More Zenith portable questions

[jmetal88]

Hi guys,

Today I dug my Zenith C1415U back out of the closet and started work on it again. I have a couple of glaring issues that I need to sort out before using this for any length of time.

First of all, I've noticed the contrast control gets really hot, like there's more current being drawn through it than there should be. Not sure what's going on there. In fact, the potentiometer actually seems to have burned through by now. I replaced it with some static resistors for testing purposes (and because it uses a really odd potentiometer with a 2/3 tap on it) and they get really hot, as well.

Second, the flyback transformer is arcing just very slightly. It starts out fine, and then gets worse the longer the set is left on. I guess it's heating up and melting the insulating wax or something. Since I can't seem to find a replacement anywhere, is there someone on here who could re-wax the thing for me, using that vacuum method I've seen online? I don't have any of the equipment necessary to do the job myself. I had tried coating the thing with liquid electrical tape, but since that didn't seem to work very well, I went ahead and peeled it off. The arcing is both audible and is evidenced by instability of the picture.

If anyone has any advice for me, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!