Mighty Monarch of The Air

[Sandy G]

Steady as she goes, Grasshopper...It ALMOST worked before, that is a VERY good sign...Somethin' THAT purty HAS to work well.

[ggregg]

The flyback might be quieter because it's not putting out any voltage. Check your work. Believe me, I'm not doubting your ability, but I still hook up stuff wrong sometimes and I've been doing this for years. Just did it on the last one I did. Also check the tubes in the HV cage, 1B3, etc. Make sure nothing is shorting and trace the schematic on each cap you changed to make sure it went to the same spot the old one went to. Have fun, this is what it's all about.

[vts1134]

All good things come to those who wait!!!

Spent some time looking over my work, going from solder point to solder point and making sure nothing was shorted, not soldered, etc. I also refered to my photographs to check polarity on the three electrolytics that I replaced. All of my checks turned up nothing, all looked good. What could it possibly be? I decided to give it power again and have a good look around and visibly check the tubes. I fired the set up and confirmed that all the tubes lit up. They lit up like a warm fire on a cold night. All of a sudden what do I see?



Wait for the set to warm up of course!
I forgot watching television as a child required turning the set on, going to the kitchen to get a bowl of cereal, and then returning to your Saturday morning cartoons.

Now I wait for my next batch of caps with a feeling of satisfaction that, lack of visible progress not withstanding, at least I'm not moving backwards.

[Phil Nelson]

A raster, yay. The bright horizontal line is the classic sign of issues in the vertical circuits. It may be cured after you finish replacing capacitors.

Don't play it long in this condition, lest it make a permanent line in the picture tube.

Phil Nelson

[vts1134]

I set to task today and replaced the multi-stage can capacitors with new individual axial lead capacitors.

Cans I replaced.


It was a bugger trying to find room for all of the new leads, but I got all of them in without any shorts.

After picture with the 7 new individual caps.


I have not yet plugged it in because I do not have a variac here at the moment. I don't know if that makes a difference now that I have replaced the capacitors but I wanted to ask all of you. Should I wait until I have a variac to fire it up, or should I fire her up all at once? I await the councils decision.

On a related note does any one have advice on procuring a variac? Specs, things to look for, price range, etc...?

[VintagePC]

Originally Posted by vts1134

On a related note does any one have advice on procuring a variac? Specs, things to look for, price range, etc...?

They can be quite expensive depending on the amperage etc. If you anticipate doing more work on tube sets in the future, it's certainly a worthwhile investment, but for a single set, the cost:gain ratio isn't that pleasing.

You can do without one, a lot of people use what's called the "dim bulb" (no sense repeating what's in a lot of other threads/sites - a quick search will net you the details) method to protect their sets when they fire them up; it gives a nice visual indication very quickly if there is a short, and is essentially a lightbulb-based voltage divider/current limiter.

Or, you can try borrowing one... there are plenty in many university physics labs and if you're friendly with the staff they might let you borrow one for a bit. I borrowed mine when I did my Fleetwood set.

Edit: Note that I meant you can use other protections instead of a variac, not that you can just fire it up without any safety!!

[vts1134]

"If you anticipate doing more work on tube sets in the future, it's certainly a worthwhile investment"

Hehe, I think that ship is sailed. I'm in pretty deep already. I have a set in my basement ready for round two, and I'm constantly on the lookout for rounds 3-26.