GE 810 restoration

[Kamakiri]

Gotta admit, I'm a little lost on why you guys power up sets of the '40s at all without replacing caps first. A lot of damage can be done by shorted caps.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Gotta admit, I'm a little lost on why you guys power up sets of the '40s at all without replacing caps first. A lot of damage can be done by shorted caps.

Well since you asked. I think it's probably an instinctive desire, that some of us prefer to trouble shoot the circuitry, vs taking a shotgun approach to the finish line. I know for myself, I've often lost interest soon after the set becomes reliable in operational, and there goes any hope of completing the cosmetic aspect of a restoration. Dare I suggest that I've parted out sets that I repaired only a few years earlier. (nothing historically valuable of course) And I'm not implying any of the above in a derogatory way, I'm simply suggesting that we're not all wired to our hobby by the same intentions. Might I add that this is why so many find it sad that our nation is moving more and more away from a service economy. There just aren't too many creative employment opportunities left for those who enjoy troubleshooting electronic and mechanical devices.

[Polaraligned]

[QUOTE=Kevin Kuehn;3150337], I've often lost interest soon after the set becomes reliable in operational, and there goes any hope of completing the cosmetic aspect of a restoration. /QUOTE]

LOL...I always do my cosmetic restoration first these days so I don't fall into the same trap.

[Kamakiri]

Originally Posted by Kevin Kuehn

Well since you asked. I think it's probably an instinctive desire, that some of us prefer to trouble shoot the circuitry, vs taking a shotgun approach to the finish line. I know for myself, I've often lost interest soon after the set becomes reliable in operational, and there goes any hope of completing the cosmetic aspect of a restoration. Dare I suggest that I've parted out sets that I repaired only a few years earlier. (nothing historically valuable of course) And I'm not implying any of the above in a derogatory way, I'm simply suggesting that we're not all wired to our hobby by the same intentions. Might I add that this is why so many find it sad that our nation is moving more and more away from a service economy. There just aren't too many creative employment opportunities left for those who enjoy troubleshooting electronic and mechanical devices.

To each their own, I guess. I usually end up working on 3 or 4 sets at a time, simultaneously recapping chassis and ordering odd bits for all of them at the same time.

If there's any cabinet work that needs to be done, I send the cabinets over to a friend of mine who does them up in exchange for radio repair.

Then, I end up with at least one out of the lot that has some funky issue, and those are the ones I post about here . Most of those get sorted out, but there are a couple (such as my 730TV2) that I've been wrestling with forever and intend to get back on once the restoration backlog is a little more clear. Yep, this place is most of the time like a production shop.

Once the sets are done, I end up watching the snot out of them. There are some that I end up selling to a few local guys that are really into vintage TVs but don't have the experience to restore them, and that pays for my parts and puts a little change in my pocket. Which is good, because once I bring something back to life, I want it to *live*. I think we all do

[Radiotronman]

I've replaced all wax caps and electrolytics. My picture is clear and sharp, but has to be viewed in dim light. I expected that from a pretty weak CRT. Now I only have s buzz for sound. Trying to troubleshoot this now...

[Radiotronman]

None of the resistors under the audio output tube are out of tolerance. I can hear the audio faintly, but I have to listen close.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Does the audio get any clearer if you offset the picture with tuning, in other words tune for best sound?

[Radiotronman]

I can get decent sound if I get the fine tuning just right. It doesn't vary too much; you're either fine tuned in or you're not.

[Red Raster]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Gotta admit, I'm a little lost on why you guys power up sets of the '40s at all without replacing caps first. A lot of damage can be done by shorted caps.

I fully agree with Kamakiri and it's dam tough not to get baited into plugging it in to see what you got!. Not only can you cause damage But trying to trouble shoot something with multiple problems is like chasin rabbits.


Effort rewarded on first trial. Note! of all the capacitors in the pile only one check ok. Including the eletrolytics with the pile of caps, Here are 30 plus reasons why not to turn on a unrestored set!.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Red Raster

I fully agree with Kamakiri and it's dam tough not to get baited into plugging it in to see what you got!. Not only can you cause damage But trying to trouble shoot something with multiple problems is like chasin rabbits.


Effort rewarded on first trial. Note! of all the capacitors in the pile only one check ok. Including the eletrolytics with the pile of caps, Here are 30 plus reasons why not to turn on a unrestored set!.

I've never had, and never will have any problems powering unrestored sets...As long as I have my variac. As long as you monitor the cans and transformer, and pay good attention for signs of trouble, bringing a set up on a variac does not hurt anything. It is good to have a baseline of what is working before you shotgun caps or troubleshoot, and it is not very rare to have a paper cap era set (pre-1960) come up on a variac and work great or well enough to know all the important stuff is good.

If I can get distorted reception from a radio or a shrunken raster with maybe some signal out of a TV then I feel a heck of a lot more gung-ho shotgunning the caps, etc. Because I know I'm not going to waste caps on a possible dog that needs stuff I can't find for it...