A roundie found ME this time.
 

I got a message here on AK from a member that lives in Kenosha about a Zenith roundie that he wanted to get a new home for. This was Saturday, I didn't get the message until yesterday because I was in Appleton picking up some sets. I was sick Monday so when I finally got the message I thought man, I hope he didn't get rid of it already, I never find roundies so close to home. He didn't, his name is Joe. He is a very nice member of AK, he just doesn't make himself well known. He was also nice enough to let me come over after 9 last night to come get this thing. At first when he told me it was only 20 bucks I didn't know what to expect, but parts are worth more than that so I figured it was worth it sight unseen. My mouth almost hit the floor when I saw this thing. It has some cigarette smoke inside but I'll clean that. It also appeared to have a cataract but it is a 21FBP22, there is just smoke between the safety glass and the CRT, no biggie. It needs a convergence yoke because it is that white plastic one that is broken like those always are. You can also see that the blue lateral magnet is way out of adjustment. The set is dated 2-4-63 on the inside of the cabinet. The model is 5005-2. It uses the 26KC20 chassis. It also appears to have the original CRT that has the code of the ninth week of 1963 and an EIA code 274. The set works with a bright CRT but is in desperate need of recapping. It won't be powered up again until that is done. One of the caps popped when he powered it up the other day. There is now horizontal "snaking" and some "blooming". Joe most definitely found it a good home, I do not plan to ever sell this one. He found it at an estate sale just down the street from his house. Thanks again for such a great set Joe!!!
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I move these things by myself by strapping it to the dolly then lowering it to the ground with the dolly resting on the tailgate{very bad for the 'ol spine but good for the tv!}
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There always seems to be an unwanted surprise inside these old sets! This time it was gum. LOL!

Wow...Somethin' about those "Plain Jane" sets, too that appeals to me over their somewhat "overboard" big brothers... EXCELLENT find...Can't wait to see the Glorious Lollipop Color on it....(grin)

excellent save! Another zenith lives on. I like that model very much. I dont think Ive ever seen a zenith roundie that didnt have a broken convergence clover of that design!
As for the lateral magnet, on these early sets, they are actually supposed to be at about 2 o'clock position like its shown. If you were to move the lateral magnet to the top like most other sets, you would notice that it would move the blue lines vertically as opposed to laterally. you can see the blue pole piece through the neck at the 2 oclock, just center the magnet over it.

The 26KC20 is zenith's 3rd generation TV chassis. Ive actually got one in a metal woodgrain cabinet like yours. I dont think anyone on the forum has or has ever seen a 27KC20, which is the next chassis after the 29JC20.

As for the "cateracts" on the 21FBP22, its very typical. There is a rubber gasket between the CRT and the lens. You will have to pull the CRT out of the set like you would expect and the lens will simply spearate from the CRT once you remove the mounting bezel assembly. The rubber gasket breaks down and will be very oily. You will notice a pool of oil between the glass and the lens at the bottom of the CRT when you pull it apart. There will probably also be some oily residue inside the cabinet beneath the CRT. The cateract appearnce is oil vapor residue. It cleans off really easy. I clean the gasket, which in my experiences have always been very flexible and not dry rotted with alchohol to dry the gasket of the oily fim and remove the residue. soap and water really doesnt do it too well. Good luck with it!

Very nice...I always though the black finish sets looked the best of all, wonder why they seem to be less common?
I have a black enamel finish CTC-10 or 11 and it has that kind of fake speaker type base too but with casters...would be nice if some actual speakers were put in there.

Nice set. It has been very well be taken care of.

I hope to see working pics of it soon.

now THAT'S a roundie's roundie. Are those Zenith tubes original? You're a lucky guy to have that in your collection. How much is a NOS cloverleaf worth? Keep us posted, please.

now THAT'S a roundie's roundie. Are those Zenith tubes original? That damper surely can't be as clean as it is. How much is a NOS cloverleaf worth? You're a lucky guy to have that in your collection. Keep us posted, please.

I'm jealous. That's a real beauty of a set. I'm glad its in the hands of someone who will restore and enjoy it.

Great score, and I love those black finished sets.
Dan

I had one close to yours. The only difference was mine had the bass and treble controls for the sound mounted just above the adjustment door and had power tuning. I havent seen that set-up in a black metal cabinet since. I used it for years until the flyback burned up and that was way before forums like this were around to let me know there were parts for these. I cant wait to see pictures of it when you get it playing again Zenithfan! Nice tv !!!
-Tony

I have a similiar set with the 25MC30 chassis-the same kind of finish; mine has metal legs. These were a great way for somebody to get into a Zenith color set on a budget back then. Excellent sets.

Hey Mark,

That was twenty bucks well spent. And with the rare optional base to boot. Great local find makes it easy on the gas tank.

-Steve D.

