I am the new owner of this set and know NOTHING about it. It was in a shed that was falling down in the weather for 15-20 years! All the stickers outside have fallen off. Only steel data plates remain outside however some of the stickers inside are still intact. The chassis, cabinet, everything is rusted. Just for the hell of it and I know it was'nt smart but we plugged it in. On 2 surge protectors and a small breaker. The sum B$#@! fired right up with a BEAUTIFUL picture! But that was a one time occurance. Turned it on later and it had no color. Next time, Had color but VERY dark picture. I'm in the process of breaking it down for a full cleaning. The CRT is toshiba and alot of sticker labeled "Made in Japan" with numbers on them. But most have fallen off and were sitting on the chassis. It has both screw on terminals for UHF and VHF and a CATV coax connector. When I can figure out how to get the pictures off my camera onto the HDD, I'll post them. My current system does not have an xD card reader. If any of ya'll know anything about this i'd appreciate it.

Amazing how much abuse a TV will take, and still work! I've had some really nasty stuff come to life. I'm gonna guess your set was badged either a Toshiba or a Sears. The Japanese color sets from that era are well worth saving. I keep kicking myself for walking away from a Sharp from that time period.

Got it tore down. Now I need quite abit of naval jelly after tons of sanding. I'm wondering what or how would be a good method of cleaning all the PC-boards and etc? Dose them in contact cleaner? The set has no badging really. Just them 3 letters. Strange. No other names in it except toshiba. If anyone has a safe method to clean all the componets please post it. I'm looking for any ideas.

I've been trying to resist, but I have to say those three letters are ironic.

Lol, are'nt they? I really wish I had a CRT tester......I hope the tube has'nt gone bad.

If you were in the midwest I'd let you borrow my tester. I'll bet there is someone in Tx that will let you borrow theirs.

For really dirty stuff like that, I do the following

1. vacuum inside and out with the brush attachment... do it again... then loosen dust, dirt, cobwebs with an old toothbrush and vacuum at the same time... idea is getting off as much as possible which is going to smear when it gets wet.

2. citrus based cleaner from spray bottle, and scrub with old toothbrush... wipe up residue with paper towel and q-tips

For most stuff, step 1 gets me as far as I need to go.

OH and I'm sure everyone knows this... but don't clean tubes with water... just wipe them as well as you can with a slightly damp cloth. The labels on most tubes wash off very very easily.

What I've done and this is pretty exculsive already without going farther than what I already have.

Broke the cabinet down without poping rivets, sanded and removed as much rust as possible, re-painted while keeping that old look. Flat black enamel works great btw.

Next, took chassis apart also and removed all rust from it. Without going overbored and doing what I can.

Then took masking and all plastics through a citus all purpose grease eating cleaner.

Given this is a off brand and SS state set, I'm not going crazy with it but am putting some serious work into it. Should come out pretty nice when I'm done. Where is Bandersen (sp?) to help me with some of the cleaning such as the knobs have something green that will not come off or on the faceplate there is something that also wont come off. When I can get the pics up you all will see.

Now I'm waiting on getting some contact cleaner for the tuner assembly. Wondering how to clean all the old grease out of the gears and put fresh in....

Think I found my picture problem... I have a HV leak right out of the transformer. This set is EXTREAMLY service friendly. Chassis slides right out, Everything is plug in. I had the whole set broke down in 3 hours if that. I think If I can get some claulking that will seal the HV for now until a replacement wire is available. Still trying to get pictures up. Still have some small things like grounding everything to the cabinet and re-soldering the VHF twin-leads to the screw terminals and fixing the HV problem.

When I can figure out how to get the pictures off my camera onto the HDD, I'll post them. My current system does not have an xD card reader. If any of ya'll know anything about this i'd appreciate it.

Don't you have a mini-USB to standard USB cord? That's what most cameras use, except a few that require micro-USB (2nd left and far left) Any OS from XP onwards will then recognize the camera by name or as a memory stick, and show the camera's pictures in Windows Explorer.

