I've been blessed by Royalty... ZENITH Royalty

[Charlie]

Yesterday, I stopped at an antique store in Beaumont that I hadn't been to before. Something had been going thru my mind about that store... and I found out what it was... a 1956 Zenith Royal X I've always wanted one of these, and this one was just calling out to me.

I hadn't even been in the store 60 seconds when I spotted it. There was a tag on the front, and when I read it, my heart nearly stopped! It was on lay-a-way for someone else!! Then, I noticed there were some dates on the tag... dating back to July 15th. I wondered about that, so I asked the lady behind the counter. She told me some lady put it on layaway in july and made two payments since then. They've been calling here regularly in hopes she'd come in to finish paying and take it home... they never hear from her.

I told the lady I wasn't going to leave that store without buying it... paying in full (I hadn't even asked how much yet). She turned and grabbed the phone... called the guy that it belonged to (turned out to be the shop owner). They were on the phone for two or three minutes, and then she came to me and said I could take it for 175. I said, "okay, but I'd like to test the picture tube first if I'm going to pay that price." She says, "Oh it works... we played it regularly until the analog TV went off air."

I was a bit surprised. She plugged it in and turned it on... the damn thing came on! I'm sold!

I paid for it, and told her I'd be back in the morning to pick it up. Today, I went to get it. After getting it in the truck, another lady came to me in the store and said my name. Come to find out, one of my 8th grade teachers was there selling items. Wow... I had more grey hair than she did!

Okay, I get it home. The set is quite clean! There was a little dust inside... nothing serious. Considering it's over 50 years old, I figure the person it belonged to must have had a clean house! The TV sets on top of a stand like Jim's (classicradios) '63 Zenith Roundie (the base on mine swivels). I didn't even realize this at first... found out when we tried to pick it up! The insides are very nice... like new... even the yoke cover is like new! It's still kinda soft and shiny. The tuner feels solid. The cabinet is the fake stuff, but in good shape. There are a few light scratches... but still very nice looking.

The CRT is a 24DP4A. Looks like it has an ion trap on it... I thought A versions of B&W tubes didn't use ion traps??? Anyway, the tube test weak on my tester, but still puts out a picture. Being they had been running the set regularly, I went ahead and plugged it in without a variac. The picture is scrunched some, but hey, not bad considering it's age.

It looks like half the tubes have been replaced. The latest date code I could find was 1967. Thru a hole in the chassis, I could see a black beauty that had a big crack in it. The vert hold took a few minutes to stabilize. Still, not bad.

Seems that re-capping this set will simply improve what I have right now. The picture is surprising clear (it's connected to my Dish receiver right now), although it's a little dark... likely due to the weak CRT. Considering the damn thing plays as is, I'd say that's pretty good.

For now, i've put it in my living room... which isn't very big at all. WOW... this set is much larger than I thought it was!

[DaveWM]

nice, did you try adj that ion trap at all to see if it gets any brighter?

[leadlike]

That is a nice set! A little quick thinking and you made it yours. If that had been me, I probably would have seen the layaway tag and just considered it lost.

As for "A" tubes needing/not needing an ion trap, I have a 21amp4a here that uses an ion trap, and a quick scan of my tube manual shows the same-that if a crt had an ion trap in its original type, it still had one when the "A" version was made.

[Charlie]

I wasn't going to move or remove the trap... other than tubes... everything looks original so i figured it was supposed to be there just as it was. My B&K 470 just barely moved the meter when checking the CRT, so, it's pretty weak. Cranking it up to 9 volts VERY SLOWLY brought it into the green... like after and hour... so really the tube is tired i think.

I leave to go to sea again on Monday, so, I'm really not going to get a chance to go thru this thing. I'll have to wait till get get home again in January. A re-cap will likely stretch the vert back into shape and stop the roll on start up. It's possible the picture could get a little brighter with new caps, but I'm not countin on it too much. Actually, there was still some adjustment in the brightness control that made things brighter, but it bloomed a little and I didn't want to push my luck.

I wonder how long it will be before that lady tries to come in to claim her set. Hell... she put it on layaway back in JULY... she would be crazy to think it's still there! I'm sure I'll find out the skinny on that if it happens. The guy that owns this shop is one of the major estate sale dealers in the area. I think I'm going to go back and have a talk with him concerning these sets. My old teacher from school told me he had passed on an "I Love Lucy" tv (as she put it) recently... mainly because he still had this one and it was still in his shop. I believe I will start making regular stops in this place. That way, he'll know I'm serious about wanting this stuff and better my chances of finding things I otherwise wouldn't (due to I dont like waking that early to go to estate sales).

