Scored!
 

Picked up a pretty big Philco roundie yesterday from an ad in the local paper, along with a blonde retro styled Motorola B&W console on legs. It's still in (the wife's) SUV. It's complete and looks to be in pretty nice shape, chassis is spotless! :D

What I'm a gonna do with this stuff, I dunno LOL!

Pics to come when I get it unloaded later tonight. Got them very reasonably ;)

Here's pic #1 of an ugly Motorola that once was beautiful :(

Yes, that'd be dirt on the screen.....

Now here's the Philco roundie. My neighbor helped me carry it inside, and for the heck of it we plugged it in. Can you believe the damn thing works? :yippy:

It needs a little height adjustment, but everything else seems AOK. Needs a LOT of cleaning, of course.....

The only thing that's left to question about the Philco is a hot, burning smell.....had it running for about 15 mins. No smoke, but I'm concerned that the flyback might be getting toasty warm. I plan to clean off all the tubes, they're pretty dirty now that I look at them, but is there a safe way of touching the flyback to feel temp without getting zapped? Should I discharge the picture tube and then just feel it?

Picture is on the dim side, so this weekend I plan to test the tube and maybe throw it on activate and let it cook for a couple hours.

Boy I'll tell ya....there's just something magical about watching color on a roundie! :D

After you have let the set on for a while, turn it off and feel the flyback compartment door. Compare the heat level with a similar test on known good sets. I have found that I can detect flyback overheating by just feeling the door. It will probably be a good idea to check horiz. output cathode current and adjust effeciency coil if needed, if overheating is suspected.

Nice Philco roundie!!!! I like the looks of the Motorola as well. The smell could just be all the dirt and stuff if it sat a long time. Never touch a flyback when the set is on!!!! When I get an old set I just clean it up, check all the tubes and replace the bad ones, and do all the adjusting I need and hope for the best! I can't solder worth a crap, so I never get into the set "too much". I just look for ones that don't take alot to get going. Do you have a high voltage probe? That would be a good way to check the output. If memory serves me the roundies were at 21K and the old tube square screens were at 25K. Good Luck!!!

Let me tell you all I'm thrilled to pieces. Yeah right :pistols: :wtf: Like we need more TV's in this house. Theres no room to put them. :bash:

Rather have audio receivers take up less room. :)

I think the honeymoon's over:rolleyes:

The basement is my domain....I will fill it up with whatever I want :D

ok :(

How about that? I got "I Love Lucy" on the screen of the Motorola tonight! :yippy:

You spelled Mrs. Kam...wrong!!!!!

haha gary. I know, but I didnt want to tell him.

:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

guess no :smsex: for Tim. LOL

I like the Moto
 

Tim,

I like the Motorola! It's so "Eames Era", so "Panton", so "Fred Sanford" :D


Is it all there, is there any hope for it?

It is all there, and it just might clean up well. I have the face glass and the brackets not shown in the photo. Powered it up for the heck of it, and no HV....big surprise. Chassis is clean though, so who knows, it might live once again :)

You cheating DOG! I call dibs on your sets after the divorce!

Anthony

Tim,

those sets are great! That Motorola is like one i saw on ebay this week...

http://cgi.aol.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI...&category=3638

That Philco knob arrangement sure does look familiar! Especially with the missing door. I looks like it may be a similar model to the Philco roundie hybrid I have. Actually, they look pretty damn close. Did you happen to look at the chassis number, or any date codes?

Looks like they might be related

:D

:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

If I haven't left him by now, I never will. Ya kinda learn to live with all the changes here. Makes life interesting.

Charlie
 

They sure do look like twin brothers of different mothers :)

I do have the control door for mine, the guy called me back about 20 mins after I left his house saying that he'd found it. I was lucky I mentioned about it! The control door is the thing that's sitting atop the set.

I'll get all of the codes and post them when I get chance.

I like the little guy sitting behind the roundie w/the control knobs on top.-Sandy G.

That's my old reliable RCA portable. Had that set since '89, only ever replaced a damper and a horizontal output tube since then, used it during the gulf war at work, during 9/11 at work, and countless times in between :)

Flyback seems to be cool as a cuke :)

Next thing this set needs is a convergence setup. How about one of you more experienced guys do a thread on Convergence 101? :) I'm sure a lot of dummies like me could use it :)

That is one area I sucked at!!! I remember my uncle (the tv tech) used to cuss when he had to do a "roundie" The main thing I remember is that you should be able to do most if not all of the touch up from the controls on the neck of the tube. It was a rare occasion when he had to use the controls on the board. Also you don't want to mess around with those too much or one can really throw things out of whack. Just make sure you have a large mirror and a good cross-hatch generator!!! Good Luck!