I agree with the Spiteful Old Cuss; the black metal TV on that pseudo speaker-cabinet makes a very sharp looking set. :yes:

Pete

Thanks for the tip on the lateral magnet, I'm just used to seeing it at the top. Ditto on the oily residue in the bottom of the cabinet. Hopefully I can get to work on these sets soon, I have 6 roundies to restore now and no time to do it, but a little done at a time is better than nothing. This one shouldn't take too long as it should only need a good cleaning and a recap. I am trying to decide which sets to do first. This one might be done soon, right after my current project which is still that Admiral roundie. That thing is taking forever, the cabinet is still nasty and I will more than likely need a CRT or rebuild the one it has at Hawkeye. That set has about a million hours on it! I am also going to replace most or all the higher voltage resistors in the power supply as well as the rest of the mylar caps and the 'lytics, I've already put about 40 caps in it so far. It's got a lot of bad ones. This set WILL work if it's the last thing I do!! I just recieved the NOS Thordarson FBT the other day. I will be putting that in Friday since we are working half days on Fri. and 9 hour days the rest of the week. The middle of the summer will be nice, we work 4 10 hour days with Fri. off. That is when I will get caught up. It's hard with having all these damn "responsibilities", I give a good 'ol Archie Bunker raspberry to those! Oh and thanks for the compliments guys, they always make my day!

I was just reading over what Doug did to his chineese provincial Zenith, the CRT in his was made in '63 with the EIA code 274, mine is the same. Does this mean my "Zenith" CRT was also made by RCA like his? I would assume so but figured I'd ask anyways.

...

Man is that nice! I want a roundie so bad that I can taste it.Seeing a set like that makes me drool!

VERY VERY nice find! Not only is the TV rare, being the metal painted cabinet, but to also get the optional BASE with it.... WOW!

I've only seen 1 other Zenith roundie cheapie metal set, and it was a remote model, evidently designed to be a built-in. In fact, ANY color set of the mid 60s with a cheapie cabinet is rare.

Charles

It's alive!
 

After about 2 weeks and around 40 hours the black Zenith is working great. I totally disassembled the whole set to remove the cigarette smoke and the "oil cataract" from the safety glass. That alcohol trick works wonders for cleaning and rejuvenating that rubber gasket. touch up painted the FEW nicks that it had with automotive paint. I still have to repaint the area around the tuning knob with automotive paint. Detail cleaned everything including the wires, this took 16 hours in it's self. FILTHY! The chassis still has some dirty spots that show up in pictures. I'll clean those in the next few days. The back cover was also filthy, that was tricky to clean. Someone else already tried but with something way too strong and it removed part of the Zenith logo and $ervice $aver chassis, it don't bother me though, things could be worse. Restuffed cans, replaced all the black beauties and white time bombs. Replaced the white plastic cover on the deflection yoke because it was broken around where it clamps to the CRT leaving it loose and moving around. the CRT tested a little weak on the red and green guns, 25 min. at 8 volts brought it back to almost 100%, life test is a full 20 count and equal on all three guns. Color tracking and shorts test were perfect. Put the chassis in last night and hooked up everything, I wired the convergence yoke back together like I did with my avatar. I have to fine tune it to where it needs to be and the I will clip the excess wire. It will be hardly noticeable after that. The set didn't give any problems at all, after minimal adjustments were made the picture was watchable. I haven't done a purity set-up or a dynamic convergence set up yet but the picture still looks good. that will be tonights project. It's kinda funny, after all this I still haven't tested the tubes yet! That also is tonights project. I would have done it the before I tested the set but it was sort of working when I picked it up so I know they were "good enough" It also was around 11 when I was able to power it up so there wasn't time. Sorry there are so many pics but they show the transformation.
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The picture was taken before insulating the cap leads with tape.
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It has full vertical, this is Tom & Jerry in Cinamascope {letter box}

looks great!
Excellent job on the restore! :yes:

nice,bright picture! good looking set and an even greater restoration.you have done it again!!!okay,when do i get to see that 9?

Very nice work Mark! Looks great. Ive never taken a filter can apart to do a recap. Ive heard of it being done many times, but never tried it. First time Ive seen pics of what it looks like. I'll have to try it now!
Isnt it surprizing to see how much oil accumulates at the bottom like that? All the ones Ive done have been the exact same way.

...

blessed are you who you can find these TV SET magnificent. here in Italy is to say just impossible! beautiful TV SET

Very neat work-especially the restuffing of that can! I've done it before (mostly on radios, where appearance is more important and space is tight) and it never looks that good when I do it!

Thanks everyone! And Bryan, thanks for the compliment on the can. This is my second attempt at restuffing a can, the first time I screwed up the can when I cut it open. This time, I was afraid it looked like crap because I didn't know what it was supposed to look like. Now that I have it figured out, I plan to do it from now on for restorations. Also, I'm still working on the set, getting everything where it belongs, I cant believe the picture is this good, I just stuck everything back on the tube so I could test the set. I'll post more pics after it's completely done.

