75 Zenith 19" b/w
 

Here's some pics of that estate sale Zenith b/w. The date stamped on the inside of the back says July 25, 1974. Model F2060W4, I think the F in the model number makes this a 1975 model. 19FB13 chassis, it's an all solid state set built on a metal chassis with plug-in modules, just like the Zenith 25EC/DC color sets. The larger module to the right is the vert/horiz, the one to the left is the video and AGC, the one that plugs in veritically is the sound, and that metal sub chassis next to the power transformer is the video IF. I haven't even yet cleaned the dust out, those pictures show it exactly like it was when I first opened it up. All I had to do it to get the picture on the screen you see was to shake the tuner knob a little and adjust the vert size. It has a 19V tube, so it's a little larger than the standard 19" screen. It needs minor repairs: that metal strip on the front of the cabinet that is coming off, one of the antennas is broken on top, the uhf tuner light is out…


Does anybody else see lots of blue squares with question marks in them?

That is an awesome find! It is nice to see photos of such a rare interesting set.

Very nice catch. Its the last of the great Zenith B&W chassii.
If it wernt for dirty tuners, controls & busted antennas
this set would have been near 100% reliable. They just
never came back once we sold them.

73 Zeno:smoke:

I have one...with a more conventional knob layout and no channel lights. Otherwise EXACTLY the same--including the VRT tranny.

Great catch. My dad could only ever afford black and white sets. Reminds me of better times.

That's a great find Adam. I'm glad you got it!

So I got another one of these. This one is a 1974 model with the 19EB13 chassis. It works and produces a great picture (all I did was adjust the vertical size, rotate the yoke a little, and shake the tuner). Some channels still won't work, I'll probably have to clean contacts in the tuner. And I'll clean all the dust and dirt off the chassis. I'm not sure if the auto-off timer is working or not, I hear something, but if it is moving, it's moving slower than it should.

… Now that it's been on for a while I can tell that it does move the slider control down, but it seems unable to actually switch it off.

The antennas were broken (as they almost always seem to be), but what I did was to take apart some antennas that were similar but attached with different brackets, then put those antenna rods in these brackets. It worked, but was not easy to do, there's a spring in there you have to compress while crimping together the piece that holds it in. The new rods are longer, but don't get in the way of anything when the back is on.

pictures...

And I worked a little on the 75. I removed and straightened out that metal piece on the front. (I still have to finish cleaning it and glue it back on.) This set had just one broken antenna rod. I replaced it with one of the other ones I had using the same process I did with the two on the white set. Unfortunately, it's longer than the original ones. And I only had 3 of the other rods, so I couldn't replace them both. But I'd still rather have the antenna rods uneven than have one broken.

You can see what the antennas look like taken apart in the 2nd pic. And there's a pic of our new cat we got a few weeks ago (she was living in an abandoned house across the street), checking out the 75 Zenith.

Antennas are 1-127 IIRC replacements were only "short" sized.
Used on 12" & 16" B&W hybrids , 17" & 19" CC2 also.
New ones have a plastic tube so they cant hit anything inside
if they break off.

73 Zeno:smoke:

It's great that you rescued the TV and the cat. :banana:

Good to know you have that 1975 Zenith TV working, even if the VHF antenna rods aren't quite the same length. As long as it works, that's all that matters.

I hope you discharged the CRT in that TV before your cat started nosing around inside it. The aquadag coating on all CRTs is in effect a large capacitor, and can hold a charge for a very long time--weeks, months, even years (!).

BTW: I'd hate to hear of your cat being injured or even killed :eek: by that static charge, or by any other cause (Heaven forbid!). I'm sure you would miss her very much if anything like that were to happen to her. I have a 9-year-old mixed-breed cat, Kiki, whom I love very much, and I'd certainly miss her if I lost her for any reason. She doesn't poke around in dangerous places, though, so I don't think I have anything to worry about.

BTW (2): I like your avatar, which shows one of your cats on top of a Zenith SC300 table model TV. That's one nice thing about the old CRT TVs--they were large enough for a cat to climb on top of. I once had a cat that liked to jump on top of my RCA CTC185, but my current cat couldn't do that with the flat panel I have now. She doesn't jump on the stand anyway (though she used to), so I don't worry about the flat set being knocked off and landing almost certainly on the screen. :eek:

Nice cat and nice TV. If you ever decide 2 (monochrome dura-module TVs) is too many I'd be willing to take one off your hands.

Good score. I had this same set, and gave it to a thrift store about 20 years ago. This is one those sets I wished I kept; didn't realize how rare it was. If you remember the old 'clapper' tv commercials, this set was in a segment. Which was funny, because the one I found had a bad power switch, which I shorted out. It could have used a clapper.

