I picked this 1983 Grundig 19" tabletop off the curb, it was in perfect working conditions and i was going to keep it, but... it happened AGAIN!!!

I left it in my barn for several days as i had no room in my TV storage room, then, this morning, i forgot to lock the barn's door... the mule opened the latch and got into the barn and while he was trashing everything in search for food, he toppled the set, then he probably startled and kicked it!

The kick smashed the audio and chroma board and b+ regulator heatsink, cracked the chassis and bent its metal frame, the CRT neck snapped beneath the yoke and the cabinet and back cover got smashed too, the set is a total loss, i'm going to keep the speakers and throw out the rest of it,
He was lucky the CRT didn't implode on him!

The set before the mishap:
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/4802/img0773d.jpg
The smashed boards, bent frame and heatsink:
http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/6131/img0774.jpg
smashed back cover:
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/5327/img0776it.jpg
The little bastard:
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/2711/nerone18fu8.jpg

"Hehehehehe...That'll show HIM, storin' TVs in MY barn...." Here in the states, the old-timers say a mule will wait 40 years to get to a place where he can "Do It To You"...Looks like you didn't have to wait quite that long...

He's a friendly looking old mule. Reminds me of myself...

Sad variation on: "The dog ate my homework."

If that was my mule
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/images/smilies/dedhorse.gif

LMAO @ "the little bastard" -- this has been a very humourous thread!

The "little bastard" also loves to bust windshield wipers, he did it to my car twice and he also did it to my dad's brand new car, he just bites them off.

Apart from cars, TVs and other breakable objects, he's actually a rather quiet, friendly mule and he's very safe to have around.

Don't get me started on the damages done by my goats! they once managed to eat a big chunk of veneer off a 1930s console radio i left unattended outdoors for a couple of minutes.

Don't even get me started on GOATS...Friend of mine had 3 miniature goats... Their trick was stripping interiors of cars...Fred refused to believe they were doing it, he was on the phone denying it to one of his complaining neighbors, when he looked out the window, & one of 'em was on the top of his brand-new Cadillac, stripping the vinyl roof off in big pieces....The goats went to live at another farm, where there were no cars around...

That mule must not have liked the TV show "Hee Haw"... And then seeing another TV set caused flashbacks.

I guess Mules and bobcats don't mix either I have a video of a mule killing a bobcat

Well it's no secret that I enjoy 80s music so remember the Timbuk3 video from '86 with the tv set on a camel in the desert? (futures so bright I gotta wear shades...)lol yep i remembered. :thmbsp::D:smoke:

I had a friend whose neighbor had a donkey. The donkey used to come over to eat the grass in my friend's yard and crap all over the place, so my friend complained. So the neighbor got him back and tied him to his porch post. Donkey liked my friend's grass so much he pulled the porch down and came on over.

Well, this mishap has brought me some luck in the end...

This morning i went to drop off the smashed Grundig set at the bulky waste facility, and came back home with a nice Phonola 4-tube hybrid b/w from 1972 :banana:

I haven't tried to power it up yet as it got rained on, it's drying on the furnace right now.

Well, this mishap has brought me some luck in the end...

This morning i went to drop off the smashed Grundig set at the bulky waste facility, and came back home with a nice Phonola 4-tube hybrid b/w from 1972 :banana:

I haven't tried to power it up yet as it got rained on, it's drying on the furnace right now.

Keep it away from any jackasses!

I got a B&W tube portable once that had been sitting in the rain for who knows how long, plastic case with all those cooling slots on top so the rain got right in there. After I dried it out it worked fine but every now and then it would shut down and then come back on after a minute. Probably a tube heater intermittent but I never got around to it and eventually junked it.

Here's the Phonola set:

After drying, it worked with poor vertical linearity for a few minutes then the flyback's HV winding went in a huge cloud of smoke.
the HV winding in this set is a separate removable donut and will be easy to replace with a generic part.
The CRT is still very bright.

Notice how the goat immediately came to check the TV for edible parts as soon as she saw it :nono:

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/2018/img0788xj.jpg

I replaced the HV winding and resoldered a dozen of dry joints under the tube sockets, the set then worked fine for several hours, then SNAP!! it started arcing occasionally between the damper's top cap and the HV cage,
I tried to insulate the top cap better but then it started arcing between the PCB track where the damper's top cap goes and a nearby ground track
I replaced the 220pf 4kv disk cap but it's still arcing especially during dark scenes...
the set keeps on going fine despite the arcing.

Maybe it's my replacement HV winding? or maybe the damper itself is to blame?