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#1
09-18-2012, 05:15 PM
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Early '50's GE 17T4 17" B&W TV
I picked up this GE from the same place where I got the Sparton. Two evident problems is that the cabinet is coming apart (side panel fell off as I was moving the set) and needs to be glued back together, as well as the 17BP4A CRT being weak. At first, the CRT tested dead; but, after rejuvenating it and letting it cook for several hours, it came up into the low end of the "GOOD" scale. With a brightener, I think it will last long enough for me to come up with another CRT.
I also picked up another similar set with a good CRT; but, I may use that tube in the Sparton that I posted about yesterday and I'll make do with the tube that's currently in the GE that I want to restore until a strong one comes along. As you can see, this GE does not use a power transformer and it appears to be a cheaper set; but, I think it will be a decent restoration project.   
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http://www.youtube.com/user/radiotvphononut 
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#3
09-18-2012, 06:44 PM
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I'd like to know myself.
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http://www.youtube.com/user/radiotvphononut
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#4
09-18-2012, 07:59 PM
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Looks similar to the 16T1 chassis I am working on. Be sure to post alot of photos, and I'll do the same.
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#5
09-18-2012, 08:18 PM
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Likley hyde glue from cabinet assembly. It's factory, Used to laminate and secure joints in a cheap, sloppy way.
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| Audiokarma |
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#6
09-18-2012, 08:38 PM
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I hope you can get this TV working. My grandmother had a set just like this one in 1951. Hers lasted 20 years, until she got a color set, then she gave me the GE and I used it another couple of years until my dad and I moved in 1972. The only thing wrong with the GE set (it wasn't working when I got it) was an open resistor in the power supply. That set had a very good picture for its age, operating on the attic TV antenna in our house at the time. It was the first TV I ever saw in my life with two RF amplifier tubes in the tuner (a predecessor to single-tube cascode RF amp stages which appeared in the latter part of the '50s into the sixties, for use in fringe areas; remember, most TV reception areas outside major cities were fringe areas in those days, requiring large antennas as well, due to the lower power of early TV transmitters -- not like the 1-megawatt ERP UHF-TV giants back in the NTSC analog era).
My grandmother's GE TV did not have the same problems, however, with the cabinet falling apart like yours did; it made the trip from her apartment in Cleveland to my home at the time in the suburbs (about 15 miles) in one piece. Perhaps your set's cabinet just had weak joints, old glue, who knows?  However, I don't think all GE TVs in this style cabinet had the same problem. Was your set in hot environments at any time before you got it? That's the only thing I can think of, besides the glue simply giving up and turning into sticky, gooey mush after 60 years, that could have caused it to actually run down the sides of the cabinet.
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Jeff, WB8NHV Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002 Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten.
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#7
09-18-2012, 08:47 PM
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That set had been sitting in a warehouse for at least 40 years. There was no heat or A/C in this warehouse.
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http://www.youtube.com/user/radiotvphononut
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#8
09-18-2012, 09:15 PM
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It's no 630, but GE apparently considered the locomotive chassis an engineering success and continued using variations of it for several years. It made the tiny profile of the locomotive sets possible. That its design goal was maximum compactness is very clear when you see how it's kind of swimming inside a conventional cabinet.
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tvontheporch.com
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#9
09-18-2012, 09:32 PM
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Quote:
Hide glue comes apart easily with a gentle whump with a mallet or with a little steam heat. That is why I usually use it in any furniture or cabinet repair that I do. To use it, you do have to heat it and it takes quite a while for your glue pot to melt before you can use it. (The other problem is most hardware stores no longer carry it.) James.
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#10
09-19-2012, 07:58 AM
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What's with that cap crammed sideways under the CRT? I hope that's not factory... 'Bout as aesthetic as that glue job.
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| Audiokarma |
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#11
09-19-2012, 10:09 AM
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That's good project. The control door is intact. The series string heaters and the selenium rectifiers were unusual for a set of that vintage.
I got one of these in 1977 from a neighbor's attic. It had been in service until she bought a 1967 RCA color set. It worked when I got it home with little intervention. I was quite surprised as many sets 10 years newer needed many caps replaced before they would work right.
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#12
09-19-2012, 10:53 AM
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Quote:
 Looks to me like a slap-dash repair job. GE's design engineers of the '50s wouldn't have laid out the chassis such that a capacitor (or any other component carrying B+) in any of their TVs would be that close to the picture tube; one would hope not, anyway.
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Jeff, WB8NHV Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002 Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten. Last edited by Jeffhs; 09-19-2012 at 11:03 AM.
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#13
09-19-2012, 11:25 AM
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Quote:
C1 is the input cap for the selenium voltage doubler... power line (and fuse) connected to the negative terminal, 4.5 ohm resistor connected to the positive terminal feeding the two rectifiers. The other side of the line connects directly to the chassis, through the power switch,so be careful! jr Perhaps it is not as close to the CRT as it appears in the pix? Last edited by jr_tech; 09-19-2012 at 11:54 AM. Reason: add commet about line connection
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