Maggie Home Entertainment Center - Page 4 - Videokarma.org TV - Video

holmesuser01 · #46 05-15-2010, 06:04 PM

I backed the H-K short CRT up to the back of the set and moved the yolk and extended the HV connection and grounded the strap back to the chassis. Fired up the chassis. The neck of the tube glows bright blue. Not that violet white when it has gone to air, but bright blue. The filament connection is being supplied by my little transformer. The pic on the screen is very smeary and dark. Its running now. Its been on for a couple of hours now, and nothing is changing on the screen. Its running on a 1A fuse, in case something might happen.

More good news! Another tube has been located in Tx. He tested it on his tester and it shows good. He's hunting down a box for shipping, but as far as I am concerned, the deal is done.

So, for this afternoon, the set is running. I've got my animals locked out of the room... I'd hate to have to deal with fried kitties in the TV!! I'm dimly watching Sunset Blvd starring the incredible Gloria Swanson from a VHS tape.

The tuner has new tubes in it. Both of the originals get really touchy after they have been on for an hour or so... I can touch the tube itself and it will clear up. The replacement tubes are not doing this at all, and the picture is slightly better, but is still smeary. With the original tube hooked up, it's not smeary at all.

The blue neck continues. I've seen this in the past, but often the blueness would fade away, mostly. I'm letting it run anyway.

wa2ise · #47 05-16-2010, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by holmesuser01

The pic on the screen is very smeary and dark. Its running now.

A problem with an isolation transformer used as a work-around for a H-K short is that the transformer looks like a fair amount of stray capacitance to ground or even to the powerline. This will load the higher frequencies of the video being fed to the cathode, and result in smear. Maybe some choke coils in the heater lines at the CRT socket might help some.

holmesuser01 · #48 05-17-2010, 02:21 PM

I let the CRT run for several hours Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. No changes, other than the vertical height changing for the better after a few hours playing. Hooked up the OEM tube, and while very dark, the picture was sharp and clear. Ran Gone With The Wind on it on Sunday. The burning of Atlanta never looked so dark! I'm not doing anymore until I get another tube in my hands.

DaveWM · #49 05-17-2010, 02:53 PM

did you try different settings on the magic eye term strip? I think if you just unplug you get the brightest setting. When its is enabled then a dark room just makes it darker, try the flash light on it to see if it gets brighter.

holmesuser01 · #50 05-17-2010, 06:16 PM

It makes a slight difference when plugged in. It's unplugged.

Even the OEM tube looked brighter before I applied 7 volts to it. It's intermittant now. brightens up and goes dim, brightens, dims...

I'll wait to do more when I get the replacement kine in hand.

I look forward to this set playing.

Tubejunke · #51 05-18-2010, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by holmesuser01

The tuner has new tubes in it. Both of the originals get really touchy after they have been on for an hour or so... I can touch the tube itself and it will clear up. The replacement tubes are not doing this at all, and the picture is slightly better, but is still smeary.

The original tubes likely have dirty pins. As the heat expands the metal socket connections they become intermittent and touching them makes them act up. I always take an old pocket knife and scrape the often invisible film from all tube pins, then I spray the socket with cleaner and repeatedly insert the tube for a scrubbing action.

Also, that blue glow that you mention in the CRT neck may be a bit of gas, but that doesen't necessarily mean that the tube is bad.

holmesuser01 · #52 05-18-2010, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tubejunke

The original tubes likely have dirty pins. As the heat expands the metal socket connections they become intermittent and touching them makes them act up. I always take an old pocket knife and scrape the often invisible film from all tube pins, then I spray the socket with cleaner and repeatedly insert the tube for a scrubbing action.

Also, that blue glow that you mention in the CRT neck may be a bit of gas, but that doesen't necessarily mean that the tube is bad.

I know what you're saying about the tuner tubes. When I got the set, I wasn't planning to actually TAKE the set... just rob the tubes and speakers. I went so far as to pull all the tubes, including the 1B3.

Then, it hit me. I wasn't going to let that happen. Went back and collected the set. The original owners son was happy. He didnt want to see it die that way. I cleaned all the tube pins before I reinstalled them.

The set sat on my covered porch for a month until I could make space in the house. It's facing the wall these days.

The Micromatic turntable will be the subject of another topic elsewhere as soon as I can get my camera back in my hands.

The pic shown is on the porch, the day after I aquired the set. It was 32 degrees and windy with all that sunshine. OEM kine being tested at 7 volts when it heater decided that it had enough.

DaveWM · #53 05-19-2010, 07:14 AM

one last check, did you check the voltage on the CRT pins? just wondering if the tube could be cut off. Also do you have a HV meter (dont recall if this has already been covered).

holmesuser01 · #54 05-19-2010, 04:23 PM

The HV is about 14KV. I have a meter. Checked CRT when I started out. There were no abnormal readings.

The set was run into the ground by the original owner, according to his son. For several years, the old man watched TV with the curtains closed in the living room until the kids bought him a new set back around 1989. Then it sat there waiting for me to come across the street and grab it!

I've got it moved out of the way for now. Just a-waitin' for the kine to come along...

DaveWM · #55 06-03-2010, 08:15 PM

did you see that freebee I noted here

http://asheville.craigslist.org/zip/1773173627.html

Free and may have the right CRT

DaveWM · #56 06-07-2010, 07:57 AM

did you get that CRT in (from ARF guy) and did you ever pickup that emerson that was close?

holmesuser01 · #57 06-07-2010, 09:01 AM

AFAIK, The Emerson is still there. The ad is still up, too.

I bought the tube from Larry in Texas. I went to the Greyhound terminal yesterday and picked it up. He did an outstanding job packing it. I bet it could have survived a good toss... but I'm glad it didnt.

If I get lucky, I will get time this evening to do some work on the Maggie.

holmesuser01 · #58 07-09-2010, 10:49 AM

It's been several weeks, but this morning, I got the 23MP4 installed in my set. It was an easy swap. The tube installs from the front of the set. I bet it only took 10 minutes from the time I loosened the strap on the old CRT, to when I snugged up the strap on the replacement. Didnt even have to pull the chassis. I just vacuumed out the cabinet thru that big hole where the CRT goes.

It is now running, and looking good with no adjustments so far. The width is low, but that could be due to caps. I've only replaced 6 so far with good results. The turntable was replaced at the same time with one out of a stereo I found down the street from my house about a week ago... Finding 2 Maggies within a week was wonderful.

I watched a couple of old Bullwinkle shows on a VHS tape to 'break' it in.

The picture is improving the more that it runs.

The video sentry on the front of the set is now working.

I want to thank everyone for the moral support.

This set will be running perfectly shortly. I will post pictures, as I took some while I worked. I'll have them up later.

holmesuser01 · #59 07-09-2010, 12:25 PM

See Pics. I even glued the OEM label for my old tube onto this replacement.

Enjoy.

holmesuser01 · #60 07-09-2010, 12:29 PM

More Pics. The bars in the pics dont do the picture justice. It looks great now.