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  #46  
Old 05-23-2011, 11:01 AM
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CT-100 CT-100 is offline
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Ct-100

Videokarma is a forum for the exchange technical ideas, not the type of story-telling posted below. Unless there are objections though, I will share some background before discussing the restoration, at least what little has taken place thus far.

I had previously entered “CT-100” on eBay as a search criterion with email notification enabled. As a consequence, soon after the auction began I received an automatic ping from the eBay SMTP servers in San Jose. My first thought was this was probably another auction for a CT-100 schematic or something else of little consequence, but I immediately viewed the auction anyway.

I am stating the obvious here; everyone must have thought exactly the same thing: “what’s with the “Buy-It-Now” option?” I actually sent the seller an email asking if “they would consider holding the set until I could drive up to get it if I won”. While I was waiting for the answer I called “the boss” and asked her if she particularly cared if I purchased a CT-100. “Buy it if you want too, but I do not have the time to drive to Pennsylvania with you to pick it up.” By then, I fully expected my Buy-It-Now execution to come back “auction [already] ended”, but it didn’t. I didn’t pounce on this item; I just gave it some thought and then purchased it.

As a side note, in the summer of 1968, my dad transported two CT-100’s from our home near Washington, D.C. to his mother’s in Kenosha, WI. Regrettably, both of those sets were eventually lost, being discarded as trash, but that is where I started looking for a 100 when I decided to try to locate one. Since I had early exposure to these sets I had a fairly good idea of what I was seeing in the auction. I also remember my father getting one of them to work. One had a bad 15GP22; the other one produced a beautiful picture once repaired.

Although I actually spoke to the seller, the set was listed by a friend with eBay experience. It is the friend that I eventually met when I arrived to retrieve the set. Apparently the original purchaser was the seller’s father who, for years, operated an appliance business in the area. He purchased the television new when it was introduced. After retiring the set was left in his daughter’s custody, eventually being listed on the auction site.

I live in Northern Virginia, so the trip wasn’t that difficult, about 5 hours one way, door-to-door. I was to arrive at the seller’s home at 10AM; I made it at 10:10. The home was 3 miles north of a coal mining community and the sides of the road, and almost everything else, were covered with black coal dust.

The home was modest but quaint, next to a brook with an interesting pet; a skunk. I got the sense the skunk didn’t exactly want the set to go. She didn’t come out for a visit, but hid, stamping her front paws loudly as I spoke to the person helping me load the set. That is the normal warning behavior for Mephitis mephitis (a.k.a., a skunk). This was an insightful skunk for sure.

I was told a number of emails were received after the auction ended informing the seller of the sets potential value. It was their choice to complete the transaction and I did not conceal what I thought the value may be. Further, the person I meet with explained the TV had recently been plugged in and turned on and that the screen lit-up, but no picture was displayed, possibly because of that new “digital thing” the TV stations were doing. I did not attempt to check the set and, as it turns out, that was a good choice for a couple of reasons. The last remaining task this CT-100 performed in the seller’s home was to act as a “TV stand” for a new flat-screen television. It was a function it performed dutifully.

See the attached photo’s of the set being transported back to VA., and its arrival at my garage.
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File Type: jpg IMG00245-20100331-1238.jpg (104.6 KB, 123 views)
File Type: jpg IMG00246-20100331-1856.jpg (100.7 KB, 136 views)
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  #47  
Old 05-23-2011, 01:03 PM
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Phil Nelson Phil Nelson is offline
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Don't worry, people have told plenty of "how I found it" stories in this forum.

I'll bet that was an interesting drive. My son and I drove my set back from California to Washington, me gritting my teeth every time I spied a pothole up ahead!

It's cool that you have memories of watching another CT-100 back in the day.

