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  #1  
Old 01-12-2017, 09:07 AM
quarkdude quarkdude is offline
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Hello all,
I just got access to the site today and wanted to share with you some vintage TV's I am getting from my grandfathers estate. I am going to pick them up this weekend. There are 3 Tv's. One of them is a I think 1951'ish Motorola UHF rectangle tube tv - don't have any model numbers yet but will after I pick them up. The second is a Zenith Porthole tabletop TV. And the third will be a surprise for me because the back is exposed and I cant see the front of it until I move the other 2 TV's, they are stacked on top of it. This will be my first time ever to dive into an old TV set. I have been working in electronics and mechanics for 32 years so a schematic is like reading a book. ha ha. I have an electronics bench setup in my shop to cover just about anything that needs to be done. Like anything though, if you haven't worked on it before, no matter how good you are, it will be like its all new. Here are some pics of the TVs that I have at this point. Thanks for taking a look






- quarkdude
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  #2  
Old 01-12-2017, 10:04 AM
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Electronic M Electronic M is offline
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Looks like a nice trio of sets.

You'll want to test the CRTs (get or borrow a tester) before proceeding as those cost money.

That is a UHF cover plate on the moto. It does not have UHF (though it does have provisions to add it). Between 1952 and mid-1964 UHF was an option not a government mandated feature, and thus is rare, especially in markets that did not have a UHF channel back then.

Your Porthole is missing a knob and the control door.

The plate on the back of the mystery set makes me think Silvertone or Airline as those brands typically had that style of chassis plate. It is probably a 1955-59 model as that was the heyday of upright doughnut chassis in large monochrome sets with the older, deep, fat neck CRTs.
Those doughnut were primarily used in 14"-17" portables and sized to fit the smallest cabinet they would go in (so I'd guess yours is 19-24"). I like that has a power transformer. Most portable chassis were series string, and not all that good when driving a larger tube, the transformer likely means that engineering bothered to do a good job on it.

You will want a multimeter, oscilloscope, and a tube tester on your bench, and likely an HV probe/meter. If there is a cheap B&K 1075, 1076, or 1077 near by (or you plan on doing a lot more tube TVs) those can be nice to have (though often need a recap).

Phil's Old Radios has some good beginner info for restoration...On TVs start by replacing defective capacitors, and then move to trouble shooting.

Welcome, and good luck.
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  #3  
Old 01-12-2017, 10:06 AM
madlabs madlabs is offline
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Nice looking sets! You came to the right place for help on them, these folks even managed to help ME get a set running. Good luck and have fun with them.
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Old 01-12-2017, 10:36 AM
quarkdude quarkdude is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Electronic M View Post
Looks like a nice trio of sets.

You'll want to test the CRTs (get or borrow a tester) before proceeding as those cost money.

That is a UHF cover plate on the moto. It does not have UHF (though it does have provisions to add it). Between 1952 and mid-1964 UHF was an option not a government mandated feature, and thus is rare, especially in markets that did not have a UHF channel back then.

Your Porthole is missing a knob and the control door.

The plate on the back of the mystery set makes me think Silvertone or Airline as those brands typically had that style of chassis plate. It is probably a 1955-59 model as that was the heyday of upright doughnut chassis in large monochrome sets with the older, deep, fat neck CRTs.
Those doughnut were primarily used in 14"-17" portables and sized to fit the smallest cabinet they would go in (so I'd guess yours is 19-24"). I like that has a power transformer. Most portable chassis were series string, and not all that good when driving a larger tube, the transformer likely means that engineering bothered to do a good job on it.

You will want a multimeter, oscilloscope, and a tube tester on your bench, and likely an HV probe/meter. If there is a cheap B&K 1075, 1076, or 1077 near by (or you plan on doing a lot more tube TVs) those can be nice to have (though often need a recap).

Phil's Old Radios has some good beginner info for restoration...On TVs start by replacing defective capacitors, and then move to trouble shooting.

Welcome, and good luck.
Hello Electronic M,
Thanks a bunch for all the info! Wow, didn't know that they had Tv's out there with the "provision" of UHF when the circuitry or signal wasn't available yet - about 15-20 years before I was born - ha ha. Ill have to look around for the Porthole Tv knob and cover. Im sure they are around by the Tv's somewhere. There was a couple of back covers on top of the stack - In fact, since you mention Silvertone - I think one of the covers said silvertone on it. So the bottom TV is like you said - A silvertone.
I do have a multimeter and a Sencore SC3100 Circuit analyzer Scope. Don't have a CRT tester or High voltage probe so I will be on the look out for those. There is a TV repair place near me, Might have to go introduce myself and see if they have some equipment to test the CRT.
Ill check out Phils Old Radios and do some reading to get started.
Thanks for the welcome to the site. Cant wait to go get them on Sunday. Whoohoo!
-quarkdude
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  #5  
Old 01-12-2017, 10:41 AM
quarkdude quarkdude is offline
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Originally Posted by madlabs View Post
Nice looking sets! You came to the right place for help on them, these folks even managed to help ME get a set running. Good luck and have fun with them.
Hello madlabs,
Thanks for the complement on the sets. It's funny, when I was like 6 years old those TV's were right there were they are today. I'm 47 now - never thought I would be working on those TV's - haha. I'm sure they were sitting there before I was even born. Since I had talked to my grandfather about those very tv's before he passed, my uncle said I could have them but I "Had" to take them all. Hey, no problem, Ill take all 3 I will definitely be asking for help as I progress into troubleshooting. Heck, some of them might even work I never asked it they worked, but my guess is probably that they don't work - YET
-quarkdude

