Hello all my first post and I just know you'll laugh at me because I don't know the names of the parts so I refer to things like the thingy! LOL

Ok First quest with this new vintage TV I came on. I need a set of knobs. It takes four. I am not sure what the original look like as I don't have them nor can I find a picture of the set any where. It is marked GE Model 817 but I here it also has the same chassis as a model 805? If anyone can tell me a place to find the knobs other then e-bay as I check there every hour it seems, and/or maybe a picture of the set in it's original form. I tried Sam’s and found the schematics on it but the picture is of a different model case.

My avatar is a picture of my TV...

I attached a couple pictures but not sure if they went through or how this works yet. NOTE: the five wires on the back of the CRT were just hanging there and I stuck them on the post on the end of the tube I know they are wrong but need the piece before hooking them up right!

I also need a CRT socket / connector. The only thing missing it seems is the thingy that goes on the back end of the CRT. Where the five wires goes. A friend told me to try here to see if anyone had this thing that looks like a half moon metal attachment of sort for the wires to go on the end of the tube. Also it appears it has a 12KP4 CRT model 817 GE. If anyone has one or can point me to where to find it.

Thanks and look forward sharing my progress in starting this TV up..... hopefully I won't blow it up! Thanks and happy holidays. :banana:

I think I might be that friend that referred you here ;)

This is what the socket looks like on my GE 806. I bet your set used something similar.
Sorry, I don't have any spares. Can anyone help him out ?

Do you still need a schematic or were you able to use the Sams ?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2638/3723805963_b43e0cd166_z.jpg

Hey there Bandersen and yes you sure are..... :-)

I did get a set from sams and hopefully that well leed to wiring up the connector [if I ever get one]. I am hopping someone on here has one or knows where I can find it. I hate to buy a whole other set just for a couple parts.

By any chance you got any leads on the knobs? Or know where I can get a picture of the set in it's orginal form to find a set? I really lucked out getting a cord it came Monday and sure enough fit like a glove. It was a old GE cord. Found it totally by accident looking for the knobs.

Hope you had a good Christmas... Thanks again for all your help your the best!

The first thing to do with a TV this old, as anyone in this forum will tell you, is to recap it (meaning to replace the old wax and paper capacitors), or at very least replace the filter capacitors in the low-voltage power supply; failure to do this may and likely will severely damage or destroy the power transformer and/or other parts of the set if it is powered on with old and almost certainly defective filters. If you do not know what I am talking about, turn the set over to a pro and have them restore the set for you. There are very high voltages inside a television set, which can be lethal if you do not know what you are doing. The CRT (picture tube) in all televisions, for instance, has at least 16-18 kilovolts (thousands of volts) on what is called the second anode; the connector for this is on a red wire coming from a part of the TV called the high-voltage cage, located on the chassis. This cage contains the high-voltage rectifier and the flyback transformer; again, if you don't know what I'm referring to, keep your hands out of there. This cage is where the 16,000-18,000+ volts of high voltage for the picture tube is produced, and it can kill. I don't recommend you do this, but if you take the high-voltage connector off the picture tube for any reason (it will be connected to a small well on the right or left side of the bell of the tube), be sure to discharge the tube, and the connector itself, to ground. This will discharge any remaining high voltage on the tube and in the high-voltage cage (in the latter very high voltages are stored in what is known in very old TVs as a doorknob capacitor, so named because of its resemblance to, yup, you guessed it, a door knob); then and only then will the set be 100 percent safe to work on.

Do not try to work on this or any television with the set plugged in; this is an accident waiting to happen if you don't know what you are doing. All televisions made until about the late 1970s have interlocks on their back covers; these are not to be defeated or otherwise tampered with under any circumstances, unless you know exactly what you are doing. Decades ago there were such things as "cheater" cords available, to allow a serviceman to operate the TV with the back off, but these cords are very difficult to find these days since most sets made in the last 30-35 years have their AC cords wired directly into the set itself (this is known as "hard wiring" the cord into the television's works), and are not removable. These TVs are not to be worked on by anyone other than an experienced service person, as the same lethal high voltages I referred to above are in the new sets as well as the older ones. Besides, there are no user-serviceable parts in modern televisions, so it is pointless for anyone other than a qualified technician to take the back off almost any set made from the '80s to now, and beyond.

Now you got me scared good, as I already been fooling with it and cleaned it real good. Poking around and that kinda thing. But of course I didn't have it pluged in but understand about what you mean with the high voltage! Thanks for all your support and info everything helps.....

Have you seen this page at radiomuseum.org ?
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/general_el_817.html

I'm not a member, so I can't access a larger version or any other info :(

I wonder what "automatic sound" means ? Perhaps referring to the 4.5 MHz sound IF ? Earlier GE sets used a 21 MHz split sound IF.
http://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/general_electric_co/817_735778.jpg

Yes I saw and found that one too, it's close to the one I got. The bad thing is trying to blow up the picture to get a look at the knobs blurr's out on you.... Hey BTW I sent you a e-mail about something....

