Admiral 24C16 restoration

[bandersen]

This set uses the 20B1 chassis which is almost identical to the 20A1 chassis in my Admiral 24A12 so I've been restoring them at the same time.

I picked this set up last spring. The cabinet is in really good shape except for a ring on top where there is some finish loss.


Always use a coaster!





The chassis is in pretty good condition too. It's covered in light rust and filthy, but intact otherwise. I can only find evidence of two capacitors being replaced long ago.




The CRT is losing is aquadag coating and is an odd brand "Nat'l Video Corp". It tests very good, but I do get an intermittent G1 short. Tapping on the neck makes it go away. I just might be trying the "remove short" function for the first time.






Here are the two chassis side by side. The one for this set is on the left.


Pretty much the only difference is that this one is wired for a 12LP4

[leadlike]

Maybe the short is in the base of the tube. It could be worth your while to desolder the thing and confirm that. It's also worth checking out your crt checker and making sure there are no out of tolerance parts there. I had a tube checker that would occasionally give a "shorts" reading on a known good tube. I traced out the circuit, replaced a resistor, and now it is a lot less finicky.

[bandersen]

Yeah, I knew what you mean so I tried two different testers. They both gave the same results - a very intermittent G1 short. Basically I can tap on the neck and the short goes away indefinitely. So if it is in the base, there must be a loose bit of metal floating around. I suppose it is worth checking, but what a PITA

[bandersen]

Luckily, the chassis cleans up very easily Just a little Naval Jelly and a WD40 wipe down.










The turret tuner was filthy too with a thick, sticky film all over it. I used some Radio Shack control contact cleaner being careful not to wipe off the numbers.

[bandersen]

These Admirals are really easy to work on. Having a split chassis is a big part of that. It cuts down on the weight of the main chassis so it's easy to move around.



Just about done recapping




I still have some cleaning to do, but can't wait to fire it up
I'll be doing that later tonight - keep your fingers crossed!

[Dan Starnes]

Got my fingers crossed!!

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by Dan Starnes

Got my fingers crossed!!

Thanks to Dan's crossed fingers, I've got some good news!

At first, nothing - no HV, no B+, no filament glow, then I realized I forgot to plug the cheater cord in
That's a 5AXP4 test CRT I've installed


With that hooked up, I was treated to a nice CRT glow and loud buzz from the speaker. At this point I still had the HV cage and tube shields off so I shut it down. While replacing those shields, I realized I also had left out one of the 6AU6s in the IF stages


Now, I've tuned it to channel 6 (OTA analog VHF station) and got some good sound, but the horizontal and vertical sync are all over the place I tried a DTV converter box and got no sound and no picture

So I grab an alignment tool and reach around to the horizontal coil and start tweaking it. At one point I get a high pitched squeal, then at last a stable picture


Still no sound at all though. I had a similar issue with my 24A12, but not as bad. I went back to channel 6 OTA and can tune in both a good picture and sound. I'll try my blonder tongue modulator later, but next I'm going to try the 12LP4.

[wa2ise]

[Dan Starnes]

Congratulations,, that pic with the tubes a glowin is very cool.

[bandersen]

Thanks! I've reinstalled the 12LP4 and was treated to a mediocre picture.




I was going to call it a night, but decided to try one last thing. I had tested all the tubes in this set and they checked out OK. Even so, why not swap them out with the 24A12 set that's playing much better?

Still no sound, but the picture is much better! I swear this Honeymooners just happened to be on











If I tap on the CRT, the picture sometimes goes faint so that G1 short really is something to be dealt with.
Also, I need to track down which tube(s) was the culprit.
Finally, still some work to do on that audio

[zenithfan1]

Looks great Bob! That Naval Jelly really works wonders. That recap and new resistors look great too, I also like to install them that neatly. Very, very nice work

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by zenithfan1

Looks great Bob! That Naval Jelly really works wonders. That recap and new resistors look great too, I also like to install them that neatly. Very, very nice work

Thanks! Here's a little video I took while recapping this set that shows my technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6P-KZyjOa8

Originally Posted by jeyurkon

Nice work Bob! I like the way you present most of your work the same day. I'm assuming you didn't do this all in one day!

That's some ion trap they have on there.

How do you keep the Naval jelly out of places you don't want? Just being careful?

John

LOL - no I spent about 4hrs/day for a couple weeks. I had just restored another set with the same chassis so this one went pretty fast.

Not that I'm done yet - it's that last 5% that's the killer

All my Admiral sets have that same blue/black ion trap magnet - remember the blue goes towards the face!

