RCA 648PTK May be Coming My Way
 

Just got a line on an RCA 648PTK projection set locally. I have no idea where I'm going to put it or when I'm going to work on it (with all of my other projects in the queue), but I'm definitely interested. Not sure how much the owner wants for it. May have more info tomorrow.

Well...another afternoon moving a vintage TV. The RCA 648PTK projection TV followed me home today. It has the original finish and and seems to be complete except for the back panel. I did see something interesting when I was looking at it. Seems like the rectifier tubes on both the power supply and the audio chassis were replaced with some kind of solid state rectifier arrangement, plugged into the tube socket. I'll need to look a bit more closely to see exactly what's going on when I get into it to clean it up. Looks like it has the same chassis complement as my other RCA projection TV, so it should be easy to figure out. For the moment, because of all of the other projects I've got backed up, this one is just going to get a good cleaning and visual inspection but no electrical restoration yet. I'll bring it into the house and put it on display until I get some of my other sets done.

Nice score, what a tank!!

I likes it ... but like you where would I put it!!!

Carl

Congratulations. It looks like an excellent set.

Any idea of it's history? How long has it been in Arizona?

Nice :yes: Looks like a good original example. No doubt you'll have fun restoring this beast! Cheers Glen.

So THAT'S what a projection set looks like! I always thought that these were the sets where the CRT faced upwards and the image was viewed in a mirror lid.

What are they called then?

In Australia, we had the slightly curved CRTs when we first got television, then they quickly went to a more square shape.

The only projection sets were those horrible colour things from the 80's that looked awful.

You almost said it: Mirror in the Lid

Up topside here, those early projection sets had a CRT pointing towards the floor.

http://www.earlytelevision.org/rca_p...on_system.html

For a brief 20 page overview of a previous restoration see:

http://antiqueradios.com/forums/view...p?f=3&t=155323

James

They are fun sets to restore.

Your set looks pretty good. Here is my 648-PV. It's basically the same as your set, but it has a record changer (10" or 12" 78 RPM only):

http://www.smokypond.com/gallery/pic...ics/rca_648pv/

I restored it 12 years ago. Still works great today.

-Matt

The reason for the solid state rectifiers may be due to a bad winding in the transformer(5V). Rectifiers have their own tap for the filaments. Both are probably sharing the same tap. Not a big deal as long as the others are working.

I am SO envious of this set. :drool::drool::drool:

Having restored one of these, I suggest you attach 4 casters underneath to make moving it around much easier. Just make sure each will swivel a full 360deg independently. I used casters from a cheap Harbor Freight dolly, mounted to a fitted
piece of plywood underneath, allowing me to easily remove it/them if desired.
This is the best looking of the early RCA projection sets IMO.

Great idea!
I own a set which has castors hidden mounted behind a wood plinth since it was new. Of course I had to replace them due to the broken 50+ years old rubber. It's the only possibility I have to move the set from one room into another because of the weight of the set :scratch2: