I was out with my sons today, doing some thrift store running (I had to find a few metal folding chairs), and we decided to stop by the Buffalo ReUse center, one of those places run by Habitat for Humanity. My eye was caught immediately by the back of a Zenith tube set sulking by the bay door. Looked at the front, and son of a gun....a Space Command 300!

I went inside up to the desk, and said "hi, you've got an old Zenith TV sitting by the loading dock?" He said, "God bless you, haul it away if you want it'. Sounded like they didn't want it but had no idea how to get rid of it or what to do with it.

So I did! It just fit in the trunk of my Cadillac DTS. It appears that it sat somewhere that wasn't good for it, as the top is warped up on the corners....but there are no water spots on it. Turned on my agile modulator in the house, and powered it up on a variac in my garage. Sonofabitch, it works!

:yippy:

Even the motor for the tuner works too! Time to clean it up and bring it in the house, where I'll treat it to a cleaning, some fresh caps, and then I can watch me some tee vee :D

http://videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=180460&d=1381603513

Some days are diamonds, some days are stones. Congrats, today was diamonds for ya!

Some people have all the luck! Good on you!

Score One for the Good Guys !

Got it in the basement, and it's hooked up. It's gonna need some work.....a spring of some kind popped off the tuner when I went to change channels, and the motor seems to freewheel....I can't get the motor to stop unless I change the channel manually from the back. LOUD hum in the audio on channel, and the height, while perfectly linear, isn't adequate.

Minor issues that a recap and a run through of the tubes will more than likely fix. At least I have plenty to work with here. Picture is so bright it'll hurt your eyes :)

Congrats on your find keep us posted with some photos I have 2 from 1959 console needs work portable does not there were 2 remotes for that set on the bay excellent save...Timothy

Nice catch ! 14N22 chassis ???
Motor is rocker switch on rear where the stop/skip tabs are. (usually)
Gets dirty & sticks.

73 Zeno

Bitchin' score! I got pretty lucky at the thrift store today too. Nothing on my wish list, but a good day there nonetheless.

I couldn't remember for the life of me what was wrong with this set, so I powered it up again. Keystoned raster that won't fill out. Are we looking at another yoke replacement like the last Zenith 23" black and white I just got done with?

Trying to decide if this is a parts set, or if I should give it the works.

Sure is nice looking. Think about repairing it.

It doesn't look keystoned from here, just short on height.

Wrong word. Pincushioned, I should say.

Have you tried adjusting the vertical height control, replacing the vertical oscillator-output tube, or both? I'd try one or the other before even thinking of replacing the yoke.

Oh yeah, tried all of that. My inclination here is to just yank the chassis and start with a full recap as I usually do (tubes were tested and the controls tweaked). To be honest, I think I was kind of looking for an excuse to part the set out because space is getting a little tight down here.

But, out of the 21 sets that I own, 13 are fully restored and functioning, and 4 more are in progress. I'd only call one a parts set, a locomotive, and even that's probably restorable eventually. And it's gonna be a LONG winter. Might as well order up some more caps to replenish my stock and get to work.

Part out a Zenith in such good shape? No way man! :)

The cabinet's been exposed to the elements at some point and the top is bowed and lifting at the edges. It's not as pretty in person. Restorable, yes.

besides the obvious (tubes in vert) you should look at the hi meg resistors in the vert circuit, high meg that feed boost voltage. Pin cushion does not look that bad from the pic maybe worse in person. Prob has a 6KT8 tube in the pincushion correction.

if the vert is not jumping around then I would suspect the cathode bypass electro cap (assuming it uses one), maybe the screen decoupling cap on the vert out (screen voltages help here). The film caps used in that era rarely give problems. It prob has a couple of those white ceramic tube caps that are 1600v those i change simply due to the fact that I can't effectively check them.
I think there are two, one in the boost and one in the vert out but not sure of that.

The cabinet's been exposed to the elements at some point and the top is bowed and lifting at the edges. It's not as pretty in person. Restorable, yes.

The picture shows a blue raster, but it's a B/W set, isn't it?
Zeno mentioned a 14N22 chassis.
I swear, those things were built to last forever. :thmbsp:

Yep, it's just my camera :)

Chassis is an 14M23Z

Oh I see, B&W set. Your call.

oh BW I was thinking color as well.

Some days are diamonds, some days are stones. Congrats, today was diamonds for ya!Yes congrats!!!!!!

Quite nice for sure!!

Kamakiri,

On your first picture at:

http://videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=180460&d=1381603513

On top of your very nice new Zenith, there is an autotransformer of an older and unusual design. What manufacturer is it?

James.

That's my variac, an Adjust-A-Volt model LR-5 :)

It's only a 5 amp, making it sort of marginal for TV use I'm told, but it was free, and works nicely....

You sure are lucky. Most of the time you run into a moron who thinks he is the guru of management and says it has to go into the dumpster and is not for sale at any price.

You sure are lucky. Most of the time you run into a moron who thinks he is the guru of management and says it has to go into the dumpster and is not for sale at any price.

Yeah....Doncha just LOVE those Jack@zzes ?!?

The cabinet's been exposed to the elephants at some point...

Oh my... :para: