Capehart 661-P
 

I know I said no more TVs in 2011, but who could resist this cute little Capehart?

http://antiqueradio.org/art/temp/Cap...-PUnloaded.jpg

Is there any service literature besides the schematic in Sams 95A?

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

That one looks like a Farnsworth table top set I've seen. I know they merged at one point to become Capehart-Farnsworth.
Very nice set!

Wow, that set really looks like an early one. It almost has a pre war style to it. The front panel controls almost look like the were randomly placed. We definitely want to follow the restoration of this one.

Very, very nice set! I would definitely make room for that.

Yah, maybe I should call it Capehart-Farnsworth, although it only says Capehart on the front. On the back serial plate, it says "The Capehart," and below that, "Mf'd by the Capehart division of Farnsworth TV & Radio, Fort Wayne, Indiana."

The ETF museum has one, and notes that the same chassis was used in a tabletop:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/farnsworth_661p.html

Won't be firing it up any time soon. A previous owner stripped out every tube, except the 10FP4 CRT, whose base is completely torn off. If the filament is intact, I'll try the trick of soldering new leads to the wire stubs and reattaching the base. I haven't looked at the design very closely. There's a little "horizontal AFC chassis" mounted one one side, above the main chassis.

Phil Nelson

Aw man, that thing is cute as a button! Surely someone with a collection as big as yours could find a nice corner to squeeze that into? It would be right at home in the living room...

Wow! That is a sweet little set :yes:
It's covered in Riders Vol 2. I'll try to take some better scans soon, but for now here are some quick pics.

http://www.bobandersen.com/images/sc...worth/651,661/

http://www.bobandersen.com/images/sc...1/661-01sm.jpg

Thanks! "Beam relaxer" -- I guess that's their quaint name for the flyback.

Note the little rotary switch on top of the power transformer. Adjustment for different line voltages? My National TV-7W has a toggle switch for two voltage ranges.

The CRT end looks ghastly, but I believe all of the wires have at least a little stub sticking out. Whether it's worth trying to fix is TBD.

Phil Nelson

http://antiqueradio.org/art/temp/Cap...-PRearView.jpg

Great find Phil. Goes to show they are still out there to be discovered. I think you will discover a "Farnsworth" labeled bezel underneath that Capehart front glass and mask. That is what I found on my Capehart 610P.

Phil,

Nice find.

I have the service manual sitting here, been waiting for a reason to scan it and post on the site. I'll try to have it on line tonight.

The 610P, 651P and 661P are all the same chassis.


Chuck

Ah, looking forward to another captivating restoration saga by Phil.:yes: Appears someone "parked" the CRT base and socket on top a 5U4 spot.:saywhat:
Bill(oc)

So cute you wanna just pick it up 'n' hug it...(grin) Needless to say, Me Likey !

[QUOTE=Phil Nelson;3004619]I know I said no more TVs in 2011, but who could resist this cute little Capehart?

I've been thinking, Phil. You really should be true to your word and give the set to me. :D

Big honkin' iron in the power trannys look like they might be 25 cycle. Danged if it doesn't have a self-oscillating 6L6 for horizontal sweep and HV. Seems Muntz later adapted this idea this for minimum parts count designs.

If you have one of those fancy CRT testers with the clip on leads it could find a good use on that CRT. Might save you some work if it's gonzo.

Good idea. I do have a Sencore CR70 with universal adapter. It may be possible to test the CRT by clipping to the wire stubs.

Phil Nelson

I like that set A LOT!!!!!!!!!!! And I've never seen a stand-alone console 10" TV branded Capehart; only seen those in the Farnsworth brand. The Capehart name was on the big 7-foot-tall 500 series console with 10" TV, phono & hi-fi radio, but that was a different chassis altogether. That actually looks like a DuMont type cabinet, but definitely a Farnsworth chassis. I'm not sure when Capehart started making their own TV chassis, or if they were always part of Farnsworth? I know that I've seen Farnsworth radios which are not even vaguely related to the Caphehart hi-fi sets of the same years in the late 30s and early postwar; such as the 24-tube and 28-tube 400 series with the flip-over changer.

Charles

Some quick pics. The horizontal AFC subchassis stands above the main chassis:

http://antiqueradio.org/art/Capehart...assisRight.jpg

The not-well-shielded tuner is at lower right in this view:

http://antiqueradio.org/art/Capehart...hassisLeft.jpg

Underneath, I see a handful of replaced caps. The original small caps are the flat molded-paper type. At lower left, someone replaced a resistor between the horizontal sync and horizontal centering controls with a pair of resistors that look burned. At lower right is the HV doubler. Everything on the doubler board (resistor chains, etc.) has been painted with black insulation that looks original.

http://antiqueradio.org/art/Capehart...sUnderside.jpg

The tuner uses ganged air variable capacitors (!), similar to the General Instruments tuner in the unknown TV in my Scott 800B combo. Pilot TV-37s use a simpler tuner of that sort.

http://antiqueradio.org/art/Capehart661-PTuner.jpg

Uh-oh. One of the CRT leads snapped right at glass level. Maybe I can grind away enough glass to solder on a new lead.

http://antiqueradio.org/art/Capehart661-PCRTBase.jpg

Time to gather up replacement parts. The missing tubes are common types. I should have most of them on hand.

Phil Nelson

Phil, can you verify that that snapped-off wire is actually connected to an internal element? Vague chance it might be a 'dummy' lead or duplicated by a second lead coming off the same element? oc

After removing the ion trap magnet, I can see that the CRT is a 10BP4. I believe the snapped lead is on pin 10, connecting to the 2nd grid. It connects to that middle ring, anyhow. I have other 10BP4s in the house, so if this one's not salvageable, I can borrow one to get through this restoration.

Phil Nelson

http://antiqueradio.org/art/Capehart...BrokenLead.jpg

Yeah, I said something similar, but then the CT-100 came along.

I don't think there are too many floor-standing 10-inch TV-only sets. The several Admirals (30A15 and others) are the only ones that come to mind. That was a great find, Phil!

Yee-hah! The CRT tests strong when I hold a connection to that broken lead. Definitely worth trying to salvage.

Phil Nelson

http://antiqueradio.org/art/Capehart661-PCRTTest.jpg

Always good to hear.

Personally, I'd be hesitant to grind down very much of the glass, because you're working with a glass to metal bond... and glass that is under a lot of pressure to boot.

I wonder if one could rig up a spring-loaded needle in the CRT base that applies light pressure to make contact with that lead (much like you did by hand with the tester)

Good luck with salvaging that CRT. I'd be very nervous if I had to grind away at the glass to get that broken leg a bit longer..... Nice set by the way looking foward to your restoration adventures on it! :yes:...Cheers

I know I have read about someone (Eric H?) who at least thought of filing or grinding out enough glass to expose a broken lead. Whether he actually tried it, much less succeeded, I don't recall offhand.

Wish I was better friends with my dentist. Bet she could do it in no time, and she's got the gear: water-cooled instruments, super magnifying goggles, etc.

Phil Nelson

Phil, is that lead busted off absolutely flush with the glass? If there were as much as 1/64" of a stub sticking out, it should be possible to solder to it. I would take a single strand from a lamp cord and bend it double, then hook the U-bend over the stub and solder it.. after first cleaning the stub thoroughly so it'll take solder readily. The resultant lead would consist of two strands of lamp cord wire - easily manipulable without straining the connection. oc

If the current draw on that pin is really low in normal use, you might get away with some form of conductive paint or epoxy.

Or solder a thin lead to the flush broken off lead area, and epoxy over it to keep it from breaking off.

I'd do it while you have the CRT set up on that test setup, to be sure you really did connect.

