How would you answer this E-mail

[Eric H]

Please, keep it reasonably clean.

"I’m looking for like a big old console tv to gut and turn into a bar, and make put an lcd panel where the old tube was, unfortunately I’m having no luck.."

[MTaylor]

I've heard of fish tanks, but a bar is even worse!

[vinyldavid]

I'd tell him to go to wal-mart and buy a Big screen and put a bar on top of that.

[Cadillac Kid]

What is the big deal? The guy likes the vintage look and has an idea for a cool project. Not every old TV needs to be saved. Relax.

[David Roper]

I've got an '83 Curtis-Mathes combo in the garage which is really good for nothing else whatsoever...but it would still bother me somehow.

[radiotvnut]

It wouldn't be near as bad if he found a mid '90's Zenith console with a bad CRT to convert into a bar. Now, one of those would be more useful as a bar than it ever was being a TV, as the CRT's usually didn't last but 2 or 3 years, if that long. Now, in 30 years, I'll probably be begging for one of those mid '90's Zenith consoles for my collection!

[David Roper]

What do you think I replaced the Curtis-Mathes with, nut?!

Seriously! '96 Zenith console with a tube as bright as new. I guess I seriously lucked out somehow.

Ha I remeber working on those sets as recent as a few years ago....there are still some going that the jugs were replaced under warranty,when they came in the shop theyusually were dead because of bleeding low voltage electrolytics,that is what collectors in the future will have to face....eaten away traces on the pcb's from the leaking caps,any peice of electronic equipment from 1988 and up that uses black nichicon capacitors will have have this problem,however their other series with the blue cases are unaffected by this problem....still dont understand why,probabaly a different electrolyte formula that didn't eat the rubber.

EDIT:I forgot to mention that usually the caps start leaking after about 12 years of service on average

[kbmuri]

Plan A: I would point him here:
http://shop.ebay.com/items/Cabinets-...Q_scZ1QQ_sopZ1
to window shop. Most TV cabinets are less-interesting versions of "cabinets that were meant to be cabinets only". Then send him to the Salvation Army, Goodwill, etc, to find something suitable, a little cheaper. Let him make a frankenset out of something prettier, without harming anything permanently.

Plan B: If it MUST be an old TV cabinet, offer to help him find one, your "finder's fee" is to keep all the worthless guts.

Originally Posted by Cadillac Kid

What is the big deal? The guy likes the vintage look and has an idea for a cool project. Not every old TV needs to be saved. Relax.

Agreed, not all TVs need to be saved, and relax. But it's really rude to buy one and throw all the tubes, CRT, transformers, etc into a dumpster because you want to make a "really cool" bar that probably won't be as really cool as you thought and then you get bored with it and throw the whole thing in a dumpster anyway. It's just disrespectful to the past and a "waste".

[Old1625]

In replying to such email I would simply say that they are asking the wrong guy, and that they need to consult an interior decorator.

Old consoles don't cut it for such applications for at least three reasons:

1) The top surface is nowhere near the right height for serving as a bar--IMHO

B) It would take an inordinate amount of work to prepare the front to accommodate a 16:9 large screen of any decent size.

III) Liquids and Electronics do not always favorably mix.

To turn an old console TV into an aquarium stand in my way of thinking robs each of their own individual dignity.

[kbmuri]

Oh, and Plan C. Suggest he take "wood shop" if he's still in high school, or perhaps a local job-training center or vocational college. Or possibly learn the craft at a "summer job" in a cabinetry factory (Do those still exist?). It would be even more "cool" and rewarding to design and build the whole project from scratch.

[Old1625]

Originally Posted by kbmuri

Oh, and Plan C. Suggest he take "wood shop" if he's still in high school, or perhaps a local job-training center or vocational college. Or possibly learn the craft at a "summer job" in a cabinetry factory (Do those still exist?). It would be even more "cool" and rewarding to design and build the whole project from scratch.

Yep!

[kbmuri]

Take this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/GREAT-1960S-WALN...d=p3286.c0.m14

Remove the swinging doors. Remove the drawers. Remove the horizontal drawer supports for the right drawers. Cut the right vertical support board (the one that the right swinging door was hinged to) back about halfway (so the back half still supports the cabinet top adequately). The area originally covered by the doors + the area where the right drawers were, would support a 16:9 widescreen nicely. Place one there. Reinstall the top left drawer. Cut the bottom-left drawer support out. Cut the original right swinging drawer down to size and mount it so that it covers the area under the left drawer. Now you have a liquor cabinet, supplies drawer, and a widescreen HDTV in an "authentic" 60's-style cabinet. Nothing of value destroyed. No vintage TV enemies made. No "awkward fit" of a 16:9 into a vintage-CRT hole. A countertop to place your drinks. Whole project takes 1 day. Reasonable results. Disposable when you realize widescreen flat-panels belong on the wall.

[andy]

...

[radiotvnut]

I think all wood TV cabinets started going out in the late '60's or early '70's. I've got a '74 Zenith high end console with a particleboard and plastic cabinet. I think the '69 Zenith B&W console and the '66 Motorola color console that I have is all wood.