Last edited by quarkdude; 01-12-2017 at 10:48 AM.
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  #6  
Old 01-12-2017, 11:47 AM
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Electronic M Electronic M is offline
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If you want to test them before resto work. I recommend using a variac (variable voltage auto transformer), turn the set on with the variac feeding the set to output 10-25V Increase voltage to the set in 5V increments every 5-20min until you hit 120V or the lytics get warm/hot, or smoke or arcing noises occur...Warm lytics, or things like smoke and tubes red-plating are bad signs, and you should stop supplying power to the set if those occur.

Some tube heaters should start to glow around 40-60V, if a set is going to produce a raster (lit screen) it should do so by 85-100V...Sound will likely occur somewhere over 65V.
Rocking the tuner between channels and or playing with the volume knob should produce crackle in the speaker.
Loud hum is a sign of the lytics going open and or shorted.

In my experience ~85% sets from before the ~1958-62 transition from paper caps to film dielectric caps tend to be incapable of producing a raster/nearly dead as found, and about 75% after the transition are still working as found.

Odds of those sets working as is are low. Sets usually don't sit in a store room like that unless they broke and were taken out of service. So in addition to replacing the parts that die with time (capacitors), you will probably also have the problems that took those sets out ~50 years ago to deal with...Unless they originally died of cap problems.
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  #7  
Old 01-13-2017, 10:01 AM
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Welcome to VK...and have fun with those sets!
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  #8  
Old 01-13-2017, 10:49 AM
quarkdude quarkdude is offline
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Welcome to VK...and have fun with those sets!
Thanks for the welcome electronjohn,
Checkout the arc on your avatar
ELECTRIC BANANA
- quarkdude
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  #9  
Old 01-17-2017, 08:30 AM
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Welcome to VK - Quark. I was bit by the TV bug early and messed around with a set like that first one. That motorola is simple and may be the one to start on.

That Silvertone (or Airline) probably has knobs above the screen, super cool. I never did work on a porthole but many VK members here have. You came to the right place.
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  #10  
Old 01-17-2017, 08:55 AM
quarkdude quarkdude is offline
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Hello DavGoodlin,
Thanks for the awesome welcome. I was planning on picking the TV's up this weekend but the weather had another idea's. It's been raining for like 3 days straight here in New Mexico. We hardly ever get rain I'm going to shoot for next weekend to pick them up.
Thanks for the info on the Motorola for "Ease" of fixing. ha ha. I'll link some more pics of the insides when I get them. I am hoping my grandfather may have had a Variac in his shop. I'll take a look when I get up there - that will help a lot in flowing electrons thru the old veins.
-quarkdude
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  #11  
Old 01-22-2017, 03:35 AM
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MadMan MadMan is offline
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  #12  
Old 01-23-2017, 01:38 PM
quarkdude quarkdude is offline
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Hello Madman,
Thanks for the "Bro-ny" welcome. My girls cant get enough My little Pony - ha ha.
-quarkdude
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  #13  
Old 01-23-2017, 01:43 PM
quarkdude quarkdude is offline
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Arrow

Hello group, I went yesterday to pick up the TV's and got them to my workshop. It was late last night so I snapped a couple of pics and put them here. The mystery TV is a Silvertone/ The backplate says Catalog number 7116, Model# 528.51020 Still learning what all that means. Plus, I brought home to fix/play a little gem that was sitting in the basement. Here are some pics for you guys. The "gem" is in the attached Thumbnail
Work computer wont let me put pics. Ill have to do it when I get home tonight.





Attached Images
File Type: jpg IMG_20170122_202408176.jpg (63.2 KB, 15 views)

Last edited by quarkdude; 01-24-2017 at 10:55 AM.
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  #14  
Old 01-23-2017, 08:49 PM
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Originally Posted by quarkdude View Post
Hello Madman,
Thanks for the "Bro-ny" welcome. My girls cant get enough My little Pony - ha ha.
-quarkdude
Neither can I. And that Silvertone has a Sears Model number... which means it could actually be any number of TV models. Not sure how one would look that up, but I think the first 3 numbers indicate that it's a TV and the actual manufacturer.

EDIT: This dump says 528 is Warrick Electronics.

Last edited by MadMan; 01-23-2017 at 08:55 PM.
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  #15  
Old 01-25-2017, 12:59 PM
quarkdude quarkdude is offline
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New *** ( P I C S ) ***

Just uploaded some more pictures yesterday towards the bottom of the thread.
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