Save to photobucket or other HTTP storage site, then use an IMG link to paste picture, as I did below.

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg299/BustedSony/USB_types_2.jpg

Lol, I was reffering to knowing anything about the set. I don't have the camera cable and also don't have a card reader. Although from that picture, It looks as if the one on the far left is the one I need. Thanks for trying to help though.

Lol, I was reffering to knowing anything about the set. I don't have the camera cable and also don't have a card reader. Although from that picture, It looks as if the one on the far left is the one I need. Thanks for trying to help though.

Camera shops, Futureshop, etc. will have the cable. And a USB card reader is really cheap also. We want to see the pictures.. :-)

Powered it up, Picture is still dark, everything is fuzzy, all the colors are either way to strong or weak or even wrong. When I look at it through the camera it looks somewhat decent. CRT failure afterall maybe? Anyone in Houston have a rejuvenater? (lol). When I turn the brightness even half way down the tube is totaly dark with the contrast wide open.
I just don't get it when it was first turned on in 20 years it had a great picture...

It sounds like you're losing your luma signal, does turning the color up or down affect the brightness of the picture? I'd check the video circuit closely If I were you.

If i turn the color control all the way down, it goes into b/w with very little if any noticeable color and no change in brightness. I wish I knew who built or designed the set to find a schematic for the video circuit.

If i turn the color control all the way down, it goes into b/w with very little if any noticeable color and no change in brightness. I wish I knew who built or designed the set to find a schematic for the video circuit.

That's why we want the pictures.

Check the controls on the back of the flyback. Focus and screen. I never heard of that make. Maybe TMK or XAM. LOL.

The CRT is not failing that I can tell without a tester. After adjusting everything I could think of and getting nothing I adjusted the red color and I accedently touched a wire and instant color and brightness. I thought maybe it was a ground issue and nope. Just got spark and a blank screen until I pulled it. When I let it go, right back to bad color and real dark. The more people who have the couarage to touch me while I'm touching this wire the brighter it gets. Never seen this before. I can even feel a little tingle when someone touches.

This isn't it but it is really close. Not the same "brand" .

http://videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=171219&d=1312582393

If anyone has a schematic so I can trace this down I would really appreciate it.

Edit: Turned it back on to try it again, It bites now. could'nt get any kind of voltage reading on it either. But if I place a test lead on it and the other end on something metal it kind of brightens. Bad cap perhaps? When it would come up when I touched it, The color and brightness was great. Just needed adjusting.

Heres the pictures. Whole album.

http://s413.photobucket.com/albums/pp212/01silverado_2008/1968%20Television/

I'm still working on it and taking pictures, She ain't done yet. It uploaded in reverse order, Begining is at the end.

Yes, this is a Toshiba. The chassis looks like a literal snapshot of my 1976 Toshiba/XAM...which is a superb set.

Your photos show loss of luminance which could be a lot of things in a set of its condition. Amazing it still functions partially. I'd at least clean out those modular connections; & reflowing the solder on them. mine's newer and cleaner and it needed this done, as well as some lytics.

Modular connections? I have never seen a set like this one where it is all litteraly plug and play. If I touch that red wire next to the blue control then everything is fine. When I was touching it, It ran superb but couldnt take a pic because I was creating the "ground" for the CRT to function. What lytics should I replace? I also noticed on the underside of the PCB there was some brown crust on the edge of the solder contacts. Could that be causeing this?


Thought the wrong color. It is the blue control. Not red.

Yes, modular. Those stand-up boards mount into the bottom, mainboard. The protective cover on top needs to come off. I scrubbed them after reflowing and replacing parts, then 'defluxed' with special CRC non residue cleaner. Yes, the crustiness areas need attention.

Also, the set you linked to isn't as similar to yours, my 13" one is. There are pics here someplace.

To be clear, the actual year of your set will be somewhere around 1976 or so. This is way too modern for '68. It probably has a notice which references a law that passed in '68 which governed all sets that came after; that throws people off sometimes. I suspect this was a store brand.

