RCA 8PCS41 from CL update

[hi_volt]

Wow...nice clean up job. I would not have recognized the chassis. That's going to be a sweet set when you get it done.

[Eric H]

I decided to take the cabinet further apart and inspect it closer, it's truly a nightmare.

I realized this is probably going to have to be knocked apart down to the last board, repair or replace whatever is falling apart or destroyed and reassembled.
This is beyond what I am capable of or have the tools for but luckily my best friend and his Dad are both expert cabinet makers, I talked to the Dad last night about doing the repairs on this and he said he'd take a look at it.

I figure I can do a lot of the taking apart and he can fabricate new parts as needed and glue up the stuff that's complicated, like the feet that are all busted up, i can do the Veneer and refinish it if need be.
It'll probably cost me a fair bit but it's not going to get done any other way.

If you want to see the HD photos of the cabinet in all it's lack of glory, I posted them here:
http://vintagetvsets.com/images/8pcs41/

Luckily the upper mirror is in good shape, it's got a film on it but I think it'll clean off, it's not corroded at all, also the screen is is great shape.

I discovered while washing it that the screen isn't just a simple piece of frosted Plastic, it's actually a Fresnel Lens! There's a circular pattern of grooves on the back side of it, the side you view has the texture of brushed Stainless Steel, I will need to be VERY careful with this since it's irreplaceable with anything but the OEM part.

[Eric H]

I decided to take the cabinet further apart and inspect it closer, it's truly a nightmare.

I realized this is probably going to have to be knocked apart down to the last board, repair or replace whatever is falling apart or destroyed and reassembled.
This is beyond what I am capable of or have the tools for but luckily my best friend and his Dad are both expert cabinet makers, I talked to the Dad last night about doing the repairs on this and he said he'd take a look at it.

I figure I can do a lot of the taking apart and he can fabricate new parts as needed and glue up the stuff that's complicated, like the feet that are all busted up, i can do the Veneer and refinish it if need be.
It'll probably cost me a fair bit but it's not going to get done any other way.

If you want to see the HD photos of the cabinet in all it's lack of glory, I posted them here:
http://vintagetvsets.com/images/8pcs41/

Luckily the upper mirror is in good shape, it's got a film on it but I think it'll clean off, it's not corroded at all, also the screen is is great shape.

I discovered while washing it that the screen isn't just a simple piece of frosted Plastic, it's actually a Fresnel Lens! There's a circular pattern of grooves on the back side of it, the side you view has the texture of brushed Stainless Steel, I will need to be VERY careful with this since it's irreplaceable with anything but the OEM part.

On the chassis side of things I have replaced all the paper caps in the audio chassis and removed the filter can for restuffing. The can has a couple of odd sized sections of 70 mfd, I've never seen 70 mfd before, 40 & 80 yes but 70 seems weird, I reckon 80 is close enough.

[Eric H]

Just got done on Mouser ordering 22 Electrolytics for this and three 1000v film caps that I don't stock.

[Eric H]

I started working on the cabinet, I figured the only way to do it was to start at the bottom (literally) and work my way up.
To that end I dismantled the cabinet, first by removing the base from the upper part, later I will rebuild the sides and then move on to the top. Taking it apart was fairly simple since all the glue joints are pretty well shot.

First task was to rebuild the feet, they were solid but had some cracks from having been wet. The front feet are made in two pieces and one of them had come apart so I had to re-glue it.

I took the base completely apart, removed all the dowel pins, sanded everything clean, filled in any damaged spots, filled in the cracks and chips on the feet and sanded them smooth.

I also took the lower shelf apart because the plywood is coming apart at the edges.
I glued it together and it has a 200 lb tool box sitting on it right now to press it flat while it sets up, if i can't make it look satisfactory (or get rid of the Mouse smell) then I'll have a new piece of Plywood cut for it and glue the original edge parts on it.

I plan on toning the base with a dark toner to hide the crack repairs in the feet.
The sides of the cabinet will likely need replaced, or at least stripped bare, glued and re-veneered. Luckily the pop up lid where the screen is is in good shape, just a strip and stain should fix it right up. I'll also be replacing every wood screw in the cabinet with new ones, they are all pretty rusty.

The Capacitors should be here tomorrow so I can start on the chassis soon.

[cwmoser]

Originally Posted by Eric H

I decided to take the cabinet further apart and inspect it closer, it's truly a nightmare.
...
It'll probably cost me a fair bit but it's not going to get done any other way.
...
Luckily the upper mirror is in good shape, it's got a film on it but I think it'll clean off, it's not corroded at all, also the screen is is great shape.

I discovered while washing it that the screen isn't just a simple piece of frosted Plastic, it's actually a Fresnel Lens! There's a circular pattern of grooves on the back side of it, the side you view has the texture of brushed Stainless Steel, I will need to be VERY careful with this since it's irreplaceable with anything but the OEM part.

Eric, I can tell its a labor of love.
One nice thing about your efforts and expense is that it should turn
out to be a beautiful set. The Mahagony wood patterns in those
RCA sets are very eye appealing.

BTW, you mentioned the Fresnel Lens Screen - can you tell me more about it
as compared to the screen in the Philco 48-2500. Your restoration has
piqued my interest and would love to find one this year at the ETF convention.

Carl

[Eric H]

Originally Posted by cwmoser

BTW, you mentioned the Fresnel Lens Screen - can you tell me more about it
as compared to the screen in the Philco 48-2500.
Carl

Hi Carl, The main difference between the Philco and the RCA is the Philco is a front projector and the RCA is a rear projector.


The RCA screen is a flat sheet of translucent Plastic with a series of fine concentric rings molded into it to amplify the light.
Wiki has an article about how Fresnel lenses work.

