I'll be paying $100 to a close TV friend for his complete, and very clean Sencore CR70 tomorrow. I've been researching the CR70, and I know it's a pre 1987 model, because it has the number 8 roundie socket, and it also has the universal adapter. I watched several videos about the CR70, and I think it will probably take the place of my B&K 470, that is if I like it. Coming from a B&K background, I'm sure it will take some getting used to. Is there anything I should know before I start fooling with it?

It was a bit of a learning curve for me, but I had never used a CRT tester before. I recall that I forgot to set cutoff before testing emissions; no harm done, but an incorrect reading of course. I don't know what Manual Restore 2 does and I wouldn't try it right now. Apparently it's only explained in the user's manual and is only to be used if rejuvenation fails, so I reckon it's pretty powerful.

Pre-1987, are you sure? Mine came with the 1989 setup book and has the number 8 socket, not to mention the discs at the base of some of the knobs, which I have since removed because they obstructed my view of the numbers. I have an earlier parts unit as well, it powers up but it seems there's no current getting to the CRT. It came with an early edition of the setup book and no roundie socket.

Every rectangular delta tube I've tested uses socket 2 and the same settings. I'm pretty sure I've memorized them correctly.

To this day, I have not been in the presence of a CR70, so I don't really know what to expect. I have not even seen a picture of this one. The guy I'm getting from is very trustworthy, and I have no problem believing what he says about it is true. I'll add pictures tomorrow. I'll be at the SARS swap meet tomorrow, with pictures of that too.

No kidding? It does seem to be the gold standard among us. There is the CR7000 that has a lot more bells and whistles, but as James Doohan once said "The more they overthink the plumbing the easier it is to stop up the drain".

I've seen a friend's CR-70 revive a stone dead 16GP4 to weak, but usable...The CR-70 is on my to get list...

I got the CR70, (among lots of other things) and it's definitely not minty fresh like I thought. I did not get a manual, only a setup book. If somebody would send me a setup book, that would be fantabulous. I tested it on a 25XP22, and it does work, but it takes some getting used to.

I have a nice looking CR70 that I'd consider selling. To me they seem overly complex for the intended purpose, and if you ever look inside one you'll see why. From what I hear the Beltron does an equal if not better job on restore, and with a very minimal amount of circuitry.

I suppose it depends on one's preferred level of simplicity. Here's a photo of the inside of my parts unit.

This is as complex as I care to see. I wouldn't want to see inside a CR7000.

I have a nice looking CR70 that I'd consider selling. To me they seem overly complex for the intended purpose, and if you ever look inside one you'll see why. From what I hear the Beltron does an equal if not better job on restore, and with a very minimal amount of circuitry.

How much is it? I'm just about to use this one as a parts set. The instrument itself isn't too bad, but the plastic case is horribly beat up.

IMHO service gear is better to have in beat up, but working shape. I take my CRT tester to most swap meets and places where I anticipate finding vintage TVs...It gets beat to heck riding in the car and being dragged everywhere, and I'm glad it did not come to me prefect as I don't ever feel bad adding wear.

Perfect gear is like finding a good LP still in the shrink wrap...You end up torn on whether to enjoy it as it was meant to be or keep it perfect.

I cleaned the CR70 as much as I could, and it actually cleaned up well. I went to Lowe's to try to find plastic feet for the bottom, and nobody had any idea what I was talking about. I tested it out, and aside from the fact that you have to change the settings for each color, I like it a lot.

Lookin' good. How many feet are missing?
IMHO service gear is better to have in beat up, but working shape. I take my CRT tester to most swap meets and places where I anticipate finding vintage TVs...It gets beat to heck riding in the car and being dragged everywhere, and I'm glad it did not come to me prefect as I don't ever feel bad adding wear.

Perfect gear is like finding a good LP still in the shrink wrap...You end up torn on whether to enjoy it as it was meant to be or keep it perfect.
Amen to that. Better to use the heck out of them than turn them into shelf queens. As long as mine isn't rusty and doesn't have massive case damage it's fine by my standards. When mine got to me, the foam rubber holding the socket adapters had disintegrated completely and made a huge sticky mess. Once cleaned up it was fine.