Phil Nelson
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  #48  
Old 05-23-2011, 04:40 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CT-100 View Post
Videokarma is a forum for the exchange technical ideas, not the type of story-telling posted below. Unless there are objections though, I will share some background before discussing the restoration, at least what little has taken place thus far.
Hi Mark,

I'm glad you accepted the invitation to join the group.
You'll find several CT-100 owners here at the forum.
Thank you for sharing your story with us.
I can't wait to see first-light from your restoration.
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  #49  
Old 05-23-2011, 06:52 PM
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ChrisW6ATV ChrisW6ATV is offline
Another CT-100 lives!
 
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Phil has a great Web page describing his CT-100 restoration, and I am looking forward to reading more about yours. I hope to proceed before long with work on mine as well. There are some very knowledgeable and helpful people here on Videokarma with CT-100 experience.
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  #50  
Old 05-23-2011, 10:09 PM
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Thanks for sharing the story! Reading a tale like that is almost as good as getting the set myself!
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  #51  
Old 05-23-2011, 10:13 PM
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CT-100 ... green is the colour I feel right now!!! (Not just any green mind you ..the type of green only 15GP22 can produce) Good luck with the restoration...
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  #52  
Old 05-26-2011, 12:52 PM
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CT-100 progress, or lack of it.

The trip home was actually quite smooth with the exception of one bump, and even that one wasn’t too bad. I have been told I did not exercise adequate caution in the manor that I transported the set, but I didn’t have many options. The set was padded, including the bottom, and I took great care not to hit any irregularities in the road surface. The getter remained silver after I arrived home; however, I have not checked its appearance for a year. Life has a way of insuring I will get things done, but they are usually the things I have to get done for survival, not the things I want to get done as a hobbyist.

So, much for the trivia; here’s what I have determined thus far.

Although the seller told me the screen lit up “with a little black at the bottom” (which I interpreted as either insufficient vertical deflection or fold-over), there was another little problem.

In order to see the screen light-up the set obviously had to plugged-in and turned-on. I have no reason to believe the seller had a Variac lying around so the set was hit with normal line voltage. Possibly as a result of this, the on-off switch was badly charred and had either caught on fire or came close too doing so. The damage burned the AC wiring to the switch back two or three inches underneath the chassis. This is why the volume control shield is shown unattached in one of my prior photographs. You can see the brown soot on it. In addition to a damaged power switch, that easy to find and replace volume control……you know the one; 1M with tone response tap at 180K was irreparably damaged as well. (The easy to find statement is a bit of humor) The brightness control is a 2W wire-wound pot and survived without a problem.

Further, just to over-engineer the chassis (to minimize the requirement for service calls I suppose) someone decided to increase the value of the cathode fuse in the Horizontal Output circuit from 450ma to 20 Amps (that’s a twenty). This is not a joke, at least in the context of this narrative. This insured the fuse would never blow. I wonder why the engineers at RCA didn’t think of this?

Finally, someone had cut off the kinescope socket and replaced it. In and of itself, this isn’t too much of a problem except the technique employed was sloppy; the wires were not tailored to the proper length nor were they dressed appropriately. Then they were soldered together and wrapped with black electrical tape. Duct tape would have been fine, but black electrical tape?

I’m fairly competent addressing electronic problems since I have had my hands on and around these things for more than 40 years. A defensible argument could be made that I have 5 years of experience 8 times, but that’s another story. As a consequence of my primary talent, the first order of business was to document and remove the control cluster. Once I did that, I sent it away to Mark Oppat at Old Radio Parts for repair: http://www.oldradioparts.net/

I am deeply indebted to Mark for his expert restoration and repair of the control cluster; he does beautiful work. The installation of the serviced component required a week and a half since I wanted the repair to closely resemble the original manufacturing technique and style. It was worth the effort; I’m happy with how it turned out and that isn’t always the case.

The problem that is befuddling me at the present time is refinishing the lower valance. It seemed like a simple process to just lightly sand off the old finish and then re-stain that cabinet part to enhance the appearance of the set. This has proven to be a frustrating experience though. After 30 or more test stains (on scrap pieces of wood) I am no closer to matching the rest of the cabinet than when I started. My decision now is to just get on with the other problems and not be concerned about the stain at the present time.
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  #53  
Old 05-26-2011, 02:52 PM
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Originally Posted by CT-100 View Post
My decision now is to just get on with the other problems and not be concerned about the stain at the present time.
Yah, I usually do the electronics first and worry about the cabinet later. Seeing the TV operational inspires me to tackle refinishing, which is less fun for me.

