RCA 8PCS41 from CL update

[cbenham]

Your efforts and work in all areas of the restoration of this set are great.
I hope you enjoy watching some "Old TV Programs" on it when you finish.
Watching this thread is both interesting and educational.
Thanks for all your documentation and pictures.

[cwmoser]

Keep on posting what you are doing and pictures.
I like to see what makes these old TVs work again.

Carl

[snelson903]

its turning out vary nice ,i think it's great to take something that everyone [frends / family ] thinks is beyond repair and why did you bring that home for ,and restore it to better than new condition .

[Eric H]

Thanks guys, I was thinking no one was reading these posts.

Anyways, here's a few more pictures.

The Shroud for the optics is in rough shape, it wouldn't be all that bad except it looks like the Mice ate a big hole in it, other than that it could be fixed with some iron on patches.

I have a nifty 1953 Swiss made Elna Sewing machine (bought it cheap because it looked so totally cool) and I think I might be able to figure out how to use it well enough to make a new shroud, it's not that complicated really, probably should be Fire Retardant material considering the potential for arcing and what not.
I washed the old one today at work in a bucket of hot water and Purple Cleaner, the water turned to blackish muck, possibly some of it was the black dye but most of it was years of smoke and dirt.

I took out the upper mirror so I could work on the pop up lid, the mirror is in pretty good shape but looked a little hazy. I hosed it off in the Tub and rubbed it gently with a soft cloth to remove the film, it came out better but it still has some haze, I think it'll work OK though. It's a surface coated mirror of course so a common back coated mirror won't work correctly.

I have been experimenting with Stain to see what color it should be.

Originality is out the window with this set, it's so far removed from factory now I just want it to look good, even if it's not exactly the right color.
The Base is such a mish-mosh of Glue and Filler that it won't take stain evenly, it's going to have to be toned somewhat dark to hide the flaws, the rest of the cabinet is either in good shape or will have new Veneer so it should be OK to stain and Lacquer.

I have some new Poplar Crossbanding material on the way, this goes between the Plywood and the Veneer to provide a smooth surface for it to stick to.
The two top edges and front on either side of the screen are the worst, I'm just going to replace the crossbanding and veneer there, the sides I will attempt to repair the Veneer, worst case I rip it all off and replace it too.

The other option was to build a new cabinet out of Cardboard boxes and Duct Tape.

[bandersen]

Sure, we're reading them
One option for the base might be to use pigment based (opaque) rather than dye based (transparent) toners. That way you don't have to go dark and the flaws will be hidden. So will all the grain but I'm guessing that doesn't matter at this point.

Mohawk calls them 'Tone Finish Toners' and you've got quite a palette to choose from: http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/cata...asp?ictNbr=170
Perhaps 'Medium Red /Shading Mahogany' ?

[Phil Nelson]

The base wood probably doesn't have interesting grain in the first place, so pigmented toner should be no problem.

Originally Posted by Eric H

nifty 1953 Swiss made Elna Sewing machine

That machine rules. You're leaving it to me in your will, right?



Phil Nelson

[Eric H]

I found a Mohawk Distributor about 30 miles from me so I went this past weekend and bought a few cans of Toner in different shades.

I tried a light dusting of Deep Red Mahogany on this section of the front and it looks pretty nice, the stuff is really dark though so when I say "light dusting" it was really just that, any more and it would be too dark to see the pattern, perhaps just right for the base though.

The last picture is from an eBay auction and shows what it should look like, it gives a nice color reference, or at least as nice as possible given the variables in photography, it seems to match up OK with the undamaged parts of my set at least.

The bottom doors (one door, one dummy door actually) seem to be a darker color than the top sections, that could just be the different way the grain reflects the light though.

[cwmoser]

Its already looking great. The grain patterns in the wood work is
something you just don't see in any furniture today.

Carl

[earlyfilm]

Originally Posted by Eric H

The bottom doors (one door, one dummy door actually) seem to be a darker color than the top sections, that could just be the different way the grain reflects the light though.

Eric,

I definitely have been following this thread and watching for the differences between your 1948 built set and my 1949 built one.

The bottom platform in your set with the 9 holes drilled around the light barrel hole for mounting, definitely proves that my 1949 was not done after it left the factory as it only has three holes. The 1949 8PCS41 is electrically identical to the 9PC41 and apparently always included the remote that was optional in the 9PC41. The remote was not available on the 1948 model.


The grain on the top imitation drawers runs one direction, while the grain on the bottom door and dummy door runs the opposite, so it is expected that light plays differently on these.

The only picture of my 1949 8PCS41 in the sunshine is in the fifth post in the thread at

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=254448

In this picture the angle of the sun makes the bottom seem brighter.

My wife took the picture just as the set was about to jump in the back of my car to follow me home.

By the way, the backside of many of the dummy doors have a surface that does not show and can be used as a testing surface for stain matching.

James

[Eric H]

Something easy to do in between cabinet repairs.

Polishing up the Door Pulls, solid Brass of course, no plastic or fake Chrome here.

[ChuckA]

Originally Posted by Eric H

Thanks guys, I was thinking no one was reading these posts.
It's a surface coated mirror of course so a common back coated mirror won't work correctly.

Actually Eric you can use a back silvered mirror for the top mirror. You just have to use the thinnest glass mirror you can find, 1/8" will work fine. Use a backing board to make it the same thickness as the original.

It won't be perfect, but it will give you more brightness than the old one.

Chuck

[John Folsom]

Or... you can buy front surface mirrors online, either cut to fit or have your local glass shop cut it for you. You should have the spherical mirror resilvered for best results. This company does good work at reasonable prices:
Spectrum Coatings:
1165 Ring St. Deltona, FL 32725
Phone: (386) 626-9782
Contact Person: Paul Zacharias
paul@spectrum-coatings.com

[cwmoser]

Hey John, didn't you restore a Philco 48-2500 projection TV?
How much of an improvement did a resilvered spherical mirror
make over your old mirror? I ask this because the spherical
mirror in my 48-2500 is not perfect but it looks pretty good.
Mine does though have some places in it that you can see straight
through though.

Carl

[John Folsom]

My mirror in my 48-2500 was in very poor condition, so having it resurfaced made all the difference. However, dummy that I can be, I attempted to clean the curved mirror in the lid. Disaster! The top coat on that mirror is a multi-coat lacquer coat filled with micro-spheres which act to provide optical gain.

But I have restored several RCA projection sets from the late 1940s, and if you want to achieve optimum optical resolution, resilvering the spherical mirror and replacing the flat front surface mirror is the way to go. These sets can provide quite acceptable bright (though very directional) images when operating at peak performance. Of course, of "close is good enough", then the mirrors you have may be tood enough.

[Eric H]

The Spherical mirror in my set is in very good condition, surprising considering the rest of it.