Zenith 19L25 Chassis Restoration - Advice?

[Phil Nelson]

Isopropyl alcohol usually cleans up that soft soot pretty well. I'd clean everything you can reach. A soft artist brush is good for getting into tight spaces.

Phil

[RitchieMars]

I took some time to clean up around this area with isopropyl alcohol, a small brush, and some cloth and I think I got rid of a ton of dust and black smut. I checked the wires, made sure they looked reasonably clean and cleaned up that plastic bracket and the area around the 1B3 tube.

Trouble came after I powered it up again. After about 10 seconds, I got some vicious arching from what looked like the bottom of the 1B3 tube socket. I didn't have to turn out the lights... it was just a sudden, wicked scorch of blue and orange. I didn't sit around and watch the show, obviously.

I took a close look at it and could only figure that maybe some of the alcohol got in there and didn't dry completely? I powered it up again, and saw no lights but heard a sizzle so I shut it off again and tried to blow it out. After the third time, the sizzle faded to barely nothing, but I can still hear a little hiss or two here and there from the bottom of the tube socket.

Gosh, if it's arching inside the bottom of that enclosed tube socket... I don't see any way in the world of getting to it.

[Phil Nelson]

Remove the tube and let it dry overnight.

[RitchieMars]

UPDATE: Oookay, apparently she's fine now...? I went back in there to poke around after I posted this and the set powered up without any problems. I hear no hiss from the flyback, no sizzle from the 1B3. Just the nice soft hum of the transformer and a purring raster. Maybe I really was just a little too heavy-handed with the alcohol, after all.

Point taken, though. I'll make sure it has plenty of time to dry overnight and I guess I'll plug up my inputs tomorrow and see what kind of picture I'm getting. Sitting as it is, the horizontal won't hold steady no matter what I do. I hope it's just the lack of signal.

[leadlike]

It's possible the leaking of the flyback threw off your horizontal frequency. Probably adjusting the H-lock coarse coil will throw you back into range.