I'd like to find antenna rod replacements of the original length, but anything is better than antennas with broken ends..

Don't worry, I never let any cats near any HV…

When I get more time in December, I'll take that timer apart and see if I can figure out why it doesn't work. That's one unit that is so rare I'll probably never be able to find replacement parts for it.

Both these TVs have the best / sharpest picture I've seen on a B&W set.

Post the length of the original and spare antenna rods. I have two spares of mismatched length. Maybe one of mine is right for it, and we could trade.

The short one is 7" the long one is 8 3/4".

I cleaned the vhf tuner and replaced that uhf dial light in the '75. I didn't notice this before, but the '75 uses the VRT power supply and the '74 doesn't.

My spare antenna rods are 8.5" and 13.5".
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...psegcrohwv.jpg

I might have some other rods in a box of parts, I'll look later tonight.

More pics of the '75. I cleaned up the chassis a little bit. I had straightened that piece of metal that goes in the front about 90%, tried to improve it, and wound up screwing it up worse (it's very thin). Eventually, what I wound up doing is getting some of that stick on fake chrome they put on cars now, and cutting a piece to fit. It looks ok. I'm also trying to repair that spot (you can see it in primer) on the CRT mask, where it looked like someone dropped something on it that corroded the plastic. This seems to be a pretty low hour set, judging by the CRT. But it also seems as if it was stored in a damp basement underneath somebody's junk and chemicals. (I'm just repairing that one bad spot, there's other places where the cabinet is melted or scratched and it's not so noticeable. And the cabinet, particularly the back, was very dirty.)

The ball antennas are a PIA usually. Just rods with screws
easier. If you do just a rod use a grinding wheel to smooth
out the old rod stub & it will come right out. The phosphor -
bronze spring will stay in place. Better yet get a 1-127 from
someone. Wickid common antenna for 70's Zeniths, B&W or color.

73 Zeno:smoke:

I've looked for both the antennas that actually fit this and those universal replacement rods that screw in with no luck. (I'd buy a big lot of either if I could find any.) Antennas seem to be among the hardest parts to find, I've had an easier time finding flys, yokes, and even CRTs than antennas. But I just bought a lot of Zenith antennas off of ebay tonight, none that actually fit this set, but enough that I can take them apart like I did before and at least get two of the same length.

This is how the auto-off on the 74 works:

Looking at the first picture, the motor turns the black screw gear which gears it way down, which then turns the white gear. There are two switches (circled) the top one is the power to the tv, the bottom one is to the motor. They both go off when pressed in.

Looking at the 2nd pic, the wider piece circled pushes in the motor switch, the other one the tv switch. That way to the right of the position where both switches are off, the tv and the motor is on and the timer is counting down, to the left the motor switch is still pushed off but the tv switch is not pushed in and on again, allowing for the tv to be on and the timer not running.

Looking at the 3rd pic, you can see that groove that the piece that pushes the switches off uses to ride on the big white screw gear. The problem is that the ridges of that groove are worn down to the point where the white screw gear turns and doesn't move that black piece that pushes the switches off.

The 4th pic shows the way the piece with the groove attaches to the piece that pushes the switches off with that spring. You push it in so the groove isn't in contact with the white screw gear when you set the position of the timer so it can slide freely. My guess is that it got broken by someone trying to set the timer without pushing it in first.

Unless I can get a new one of those pieces with the worn out edges on the groove that rides on the white screw gear (the thing circled in the 3rd pic), I don't think I can fix this. I can't think of any way I can build up any material on those edges and keep it simultaneously thin enough to fit in the white gear, but also strong enough not to easily break off.

I wonder if it could be 3D scanned the ridges enlarged in a CAD program, and a better one then 3D printed?:scratch2:

Probably, if I had the equipment to do that.

I worked some more on the 74. I cleaned the contacts in the tuner, cleaned the dirt and dust off the chassis. Put the timer back together for now. And now I just have to glue some cracks together on the bottom of the cabinet.

I picked up a bunch of zenith antennas, but while I have several sets of two of the same length, they're all too long and get in the way of the power transformer. So for now, I'll have to live with uneven antennas on the 75. I put it back together, and now it's sitting on top of my '57 SC200 console. I put the '74 on the stand I got with the '75.

I have access to 3D printing, if you could use the part.

Thanks for thinking about this. But I don't really know anything about 3D printing: How the original part would be scanned or the computer program corresponding to the image of the part would then be modified to enlarge those worn down edges… Does anyone really know if such a thing is possible, if so how I could get the part scanned?

I came across an image of an advertisement for the white 74. Zenith called it "the odessa." Pic below...