Just scored an early 60's Space Command 400!

[mkoser]

Hey all,

I used to be pretty active on this site, but have found my space time to be limited the past couple of years.

Today, I answered an ad on Cragislist. The ad simply said "Free Old TV."

I called the guy and went to look at it.

It is an early 60's Zenith Space Command 400. It has the original remote with it.

He told me that he bought it used in 1979. I found the receipt inside the set. He told me that the remote never worked when he got the set, so they gave him $40 off on the price. The wear on the buttons on the set itself indicate that they were heavily used.

He said that he put a new picture tube in it in 1980, and then put the set in storage in 1984 in working condition.

I know, I know, I know, you're not supposed to plug this stuff in until you recap it, but I couldn't resist.

As soon as I plugged it in, and turned it on, a bright, full raster came up. I hooked up a VCR and popped in a tape. It works beautifully. The audio is great, and the picture is great, except that there is no color. Everything is in black and white.

This is my FIRST color vintage set. I've never had an interest in the color sets until now.

Besides needing a recap, anything to check right away as far as the no color situation?

I'll be reading A LOT in this color forum now. Any advise, input will be helpful.

I'll throw up some photos in a bit when my wife is done with the camera.

Thanks,

MK

[DaveWM]

few simple things, adj the fine tuning for starters. if not that then I would check the color osc tube, and the burst amp tube. Also try futzing a bit with the horz hold.

[DaveWM]

oh and dont forget to wiggle the tubes in the chroma section, and move the color control back and forth to make sure its not just very dirty. Zeniths are pretty sturdy. What model chassis is it?

[mkoser]

Here are some photos. Thanks for the tips so far.

[ctc17]

If the fine tuning doesnt seem to do anything...most likely the little plastic gear is cracked. You have to pull the tuner, dissemble the front to access the gear, clean all the grease off the gear and shaft and JB weld it back in place. Every Zenith I own I had to do this too.
The burst crystals also drift, if this is the issue the color will usually pop in after 30 minutes of operation and tweaking the horiz hold
Most likely a total recap is not necessary, a few known problematic caps usually are all that are needed on the Zeniths.

Welcome to the color world, its a nice place to be.

[DaveWM]

good point about the fine tuning gear, if its broken it does nothing, you should see a change in the pic as you tune, tune more toward a herringbone intereference to max out the color.

[mkoser]

Yeah, the fine tuning knob does nothing. It's probably cracked. I'll start taking it apart tonight. Pretty happy with this score. Zero dollars is right in my price range.

Color is a whole 'nother animal!

[DaveWM]

couple other things, does it get color snow when no signal?

if you can try switching the video source (if you can) to a differe channel (from 3 to 4 as an example).

couple other things, turn the tuner thru several times. They often are very dirty, but that generally show up as snow in the pic.

Thats a nice looking set, great find

[ctc17]

The little plastic gear is about 1/4 inch, it kinda sticks down in the tuner. Its the gear that actually engages and turns the tuning slug in the tuner bars. You will see a nipple on the end of the shaft that slides into a slot in the tuner, be very mindful of the gears location on the shaft. It has to be in EXACTLY the right spot or it wont engage properly.
Use some lacquer thinner or acetone to clean the grease up. Get the grease out of the gear by rolling a small piece of paper towel up and dipping it in solvent. You will see the shaft is ribbed, the ribs must be grease free. JB Weld works well, let it dry for 24 hours.

I have done about 8 of them now, will make a video next time sense its such a common problem. It takes patience and a little skill.

Dont stress over color, its basically the same with a few more circuits. And its a bit more critical that everything works right, like this fine tuning issue. Very good chance that will fix your color when you can fine tune the set.

[mkoser]

Thanks for all the help so far, guys.

Yes, when switching from channel to channel via the knob in the back, there is a brief millisecond of color snow. It then goes black and white... This leads me to believe that my broken fine tuning control is probably my issue....

I'm going to take it apart tonight, we'll see what we can do.

Thanks,

MK

[marty59]

Very nice set and glad it was saved!
Not sure what you have in test equipment, etc. but a set of this vintage does not have an automatic deguassing circuit and a "degaussing coil" is a must have to clear up any magnetism on the CRT's shadowmask. That slight purity issue may clear right up.
That picture tube looks pretty healthy!!

[drh4683]

Yes, very common for cracked FT gears on zeniths an easy fix as stated previously. Also, this model may use an o-ring that serves as a belt, used to drive the fine tuning gear. Those are usually always cracked and broken and can be another source of no fine tuning.

Also, check your color killer adjustment too, a flash of color may mean its set a little too high. If once you get the fine tuning working and the color killer doesnt solve it, replace the 6JU8. Those are a frequent failure for no color on zeniths.

Great find by the way!

[Tony V]

Beautiful set! Cant beat the price!

[Sandy G]

ANOTHER old veteran saved ! Hoo-Ray !! Doubtless in no time at all it'll be givin' Glorious Lollipop Color, like all good Zeniths are sposed to...(grin) Glad t'see you back, too !

[mkoser]

Well, I couldn't wait so I had to pull that tuner out.

After I took it out, I spend some time sitting on the floor with my 500 watt halogen light and studied how the fine tuning works. I quickly saw that the belt had slipped off of the pulley. I put it back on and found that my gear was NOT cracked. I used deoxit to clean it all out.

I then took all the tubes out, sprayed the pins and sockets, and put then back in. I fired up the set, fine tuned the tuner, and....

Still no color!!!!


I was in my workshop, looking through my sams to see if I have the schematic when I literally stumbled across the solution...

I have a 100mw AM hobby radio station in my basement. I have my VCR located on the shelf next to the transmitter.

I was reaching behind the VCR to switch the output from CH 3 to CH 4 (just to try it) when I accidentally pulled the plug out of the back of the AM transmitter. INSTANTLY the color popped on the set!

The AM transmitter RF was interfering with the color coming out of the VCR!
I had never noticed that it did that, because this is the ONLY color set in my workshop.

I've had the set going for about an hour now, and there are three issues that I will need to correct:

1) The channel indicator bulb is out. Need to replace that.
2) The remote and electronic tuning motor does not run. I think there is actually something missing in the tuner, since the small gear on the motor, and the gear that is on the tuner are no where near close enough together to mesh.
3) The Audio is weak. Probably a tube. I have it all the way up, and it is only slightly less than adequate volume level. I'll get into that next. There is also an audible buzz when text or a bright scene appears on the screen.

Attached is a picture right after it fired up. After some tweaking, it looks great.

The brightness control is at just below half way. PLENTY of life in this tube.

This really made my day!

Thanks for the help so far guys, it is good to be back.

Bonus points if you can guess the movie that is playing....

Matt K.