CTC38 flyback needed
 

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I've been trying to locate one for a set of mine forever without luck. If you happen to find two, please keep me in mind on the second one. I'm still on the hunt and if I find something for you, I'll let you know. You wouldn't think this particular flyback would be hard to find; but, I guess it is. BTW, you are looking for RCA P/N 119834 or a Thordarson FLY312.

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Yep, Moyers is out. That's the first place I checked. The local parts house that's been around since the '50's was a no go. The owner did know what I was talking about when I said FLY312. "That's one of those RCA specials". But, knowing what it is and having it are two different things. I placed an ad in ARC and got the word out to some antique radio collectors that I deal with - no luck there, either! I even sent an email to Thordarson. I figured they might have one stuck back somewhere. They didn't even bother to respond! A long time ago, I did see a 119834 on epay; but, I was fresh out of cash at the time and someone bought it before I came into some money. Now, they'll probably show up on epay like crazy since I'm no longer a user. Like I said, I'm still looking and I'll remember you if I find something.

BTW, I've heard that the Thordarson is actually better than the original RCA transformer. I believe the original RCA's went up in smoke at a rather rapid rate!

Long term, I think this is going to be a problem in our hobby. Another reason to visit all your local tv repair shops and get a hand on those flybacks and other parts before they get tossed.

Don Patterson had a bunch of flybacks for sale over the summer; I answered an ad he had on the the ETF site. I bought one for my Admiral roundie. There was a time limit on his sale-I don't know if the unsold parts got thrown out or if someone still has them. I would suggest checking the classifieds on ETF and maybe placing a want ad. I think the Thordarson was the best; their 'improved replacements' at least looked better than OEM. That's what I bought.

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I wonder if a flyback designed for a CTC-31 other rectangular console type set would work? The horizontal output stages on all the RCA console color tube type sets even the round ones since the CTC-16 all seemed very similar.

Sadly, I don't think there's enough interest in vintage TV's for anyone who makes generic transformers to take an interest. If anyone made generic flybacks for vintage sets, I'd suspect it would be someone who caters to the vintage electronics community. Sometimes, it's difficult to locate a flyback for a fairly modern set and some of the cheap generics are not worth bothering with.

How hard would it be to rebuild the flyback?

Harder than it looks. You will have something like 25,000 volt pulses running about, and that is not forgiving...

Maybe you might get lucky and find the defect in a separate winding not under the very high voltage winding. But even then controlling the stray capacitences would be difficult, and horizontal circuits may be fussy about that.

If it went open on a winding, check to see if the break is right near the terminals. Sometimes left over flux and such will corrode right thru the wire.

Another question: How hard would it be to sub in a common flyback? I assume it would need to be a flyback for a similar sized CRT.

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This info may not be worth a crap but when I was in the CE service biz in the 90's (been out of it since '01) Acme in Topeka, KS (a big RCA parts distributor) prided themselves with having lots of old stock parts hanging around. I have no idea if they're even still in biz or how to get a hold of them.

And didn't Asti Magnetics- the big VCR head supplier- get into flybacks in the early '00's. Probably not old stuff but there were always helpful on the phone about the heads they sold- maybe they could answer a question about flys.
Brian

This info may not be worth a crap but when I was in the CE service biz in the 90's (been out of it since '01) Acme in Topeka, KS (a big RCA parts distributor) prided themselves with having lots of old stock parts hanging around. I have no idea if they're even still in biz or how to get a hold of them.

And didn't Asti Magnetics- the big VCR head supplier- get into flybacks in the early '00's. Probably not old stuff but there were always helpful on the phone about the heads they sold- maybe they could answer a question about flys.
Brian

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