Heathkit GR-53A color TV

[Ralph S]

Latest news: Over this past weekend I took advantage of unusually warm weather here in CA and decided to go for it: i.e., to perform the de-cat operation! It turned out to be faster and easier than I had expected. The tube had been soaked for about 3 weeks and the access to insert the wedges (door jam shims and paint stirrers) was very easy. The tube was positioned in a padded galvanized steel, 14 gallon garbage can face up and the wedges inserted. I kept a kitchen timer going and every 1/2 hr. tapped the wedges where need to keep them just tight. About 1 hour in, I went to make another tap, but the safety glass had already popped and was free to remove. The temperature at the face of the tube was close to 120 degrees as measured with a common thermometer. The PVA layer was easy to remove and any residue was removed with soap and water. GoofOff aided desolving any remaining small spots left of the PVA. The reassembly of the safety glass to the CRT faceplate was straight forward and all was completed in about 2 1/2 hours.

The following day I reinstalled the CRT in the chassis and fired it up. I had put marks on the neck of the tube for the placement of the yoke, convergence assembly, etc., which made it very easy to get back to a starter picture. I did a quick purity and convergence, etc., and the pictures below show you what the results are as of this moment. I'll give it another convergence once-over after the set is in its cabinet. I think it coming back very well for a set that's 60 years old!