I believe the cabinet (like 95% of all old cabinets) was originally done with colored toning lacquer, not stain. That doesn't mean stain is necessarily a wrong choice, more of an FYI.

Many old finishes fade and change color over time, with exposure to sunlight. If you look at a protected area of the cabinet, like the inner front ledge that was protected by the top cover, you'll see the original color, which was pretty reddish. If you're just going to revive & touch up the existing finish on the main cabinet, rather than strip everything and start over, then you'll want to match the current color, of course.

Whatever you do, I'd avoid polyurethane, which is non-authentic and harder to reverse than lacquer if you try something and don't like the results. I'd also avoid sanding more than necessary. You don't want to sand all the way through the veneer.

Phil Nelson
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  #54  
Old 05-26-2011, 07:59 PM
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Bad on/off switches are a known issue with CT100s. If possible, use an external switch on a line cord or viriac to save wear and tear on the new on/off switch.

The CRT socket can be disassembled and the little socket pins can be removed and the wires from your cable harness dressed an re-soldered to the socket pins to eliminate the ugly splices. If you cable harness is too short, all the wires in the harness can be replaced with longer wires. A lot of work, but it can be done.
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  #55  
Old 05-27-2011, 07:46 AM
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Okay, yes, thank you for your guidance.

I am not that experienced with cabinet refinishing but will research toning Lacquers. This would explain why the finish looks like a combination of paint and stain. It is something I have not seen before. I’m glad I waited for advice; I would have eventually either given up or used a modern solvent based stain with a poly overlay. Clearly this would not have achieved the desired results. In retrospect I should have just left the valance untouched; it was bad, but not that bad. Certainly not worth the time and grief I have experienced trying to match the original (actually the faded) color

I had hoped I would never again have to replace another switch like the one on the CT-100. It was a time consuming and involved process. Now I see I have a bad switch on a 21-CT-55 I’m working on. In the case of the 55 though, the switch just went bad; it did not burn up, so maybe I can just replace the switch portion and not have to remove the entire control cluster. It would be well known that the control clusters on the 100 and 55 are essentially the same.

Although my dad did come into the possession of two CT-100’s in the late 1960’s, in the late 1950’s we had a 21-CT-55. We used to watch 15 minutes of color programming per day because that was all that was telecast. It happened to be Jim Henson and his Muppet’s. Anyway, one day the CT-55 was plugged-in, but turned off, and my mom smelled something burning. It was the on-off switch.

Mark
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  #56  
Old 05-28-2011, 09:50 PM
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The CTC-4 I am working on has a failed power switch as well. I installed an external switch (with an inline fuse).
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  #57  
Old 05-28-2011, 10:13 PM
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This B&W RCA TV set from the 50's also had a bad power switch. I jumpered it out, and I use an external switched extension cord to switch the power. Its CRT is weak, so it probably saw lots of off-on cycles in its life.
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  #58  
Old 06-27-2011, 09:35 AM
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After 15 months I got up enough nerve to look at the 15GP22 again. I was very worried it was not properly packed to survive the trip although I took every reasonable precaution. Here is a photograph of the electron gun as it appears currently.

Of course this isn't a confirmation of a vacuum suitable for operation. Further, it implies nothing about cathode emission. It is very encouraging though.

Regards,
Mark
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  #59  
Old 06-27-2011, 03:30 PM
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Holy getter, batman! I'd say you got a winnah there, no evidence of white anywhere.
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  #60  
Old 07-12-2011, 08:59 PM
doogie812 doogie812 is offline
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Photo Shop If I’ve ever seen it!

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Maybe someone aimed a color video camera at a fish tank and that CT100 is displaying the video. Nice color.
Come on guys. The geometry of picture is not even correct.
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