There really isn't a stub at all. If anything, the wire end may be slightly recessed in the glass. It's hard to see, much less reach.

http://antiqueradio.org/art/Capehart661-PCRTStub.jpg

I tried soldering single copper strands to the existing leads, just to see how hard it will be to attach guide wires. I scraped the old leads shiny and tried to tin them beforehand, but had a heck of a time getting solder to stick at all.

Is there something else I can do to improve adhesion? If not, I see no chance that I could solder a strand to that stub. Maybe cleaning the stub shiny and fastening a lead with epoxy is the best I can do.

I'll need to redo the test strands, in any case. They're only about an inch long. I realized too late that it'll be easier if they're several inches long, so you can bend and insert each guide wire separately, rather than try to line them up and insert all at once.

Phil Nelson

I believe you were thinking of my messed up 7JP4. I used a needle file to carefully expose enough of a lead to accept solder. Not something I'd want to do everyday, but it did work :)

That must be it. Looks like that tube had a raised glass dimple around each wire, which you could file away. On this one, I'd need to dig a little crater around the wire.

Phil Nelson

Phil, based on some of your other work, I bet you can do this. Good luck!

Phil, you'll probably have to use some Acid Flux on those stubs to get them to stick.
The stuff that's used for Plumbing should work.
If they are Copper then some Rustoleum should brighten them up enough to solder to.

Hey Phil
I know it's a shot in the dark, but just to eliminate the possibility, have you taken an ohmeter to see if by any chance one of the 'dummy' leads might be connected to that same element? oc

I checked, and no other lead connects to this one. Some of the unused leads are connected to the first ring (G1?). Too bad they didn't tear out that pin's wire, instead -- I'd have it fixed already.

I have some soldering flux that I can try on that stub, although I'm not optimistic. There's no practical way to heat both pieces with a soldering iron when one is in a hole. I have a mini torch, but using too much heat on that glass seems like a Very Bad Idea.

I wonder if someone yanked this cap off by force. When I went to clean off the old cement, I saw that a piece of glass came off with the cement.

Phil Nelson

http://antiqueradio.org/art/Capehart...BaseCement.jpg

Thanks, Chuck! Excellent scan. Here's the link for anyone else who's curious about these models.

http://www.myvintagetv.com/Apple%20P...e%20Manual.pdf

Phil Nelson

Just musin', but if the lead is busted off signifigantly below the surface, it seems like it might be possible to devise a "cats-whisker and spring" whereby the contact would come under compression when the base is pushed into place and secured. oc

Is there an echo in here? :D

WOOPs.:o Missed your earlier statement there, Vint. If I was gonna do the needle/cats whisker trick, i would drill a hole in the side of the base, located so as to visually guide the needle to its target.

Seems like such a spring-loaded contact would be better than an adhesive connection using conductive paint or the like. The latter would likely be prone to losing contact due to unequal expansion with the glass. oc

I've used silver solder with some success. Just a drop and a quick touch of the iron might be enough to get the solder to liquify and sink down and make contact with the lead. If you haven't used silver solder before it comes in a syringe and is the consitincy of paste. The silver is suspended in the paste (flux). I got mine online I'll look for the source if you want to try it.

Rats. All was good when I took this photo, but the joint broke loose when I pushed the cap farther on. Using flux on the wires did make soldering easier.

I have a little roll of silver solder from another project. Couldn't hurt to try that. I've been told it makes strong joints.

A spring-loaded needle contact seems like it should work, but I'm not sure I have the tools (or the eyesight) to engineer it.

It just occurred to me that I could cut away a section of the cap to expose that joint. After everything else is in place and soldered, I could sneak the tip of the soldering iron through the gap to make the last connection at the stub. That would avoid stressing the joint when I slide on the cap. If the electrical contact is sound, I could reinforce the joint with a dab of epoxy and then glue the cap section back on.

That's all for now. Goin' on a road trip with my sons until the weekend.

Phil Nelson

http://antiqueradio.org/art/Capehart...RTFirstTry.jpg