Capehart Farnsworth 461P
 

Just finished working on a Capehart/Farnsworth 461P 1950 set, or at least that's the date on the Sams Info Packet. Interesting because it has channel 1. That's very late to find a channel 1. Maybe this was a holdover from an earlier set?

This was a fairly straight forward restoration, but a little daunting at first glance. It has 37 tubes and loads and loads of caps everywhere you look. I bought the set locally for $40, but it had no tubes except for the crt, which turned out to be gassy. Luckily I had 30 of the 37 tubes, and was able to pick up a very good 10BP4 from a VK member at a reasonable price. There were no serious issues with this old timer, just the usual caps, out of tolerance resistors, and an open video peaking coil that I was able to repair.

I was surprised at the sharpness and clarity of the picture. One interesting feature is the speaker grill which is not cloth, but rather perforated metal, and then woodgrained to look like wood. To access the controls on the HV chassis (vert. height, linearity, width, etc.) which is located on the bottom of the cabinet, you push the grill on the bottom front to open it into the set and then utilize the controls. When finished, you swing the grill back and let it latch back into it's normal position. The cabinet has seen better days unfortunately. There is no moisture damage, just lots of dings and scrapes and sun fade. It also looks like at some point in it's life someone had the bright idea to antique it using some brown paint. The attempt was made to streak it onto the cabinet to make it look like woodgrain. It didn't work very well I'm afraid. But....I decided that I was going to leave the cabinet as is and consider it's battle scars part of it's history.

Here are some pictures of the cabinet, chassis and screen shots.


http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps55436704.jpg

http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps2e715c26.jpg

http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/u...psd4e6cbcc.jpg

http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/u...pscad9255f.jpg

http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/u...psdb008eaa.jpg


Here are a few shots of the chassis:

http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps8ec5981a.jpg

Audio Amp and Power Supply

http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps93a274f2.jpg

High Voltage Supply

http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/u...psa152700a.jpg

Main Chassis

http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps5404e3be.jpg
http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps1387be01.jpg


Main Chassis installed in the set.

http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps780a0fd6.jpg


Overall it was an interesting experience. I always find it very rewarding to find something like this that would have little hope of survival, if it weren't for an enterprizing group of people like us to see the potential, and then follow through until we bring them back to life again. Now on to the next challenge........Bob

That is one strange looking cracker.....

I guess its a transition kinda thing, from radio cabinet looking to tv looking.....

I don-know.... Anyway good job ! ! ! !

By the way, what's that on top of the power transformer.... Switch of some kind....?

Hey this is a pretty nice looking set great looking restore enjoy the set....Timothy

That is the line voltage selector.

The more you look at the inside pictures, the more interesting your set gets!

Most likely Sam's was just late putting out the data!

Per TVHistory, that set is a 1948 set and the overall layout is similar to the 1948 501P on that site. The 501P has added AM/FM and phonograph.

http://www.tvhistory.tv/1946-49-FARNSWORTH.htm

http://www.tvhistory.tv/1948-Farnswo...hure-SideB.JPG

James

Zounds! What a treasure. There can't be many of those left floating around.

I see family resemblances to the chassis in my 661-P console, and some significant differences.

These sets make very nice picture (and audio), as you say.

My 661-P has two power transformers (and LV rectifiers). One of the transformers has a switch on top, presumably to adjust for different line voltages.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

Thanks James....that explains it. Also thanks for the link to the brochure....very interesting.

Bob

That had to be a higher line set in it's day. It is impressive!

What an awesome and rare set :thmbsp:
I checked out the schematic in Riders volume #2. Dual 6BG6s in parallel and a voltage doubler using 1B3s just to drive a 10BP4!

Great job on the restoration Bob. They do produce an excellent picture. As a color comparison, here is a photo of mine with original finish but as yet unrestored.

Thanks for the comparison picture Tim. I see that the knobs on my set have been changed also. I didn't think they'd use some cheesey wooden knobs on a set like this...but that's what mine came with when I bought it. Good luck with your restoration. Bob

Slightly over engineered...don't you think?

That's a pretty awesome picture on the CRT. I doubt it usually looked that good when the set was new! Great job!

Despite the so called bitter animosity between RCA and Farnsworth Corp., has anyone noticed the RCA like parts: the IF traps, the flyback transformer, the tuner and the TS630 like bleeder resistor enclosure? Interesting and odd.

What a cool and unusual set! You did a great job on the restoration-- the picture is awesome :yes:

I have to ask, did you shoot the screen shots separately and Photoshop them into the screen mask? If not, you achieved what few of us have, getting the lighting and exposure perfect for both the cabinet and the screen. Very nice!

Congrats and good luck with the cabinet.

-Clark