15GP22 socket

[dtvmcdonald]

My CT-100 had no picture last night. This has precedent,
so I checked the CRT socket. Yep, filament was not contacting.
I got it working, but it appears to be not grasping properly.
Apparently its just "touching". The CRT is OK. It feels like the other pins are OK, just the filament ones are bad.

So I have to fix or replace it.

Has anyone opened up one of these things, that is, the CRT socket?
Its held together by those push-in pins that can't easily be removed.
Apparently you have to file off their heads. How do you then get the socket
back together?

Or are there spare sockets out there that already are taken apart
and can be put back together? I'd buy one.

Doug McDonald

[Electronic M]

I haven't had to do this with a 15G socket yet (knock on wood) but I believe they are riveted together the same way 21" color sockets are riveted. I've had to deal with 21" sockets where the wires broke off inside the base. What I did was drill out the rivets(if the heads are not sunken grinding is a good option), carefully open the socket to avoid mixing up the wires, resolder the wire that broke and clean and tighten the worst contacts, then reassemble using nuts and machine screws the same diameter as the rivets. Not the simplest process but a little easier than connecting ~12 wires for a new socket.

[ohohyodafarted]

I my memory serves me those are not rivets. They are actually long helix spiral threaded nails. You can remove them by getting a sharp instrument under the head of the nail and pry it up just a little bit (32nd of an inch) then grab the head of the nail with a good needle nose with serrations inside the tip and "unscrew" the fastener. The spiral threads are long helix. That means the threads only make about 1 revolution for each 1/2" of shank length. On re-assembly all you have to do is press the fastener back into the hole that it came out of.

[dtvmcdonald]

Originally Posted by ohohyodafarted

I my memory serves me those are not rivets. They are actually long helix spiral threaded nails. f.

That's what I think. So far I've been unable to get them pried out far enough to
start unscrewing. I'll keep trying.

[ohohyodafarted]

Try using a nice sharp 1/4" wide wood chisel. You should be able to force the sharp edge under the head and use the beveled side of the chisel as a fulcrum to pry upward. Place the beveled side of the chisel against the bakelite and the flat side of the chisel against the underside of the fasteners' head. You only need to pry the fastener up enough to get a grip on the head with your needle nose. From there, use your needle nose to pull up with a twisting motion in a (IIRC) counter clockwise direction.

[JohnCT]

You can get a fine cutting wheel on a Dremel and put a channel into the head, then use a jeweler's screwdriver.

Back in the 70s, I used to take these apart all the time and tighten and/or clean the pins, but there was no effort to duplicate the factory look as these TVs were just old junk and we were looking to buy a bit more time for them.

John

Edit: Oh yeah, as Tom points out, be careful not to mix up the wires as they will fall right out of their holes when the socket is opened. I always drew a diagram. Of course today we can just point our phones at them and take a pic.

[dtvmcdonald]

Steve McVoy has sold me a NOS socket. I will report on what I do after it arrives.

As to cutting a slot and unscrewing ... that won't work for two reasons:
1) they are too small and thus a slot will leave them with no strength

2) to cut a slot, one can't use a Dreml tool or the like, as it will
just slide off. One would need a quality machine too and a jig
to hold the socket

[JohnCT]

Originally Posted by dtvmcdonald

As to cutting a slot and unscrewing ... that won't work for two reasons:
1) they are too small and thus a slot will leave them with no strength

2) to cut a slot, one can't use a Dreml tool or the like, as it will
just slide off. One would need a quality machine too and a jig
to hold the socket

I may have an old one somewhere. If I do, I'll make a video on how it's done.

John

[Tom9589]

Bob Galanter, your tag line (Vacuum tubes are used in Wisconsin to help heat your house) reminded me of a story of when I worked for Scientific-Atlanta in the 70s and 80s. Space heaters were not allowed, but secretaries (yes, they were called secretaries back then) found that you could put a 500 series Tektronix scope in your desk foot well and stay toasty all winter due to its 41 tubes. The only problem is that the scopes were still on the books and still had to be calibrated at the prescribed interval. We engineers made sure the intensity was turned way down so the phosphor on the screen would not get a burned-in pattern. In the late 80s when we cleaned house for a move, the staff got all these scopes. It was my mainstay for years until I got my Tek 475.

[user181]

That's a neat story. Gotta keep the space heaters calibrated... :-)

[dtvmcdonald]

I tried to use the new socket, but
1) could still not get the three pins out of the old one

2) inspected the old one more and decided to pry the old clips
a bit with a tiny screwdriver and use a tiny bit of deOxit on just the filament pins,
and it worked at least for now

3) original inspection of the new one revealed no back cover like the
old one ... what held the pins in????

Then I saw the pictures of the Model 5 that just sold in New York ...
it uses a socket identical to the new one, and it has no "back".
Another inspection of the new clips show that they are the kind that have
little sharp ears so that once stuck in, they won't easily come out the back.
They can't go out the front due to the back of the clip being bigger than the hole.

I will keep the socket in case my recent attempt on the old socket fails yet again.

But its interesting that the new one was the kind used on that Model 5. Its made by Cinch, not RCA.

[JohnCT]

Originally Posted by dtvmcdonald

I tried to use the new socket, but
1) could still not get the three pins out of the old one

2) inspected the old one more and decided to pry the old clips
a bit with a tiny screwdriver and use a tiny bit of deOxit on just the filament pins,
and it worked at least for now

3) original inspection of the new one revealed no back cover like the
old one ... what held the pins in????

Then I saw the pictures of the Model 5 that just sold in New York ...
it uses a socket identical to the new one, and it has no "back".
Another inspection of the new clips show that they are the kind that have
little sharp ears so that once stuck in, they won't easily come out the back.
They can't go out the front due to the back of the clip being bigger than the hole.

I will keep the socket in case my recent attempt on the old socket fails yet again.

But its interesting that the new one was the kind used on that Model 5. Its made by Cinch, not RCA.

Wow, never saw one of those.

John