Convergence
 

Tim,

If you have the instructions from a book or service manual, it's usually pretty cut and dry. Of course, reading instructions and doing what it says with good results are two different things! And usually it takes more than one try at it.

Do you have any convergence instructions with you?

No such luck.....I mean the convergence isn't horrible, but I do get a green shadow on some white things.

Here's a screenshot :)

another....activating the picture tube sure helped brightness :)

You can see what I'm talking about here....

Philco roundie - burning smell
 

Kam, I'd be inclined to agree with the person who said the burning smell in the HV cage near the flyback might be simply accumulated dust and dirt--this is common in TVs that are left sitting in basements, garages, etc. for extended periods of time. If the picture looks good, just dim, I wouldn't be concerned about the flyback. Since you say there is no smoke, just the smell, I'd suspect dust/dirt in the cage first. Clean it out thoroughly, then try it again. If you still smell something hot in there, then and only then should the flyback be suspected of being defective. Again, however, if you are getting a raster, the flyback is probably good. If the fly were shorted, it would kill the HV dead away (the HV fuse in the cage would blow immediately as well).

As to the dim picture, that could be caused by a weak horizontal oscillator or output tube, low drive on the grid of the latter, or even a weak CRT. If the set has a number of years on it (since it's a roundie it probably dates back to the early '60s), the CRT could well be on its last legs--especially if the set's former owner used it many hours a day.

Good luck. That Philco looks like a great set; it should work very well once it is cleaned up and restored. The original Philco Corporation made some excellent b&w and color TVs, both television alone and those fabulous 3-way theatre consoles. I had a 19" Philco portable from 1961, trash day find in my hometown over 30 years ago, that worked great as long as I had it, and I have known several people who owned Philcos in the '60s and had very good luck with them.

Kind regards,

Codes & Other info.....
 

This set is a Model Q5528WA, chassis no 17MT803. On top of the flyback cage is 3 44 67 (I assume this is a '67 model?). Any other dates I should look for?

I assumed that's what the smell was....I'm used to the hot dusty smell of an old TV strored for years, but this was almost acrid. Ran it for an hour today and the smell is gone, so I'm not gonna worry about it.

Upon testing, the picture tube showed dead, but after letting the filaments cook at 8.3v for about 15 minutes, it came back about 1/3 of the way into the green. Think I might let it bake a little more tonight and see what happens.

Convergence steps
 

Here are some convergence instructions... perhaps they will help you. You'll first need to start out making the adjustments on the neck of the crt, then follow these. hope it's helpful.

If only I had a crosshatch generator.....

Can someone make a videotape of one for me? :)

.

Keep in mind that you will probably need to repeat the steps a couple of times. even if you dont have a crosshatch, you should be able to get some improvement as long as you have a still image to work with.

Also, if your picture looks dim, doing a convergence job might help brighten it a little since the beams will now be pointing in the right places. Seems I remember a good bit of difference in the brightness of one of my sets after performing a convergence tune up.

...

Re: Codes & Other info.....
 

Yes, that's right, March 44th 1967 :D or more likely the 44th week of 1967 which would probably actually be a 68 model ?

The acrid smell was probably Mouse pee burning off :puke:

My philco had date codes on the rear cover of the yoke... seems I remember they were from 68. The original Philco tubes had 68 date codes, and seems I remember dates on the degaussing coil assembly.

Other than the UHF tuner, is the set all tubes?

It is all tubes, although I didn't count them....doesn't seem like there are that many.....I'll take a chassis shot when I get to this next step :D

I bought an RCA WR64B dot/bar/crosshatch generator off eBay, but much to my surprise, it has clips for each color gun rather than going into the antenna, and a thicker gray bare wire. Have to figure out how to use this thing, is anyone familiar with this unit?

I use that same model RCA color bar generator. I never use the individual gun controls however. The gray wire sounds like the one that should go to the antenna terminals. I believe it is a shielded wire. There should be a small resistor network (using 120 ohm resistors if I remember correctly) at the end with three wire clips coming out of it, two for the antenna and one for chassis ground. I can send you a photocopy of the manual and schematic if someone else doesn't post with the info before I get home tonight.

Steve