Three feet are missing, and the fourth is not far behind. The foam in mine is definitely starting to fall apart. I wonder if you can buy that foam stuff anywhere?

I'm sure foam rubber is readily available, maybe you could just liberate some from a trash-bound couch cushion, it'll just have to be cut to shape. The foam from my parts unit is okay but I'll have to cut new stuff eventually.

It's kind of like what happened to a lot of 8-track tapes; most foam pressure pads rotted and fell apart whereas some are still as good as new. Those could be made of Polyurethane foam, that's what's in my chair anyway and it's getting along in years and holding up fine.

I've seen a friend's CR-70 revive a stone dead 16GP4 to weak, but usable...The CR-70 is on my to get list...

Seems like a little peer-pressure. :tears:
Reminds me of the Eddie Murphy routine about the ice cream cone.
" I have a CR70 and you don't". :D
I bought one a while back, because I was starting to feel inferior to the rest of the group here. :banana:

Seems like a little peer-pressure. :tears:
Reminds me of the Eddie Murphy routine about the ice cream cone.
" I have a CR70 and you don't". :D
I bought one a while back, because I was starting to feel inferior to the rest of the group here. :banana:

Now you need to get the Sencore CR7000 to keep up with some of us!

Actually I'm not a fan of the Sencore CR70 for testing color CRTs. For testing color tubes I prefer the testers that have separate meters for each gun as they give you a better indication of comparable warm-up speed, weak guns, maximum emissions readings, life test inconsistencies, etc. Therefore I'd rather test with a B&K 467 or 490, RCA WT-333A, Heathkit IT-5230, the REM, Beltron testers, etc. There is probably no quicker tester to use on old roundie color CRTs than the Beltron units.

And even though I do have the CR7000, I prefer to watch a metered display rather than the often undefinable rows of LEDs, so it rarely gets used.

.

Seems like a little peer-pressure. :tears:
Reminds me of the Eddie Murphy routine about the ice cream cone.
" I have a CR70 and you don't". :D
I bought one a while back, because I was starting to feel inferior to the rest of the group here. :banana:

The CR-70 has been on my list for a while (that demonstration I mentioned was...Hmm:scratch2:...6-7 years ago :yikes:). Was always too broke/cheap for one, and my B&K 466 has proved to be an accurate, comfortable and user friendly rig....Heck on all ,but CRTs with odd focus/G1/heater voltages, screw the set up manual, all you need is the right adapter and the knobs practically set themselves....If I had a monkey, a bunch of different testers, and a room full of CRTs that needed testing I'd give the monkey my B&K and tell him to have fun. :D

I just gave the CR70 a real life test by opening up a 2006 Durabrand TV that was dumped upon me, and unfortunately, the A34KPUO2XX was not in the book. I looked at the universal adapter, and saw some numbers that I think might correspond to the pins. I don't have a manual, and the abbreviated instructions don't address the universal adapter.

Now you need to get the Sencore CR7000 to keep up with some of us!

And even though I do have the CR7000, I prefer to watch a metered display rather than the often undefinable rows of LEDs, so it rarely gets used.

.

Is the CR7000 for sael?

I just gave the CR70 a real life test by opening up a 2006 Durabrand TV that was dumped upon me, and unfortunately, the A34KPUO2XX was not in the book. I looked at the universal adapter, and saw some numbers that I think might correspond to the pins. I don't have a manual, and the abbreviated instructions don't address the universal adapter.
That TV ought to be good for a satisfying pop when dropped from a considerable height.

Is the CR7000 for sael?
No, it's not. And if it was it would be more than $500.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=sencore%20cr7000&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

.

I think you'll do a-ok with the CR70. It may not have three gauges but it's not like speed matters anymore. :) Test enough delta tubes and and you'll only have to look at the book briefly if at all in most cases. I'd say your CR70 was a fairly decent bargain, many sellers really try to soak for them.

