Sears Roundie

[newhallone]

It sounds like I found a Sears Roundie to save. I need to go on a road trip soon to pick it up. The kind gentleman says he has the oweners manual, service and technical manual for it. He needs to dig it out but its one of these models.
7180,7181,7182, or 7183

Does anyone have pictures and know what year these are?

[zenithfan1]

Eagerly waiting to see what it is, I love when the non-RCA roundies pop up. Even though most are clones, the cabinets are very different from most of RCA's except for the control layout of course.

[newhallone]

Oh boy. Apparently this guy must have missed that day in school when they taught the difference between a circle and a square. So anyways I show up and it's not a roundie. I told him it's not what I was looking for because the screen was not round. "he told me it was in the email". He tells me "Oh, that was in the 50's when they were round" I said they made them in the 60's too. And this set is probably late 60's. He then figures back in his head when he graduated and when his parents bought it. Nope early 60's he said. So I didn't bother to argue with him cause "He's right"
I offered him 10 bucks for it because it's kinda ugly, crt has a bad cataract, didn't work, and the cabinet needs refinishing. Plus I drove 100 miles one way. He said " I have to have 25 at least because I have the repair manual.

I thanked him and started to leave. He then asks if I was intereseted in old radios. Cause I mentioned that earlier. So I ended up buying two Zenith Bakelight/plastic radios for $30 for the pair. Which was a decent deal. He then offered the tv for 15 without the manual because he could sell it on our favorite auction site. I said ok cause I could get sams for less.
Overall it wasn't a total loss cause I got the radios. And he may dig up a B&W set and more radios. But next time I am going to have him send me pictures and work out prices ahead of time. Actually he replied to my "freecycle" yahoo group ad so the set should have been FREE.

[Tony V]

I had one of these some time ago and they are a nice playing set when gone through. I would have bought it for that.
-Tony

[Sandy G]

Damnation, it DO have a bad "Cadillac", don't it ?!? Well, at least you saved an aging veteran from the landfill, in all likelihood...

[newhallone]

I hooked the Beltron up to it and I got about .50 on each gun. I tried cleaning it and none of the cleaning lights would come on and the short neon would pulsate a little. I then let it cook a few hours on 8.3 and now all three guns have good emission. So do I have a short then if the neon lightly flickers or pulsates? Is a short the cause for not having the cleaning lights come on?

[radio63]

Originally Posted by newhallone

Oh boy. Apparently this guy must have missed that day in school when they taught the difference between a circle and a square. So anyways I show up and it's not a roundie. I told him it's not what I was looking for because the screen was not round. "he told me it was in the email". He tells me "Oh, that was in the 50's when they were round" I said they made them in the 60's too. And this set is probably late 60's. He then figures back in his head when he graduated and when his parents bought it. Nope early 60's he said. So I didn't bother to argue with him cause "He's right".

I have run into a number of people that can't tell the difference between round screens and rectangular screens. I guess that must be because the corners on a rectangular screen are rounded. Several times I have been disappointed to go see a set that was described as round when in reality it was rectangular. Then I tell them "it's a rectangular screen". They say "it looks kinda round to me"!!

Gilbert

[wilkes85]

whoa what a beast... well I guess never judge anything by it's cover though.

Not just the cataract, but the style and the general condition... that TV is just plain ugly. And i never thought I would say that about a vintage TV lol

Can that cataract thing be fixed?

[zenithfan1]

Yes, the safety glass can be removed to get rid of the old PVA (Poly Vinyl Acetate) bonding material off of the glass and tube, then reinstall with 3M double face tape leaving a 1/16th in. air gap between the two. Seal with packing tape around the edge and you're done. Personally I like the style of this set, to each their own.

[zenith2134]

It's not ugly, it's actually a nice looking set. Once the cataract is fixed I bet it will look very good.

[newhallone]

I am going to hang onto it in case someone may want it. I have x amount of space and would rather have sets I really like in those spots. It's not terrible looking, a hundred times better than the dungeon models of the 70's.

[zenithfan1]

Where are you? I'd be interested in it if we're close enough. And yes, those dungeon models........ Looks like mice have been pissing in this one though I'm still interested however. Mice don't scare me away.

[newhallone]

Escanaba, MI PM me if your interested. I have relatives just outside of Madison in Poynett I vist once in awhile. Perhaps we could meet in GB or something.

What I have been keeping an eye out for somewhat close and not too expensive is a Zenith porthole. Or any brand b&w Roundie I could make a custom Porthole with. I would make room for any 50's color roundie of course.

[bgadow]

I'd have paid $25 in a heartbeat, but not a whole lot more than that. With the cataract fixed this will look much, much better. Not many Sears survivors.

You can no longer place ads looking for round screens or tube-type sets. To 99% of the people any FlungDung 19" made over 5 years ago looks like what you are searching for. I have yet to find a totally foolproof description for my want ads. Even when I clearly stated "sets with KNOBS, not BUTTONS" I got, yep, sets with buttons, no knobs.

[andy]

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