I (sort of) built a Colordaptor, and have subsequently scrapped the chassis. It really isn't worth your time. The tri-stable switch circuit is touchy at best, and trying to get the wheel to sync is an exercise in futility. Any time the line voltage would shift, I would loose wheel sync. (AC kicking on, refrigerator cycling, garage door opener, the vacuum cleaner, even the 300 watt bulbs in the basement were enough to screw with the voltage in the house.) Plus, trying to get a vintage set to pass the color burst and getting the Colordaptor to lock onto it is easier said than done. I suggest three possible alternatives to the lowly Colordaptor:
1) Convert a type 630TS (or chassis with similar sweep sections, a 721TS could easily be pressed into service) to run at the NTSC incompatible CBS rates. On the 630TS this involves a handful of passive components being switched out. That's it. Then you can focus on building a wheel control circuit using a saturable reactor. (Trust me, wheel control is a complete and total b*tch to implement... I'm still working out kinks with mine.)
The only pricey part in this is the NTSC to CBS adapter. Mr. Hock's World Converter is about $1000 the last time I looked (and worth every last red cent I might add); we spoke briefly at the museum a year or two ago and he was considering a run of (cheaper?) CBS only boxes. I'm not sure what, if anything, came of that.
Regardless, the CBS solution gives you a MUCH better color picture with less fuss. The dreadful flicker found in the CBS field sequential solution is about as noticeable as 50 Hz TV flicker; in other words, barely. The images are bright, clear, and relatively flicker free. In fact, a good working CBS set produces and image DRAMATICALLY superior to the '54 15 inch NTSC sets.
2) Use Daryl's NTSC to NTSC field sequential box. This box takes a standard NTSC signal and essentially does what the Colordaptor or Col-R-Tel do, less the wheel control circuit. It then spits the field sequential NTSC out at line level to be sent to a modulator. No circuit mods to the TV are required to demodulate the color and send it to the gun of the CRT; you need only make connections under the hood for your wheel control circuit. This is MUCH cheaper (about $200 to $250 IIRC), and the color shouldn't be all smeared and "pastel", but flicker will now be a bit more of an issue.
3) If you absolutely MUST have smeary incoherent tube demodulated NTSC field sequential color, then either a) find a Col-R-Tel (ideally find two and sell me the second
) or b) build the Jay Stanley circuit instead. It's quite a step up from the Colordaptor, and can be easily adapted to a wheel. In fact, Mr. Stanley gave instructions for this. It's also about twice the work to put together.
I went with the CBS option and haven't looked back. Regardless of what you might choose to do, having an aluminized CRT is absolutely critical. Your color wheel will be absorbing ~90% of the light emitted from the CRT face. This is part of the reason why I'm hoarding 10FP4 and 12KP4 CRTs.
Also, it's in your best interest to use a 10 or 12 inch set. Wheel control grows touchier as wheel mass increases. A heavier wheel is naturally going to resist not only getting up to speed, but the small corrections that need to be made to wheel speed on a continual basis in order for the system to work.
Good speed Phil.