GE 810 Restoration
 

Here are a few pics of the GE 810 that I won on eBay and Tim was gracious enough to pick it up for me. Next to get it to the ETF Convention and maybe I can get it from there or a trip to Buffalo where I can get it. We'll see what my schedule brings.

The pictures are from today taken by the seller just before Tim left with the TV.

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Then Tim sent me these pictures after he got home. One is the CRT test and the other is what the inside looks like. Looks like I need a HV door?

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Nice good 10FP4 in it.

Crist:

Actually, there never was a back cover for the HV shield.

OK, I didn't know that. Looks complete now.

Your help is appreciated.

Here's one I sold on Radio Attic a few years ago. I really like the big brass panel on these and the bold placement of the word "Television" right in the middle below the screen. They work very well when restored. The 10FP4 picture tube gives a nice bright picture.
http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...1&d=1487219512
Is that the original finish on yours? If so, that's in fabulous shape.

One of the more difficult problems as I recall is how to clean the grill cloth. Mine came out so-so as far as the grill cloth goes. Looking forward to seeing how yours comes out!

From what I understand and what the seller has told me, yes, it is the original finish. It was kept in his grandmothers room as a piece of furniture and taken care of.
When I saw the picture he sent, I was amazed how nice the cabinet was. Whew!

BTW, your 810 looks beautiful. Did you do a restore thread on it?

Why wouldn't there ever been a door there? The top of the cage even has the screw hole to mount it.

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The back screws into the hole at the top of the HV cage. You can see it in the upper left of mine.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4104/5...1abd5bac_z.jpg

Thanks, Bob. That would explain it.

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Yeah, the screw hole in the HV cage had me thinking that there was a door. But now I see where the back cover is held on by a screw through the HV cage.

Interesting design. It looks like you can pull the chassis without unscrewing or removing the back, and the back and interlock cord will stay connected to the chassis. I can't recall seeing anything like that before on a TV...Sort of reminds me of an AA5 chassis with the back/loop ant attached to the chassis.

Hobby Lobby actually had a darn close match.....a bit brighter than the original, but new grille cloth sure makes the set pop! And it's semi-stiff to boot, which makes it easy to apply wrinkle free.

I restored mine a couple years ago and it's a great performer. It's one of my favorites in my collection. Yours is in fantastic condition.

I had the set done for about 4 hours, and another collector stopped by for some reason or other, saw it, and had to have it. Started laying out $20 bills in front of me while I shook my head. When it got to be quite a large pile, I finally capitulated......

That TV could very well be the best original finish in existence of that model. For what it's worth I have a parts chassis up in my attic.

I scanned the Riders section for the GE 810. They are hi-res documents.

The Riders is here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ccma471hce...20810.pdf?dl=0

The 24x36 schematic is here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/o6iodpr0dy...%2036.pdf?dl=0

You just never see them in nice shape, as opposed to say a 630TS where there's a really nice one around every corner. I wonder why that is??

Typically, as with cars, they were cheap and reliable, and got run into the ground until they stopped.

Well, I've been looking at this set for some time and it's time to get on with the restoration.

Here are a few pics of what I'm starting with. It was the usual dirty and a trip to the car wash cleaned it up enough to get started with.

I tested all the tubes and they all tested in the green. Some were pretty low, so those will get replaced.

It looks pretty much unmolested. There was some work done on the chassis but it doesn't look like anything was butchered.

Tomorrow I'll pick up my order of resistors and E-Caps from Mouser and then we'll get serious.

I powered it up on the bench today. I got some audio and a small raster. Then I noticed a small whiff of smoke coming from the back of the chassis. I shut it down right away. Enough of that for sure. At least I know what I have now.

BTW, it looks like this was from run 11? and the serial number is 053219.

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Wow that one cleaned up real well at the car wash. Almost looks like aluminum, but I'm pretty sure they are cadmium plated steel. Do you ever use anything like Spray 9 before you give them a soak down with the spray wand?

Kevin,
It is CAD plated steel. I guess the dirt "preserved" the CAD plating.

All I do at the car wash is to use the "Presoak" to hose it down. The Presoak is a gentle spray. Then I use the "Spot Free Rinse" to clean off the chassis. Of course I keep about a 3 foot distance from the wand to the chassis when rinsing.

The dark anti-glare screen is interesting. I've seen a number of sets without it so I wonder if it was aftermarket or a lesser seen production change or option.

It is incredible how clean that chassis is... about the only time you see the broad surface that clean is on sets where the chassis was mounted vertical.