Home stretch
 

Well, the convergence won't adjust quite perfect but acceptable for now. a few controls are at an extreme so I think the rectifier might be going. This will have to do for now, I'm way too far behind on projects right now and have to move on. I cleaned the tar spots that are visible under bright light as best as possible and put the wires where they go. I also checked all the tubes, amazingly all were perfect. This is the first time this has ever happened! Tomorrow I will replace the felt pads for the stand so I can remove the rags I have between the set and stand and put the back on and call it a day. I think it's about time to restore my avatar now, it's almost been a year since I went to Overland Park, Kansas to get 'er.
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Nice Job Mark!!!

That set is so clean you could eat off of it. Wish I had more time to work on my sets. Perhaps I will find time this winter. Any free time and money that I find now is being used for the 15GP22 project. After we have made our next attempt on rebuilding the 15G's I hope to tackle the restoration of my Wingate CTC5.

Don't feel bad about all the sets that you need to restore. At least you are making progress, and that is more than I can say right now.

Bob

By all means dont feel bad, we all have more sets and projects than we will admit. At least, we know that these sets are with people who will care for them. By and by, the projects will get done and sets will be swaped, and best of all no one will fish tank or book case our sets.

BEAUTIFUL!!! BEAUTIFUL TV SET!!! IT ACTUALLY BROUGHT TEARS TO MY EYES!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!:thmbsp:

Hey Mark - I am REALLY impressed - when I found you online I just wanted this set to get a good home where someone could enjoy it. I NEVER expected it to turn out like this! Nice job man!

Thanks Joe! I promised you I'd do the best I could with 'er. This set is now one of my most favorite, the 26KC20 chassis is a great performer and I love the black metal cabinet with the stand.

Congratulations! That is a beautiful set. My Zenith roundie has been in service for a year now and still going strong. They are really the best of early color TV as far as reliability goes. i have always loved the metal cabinet roundies. I hope she runs for decades more. I can't believe you have six roundies. I only have two if you count my 8" Motorola 9VT1 which needs a ballast tube. Way to go and thanks for the great pics.

I just scored a 27KC20 in that "truckload" score from upstate NY. The cabinet is pretty rough. It's one of those faux-finish cabinets and will be tough to make presentable again. I didn't know the 27KC20 was quite so rare until I read Doug's post. Now that I know it's this rare, I'll need to put its restoration at a higher priority than it was originally and rearrange my displays to give it a suitably prominent position once it's restored.

My 25LC30 is in a genuine wood veneer cabinet, though, and I just got that one disassembled in preparation for refinishing yesterday and re-secured the loose top cap on the 6HF5 Horiz. Out. tube. The convergence yoke on this set is the "color coded" enclosed type rather than the open-frame white plastic.

I also just got my Philco 16M91 roundie into watchable condition. That set had been in storage since 2003, so it was well past time to move forward with its restoration. That was the one where I got it home and discovered the detached CRT base lying on the chassis and CRT leads broken off at the glass. I had bought a used 21FJP22 with good emission, balance, and tracking "cheap" to use in the Philco just before the "road trip" to get the truckload of Zenith sets and before I knew there was a used 21GVP22A and NOS 21FJP22A to be had from the same seller. I already had the "cheap" replacement CRT mounted in the Philco set by then. It turned out the "cheap" tube had H-K leakage on the red gun, but I used an "isolator/brightener" wired in "isolation-only" mode to isolate the cathodes. Until I get that startup loan paid off, there was no point in letting an otherwise-usable tube sit idle waiting for a rebuild that I can't afford yet.

There's about a 3/8" oblong "puncture wound" in one of the side panels of the 27KC20's "Woodgrain photo on Masonite" cabinet along with several deep scratches, so the preliminary assessment is that I'll need to have new top and side panels made from 1/8" Cabinet Grade plywood, sealed with several coats of sanding sealer on the inside to prevent warping from the heat of the tubes, and glued to the original frame and moldings. It seems that only the inner frame, wood moldings, bottom, and legs of the original cabinet will be reusable. At least unless there's a way to close up the hole in the side and apply a new "photo" finish to the three original panels at reasonable cost. Barring that, I don't see any way to avoid a non-original cabinet for this set.

That's where I'm at with my CTC4, I'm going to veneer the cabinet and forget about the photo finish. I plan to stain it the original color or close. I'm not a fan of printed finishes that's for sure.
It's cool that you found a 27KC20, can you post a few pics? You can use my thread if you want.


BTW everyone, sadly, sort of, I no longer own the Zenith this thread is about, although I love it greatly and will miss it. It's a secret as to what happened to it, at least for a few more weeks. THEN I'll let the cat out of the bag.:deal::D