View Full Version : New Project: Westinghouse H-619T12U


Eric H
10-12-2010, 07:31 PM
This is a local set I picked up off eBay for $50.

It biggest asset is the rebuilt CRT that checks like new.
It's missing some knobs and the back, also the cabinet is coming unglued in spots but is in good condition overall, no warpage or rot, just bad glue which is easily fixed.

The chassis is in really good condition, just a bit dirty but complete and untouched as far as I can see, the Flyback looks good.

I powered it up with a dim bulb and got a hum, also the main filter can started getting warm, it has also been leaking electrolyte.
I disconnected the B+ wires from it and jumped in a good cap and got static from the speaker but no HV, the Oscillator is no doubt inop due to bad paper caps.
It's kind of unusual that it uses two 1X2 HV rectifiers, I don't know if it's a doubler circuit because I don't have the schematic for it.
I like the tall skinny look of this set.
The underside of the chassis seems a little bare, WestingMuntz?

Another curiosity and a Philco connection, the chassis corners are set up to use rubber isolation mounts, same as Philco did.
I know Phil has a Westinghouse that's 100% Philco on the inside so I wonder if Philco built this chassis for them also?

miniman82
10-12-2010, 07:35 PM
My Philco had 1X2's in a doubler arrangement, I suspect this has something similar.

RitchieMars
10-12-2010, 08:11 PM
Hey, that's a great find! Looks like it might be a mahogany cabinet like the one on my Zenith which is another one of those tall, skinny sets. The rebuilt CRT alone is well worth the $50, although I'm not good at estimating the size from photographs. Is it a 16''?

jeyurkon
10-12-2010, 08:36 PM
...
I like the tall skinny look of this set.
The underside of the chassis seems a little bare, WestingMuntz?
...


It'll make it easy to work on though! :yes: Looks pretty clean under there too.

John

kvflyer
10-12-2010, 09:48 PM
Nice set! Very similar to a Westinghouse that I got a few years ago at our local club auction. I bought it in working condition. I have not even had it out of the cabinet. It works and when I look under the chassis through the cutout in the cabinet, I can see some caps replaced. And one of the electrolytic cans has a seam where it has been cut open. It does work but the horizontal goes off frequency after about 30 min. Guess I should really finsish the restoration?

kvflyer
10-12-2010, 09:49 PM
Nice set! Very similar to a Westinghouse that I got a few years ago at our local club auction. I bought it in working condition. I have not even had it out of the cabinet. It works and when I look under the chassis through the cutout in the cabinet, I can see some caps replaced. And one of the electrolytic cans has a seam where it has been cut open. It does work but the horizontal goes off frequency after about 30 min. Guess I should really finsish the restoration?

BTW, mind doesn't have a back either. And the power cord is not via a cheater cord. Yeah, I need to "rectify" that! It does have dual 1X2 tubes as well...

Eric H
10-13-2010, 12:17 AM
I did enough recapping to get the Horiz Oscillator running, the biggest problem with that was an open Cathode resistor on the Horiz Output tube. It's supposed to be something like 80 ohms but it was measuring infinity, I jumped it with a 68 Ohm resistor and it started running.
The HV is still too low to make it to the CRT, probably because the filters are bad but I'm satisfied for tonight.

I've never seen a set that used 6W4's for the low voltage rectifiers but this one does, two of them.

I have a Brochure (http://vintagetvsets.com/schem/westinghousebroch.pdf) <--(Download it) for the 1949 Westinghouse lineup, this model was their bottom of the line economy model.

My favorite line from the Brochure "It has adequate manual controls" nothing great, just "Adequate" :)

bandersen
10-13-2010, 12:28 AM
Nice score :thmbsp: The brochure mentions a '12 1/2" black glass tube'. Is it a 12LP4 or something more exotic ?

Eric H
10-13-2010, 12:36 AM
It has a replacement tube, I suspect it's just a tinted faceplate same as a 10BP4A, maybe a 12LP4A?

I haven't really studied this one to see if it's tinted or not.

Eric H
10-14-2010, 06:30 PM
I've replaced all but six of the old caps now, there are about 31 paper caps in this chassis, which is about 25 fewer than the Philco 48-2500 I just finished recapping. :yes:

Three of the caps on the Flyback were .001@6000v
those were used in the doubler circuit, I had those in stock because I've been ordering a few HV caps each time I send an order to Justradios.

One of the sand resistors had been jumped already and another one died while I was testing the set, the last one will need replaced soon too since it has the green corrosion on the leads that these all seem to suffer from.

