Hey guys, I cant find my SAMS photofact for the ctc-16AB chassis, I was wondering if anyone had the part number for the thermistor in the de-gauss circuit? thanks, Bruce

Hello Bruce,
R214 120ohm cold. Workman part no. FR191. Irc part no. not listed.
If you need the Sams scanned let me know. Best regards, Paul

Thanks Paul

What condition is the big black varistor in? It would always cook when the thermistor went open. The thermistor going open was a chronic, endemic problem with RCA's early auto-degauss sets.

Back in the day there was a way of mitigating it somewhat when mounting the new thermistor. Mount it so the leads are under tension pushing inward against the disc. This made the thermistor less prone to falling apart with repeated heating/cooling cycles.
(Or maybe nowadays thermistors are made better.)

Thanks for the input oldcoot, I don't know if any damage came to the varistor so I ordered both. I was looking at it being the possibility of my losing the b+ and it just came apart, like they usually do if you mess with them. I remember coming across alot of them being broken off at the joint so I wasn't really surprised that I broke it that easily.

If the thermistor didn't come apart until you messed with it, and the set wasn't turned on, the varistor was probably spared damage. Always good to change both, though.

Fixed the problem after replacing the thermistor and varistor. The short was caused by the vertical output transformer. This is the third ctc-16 in 3 years that has had this issue, now my question is, if they last 50 years or thereabouts, I guess I wont have a problem with them. Assuming its a heat issue, how important is the shield around the transformer that also encases the 6BK4? Can I safely run it without that thing? or is there an electron bombardment that necessitates the shield, thanks ,just looking for some input. Bruce

The 6BK4 and HV rect. emit X-rays so if you remove their cage there may be "unsafe" levels of X-rays coming from your set. If you are worried about heat in the HV cage I'd recommend drilling some holes in it to improve ventilation, and maybe attaching a computer fan to one of the sets of vent holes to improve air flow.