Heathkit GR-53A color TV

[Kevin Kuehn]

Looks nice. But I was hoping to get to see a picture of the whole TV.

[Ralph S]

Kevin it'll be a while before the set is put together and tweaked for best performance given that the CRT has to be decatted. In any case, you will be shocked to see what the cabinet is for this set. It'll make you wonder what the thinking was when the choice was made.....

[Steve D.]

Lookin' good. A bit of patient trouble shooting and some help from your VK friends paid off.

-Steve D.

[Ralph S]

The following is really aimed at Dave WM because he's the guru of cataract removal and because I wanted to include some pictures I think you all might find interesting.

I've pulled the CRT out of the chassis assembly in preparation for removing the cataract, but I wanted to send you some photos to confirm the type of resin used. I suspect that this was a "Zenith" type of construction. The first shot is the only label on the tube. Nothing says RCA. The second shot is the join of the safety glass, resin and faceplate. It was a very easy matter to run a short blade around the circumference of the tube, in the resin. The third shot is a piece of the stuff showing its crumbly texture. The fourth shot shows a screwdriver inserted next to the faceplate and pulling some of the resin away; no serious resistance! What do you think? I suspect that this is a candidate for the "guitar string" method.

[bluenorm]

that is an rca cataract

[old_tv_nut]

If you can find an EIA number on a label, that would tell you the maker.

http://www.triodeel.com/eiacode.htm

RCA 274
Zenith 343

[DaveWM]

yep that is the RCA type, not gooey green (like jelly really).

if you can dig out big chucks and its relatively pliable, then you will need to wait for a very hot day, let it sit out in the sun and start in with the clothspin wedges. very gently is the key just let slight pressure do the work. it can take a while but you will see finger shadows develop reaching inward, just go back and gently tap in a little more and then walk away. If you can I would let it soak for a couple weeks just to make it a bit easier.

[StellarTV]

Strange that the tag on that tube seems to indicate that it 'employs integral implosion protection' which is what I believed to be the metal band which surrounds most of the later square CRTs. Never seen a tag where the 'integral implosion protection' sticker implicates a bonded faceplate.

[marty59]

That's an RCA tube, they used that label in the mounting band area.

[Ralph S]

News update: Last night I placed the tube on sponge rubber and toweling atop a lazy-Susan bearing which made it possible to rotate the tube as I injected distilled water containing a few drops of dish detergent to aid wetting. Using medical syringes, the injections were spaced about 1 inch apart and went in about an inch in the resin between the safety glass and the tube face. On average I was able to get in 1 to 2 CCs of liquid in each position. By the time I was finished getting around the circumference, I was able to easily remove almost an inch wide strip of resin from completely around the tube. I then soaked the tube overnight up to just above the gap between the safety glass and the tube face in the same solution. This morning I decided it probably wasn't necessary to waste a lot of water filling a tub, but rather simply keep the gap filled with liquid and refill it as needed. We'll see how this works. So far, so good.

The resin in this tube doesn't seem to be as rock hard as DaveWM described in some of the tubes he worked on, but I bet that exposure to air promoted hardening when the clear edge tape was removed and the time between removal and water application could be measured in hours or days. In this case, the water application was pretty soon after tape removal. This is pure conjecture on my part. Thoughts anyone?

[DaveWM]

I have had them both ways some times its rock hard others its some what rubbery, no idea why. the rock hard is impervious to heated wire (I tried a red hot SS wire from a variac foam cutting bow, did not even faze it). They are the ones that need the long term soaking the most, it causes the hard stuff to soften up to the rubbery state.

If you decide to use a large round garbage can (typical to hold it face up) make sure its a strong can and that its both well supported and will not fail from heat itself (buddy of mine did this and the can got soft and let the CRT fall out as it crumpled from the heat).

Good idea to perform the removal over soft grass unless you are going to stand by it for however long it takes. I would typically walk away for 15-30 min at a time between taps of the wood wedges.

Every tube will be different some easy some not, the worse the cat the better. as its only the clear part that is really stuck to the CRT.

[Electronic M]

I've found that one of the big ~5 gallon hardware store water buckets will work well for roundy tubes and 23" viewable tubes and often have enough room to hold all the neck hardware and convergence board(which I leave on my tubes when doing a cataract removal if I had them adjusted properly before the job). As long as no kids, animals, idiots, high winds are present you generally do not have to worry about it tipping over.

[ChrisW6ATV]

For the one (so far) cataract removal I did, I bought an old-fashioned metal garbage can to hold the CRT. I also put one or more cinder blocks or other bricks in the bottom before the CRT went in.

I did that CRT using the heat-gun method, but had the tube sitting in the sun face down a while to get the whole thing warm before it went into the can.

[Rod Beauvex]

I know the thread is kind of stale now, but here is a picture of the set from the 1967 catalog.

VK shrunk the pic, I have a bigger copy.

http://www41.zippyshare.com/v/73419121/file.html

[ChrisW6ATV]

Thank you for posting that catalog page, Rod.

It sure would be nice to build one of those today!