I've ordered the eight electrolytics I need to restuff the cans, I also ordered a new 6AU5 for the horiz output, this one tests OK but the getter is mostly white with only a sliver of black left!

Even with most of the Electros jumped I still had low HV, about 2k was getting to the CRT and I could see a faint line when the set was switched off.

I think a poor 6AU5 combined with the load on the B+ caused by the leaky Electros is keeping it down.

While I'm waiting for the caps to arrive I'll spend some time cleaning the chassis and fixing the cabinet.

Eric H
10-16-2010, 02:22 AM
I finally got a raster out of this set!

I finished replacing all the paper caps last night but still not enough high voltage to light the screen.
The new 6AU5 I bought showed up today, I installed it and still had low HV at the CRT, it seemed OK at the tops of the 1X2 rectifiers though so I did a little more poking around and found these three 510,000 ohm resistors that were on the Flyback board. (2nd picture)

They feed the HV from one of the 1X2's and are supposed to be about a meg and a half total, these wouldn't read a thing on the 20 meg scale of the meter.

They were wrapped in heat shrink, cutting it off showed they were in pretty bad shape with lots of corrosion. I temporarily rigged up a new block of resistors using some 560K 1/2 watt resistors from my Harbor Freight resistor kit, they won't hold up for long but good enough to prove the problem.

Now the set has no video reaching the screen, no sound either other than some slight hiss from the speaker, I'll wait till I get all the Lytics changed before troubleshooting it, too many Alligator clips and loose capacitors hanging off the chassis to tackle it now.

kvflyer
10-16-2010, 09:50 AM
Very encouraging indeed! The CRT appears to have a good amount of life left in it. So now you have proven that the major components are working and good. Just a little more to go and you can sit back and watch that old B/W TV show, whatever it may be.

Congratulations! Now back to work... ;)

Eric H
10-22-2010, 02:51 AM
It's aliiive!

I restuffed the Filter cans, all two of them, this is a pretty cheap set. :yes:
It has fewer Elecrtolytics than any other set I've worked on lately.

The vertical hold adjustment is pretty critical, though it will stay put once you get it locked, possibly a resistor out of spec somewhere, quite a few of those in this set.

It looks pretty good on the 5" test tube, I'll have to put the regular 12" tube in and see if any flaws show up.

The sound is clear though not terribly loud, I don't know if it's just characteristic of this set or if there's still a problem somewhere.
It uses an electromagnetic speaker, kind of odd for so late a model.

holmesuser01
10-22-2010, 02:13 PM
In the Beaver picture, I notice that you seem to be working somewhere near the kitchen.

I could never get away with that in my house. The kitchen is off limits for TV service... Unless it is something being repaired to USE in the kitchen!!

Looking GREAT!!

Bruce

wa2ise
10-22-2010, 06:58 PM
In the Beaver picture, I notice that you seem to be working somewhere near the kitchen.

I could never get away with that in my house. The kitchen is off limits for TV service...

In my apartment, the kitchen *IS* the repair shop. lots of electricity and counter space. And as you probably guessed I'm not married... :D And I always go to Burger King for dinner.

That TV looking good! :banana:

kvflyer
10-22-2010, 06:58 PM
In the Beaver picture, I notice that you seem to be working somewhere near the kitchen.

I could never get away with that in my house. The kitchen is off limits for TV service... Unless it is something being repaired to USE in the kitchen!!

Looking GREAT!!

Bruce


;) ;) I have four females living with me. However, they are cats and they don't complain. But don't let me leave anything that they can bat around!!!

Eric H
10-22-2010, 07:23 PM
In the Beaver picture, I notice that you seem to be working somewhere near the kitchen.

I could never get away with that in my house. The kitchen is off limits for TV service... Unless it is something being repaired to USE in the kitchen!!

Looking GREAT!!

Bruce

Oh no, I'd never work in the kitchen, it's too cramped, I work in the Dining Room. :D I have a 1950's Chrome & Formica dinette table I use for a bench.

(I guess I do use the Kitchen Stove and counter for restuffing Filter Cans).

I'd really like to add an enclosed back Patio where I could work, I have two Cats and one 6 month old Kitten and you do have to be careful about leaving small items laying around, like capacitors and tubes.

dieseljeep
10-22-2010, 08:09 PM
Regarding the two statements made by the restorer. Motorola used field coil speakers all the way to the 1956 model year. Sentinel used two 6W4GTs in a 1951 16in. set. Also I hated 6AU5 horiz. outs. Would allways use 6AV5GAs instead. Much heftier tube.

kvflyer
10-23-2010, 08:28 AM
...I have two Cats and one 6 month old Kitten and you do have to be careful about leaving small items laying around, like capacitors and tubes.

