Round CRT arcing problem

[Rob]

Chad,

Glad you found the trouble. I had a funny problem in my RCA CTC-20. Even though the aquadag and demag shields were all properly grounded there was some very strange and scarry HV sparking going on. I was watching the convergence board with it flipped up to adjust while looking at the front of the set and bright, very intense blue HV sparks were happening in it. Glad I wasn't trying to adjust it at the time! It turns out a pinhole halfway up the white low density polyethelyne 3A3 socket well was allowing the HV, (a direct connection though a bit of wire inductance to the inner plate of the big capacitor we call the 21FJP22) to flash to earth ground at the flip cover of the doghouse in which the 3A3 socket is mounted. The rapid dV/dT was causing a very high voltage to be induced elsewhere in the convergence circuitry.

I was able to repair the 3A3 socket as god as new with a soldering iron and melting in some white LDPE from a plastic food container. It is a forever and very electrically sound repair. A previous 'hack' had gooped the whole area with white RTV bathtub caulking which doesn't even stick to polyethelyne, providing a repair with apparently short lived results.

Can you post some pictures of your new toy? We'd all love to see it!!!!!

Rob