Admiral 20X122 restoration project

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by charokeeroad

...If the seller packs and there's no insurance your basically SOL.

Yes indeed - lesson learned. Luckily, it didn't sting too much.

Originally Posted by Kevin Kuehn

Wow, I had to go back and read all that. I think I restored my 20A1 chassis back in 95 or 96. It was my first and only old TV for many years. Back then it was just me and a copy of Kiver-Television And F-M Servicing (perfect book for learning that set by the way). I don't even think ARF had the TV forum back then? I was really taken up with 1920's radio's for a long time, then it was 1930’s radio…But I've had very fond memories of getting that first TV going since way back then...

Anyhow, I've got you beat on not finishing up projects. That same 20A1 chassis has been setting under plastic in my basement waiting for the cabinet to get finished all these years. Way back when, I had to patch some chips in the Bakelite cabinet with an epoxy and Bakelite powder mix, so I wanted to make sure the epoxy was good and cured before I tried polishing out the finish. To be honest I've been scared of how it's going to turn out, so I've just procrastinated over the situation all these years. I have a mild attention deficit thing going on that doesn't help matters, and it's just really easy to keep jumping to the latest and greatest project.

So congratulations on getting back on this set. I'm sure you'll breeze right through it now with all the experience you've achieved since back in 2009.

Perhaps that epoxy / powder technique would work on my damaged 20X11 tabletop cabinet

I've restored a couple 20A1 chassis and they're the best of the late 40s Admiral designs IMHO. The use of two chassis gave them plenty of room for extras like dual rectified power supply buses and stagger tuned IF.

Single chassis designs like this 20X1 use the audio output tube as a voltage divider for the second B+ rail and an over-coupled IF circuit. That gives you a more pronounced double-humped response rather than a plateau.

This is the 3rd 20X1 I've restored in the last few months, so yeah, it's very familiar territory now

I have a little recapping left to do in the IF circuits then reinstall the power transformer, yoke and focus coil.
I expect to power it up in a couple days - work permitting.
Those few yellow caps on the left are from when I started a few years ago. I think I'll swap them out for matching white Cornell Dubilier caps.

Originally Posted by charokeeroad

I can get good color correction on bakelite with minwax red mahogany stain and elbow grease.

Interesting. I wouldn't have thought stain would effect bakelite much.

[Kevin Kuehn]

I was really amazed at the picture quality on the 20A1. Silly me aligned it using an Eico 360, because that's the sweeper Kiver featured in his 1949 edition book. I can't really recommend that unit.