Raped curbside sets

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by AUdubon5425

I finally spotted 3 or 4 raped BPC sets last night outside of a TV shop - they just broke the cabinets and left a mess.

Liability issue prevention, most likely. When my Dad threw out sets from his shop, he had to smash sets to prevent their re-use and avoid the liability issues. The military calls it "de-militarization" - we used a system:

No knobs, no cords or interlocks intact, CRT neck broken, and the back was put back on with all the screws. After a few were taken, suddenly no one wanted his junk anymore.

Cheers,

[radiotvnut]

There was a TV shop in a neighboring town that would smash the neck on most sets that they tossed. Someone brought me 2 or 3 of such sets from his trash to give me. One was a 19" Sharp with a busted CRT; but, I had a tube on hand that would fit. After replacing the tube, all that was wrong with the set was a shorted diode and open fusible resistor. I said to myself, "why would a shop attempt to destroy such a set that only needed minor repair?" I think I sold that set for $100 (and, that tells you how long ago that was).

Back in the '90's, there was a local TV shop that I would pass on the way to school. Almost always, there were several TV's sitting beside his building. I always checked these sets out and never once found one with a chassis still inside the cabinet. It didn't matter if it was old, new, B&W, or color. He would always remove the chassis. I don't know if he was pulling the chassis as a source for parts or if he was doing it to prevent someone from fixing the set.

The sets that the Zenith dealer would toss were a mixed bag. Some still had the chassis and some didn't. It usually depended on how old the set was or how good of condition the chassis was in. They would usually either scratch the word "JUNK" into the cabinet (that was often hard to explain when I was trying to sell such a set) or they would spray a blob of red paint on the back of the set, which I could deal with much better. Then, someone I know took over as the main video technician there and he saved all the rejects for me. I was probably getting 20-30 sets a month from them. Then, the place went out of business due to competition from places like china-mart and Sears.

When the same guy that worked at the Zenith place had his own shop, he said his biggest problem was with scrappers wanting to smash the set and leave the mess. He said that he's ran more than a few off, telling them, "you either take the whole TV or you take none of it and you're not leaving a big mess behind my shop".

As for me, I've never tried to ruin a TV or anything else that I tossed. If someone can get some good out of what I'm tossing; then, more power to them. I did get to the point where I'd place some kind of mark on the back of the set so I'd recognize it if it came back my way.

[radiotvnut]

I remember one story about a TV from the Zenith dealer that I picked up when I was about 16 or 17. It was a first generation Zenith system 3 console from '78 and they had scratched whe word "JUNK" on the top and side of the cabinet. Well, I brought it home and fixed it. I don't remember what was wrong with it; but, I'm sure it was a simple fix. My Dad, who was a woodworker, told me, "Son, you'll never get $100 for that set with the cabinet scratched up. Let me sand that cabinet down and refinish the top and side and then you can ask $125 and give me $25 for my efforts". I agreed and he sanded down the top. Before he could get a chance to finish the top, some guy came to look at the TV and he didn't care about the top. He was in love with the picture and wanted to know how much. I told him $125 and he pulled out the money without blinking an eye. My Dad thought it was funny that the guy bought the set before he had a chance to finish the cabinet and he didn't want the other $25.

Then, we bought a new refrigerator from that dealer and my Dad had to run his mouth to them about how I fixed that TV that they tossed and he got a real nice "well, I'm glad he could get some good out of it and I'm proud of him" speech. It wasn't a month later that they put out a Zenith CCII console that had a decent cabinet with no "JUNK" carvings in the wood. When I opened it, every module was busted in half and the connecting cables from the tuner to the chassis had been cut. Not to be outdone, I splced all the wires back and repaired the cracked modules. Once that was done, a new tripler got the set back going. And, I told my Dad to keep his mouth shut. I guess it's things just such as I described that I have a problem with destroying, or attempting to destroy something, where it can't be fixed.

[AUdubon5425]

Originally Posted by Findm-Keepm

Liability issue prevention, most likely. When my Dad threw out sets from his shop, he had to smash sets to prevent their re-use and avoid the liability issues...

Well, what I saw was a mess - I've passed that shop for years and they always put their garbage out neatly stacked, not cabinet parts strewn across the driveway.

[1993ctc175]

RE: Raped Curbside Sets

Also, I took a few pic of raping a set in progress will be posting pics soon.

[zenith2134]

I recently came across a large pile of old tv's I stacked behind my garage years ago. We were re-shingling the entire garage so they had to be moved. Mostly Panasonic colorpilot's and other 80s sets which I found and saved for some reason in 2004-05. What I did was pull all of the deflection yokes and put em in a big box after stripping them of their wires and plastic parts.

In addition to the bunch of copper pipes I've salvaged over the years, this 15-16 pound box of yokes is a nice addition to my 'copper-mine' .... of course I would never destroy a collectible or valuable set this way though.

Doesn't it say something that the copper is being saved from the landfills?

[bandersen]

I just found another tonight It's just a little Sansui.

[1993ctc175]

Yes I have notice a TV Rapist (Scavenger) who was raping a set while in progress, I have photographed and here are the pictures

[Reece]

RadioTVNut: great stories about fixing "junk" and pasting the boards and all back together!

[holmesuser01]

For some unknown reason, people seem to think that the garbage dumpster at my movie theatre is a public trash dump. Thursday, I arrived to find about 15 silver 20-27 inch TV's all broken up and piled all around and inside the dumpster.

It took us over an hour to clean up all the broken glass.

We are installing a camera over the dumpster, and will be including it in out security systems.

Whoever did all this mess should be raped.

[ctc17]

An update...

Curbside crt sets have tapered down to almost nothing. When I started this thread they were at their peak, I would see several every time I went out. Now I hardly see any.

I guess there could be another wave after the holidays.

[radiotvnut]

I have not seen a TV on the street or besides a dumpster in ages. I'm sure the flatscreen people have already gotten rid of their CRT sets and the CRT sets that remain will continue to be used until they die.

[AUdubon5425]

Oddly, four out of the last five sets I've seen curbside were busted open. This is in the last two months. That fifth set probably was raped eventually - that kind of neighborhood, you know.

[bgadow]

For some reason folks around here haven't caught on to this. I will occasionally see a set on the curb and noboby ever seems to bother with them. I've never seen one apart. I did talk to a guy once who said he was grabbing sets and selling the yokes but he didn't seem very motivated.

[wa2ise]

I don't think I'd dumpster dive wearing shorts. The odds of getting cut on something would be rather high.