[AUdubon5425]

Very nice set - great find!

[Tom_Ryan]

From my HB-3 reference library for the 24DP4A, the 'A' suffix following the tube type designation means the phosphor screen is aluminized. An ion trap magnet is required on this tube. Although aluminized screens are ion burn resistant, manufactures continued to use offset gun design in production for this tube.

The ion trap magnet is located in optimum position such that the trailing edge of the pole pieces located over the gap between grid No. 1 and grid No. 2 and rotated for maximum brightness. Typically, a Heppner No. E437 or JEDEC No. 117 or equivalent is used.

In other words, don't be afraid to grab onto the ION trap magnet and and move it around; chances are it will need a bit of tweaking. Following the above procedure just leave it where the brightness of the picture looks brightest over all.

In addition to adjusting the ION trap for brightest picture, also check the ultor voltage. The center design value for these tubes in operation is 18,000 volts. The maximum do not exceed value is 20,000 volts. You may need to play with width and horizontal drive to get the best combination that gives an optimally bright picture. I would first start with a fresh set of tubes in the video and horizontal stages before proceeding with any adjustments. There's nothing like having good emission before tweaking.

[Dan Starnes]

That is a very nice set.

[Charlie]

I will not be making any adjustments to the set until I get in there to replace lytics and other caps... which won't take place till January as I am leaving for sea Monday... flying to Puerto Rico.

Also, with the CRT being somewhat weak, I do not expect perfection. My B&K 470 showed it to be quite weak. Even after baking the tube for a good while and bringing the meter into the green, it fell back into the red after setting it back to 6 volts. Also checked with a B&K 400... didn't even move the needle on that one. I might possibly try a brightener on it later, but as long as it makes a picture without one, I'd rather leave the brightener off.

I suppose I can keep an eye open for a replacement tube, but I'm sure these 24" b&w tubes don't pop up often.

This baby is bigger than many roundies! I can just imagine being in the presence of one of those 27" or 30" sets!

[radiotvnut]

That's a nice set!

I'd only use a brightener as a last resort. I've seen more "open filament" tubes with brighteners hanging off of them than I care to admit. If the picture is unacceptable, try the "clean & balance" function on your B&K 470. Before you do anything, I'd try to source a good CRT.

[bandersen]

Beautiful TV - glad you found a way to made it yours I need to get more aggressive.
I like how the CRT dwarfs the chassis.

[Charlie]

Other than being a little dim, the pic isn't so bad. I really don't realize it's that bad until I turn on the Philco Diamond D right next to it... that has a bright tube! I will likely try the clean function as you mention once I get home from sea (in Puerto Rico right now... just leaving... headed back to Baton Rouge) and of course keep an eye open for a replacement. I wouldn't think there'd be too many 24" b&w crt's out there... this is the first one I've come across. Something just might turn up.

Yeah, the mask on the front really makes that CRT look big, doesn't it?!

[Charlie]

Had to make a decision last night on which Zenith to work on first... the porthole, or this Royal X... I think I'm going with the Royal X. I got this set just before I returned to sea last time.

Because of space issues and the need to move things around, I'll do this set first because it's larger, and once it's finished, I'll only have to move it once. Also, this set actaully plays as is and will likely take very little effort to get everything snapped back into shape. With rain in our forecast for the next couple of days, I'm sure I'll have this set back together before the sun comes back out.

I pulled the chassis last night and found that someone had already changed a four caps in the verticle osc section with some orange drops! I've zoomed in on one of them to show the markings. I previously thought orange drops were date coded, but it doesn't look like anything in there represents any dates. I guess these are much older.

There's plenty of room to work (always a big plus) and really not too many caps to have to change.

[Charlie]

Under the chassis...

[DaveWM]

Thats a nice clean chassis you got there Charlie, looks like that set will be a push over.

[Reece]

It really is an imposing set. I see a few Black Beauties in there that gotta go, but looks like the chassis is real easy to work on.

There's a hang tag on the back: who did the service on it? Was it a Beaumont shop?