Your carwash method seems to work really well but it scares me somewhat. I'm concerned about moisture getting into IF cans etc and being trapped there but the proof is in the pudding I suppose as you have done it many times without a problem.
I'll have to try it out on a chassis I don't care about much just to prove it to myself.

Nice set though. I'm sure it will come up a treat in your hands.

i'd never do such a thing :o

Back in 1965 my company bought a new Tektronix storage oscilloscope. Tek sent out a technician to give us a class on maintaining the new oscilloscope. He advocated cleaning the chassis periodically with a spray of water. We were floored, but he assured us that was the right way to keep things clean.

We never used water to clean the unit the entire time we owned it. We did use compressed air to blow out the dust from time to time.

Don't forget that I bake the chassis for several hours in the oven in the Winter or leave it out in the Texas sun during the summer after the car wash.

Spent the last day labeling all the components as usual.

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Went to Mouser today and picked up my order. Here are all the components ready to go back in.

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Texas sun?

you are in the Dallas area?

I ask this because you said that you WENT to mouser, and I know that is where they are. Mansfield, TX.
i get my parts from them, it get here in 1 day UPS ground.

I live in Waxahachie. About a 20 minute drive to Mouser on 287.

I didn't realize Mouser stocked those yellow axial lead capacitors? Despite all the controversy I still think those are the most accurate modern replacement for our TV's and radios.

I get the yellow caps from Sals Capacitors. Mouser does have yellow caps too. I just get them from Sal.

I try to use Xicon brand carbon film 1W resistors. They cost less than 4 cents each when buying more than 10 at a time. I'll typically buy 25 or 50 of each value that I need. The 2W and 3W resistors are again Xicon and are metal oxide and the 2W cost about 8 cents and the 3W costs about 10 cents.

I try to use Nichicon E-caps with 105C temperature and 10,000 hour ratings.

Mouser does have a Will Call that means I can call in an order and it'll be ready in an hour to pick up. No minimum purchase too. They're great people there.

j have been to Waxahachie a few times, i had a friend who lived there, but then NASA dropped a Space Shuttle on there ,,, :(

but that's another story.

Good call. Most folks look at four things: value, voltage, lead configuration and cost.

The great thing about Mouser and DigiKey is that the filtering process opens up a world of info. I always look for high temp, high hour, and depending on circuit, low ESR and/or high pulse. .20c difference in cost may be nothing in small quantities, but when you're buying a million of them, we can see why manufacturers spec a lower rated component when they can get away with it.

In these low frequency applications like TV and radio, just a good quality 105c high hour cap is perfect.

I always use Panasonic caps when they're available. I've spent a lifetime in consumer electronics and have rarely seen a Panasonic cap bail.

John

The yellow caps are fine (I've got 20 year old recaped sets with them still going strong) as long as you don't touch your soldering iron to the side and short the cap by melting the layers of plastic and foil together (made that mistake more than once).

Lately I tend to use the maroon Panasonic caps for straight recap work and save the yellow caps for restuffing (where they are better spatially than the Panasonic caps).

I re-stuffed the 3 E-Caps C1, C2, and C3 in my usual manner and installed them into the chassis. I'll buff out and install the cans later on.

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I then decided to tackle the front panel controls. Each control was removed, checked for value, checked for dead spots, cleaned, lubed, and the shafts were then polished and a coat of clear from Mohawk that is safe for brass. I then worked on each terminal strip near the controls. The tuner shaft will be polished when I work on the tuner at a later date.

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I like your can restuffing technique. It's different than mine which I will post at some point. I only restuffed paper caps on one radio because the customer wanted it, but restuffing the cans is the best option because it doesn't add any clutter underneath the deck, and if someone is using a SAMS or another identical chassis for reference, they still look the same.

But we have the same issue: what adhesive to use for bonding the cans back together?

I've been using two part epoxy, and indeed, it will be decades at least before they would ever need to be addressed again, but I was thinking about using a high temp hot glue or even hide glue. In other words, something that can allow the cans to be taken back apart with heat.

Oh, and your wiring is FAR too neat!! :D


John

Thanks for the kind words.
I don't glue the cans back on. I just slide them back over the plastic sleeve. It's a slight friction fit. That way, the cans can be simply removed by lifting them off.

Wow. Excellent idea. Is the PVC bonded to the bottom of the can or is that also a friction fit?

John

The white PVC sleeve is epoxied to the base of the capacitor.

Here is a link that goes into detail of how I restuff E-Caps.

http://www.videokarma.org/showpost.p...1&postcount=46