After a complete recap, sans one bumblebee that I need a positive ID on
, the set got power last night for the first time, slowly on my homemade variac.
As the tubes lit up, I got a loud buzz from the speaker, and nothing exploded
, so after about 15 minutes, I slowly applied full power.
The buzz in the speaker decreased, and I got normal static on the sound, which was absolutely perfect. No raster, and I couldn't see those little HV tubes glowing (the cover was on, so I have to power it up again with the cover off, but I assumed I'd see some kind of light coming from there....but then again I can't remember seeing any tremendous glow on a 1B3).
With no raster, I still wanted to observe the set for a bit to see if anything else would shake out (like smoke or sparks, primarily...lol), and all seemed stable. I disconnected the variac, and plugged the set directly in to try once more before bed. The set powered up with the "BOOMP" noise that is common to some of these, but this time, to a bit different result. The static from the speaker was lower, and gradually turned into the same buzzing noise I heard on power up, meaning to me that the chassis was slowly losing voltage after the cold start. I pulled the plug, and that was where I stopped for the night.
First thing I have to do is ID and replace the bee. Next, I have to remove that cover and try a slow power up to see if I'm getting anything out of those little HV tubes. WILL I visibly see anything on those?
Thoughts as to where I should go next with the set? Oh, and what's a safe way of checking HV from the picture tube anode? I've heard of a screwdriver technique, but frankly that gives me the willies
