rca ctc-7 electronic restoration project
 

Got my order of new caps in from mouser on thrusday. Planned on spending friday night recapping the entire chassis. Figure I can stay up as long as I need, not to worry about work the next day.

I checked all the various brand of caps at mouser. Bought all sprague orange drops. Those caps are the best, never had trouble with them. Best of all, they are still made in USA! I want to keep all parts american if at all possible.

There was a total of exactly 50 wax caps and a few bb caps as well. Replaced 3 filter caps. What you see are the before and after pictures. After I reassebled the TV, I turned it on and had perfect results! Just needed a touch up of the vertical centering/size and lin. However, I encountered a new problem. The vertical centering pot is a 15ohm wire wound, and when I turned it, the contact arced and burnt the wire, so now the pot is open. I could try to solder a little blob to complete the circuit between the burnt windings, but I would rather find a new part as I dont like "jerryrigging" parts to make them work.
Other than that, it works well with a good solid sound, horizontal syncs well and color is great. Vertical hold aligns right in the mid range. Once i find a new vc pot, this set is ready for watching!

The above picture is the chassis before recapping. This next picture is what it looked like before the new orange drops were installed on the underside of the chassis.

this is the most congested spot on the chassis. Many caps were jammed under other parts.

Restored!
 

Here is the top of the chassis with all new caps installed! There were 2 paper lytics that I left alone. I generally dont have problems with those, as they are low voltage

Here is the underside, complete.

Here is a close up of the congested area, completed.

Here is a picture of me sitting at the repair bench. Im about half way trough the restoration at this point. I started recapping the TV at 7pm last night. I stayed up working on it untill 2 am untill it was complete. I dont like leaving tv projects left alone in peices.
I'll never forget, I was restoring an rca ctc25 chassis console about 2 years ago, with the back off, chassis still in place. When I got home from work, the cat was sleeping inside the TV just next to the chassis. My yellow lab came downstairs at the same time I did and scared the cat out of the TV and the cat ran over the chassis and snapped the horizontal efficiancy coil off! Ever since then, Ive been cautious to leave things out that may get wrecked either by the pets or by me not paying attention and kicking something and or breaking it! For example, When I went to get something for dinner last night, I took the chassis and put it down horizontally. I take every precaution I can as I know the wrong move or bump will send it crashing to the floor!

Doug,

Very professional looking work you did there! :thmbsp: Man that's a nice, clean chassis!

Yeah, I know what you mean by coming back the next day to finish something. Um... let's see... did that wire go here? Or there? :scratch2:

Doug, that's a great looking re-cap job! I haven't had any color TV's to work on that used many paper caps....that's a lot of caps! Now as for me I don't have any problem coming back to a job later...I just don't leave any wires or caps, etc. disconnected. I prefer to quit if I feel tired and just come back to it the next day.

I agree, a very neat job. I don't use orange drops very often but this set deserves them. I like the way the electrolytics are mounted, just real tidy looking. Something for me to shoot for! I won't have any color sets to do like this for some time, unless I find something else. The only one needing attention is a Zenith 25MC33 but it will only need electrolytics and a few of those Elmenco ceramic/paper caps replaced. Got plenty of b/w and radio stuff to tackle, though, and long winter nights are coming!

Doug,

I'll add my kudos. Nice to see a chassis all freshened up. Good job.

Thanks for completments guys. Im glad I took the time to redo this one. The recap job went smooth with no problems. This is a definite keeper for the collection.
A positive note: Moyer has an NOS vertical centering pot! Only $3, so i'll get this set working the way it should very soon. I will post pictures of the TV in operation as soon as I get the new pot installed. Look for pictures in about a week!

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can't wait to see the finished pix Doug! Glad Moyers had the part you needed! They ALWAYS have the RCA stuff. It's anything outside of that where one runs into trouble.

All done!
 

Got the new pot from moyer yesterday. Installed it today and put the set back together.
Convergence took about 2 min, and converged with excellent results, purity turned out very good too.
Checked out the horiz. output cathode current. Runs nice and cool at 180mA, which means the flyback is running cool! Tint control balances well within its range, all chroma circuits checked and working great.

Now you can see the pictures of the TV in operation! It was worth every penny to restore this set, it works as good as new.

another picture........

and one more pic.

I use the VCR to show pictures, dont have cable and dont have my outdoor antenna on the roof yet at the new house.

Special thanks to moyer electronic for having a 50 year old part still in stock!

Wow !! Quality, careful work virtually always pays off, doesn't it? That set really does work like new. Congrats, Doug !! (from someone who still thinks rhis stuff is about half a black art)....-Sandy G.

Doug,

I'm quite impressed! Beautiful work.

damn Doug.... GREAT work. That set has a better picture than most new ones out there. The CTC-7 chassis had a bad rep in its day, which you and modern technology solved. I remember reading old tech books on how that set had a short life span because of its vertical chassis design and the fact that ALL the wax caps would leak all over the place causing many,many problems. Techs hated it. I bet if today's caps were available then the set would have been a better performer, which you have proved with fantastic screen shots.

Wow, I'm really impressed by that picture Doug! Great work...to think some moron might have turned that into a fish tank if you hadn't come along! :yikes:

BTW Doug, couldn't help but notice your old GE & Westinghouse fans in the background. Didn't know you collected them too (although I might have guessed). Here's a picture of the Robbins & Myers fan in my living room. It required extensive restoration, but I'm happy with the finished product.

Dragnet lookin' good
 

Doug,

Really impressed with the picture quality on the CTC-7. Friday and Gannon never looked so good. I'm doubly impressed that your old top loader vcr is still providing those sparkling images.

Steve

even VCRs are about to be a thing of the past...
 

with VCRs about to come to the end of their time ....it is great to see a CTC7 and a top loader in action! :)

and no tearing or other problems with the CTC&7 running from a vcr? ..amazing

I hope you don't mind ...
 

Doug, I enhanced your image ...to bring out a bit more detail of the set....so I thought the guys might like to see it ....:)

Doug,

Your set is amazing! That's a sharp picture! Did you end up cooking the heaters in the tube at a higher voltage, or did you simply leave it be as it was?

Boy, Doug, I wish I had HALF your ability. Or even a TENTH!

Bob

Thats GREAT work. Now, if only I can find a roundie or a color one of similar age.

I have the ability, its the money thats my problem, but those look like they are well worth the money to restore if you can fine one.