1956 8" Rca 8-pt-7014
 

Just about to start recapping this. The set is complete, with all the knobs, CRT tests good. Not the easiest chassis to work on though...

Keep us posted on this one Adam as i have two of them to do. I just want to see what kind of problems and adaptations you run into so i'll know what to expect. I've seen restored ones play and they do perform nicely. Its amazing how RCA was able to build a transformer style set into such a small package.
-Tony

Cute set, but finicky to work on. See this page for a case study:

http://antiqueradio.org/rca16.htm

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

Adam, you're aware that the chassis unfolds right?

Also something to watch out for is the metal cover over the neck of the CRT, the Ion trap is so sensitive on this one that it may not work without the cover in place!
Because of this I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out why I had no raster on the first one I did.

[QUOTE=Phil Nelson;1253508]Cute set, but finicky to work on. See this page for a case study:

http://antiqueradio.org/rca16.htm

That cleared up some stuff, I have the same differences with the schematic here, I was wondering about that 6CG7 / 6CM7 vertical oscillator tube, I looked them up and saw they couldn't interchange, and figured I would have to try them both, now I know to stay with the 6CM7 that's in the set. I had to clean all that wax out of the HV rectifier socket on mine too.

[QUOTE=Eric H;1253515]Adam, you're aware that the chassis unfolds right?

I've pulled it further apart, but decided not to pull it completely off of the crt, because of the strange way the yoke is held on with just a wire twisted over it rather than some kind of clamp I can loosen, I'd rather not have to mess with undoing it.

Good to know this set has an ion trap, I didn't even see it in there.

Many of the tubes were original, I put them all on the tester, and they all tested good except for the 6AW8 which showed a short.

As for problems I'm expecting to run into, I have yet to try to fit the extra electrolytics replacing the ones from that big can in there, not going to be too much room, I'm also going to swap that selenium rectifier for a diode, it tests ok, but I've seen lots of them go bad, but I'm going to leave it in there because I like the way they look, and that cardboard for adjusting the ion trap is already falling apart on this set.

I have one of these sets and I ended up dissassembling it almost completely to get to everything. It is a very cramped chassis but an attractive and well made set. I think it is of much better quality than the comparable G.E. sets of the era. Take your time with it. It will be worth it.

There must be something wrong with me. Today, by coincidence, the postman delivered another one of these, same color as my first one.

Not working, as advertised, and it smells like a barn, but it has a better cabinet than my first, the cute leg stand, and an unbroken rear antenna. Maybe I will put the restored chassis into the better cabinet and offer the unrestored not-so-good one to someone else as a project.

Incidentally, you can recap these by sliding the two sub-chassis apart. No need to completely disassemble them.

Phil Nelson

Finished the recap, but still needs work. You can't tell from that pic below, but it actually does get a good picture, just won't sync, horiz. or vert., also no sound. The schematic I have (sams 336-14) is so different, I don't trust the voltage and resistance readings given on it, anyone have a better one?

Adam, try this one:

http://www.vintagetvsets.com/schem/kcs100.pdf

That looks like it, thanks for the schematic.
I was thinking about this last night, the problem is not that the horiz and vert oscillators are off of the correct frequency, I can adjust both hold controls so the picture stops moving for just an instant, and even further so the picture appears to move or tilt in the other direction. The picture just wont lock in, either horizontally or vertically, so I'm thinking the problem isn't necessarily something to do with the horizontal or vertical circuits, maybe something back behind them around the sync seperator. But I don't have time to work on it now, I'll check it out later tonight.

...

Phil,I might be interested in the unrestored one with the bad cabinet, as mine is covered in gloppy paint and the chassis is real rusty. Let me know if you decide to get rid of it.

The problem turned out to be a broken wire connecting up the 110v supply, which feeds both the sync amp and the sound IF.

Mostly back together now, I have to clean all this sticky goo off the cabinet first before I put it back on, so I'll do that tomarrow. Some more pics...

I fell in love w/these little guys when I was at McCallie; the dean of students, Houston Patterson, had one in his office. Mr Pat was a man of many interests, and for him to have what was, at that time, just an old junky TV, was completely in character. He could have easily had a new Sony or Panasonic, but that's just how he was...

OK, let me think about it. I have some other stuff on the workbench that I would have to clear off, just to make room to swap the chassis.

Phil

Back together. This one is a plainer model, no built in antenna or swivel stand.

I had been watching this set in bed and falling asleep with it on for about a week, and was surprised at how well it had been holding up, until this morning when I woke up to bad vertical linearity and vertical foldover. I swapped out the bad resistor causing the problem, and am about to put it back together. I also picked up one of these timing devices you plug it into that will automatically shut it off, so I won't put so many hours on it while I'm asleep. I debated whether I should use it so much, but these are pretty common I imagine I wouldn't have trouble finding any parts for it, and it's a great set to watch in bed, I prefer to fall asleep to b/w over color.

If anyone has one of these they'd be willing to sell, let me know. restored, unrestored, doesnt matter, as long as a recap job will bring it back I'll take it.

That's the same style as mine only my cabinet is grey. They are great little sets, easy to store and fun to watch. I prefer the more common sets as I can use them as much as I want and not worry about trying to find rare parts.

I do wish these sets had an aluminized tube. They could really benefit from better contrast. Nonetheless, these little RCA portables are some of my favorite vintage TVs. If I could only have two sets, it would be this one and my Zenith color roundie.

I have several of them, and I have partially recapped one of them. I got busy with other stuff, so it's still sitting apart. I tried at first to do it without "unstacking" the chassis layers, but I decided it MUST be unstacked. I'll post further on it when I get back to it... I think it's still at my old place with the ex-girlfriend. (that move is 1 year now, and counting :( ). I have about half of my TV stuff here in Moorpark, and the other half is still up there in Santa Clarita.

Charles

I had more vertical foldover trouble with this set. It was happening intermittently over the last few weeks, twice I pulled the set out of the cabinet only to have it correct itself as soon as I pulled it out and plugged it in it again. But finally tonight it continued to have trouble even after I had it out of the cabinet and up on the bench. First I swapped the 6CM7 vert osc/ output tube, it made no difference, but I eventually located the bad resistor causing the problem and now it's back together.

I still say these are great sets though, I've used this set nearly every night since last summer and this is the first trouble I've had with it since last September. As old sets for a daily watchers, I think these little RCA's are great units. Pic of the set working again...

Great picture1 I'm working on my second, the earlier chassis with a 6CG7 as vertical osc/output. So far it has all new 'lytics, and a few paper caps. Also, a couple of 1 meg plus resistors that were way out of spec.
The first one I attempted was the later version. Got the whole thing re-capped, and then found that the vert output transformer has an open primary. Haven't investigated if the connection is broken under the outer paper yet.
I expect the later one to have a brighter picture, as the 2nd anode voltage is about 2 kilovolts higher than the early one. According to an RCA tube manual, the 8DP4 was not aluminized.
Good performance from a TV with an approx. 2 megahertz video bandwidth!
Best wishes,
Kevin

I just started using mine again. Today I hooked up to an Insignia digital converter and it works great. I have not had to service this set since I restored it about eight years ago and now it is future proof. You just gotta love the vintage stuff.