By the way, try an arts and crafts supply store for the foam.

Just found the CR70 manual online. Printed out all 55 pages, hole punched them, and put them into a 3 ring binder. Now I have some nice reading material for school.

I cleaned the CR70 as much as I could, and it actually cleaned up well. I went to Lowe's to try to find plastic feet for the bottom, and nobody had any idea what I was talking about. I tested it out, and aside from the fact that you have to change the settings for each color, I like it a lot.
Look in the closet or cabinet hardware area.
I bought, what they referred to as sliding closet door bumpers at a hardware store. They looked like rubber feet, but they were white. The screws, they included were wood screws. I used 6/32's.
BTW, my CR70 was missing a foot as well. I looked through my hardware and found one that was close in size. :thmbsp:

BTW, my CR70 was missing a foot as well. I looked through my hardware and found one that was close in size. :thmbsp:
Man, this is an epidemic! My good one was missing a foot and I think my parts unit was as well. Its case was in rough shape; bashed in on top, rusty hardware. I trashed it some time ago, keeping some parts for the good one.

Lots of feet on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=rubber+feet

not affiliated,
jr

I cleaned the CR70 as much as I could, and it actually cleaned up well. I went to Lowe's to try to find plastic feet for the bottom, and nobody had any idea what I was talking about.

Neither Lowe's nor Menards (the latter usually more likely) had "plastic feet".
No idea what they were.

But Menards had "furniture slides", a very large display. Amongst them
were plastic feet of all descriptions, also a large selection.

What Lowe's does have is a large selection of misc hardware stuff that
we need, especially for boatanchors. Cotter pins, standoffs, those clips that
hold shafts in place, nice 4x4 inch sheets of metal, etc. They are in the drawers
under the bolts and nuts, look in "automotive" drawers there too. (Edit: By "there" I mean
under the bolts and nuts. If you need odd hardware, try there first. Don't believe
the drawer labels, check everything at at least once to get an idea.)

I have one in the mail. A separate order of eleven unused sockets, the universal
clipon, and manual arrived yesterday. Most sockets look overly modern. There
are duplicates so I would be amenable to giving a couple away at the ETF
convention. The manual is not quite "Conceptual Framework of Quantum
Field Theory", which is my bedtime reading these days, but its the sort of thing
you really do have do study all the way through.

One thing bothers me about "rebuilding" color tubes: the filaments are all
in parallel, so if it overheats one it overheats all. I would have no reticence
trying it on my 15GP22's red gun alone, but I worry about hurting the two good guns.

One thing bothers me about "rebuilding" color tubes: the filaments are all
in parallel, so if it overheats one it overheats all. I would have no reticence
trying it on my 15GP22's red gun alone, but I worry about hurting the two good guns.
I don't know if this would help, but the green gun in my Electrohome had drifted slightly out of balance with the others so I gave it a gentle jolt and brought it back up to snuff. It's been a couple of days and it still looks good. The picture had a slight yellowish tinge when I first started it but that quickly vanished.

I got my CR-70 today. If it is working correctly, only one out all my non-electrostatic
guns is actually good: the blue gun of my 15GP22 tests perfect. Its green gun
is a bit lacking in cutoff but emission is fine. My 10BP4 and 12LP4 both test
bad in cutoff and the 12LP4 is also a bit poor in emission. The red gun of the
15GP22 is abysmal in cutoff but about 3/4 of the way to good in emission.
This proves that the tube is indeed bad bad bad.

I'm surprised that the 12LP4 sold to me by the ETF tests poor to bad.
I tested both 5BP4s I have that are not in a TV. I don't know
what the cutoff is supposed to be, so I estimated it at 8 volts from the
spec that the "visual" cutoff should be 1 to 3% of the G2 voltage
(set at 415 v) . This proved roughly correct for both tubes,
which both tested borderline emission, though the ratio was
what I expected from use in my TT-5.