Now you got me scared good, as I already been fooling with it and cleaned it real good. Poking around and that kinda thing. But of course I didn't have it pluged in but understand about what you mean with the high voltage! Thanks for all your support and info everything helps.....

It's good to be respectful of the dangers of high voltage, but don't let it frighten you out of fixing the TV. There are a lot of good books on the subject of TV servicing and a lot of people on these forums that I'm sure would be happy to help you safely perform the necessary work. The important thing is to learn all you can on the subject before making repairs.

It's a great looking set. I look forward to following your progress.

Thanks and yes your right, I am more afraid I think of hurting the tv or making it worse then myself I think. But I do like a good challenge. It's also kind of fun looking for the parts. I am good at refinishing and wood work so the case should come out good.

I worked on a old radio once [floor model] now looking back hard to believe I was playing with a bomb and didn't know it. Once I took the thing apart and played with it for hours just poking around. I even got it to turn on and play a bit too.

My apologies. I did not intend to scare you with my remarks regarding high voltage, shock hazards and the like. It's just that your references to TV parts as "thingys", and to the picture tube socket as a "half-moon metal attachment of sort" in your original post, immediately sent up a red flag in my head -- that perhaps you were not too experienced with working on television sets.

Your concern that you might damage something in the TV is well and good, but I would be more concerned with personal safety, i. e. avoiding electric shock. Television sets can be repaired or replaced, but once a human life is lost (in this instance, due to a severe electric shock that can and often does stop the heart for good), it is lost forever.

The residual charge on a television picture tube can be lethal, even if the set is turned off and unplugged. This is why I mentioned discharging the tube (and the doorknob capacitor, if one is present, in the high-voltage cage) to ground before beginning any work on the TV, even replacing tubes. I mention replacing tubes because many older TVs have some tubes mounted extremely close to (or, in some cases, directly underneath) the picture tube (I've owned a few such sets). It is all too easy to accidentally contact the bell of the tube while replacing a smaller tube in the set, resulting in a shock.

One other tidbit of advice I'd like to pass along is to keep one hand in your pocket, if possible, when working on a TV, radio or, for that matter, any vintage or antique electronic device. This reduces the chance of an accidental shock going through your heart, whereas if you are working inside a set with both hands and get shocked, the current will go through your body (from one arm to the other) and could very easily (almost too easily) stop your heart in an instant.

I realize this post is off topic for this thread, but I simply wanted to point out some of the potential hazards of working on television sets, or for that matter any electronic device. Be careful. Death is permanent. One of the last things I want to see is a report here in VK of a member's death, caused by a severe high-voltage shock or anything else, while pursuing his TV restoration hobby.

No NO I am glad for your advice and very much appericate it and your right on all counts. It scared me in the way that how close a person can come to getting seriously hurt and not even know it. In fact once I did get a bad shock from a portable washer spin dryer that was in a friends house and the house was not grounded. I hand my hand in the water and when I touched the water tap on the sink it sent a volt through me and out my hip bone onto a metal rim on the sink it was near. Let me tell you next to the shake up it gave me it felt lioke someone took a sledge hammer to my hip bone, it hurt for weeks and felt like it was cooked from the inside out.

I well try to take all precautions I can with this tv and double check as I go... I am also bad with parts and names but do know what they are to a point I just don't know what they call some of them. I got a layout from sam's on this set but reading it means a couple years at school I think LOL!

By any chance you know where I can get a set of knobs?

Thanks and keep in touch...

yes beware of the hazards of the stored energy in the crt, ive got hit many times many years ago but got smart rather quick, discharge it for sure. even if the set is off for a few days that crt will still send you across the room with a nasty shock.

A good place to find that socket is an old picture tube brightener. I don't know, but I suspect they are pretty common on ebay. I could probably dig you out one of those from my stash, given a little time. That was the standard socket for a long time. Some are a complete circle, not half moon, and will work as well. Just beware of some newer types that are different sizes.

There should be somebody on here who has one of those sets or similiar, that can post a photo of the knobs. Many of us on here have a big pile of knobs, myself included.

Actually thanks to Bandersen I found one and it fit on e-bay, lucked out on that big time.... Thanks Bandersen.

Any one have a GE TV chassis 817, 805, 806, 807, 821 or a Bullet Train model. Have a question for you to help me here with this model 817.

Thanks guys

Based on the photo at Radiomuseum.com and the fact that the knobs are generally the same regardless of cabinet style for the chassis, I think these are the knobs that you are seeking.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NPsM07mDOa4/Sw26I4me3HI/AAAAAAAAAFI/hcZ-bJk8wXo/s1600/locomotiveTV3.jpg

It could help if you posted a closeup photo of the knobs that are on your set now.

Awww thanks Tim but that's not what I am needing help on now I found the knobs and lucked out and got a whole set. Do you have or own a chassis GE set?

I'm know I'm late to this party, but I have a GE 821.