were needed.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2680_zpse8dd95e2.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2680_zpse8dd95e2.jpg.html)
I decided to place the terminals up(it could also have been mounted in the same position as the original) so that those terminals won't be pointing at me during chroma ocs slug adjustments.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN2681_zps3d4c4597.jpg (http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/ElectronicMemory/media/DSCN2681_zps3d4c4597.jpg.html)
I may put caulk over the IN and Focus posts later for safety.

It now works like before(except I can't get the chroma to synch) ie. the HV hovers between 19-24Kv. I'm going to work on the chroma osc. and look for my HO Tube breakout socket so I can adjust the lin. coil for lowest HOT current.