Cats do not have a conscience. And as has been said, "Dogs have Masters... Cats have Staff."

Sorry to go OT. "You will now be returned to your regularly scheduled program..." ;)

HadYourPhil
10-23-2010, 09:57 AM
Eric, thanks for posting that brochure! It shows a model 605T12 that I had as a youngster just learning electronics. All I have left is a knob or two. That was a cool set with that picture "Electronic Magnifier"... I Remember the ozone smell that set put out because (1) I had it in a basement and (2) I never had enough Rid-X Corona Dope to make it stop!!

Eric H
01-02-2011, 07:42 PM
Has it really been three months since I got this set? seems much longer, the cabinet sat on the bench for much of that time while I worked on it, it was really an unglued mess, I had to re-veneer the top and glue almost every joint.

It came out much darker and more brown than it was, the front and edges of the side panels was done with Mohawk "Van Dyke Brown" toner, the rest was stained and toned with "Perfect Brown".

The face came out almost Ebony, like some of the early RCA's have on their trim, the sides are a dark Walnut, not original but it looks really nice to me.

I still need to get some Westinghouse decals and control lettering, also the channel numbers are arraigned around the dial so I'm going to have to cut those out and apply them one at a time, that should be lots of fun, like a hangnail.

The set's working pretty well but I can either get good volume or good picture, not at the same time though, it needs an alignment but it's watchable as it is.

The Rebuilt CRT that was in it works really well, the small knobs are borrowed off my other Westy until I can find some for this set, luckily the channel selector was there.

Tubejunke
01-02-2011, 08:09 PM
In my apartment, the kitchen *IS* the repair shop. lots of electricity and counter space. And as you probably guessed I'm not married... :D And I always go to Burger King for dinner.

Same here! It is strange to me how the more old TVs you have in your kitchen, the less female atention you get...:scratch2:

GeorgeJetson
01-03-2011, 07:53 AM
I wonder if Ward Cleaver could get away with working on tvs in his kitchen?
I have a feeling June would have really sailed into him too!

Beaver:"Gee Dad,why did mom make you move the junk from inside the tv off the kitchen table?"

Ward:"Well son,we eat there and it just wasn't the appropriate place for that kind of task"

Beaver:"Yeah,I guess moms are just like that...once Eddie Haskell took apart a motorcycle engine in the bathtub and got grounded for a whole week!"


"Leave it to beaver" is a great show!
The episode "Captain Jack" where they raise an alligator in their bathroom is hilarious!
Ward accuses the maid of drinking his liqour and has to let her go.
(come to think of it,they showed a toilet tank in that episode too)
It's creators Joe Connelly & Bob Mosher were very talented writers who also worked on shows like Amos 'n Andy and the Munsters.
Supposedly they got ideas for "Beaver" from thier kids.

Tubejunke
01-03-2011, 03:22 PM
I once heard that the dirtiest joke ever told on 1950's TV was: Ward, weren't you a little hard on the Beaver last night!

kvflyer
01-07-2011, 06:12 PM
I once heard that the dirtiest joke ever told on 1950's TV was: Ward, weren't you a little hard on the Beaver last night!

:yikes:

bandersen
01-07-2011, 09:39 PM
Has it really been three months since I got this set? seems much longer, the cabinet sat on the bench for much of that time while I worked on it, it was really an unglued mess, I had to re-veneer the top and glue almost every joint.

It came out much darker and more brown than it was, the front and edges of the side panels was done with Mohawk "Van Dyke Brown" toner, the rest was stained and toned with "Perfect Brown".

The face came out almost Ebony, like some of the early RCA's have on their trim, the sides are a dark Walnut, not original but it looks really nice to me.

I still need to get some Westinghouse decals and control lettering, also the channel numbers are arraigned around the dial so I'm going to have to cut those out and apply them one at a time, that should be lots of fun, like a hangnail.

The set's working pretty well but I can either get good volume or good picture, not at the same time though, it needs an alignment but it's watchable as it is.

The Rebuilt CRT that was in it works really well, the small knobs are borrowed off my other Westy until I can find some for this set, luckily the channel selector was there.

I think it looks great. Most things I use Mohawk on end up darker than I had intended. I may try some stain or analine dye in the future.

If you need any of the larger gold knobs, I believe I have some.

Most of my Admirals had the same issue where you get either a good picture or sound. a little tweak of the sound trap and IF did the trick. I leave the more complex video IF alone when possible.