1951 Philco T2130 upright console
 

Check out photos in my profile. Still hoping to locate someone to help me get the picture functioning. In very good vintage shape . Has been kept in a heated dry area from purchase. Only sound working presently

Please --- Any chance you could keep all your 1951 Philco posts in the same thread instead of starting multiple threads for the same set?

Will do and wasnt planning on it. Just thought it fit this category as well .

That should be a fine player when restored. You might want to try the Antique Radio Forum too.
http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/index.php
Post in the Antique Television category. There's quite a lot of posting action that goes on there.
Good luck with your nice set!
Joe

Thx for the info joe. I certainly hope so.

Your very welcome. On ARF you'll connect with many talented technician who will enjoy the challenge of guiding you through getting you TV up and running. I wish I could help you, but I collect for the aesthetics of these old radio's/TV's only. I know electronic restoration in vague layman's terms and hand the chassis' over to skilled techs.

I think here is part of the reason everyone is being so quiet,

No picture can mean literally dozens of different problems. It could be as simple as a bad tube but more than likely is a dried up capacitor (or even more likely, a few). Or one of many other things or combination of things. What is your skill level on electronic repair? The high voltage section of a black and white TV of this vintage has about 10,000 volts on it, give or take, if it's working. If you are going to poke around in there, you have to have , at bare minimum, an idea of what you are doing.

I have bought numerous old b&w TV's. Only two have ever produced a picture when I got them. One of them is still working fine, which is amazing. All the other ones either displayed a horizontal line, shortly failed after power up, or no picture at all. The first thing to do is to check all the tubes, including the picture tube, and replace all the paper and electrolytic capacitors. Sometimes you can just replace the ones in the video sections and get a picture, but many times, the ones you didn't replace will fail down the line, usually in a short period of time, which can get frustrating. Which is why I replace all of them. 90% of the time, they will work, in some fashion, after this is done. In many cases, this is all they need. But, I would never recommend a beginner with no experience in electronic repair, to try to do this. Maybe you do have experience, if so, I apologize.

I have over 5000 posts on ARF, so I'm familiar with them, but the best TV techs are right here, or here and over there. If someone takes the initiative to do some research on TV repair, someone will be more likely to give them a hand with their problem, or least an idea of where to look. The problem with your description of "no picture" is so vague that nobody is probably too interested in joining in unless you have a little better idea of why "no picture".

If I'm not correct here, you have my apologizes. You can learn to fix that TV. But it will take some time and some learnin'.

I will give you one hint, the HV rectifier tube, usually a 1B3, may very well be dead. Replacing that one tube may give you a picture, at least for a while. If it's out, there usually is a reason why it went out, and the new one may fail very prematurely because of the other issues above. Caps are a big problem in old electronics.

Hopefully this has helped you, at least a little. Phil Nelson, a contributor here, has some nicely written articles that you may want to check out. www.antiqueradio.org

What gregg said, It pretty much boils down to the simple fact that there is not going to be one simple fix for a set this age, it will need a full electronic restoration to function properly, this involves replacing all the paper and electrolytic caps and usually a bit of troubleshooting for various other problems that will pop up.

You can probably find someone who would be willing to do the job but be prepared to spend quite a bit because it can involve a lot of hours of labor.

The first step would be to find someone near you who has a CRT tester, if the tube is no good then the project is going to be much more difficult and expensive.

I'm sure a lot of people here would be happy to test the tube and give the set a general looking over for no charge at all, that stuff is the fun part for most of us.

If you want to learn how to do the work yourself we'd be happy to help you out as much as possible.

[QUOTE=ggregg;3090210]...I have over 5000 posts on ARF, so I'm familiar with them, but the best TV techs are right here, or here and over there...[QUOTE]

I totally agree Greg but it must also be agreed that the frequency of posts here seriously pale in comparison to the ARF site. I'm glad for both of them though. They have enhanced my enjoyment of the hobby greatly.

edited, it takes me a while to get things, sometimes............:scratch2:

Not when it comes to TV posts. That's pretty much all we talk about here while at ARF it's just one small part.

That's correct, Bob.
ARF's most active threads are the clubhouse and the on line sales, probably followed by the radio forum, then phono.

I must admit Dennis, "Mr Detrola", who doesn't post here, is one of the most knowlegable guys I've ever corresponded with.

And I must also admit, I've gotten as much information from your posts and videos than probably anywhere else. Outstanding job! Overall, I've received much more assistance on this site than ARF. Some guys here have gone above and beyond giving me a hand when I've needed it and ask nothing in return.

I agree Bob. ARF does lean heavily on vintage radio.

One of the best learning tools to fix a TV set like yours is to first fix a 5 tube table radio.

Doing that can give practice soldering, replacing capacitors, testing tubes, measuring voltages, etc. Which should build enough skills for you to comprehend the amount of work involved restoring a TV and be able to be walked through any concepts about TV repair that you do not yet understand.

Could not agree more. I have just bought another aa5 to work on myself and am keeping my two tv's in reserve for when I gain more experience. The radios are fun and less labor intensive and give a great deal of satisfaction in learning the basics on them. It is the journey that makes the hobby fun, enjoy the ride.