Yes, I'm just careful with the rust remover. Some brands are very fluid and it can drip all over. Naval Jelly is very viscous and tends to stay where you put it. It only took about two hours to clean up the front. Two coats of jelly, wipe it down with a damp sponge, dry it off with a paper towel, then a final rub down with WD40.

Originally Posted by Findm-Keepm

Your work is second to none. Your restorations are museum quality for sure!

The lead dress of your replacement caps makes me think you are either a very professional conservationist/restorer or have some form of OCD.

The problem-solution-result style of your pictures is amazing. I can't remember a time when I've ever thought of any repairs I've performed as being worthy of a photo - but every one of your photos tells a thousand stories.

I'm jealous to say the least.

Cheers,

Thanks! No, I swear it's just a hobby - I do actually have a full-time job programming websites. It's nice to get paid to surf the web - that's why you might see me online at all hours of the day. I also work from home which is awesome when do time intensive stuff like removing rust or refinishing. I just take a little break to slap on some naval jelly then it's back to work


I recorded some video last night while I was working on this set, but I need to do a lot of editing before I can post it. Stay tuned...

[Tubejunke]

Originally Posted by bandersen

Two coats of jelly, wipe it down with a damp sponge, dry it off with a paper towel, then a final rub down with WD40.

I have been messing around with old radios and TV's for around 30 years. I don't think that I have ever run into a more informative and useful thread in my life. Your work is impeccable! I started at around 12 with taking apart my first vintage radio. I have never been able to explain my attraction to this stuff because it seems like most of the antique and 'collectable' world almost completely disregards old TV sets. I have a nice 1950 Zenith 24" remote set that I can't even GIVE away. The problem with this is if you can't give a set away, and you don't have the heart to part it out and break up the cabinet, what are you to do? Unless you have a large building outside of your home for this hobby, the need for space can bring your hobby to a halt. I'm sure many reading this know exactly what I mean. I have a guy that gave me a round tube color set that I can't bring home because of this.

Anyone ever coming through VA can stop by and take home some really decent sets and perhaps some NOS spare parts.

Oh, and I can not believe the way that Naval Jelly makes a chassis look! This makes me want to take apart every old radio and TV that I have and apply that stuff. It looks sand blasted! I have used steel wool a time or two, but it really wasn't worth the time and effort. This looks do'able bigtime! GREAT tip!

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by Tubejunke

I have been messing around with old radios and TV's for around 30 years. I don't think that I have ever run into a more informative and useful thread in my life. Your work is impeccable! I started at around 12 with taking apart my first vintage radio. I have never been able to explain my attraction to this stuff because it seems like most of the antique and 'collectable' world almost completely disregards old TV sets. I have a nice 1950 Zenith 24" remote set that I can't even GIVE away. The problem with this is if you can't give a set away, and you don't have the heart to part it out and break up the cabinet, what are you to do? Unless you have a large building outside of your home for this hobby, the need for space can bring your hobby to a halt. I'm sure many reading this know exactly what I mean. I have a guy that gave me a round tube color set that I can't bring home because of this.

Anyone ever coming through VA can stop by and take home some really decent sets and perhaps some NOS spare parts.

Oh, and I can not believe the way that Naval Jelly makes a chassis look! This makes me want to take apart every old radio and TV that I have and apply that stuff. It looks sand blasted! I have used steel wool a time or two, but it really wasn't worth the time and effort. This looks do'able bigtime! GREAT tip!

Thanks! Just doin' what I can to share what I've learned. The fact that most ignore old TVs is part of the attraction to me. I mess around with old radios too, but hate having to pay exorbitant prices for tubes like the 245 or 483 output tubes. Much easier to get a 1B3 or 6BG6 It's also a much greater challenge to get one of these setts running smoothly.

As for space - yeah I think most of us are stuffed. I have 6 sets out on the back porch because there's no more room. I won't be getting any more sets until I move to a bigger place or sell a few. I really can't bring myself to part with any though.

One important think I need to mention regarding chassis. Some chassis, and transformers are cadmium plated. Usual they go a bit white/green/yellow over time. Naval Jelly and rust removers in general can clean the cadmium oxide up very well, but it's very toxic and produces nasty fumes! Please wear gloves and have good ventilation if you're going to attempt it.

I've been using non-conductive abrasive pads too. I've seen them sold as a finish stripping pads sometimes. They work as well as steel wool, but without all the little metal bits that can work their way into everything.

BTW this is actually the chassis from another set.



It's going to get stinky








Neutralizing with a mild detergent


Next, a little Simichrome metal polish


Final results. Elapsed time about 20 minutes. I'll save the rest of the chassis for another day.

[edison64]

Great job, even Norton is getting ready to watch Captain Video...