After a bit of a break, got back on the set for a bit this weekend.
While waiting for the resistors to come in, decided to use the time to start the cleaning and mechanical type work now that the set is showing some positive signs of life.
Removed the HV cage and gave everything inside a good cleaning with IPA to remove the thin layer of dust and crud. The 2 resistors (3.3 ohm and 1 meg) under the 1B3 socket test spot on after all these years. The HV anode lead looked really nasty, but it was just a layer of sticky film and dirt on the insulating tubing threaded over the wire. A rubbing down with IPA cleaned it right up. Rubber anode cap still in good shape. Reassembled the HV area after cleaning the chassis inside.
Went over the entire chassis with a bit of naval jelly followed with a wipe with ammonia then clean water to neutralize the acid. Cleaned up most of the corrosion and oxidation pretty well to an even finish. Removed, cleaned, and reinstalled the yoke and focus coil brackets. Reinstalled the cardboard tubes over the restuffed capacitor cans, securing them with a bit of RTV sealant.
Opened up the tuner, and gave the switch wafers a thorough cleaning with Deoxit. Little bit of lube on the fine tuning mechanism to get it freed up, and everything seems to be working smoothly. Grafted the fishpaper cover from over the brightness/contrast control from the donor chassis to replace one that was cracked and damaged. Powered everything back up, and once things warmed up, had some immediate arcing from one of the vertical yoke leads to the chassis hole it comes through.
Killed the power immediately...
RCA didn't deem a grommet necessary here, and the flexing of the leads while working on things must have chafed or cracked the insulation. Unsoldering the lead and slipping some heatshrink over it fixed the problem, and I'm back where I was with a much cleaner chassis.
The tuner seems to be working well now, tuning in all channels nicely from my VA62.
Great news, as I really hate working on wafer switch tuners.
UPS says the resistors will be in by midweek. Then I can start trying to work on the vertical sweep and sync issues. Vertical height takes several minutes to build up sufficient amplitude, and there seems to be pretty severe foldover....