Fleetwood Constellation Restoration Thread

[electroking]

Hello again VintagePC. You surely remember me, as I do remember your earlier
Fleetwood project. I'm glad you found that nice Canadian built TV, with a radio
and phono to boot! I will be away for a few days, but be sure to contact me with
your tube needs, I will be more than happy to help again. Bye for now.

P.S. : note that this TV uses a stacked power supply, meaning that the cathode
of the audio output tube is used as a supply point for lower voltage stages. It
is quite important that the output stage be correctly operating in order for all
the plate supplies to be at the correct voltage. Better have a good working tube
of the correct type in that position. Regards.

[VintagePC]

Originally Posted by electroking

Hello again VintagePC. You surely remember me, as I do remember your earlier
Fleetwood project. I'm glad you found that nice Canadian built TV, with a radio
and phono to boot! I will be away for a few days, but be sure to contact me with
your tube needs, I will be more than happy to help again. Bye for now.

P.S. : note that this TV uses a stacked power supply, meaning that the cathode
of the audio output tube is used as a supply point for lower voltage stages. It
is quite important that the output stage be correctly operating in order for all
the plate supplies to be at the correct voltage. Better have a good working tube
of the correct type in that position. Regards.

I was wondering whether I'd see you again in this restoration thread - Thanks for the offer (and again for all your help with the last one!)

Interesting supply setup for the TV, and indeed something to keep in mind when working on it; more troubleshooting complexity when things go wrong!
The radio side uses 6V6s for the output stage (and while specced for a 6W6, audio output is also a 6V6) so of three total, at least one is hopefully good

Current project status is on hold as I'm going to be too busy for a few weeks, but after that I should be ready to order up some caps and get restoring. (There's about $50 worth in the radio and TV combined, $25 of which is the 12 or so electrolytic can sections by themselves. Now that I know the power transformer and flyback aren't open circuit or dead short, I am ready to take the plunge and do the order.

There's some bodgework around the VBO transformer, which appears to have been replaced along with the vertical height control; I don't know whether the picture tube is original but it looks as though at some point the vertical failed. Fortunately no signs of burn-in or damage on the phosphors, so either the tube was replaced or it was caught before any damage occurred. I'll clean up the macgyvering of the transformer (the blue wires I incorrectly attributed to the yoke earlier) but leave the control in place for now unless there are problems.

I haven't found any major problems during my initial inspections apart from a blown dial lamp and some mouse-nibbled capacitors, and all indications seem to be that it should be in working order when recapped. I'd originally thought to do some restuffing but that may be hard with the plastic molded caps, and some of the paper nibbled ones are too far gone (though I did save the ones from my 4068 and could use them instead).