The 30" CROSLEY TV RESTORATION

[John Folsom]

The next big project (literally) is the restoration of my 30" Crosley TV, featuring the 30BP4 CRT. I have had this set a number of years now, and it has been lurking in the corner of my garage hiding under a big red bedspread. I had decided not to take it on until now for three reasons. First, its 30BP4 is a dud. Second, top of the cabinet is in poor condition, and will need refinishing. A skil which I do not possess, and am not likely to acquire. And third, I have never been able to find documentation for the set.







With the recent news of RACS in France possibly closing their doors this summer, I contacted RACS through Jerome Halphen to see if they would rebuild the tube. Alas, the word came back that either the tube would bee too big to fit in the over, or if it did fit, it would be too close to the heating elements. This news finally motivated me to do something I have been putting off for a very long time.

I have a spare 30BP4 up on a top shelf in the garage, but it tests quite weak on my trusty Beltron CRT tester. But the 30BP4 in my 30" Dumont Royal Sovereign does not test all that good either, and it makes a presentable, though not very bright, picture. So I decided the only thing to do was to pull the spare 30BP4 down and use the DuMont set to drive it and see if it was worth the effort to use it for the Crosley set.

Being a lazy guy, I really did not want to demount the CRT from the DuMont and install the spare. So I used the bottom canister from the shopvac as a test stand and put the CRT face down on the canister.



This worked out very nicely, and after a bit of configuring, I powered it up. Nothint. I adjusted the ion trap, still nothing. I checked the HV; a generous 17KV. So I flipped the ion trap over and after a bit more adjusting.... hot dog!



It may not be the brightest tube, but it is good enough. So I made the commitment to take on the Crosley. I made another attempt to find documentation for the set, checking (again) Riders and Sams with no luck. The Model # on the set is E-30 COBU. I have a marketing brochure which shows an artist line drawing of the set, with the Model # EU30COBU (or EU30COMU).

If any of you out there has any info on this set, I would appreciate hearing about it. To be continued....