The Philco uses a sheet of Stainless Steel mounted so it's forced into a slight parabolic shape.
It has fine vertical grooves cut into it and is coated with a Lacquer type coating that contains microscopic glass beads to reflect and disperse the light hitting it.

[zenithfan1]

Hey Eric, make sure you use Titebond wood glue. It's the best, as you will soon see what I had to do to my recently shipped and broken CTC7. I did a strength test with a similar piece of wood like on my set and broke it, glued it together crudely and I had to hit it with a hammer until it fell apart. It never did break where it was originally. Amazing stuff, that glue is Good luck on this one, it'll be a ton of work but it will pay off. I can't wait to see it all done. Personally, I love cabinet repair. Lucky for my shipper too. I'da taken his head off if I didn't know woodworking

[Bill Cahill]

Hi, Eric.
One thing I've found out about finnishes, especially on RCA equipment.
While RCA certainly did do some cases in brown mahoganny, they never did a mix, and, match. I see yours was originally red mahoganny.
RCA put a deep red on first to darken the color, and, give it the red look. Then, they put a brown stain over that to soften it up a bit.
Not such a cherry mahoganny look that way, more of a soft, dark red.
That poor thing looks scary to me. I sure hope that hv section comes back. I think that's thw worst I've ever seen.
Good luck on this set. Wish I had a projection set of my own.
Bill Cahill

[miniman82]

Originally Posted by Bill Cahill

I think that's thw worst I've ever seen.

Not me.... Bob's Halli was much worse.

http://antiquetvguy.com/Web%20Pages/...-21CK801M.html


I've had my own problems with cabinets. The CTC-7 with photo finish I rehabbed is something I would not want to do again, but the result speaks for itself. I think from now on I will pass on sets with shabby cabinets, recapping and alignments are more my style anyhow.

[Bill Cahill]

Wow! What a project that Hallicrafters was!!
Excellent job!
Give me more hope on my RCA 8TR29. It was less than half as bad, and, I still am having agc problems with it, even though the set now plays.
If anyone is interested, find my link at bottom of post to my forums, go to antique televisions, and look at al the pages of my set so far under RCA Vitor tv. A new dog in the family. It plays!
I think you will succeed. You always do, and, your knowledge is far above mine.
Bill Cahill

[holmesuser01]

I remember reading thru all of the National Radio Institute TV service instruction books when I was young in the 1960's. There were lots of views of the RCA projection sets like yours. I marveled at them, but never saw one in real life.

I'm really glad you got your set. So far, your progress has been GREAT!! I look forward to your updates!

Bruce

[Eric H]

I got the base section put back together, I was able to glue the plywood back together so I didn't have to make a new one.

It's nice and solid now, there are some small gaps at the joints but that's unavoidable due to some shrinkage, they aren't bad and won't be noticeable unless someone gets on their hands and knees and inspects it with a magnifying glass. The base will also be toned a darker color to hide the crack repairs.

I came to the realization that perfection isn't going to happen with this cabinet so I'll just have to settle for solid and presentable.

I tried fitting the cabinet top to the bottom and realized I forgot to rebuild the intermediate section that joins the two, that should be easy, it's just three strips of hardwood, that will make a nice color break point between the base and the rest of the cabinet.

I've also started recapping the chassis, done with the Audio, working on the HV section now, got three of the cans done but I will have to make new paper covers since I had to destroy the old ones to get them apart.

I also need to replace a few bits of rubber covered wire here and there, I think the 22ga solid core 600 volt wire that AES sells should look about right?


I am fortunate to have my faithful friend Otto working quality control, or perhaps he just smells a Mouse.

[Bill Cahill]

Nice work.. I see no major shrinkage. Looks good, under the circumstances.
Bill Cahill

[Eric H]

I've completed recapping on the Horizontal/High Voltage section, the entire horizontal sweep section is inside the big cage.
Four multi section electrolytics, all with lots of connections to them made it quite a chore, there are four more cans on the i.f. chassis as well but for now this is enough to test for high voltage, really high voltage, more than a 21" Color Roundie!

Both of the 6BG6's in this set were weak, I found a couple good ones and replaced them, the metal 6AC7 Horiz AFC looked totally fried and checked dead as a doornail, though I could feel the heater getting warm, found a good used one to replace that.

First I had to hook all the chassis together, plus a resistor pack, the switch and the interlock switch.

First attempt on the Variac, two of the 5U4's on the PS aren't lighting up, wiggled them around a bit and they came on (note to self, clean the sockets).

Second attempt, getting a couple thousand volts at the Anode but two of the three 1B3's I picked at random from my stash are lighting up purple, replaced them with three, brand new, Russian made 1B3's from the case of 50 I bought a decade ago.

Third attempt, success, though I can hear something arcing down in the cage, I'm getting 28k (or darn close) at the second Anode! (note to self, don't slip and touch the Second Anode )

On the Cabinet front, I got the base reassembled and glued the connecting section back to the main cabinet, I haven't joined the main cabinet to the base yet because I want to stain and tone the base first.

This was in much worse shape than I first thought, lots of delamination on the sides, the veneer on the top will need replaced, the veneer on the sides may be repairable or I will replace it all whichever is easiest, the fortunate thing is all the book matched crotch-wood on the front is in good condition, a few cracks here and there but they won't show.

I reflowed the Lacquer on the control panel, it still has some issues so I will attempt to improve it some more. Basically I just poured Lacquer Thinner all over it, brushed it around and and let it soak, it clarified it greatly but there is some grit and bubbles in it so a second try is needed.

There is supposed to be a Mohawk dealer near me so I need to take a drive over there and see what Toners they have, it would be much easier in person that trying to figure out what color I need over the Internet.