I've uploaded a video and two comparison pictures when I hold that wire and when I don't the difference.

Edit:'76? Thats It? Wow. Not what I was expecting. It was a trash rescue and looked like Hell when I got it. Still does to me. Has a picture problem I cant figure out, Electrically burned me number of times today, and is a 70's model. I already have a '79 Zenith with picture problems, One side is dark, other bright and letters have shaddows. I hope it is just one cap that will fix that one.

Does anyone know what I can try to fix this set?

Zenith2134, Do you know where I can get replacement knobs for this or what model or even brand this one I have is? I'm missing the power/volume knob and one of the fine tuning. Also, are the tuning knobs supposed to stick out some from the face? Mines does some. What kind of cleaner did you use on yours exactly? I've already cleaned most if not all the contacts but doesn't hurt to try something else.
Thanks.

My tuner shafts don't protrude fom the front plate at all. Theyre recessed and the knobs have a hollow post.

I'm not sure but I may have some smaller knobs (color, bright, etc) from a Sanyo metal case 1983 that might just work.

And yes, I don't think this could be from '68 and not have a tube hv rectifier.

The chassis in this TV is made by the General Corporation of Japan (later on they became Fujitsu-General). They sold TV's here in Australia under the General brand with a near identical chassis. This set was made around the 1976-78 period as the earlier chassis from 1975 was a delta gun CRT set.

From the description of the problems, I'd do what several people has said to do already and clean the module connectors. They will be dirty and corroded just like the chassis metal was and it is amazing it is working at all considering how rusty it was. Don't go worrying about what parts MIGHT be faulty until all the electrical connections have been cleaned.

I have all the fine adjustment knobs. Still can't figure out the picture brightness issue. This thing is a headache now. It is'nt even fun anymore.

Edit: I pulled the boards and cleaned the contacts, problem still there. It is amazing it still worked with the condition it was in. Doing what I can to clean it up though. I didn't think I would get it as clean as it is now siting on the bench. Once I get the picture solved she'll be done with the exception of the knobs and face. Should make for a nice shop television. It isn't to special to me. Just a mid 70's Japanese set. But I still had fun with it. Someone here might like it. I have a '79 Zenith I like which is why I'm not to crazy about the set I'm currently restoring. Like having two identical cars that are the same. Kind of pointless. Not to mention I don't like the steel cabinet. Just good for being solid but electrical hazard.

Got it finished. Found the brightness problem. It was a bad solder joint. Now shes nice and clean. (Internally). Still working on the face. Next is my '79 Zenith. I just hope it has as good a picture as this Japanese set does.

So it only had Toshiba CRT, tuner, and snap in modules..mine said 'TV-2' on the boards.

Either way, these are great IMO. Glad you got yours sorted out!

So it only had Toshiba CRT, tuner, and snap in modules..mine said 'TV-2' on the boards.

Either way, these are great IMO. Glad you got yours sorted out!

Mine's might have that on the boards, I just have'nt looked at them that hard.
This set is deffinetly living proof of what the quality of electronics used to be. Outside in the direct weather for almost 20 years give or take, Worked when first powered up coming right out of the weather into the house and with a restoration has a beautiful piture and works like new! I don't like or want mid-'70s stuff especially Japanese but I will deffinetly make an exception for this set. I was on the fence about taking and restoring it but performing like it did, I almost felt obligated, Lol.

Now all I need is the volume/on-off knob and one of the fine tuning knobs and a way to clean the corrosion off them without taking the brown off and she'll be looking pretty good.

The pictures I took during the restoration don't really show how bad it was... Later today when I can, I'll upload some pictures on what it looks like now and the brilliant picture she's giving off. Really wish I had a CRT tester and check this one. Shows no signs of dying though. But would still like to check it. One thing I'm wondering is, If I dont get the color, contrast, and brightness just right I get color bleeding. I can have it as bright as I want aslong as all three are adjusted together. I even had it so bright the screen was almost white on a black scene. This thing is kickass :thmbsp: