Nostalgia
 

Alan,

Glad you enjoyed the photo. That working CTC-20 (1966 RCA NewVista) on the right had a badly cataracted CRT that I successfully gave eye surgery. The CRT was electrically as good as new. This is the set that made my avatar. It is the last model RCA made with the venerable 21" round tube. As the collectors here know, it is kind of a nostalgic blast from the past to watch some of the early color shows on one of these vintage sets from the same era when they were new. I like to watch the original StarTrek episodes on this CTC-20. That show was produced I believe in the same year that this set was made.

Rob

WOW,that would be cool watching vintage on vintage,I liked your

cataract analogy,

best

Alan

Here is that CTC-20 before eye surgery as it looked when I first got it home.

Rob

Rob,you actually cleaned up all that opacity,how would you do that,wouldn't alot of elbow grease scratch the crt(see I'm learning something)?

Regards
Alan

Alan,

The safety faceplate is a separate sheet of glass bonded to the CRT face like an automobile windshield with a sandwich of plastic resin. This resin develops mold or turns yellow on many of these tubes. You have to physically carve/dissolve the film out from under the glass by working around in from the edge. It is very tedious, painstaking and dangerous work due to risk of implosion. There are almost 3 tons of air pressure on the faceplate. Once removed and surfaces cleaned spotless I re-attach the safey glass using a bead of RTV silicone around the outside edge and an airgap between the glass surfaces the thickness of a popsicle stick.

Rob

Rob,

So that is why they say you should replace your TV if the screen becomes deeply scratched...implosion

Fascinating what you do,Rob,I'm in awe!!(awe is just outside of Charlottetown)

Regards

and thanks for the technical stuff

Alan

Alan,

No big deal. :)

Terry,

I'm sure Kirk, Alan and I didn't mean to hijack your post about your CTC-7, so how about an update oh Restoration Master? :ntwrthy: :ntwrthy: :ntwrthy:

Rob

Yes,Sorry , Terry I got a little carried away with the typing and
questions to Rob

Alan

If it is not something you can do a simple sanding and restaining/revarnishing on, another option is to sand it down, fill in any deep ruts, and recover it with new unstained 'stick-on' veneer (available in real wood, mahogany, oak etc etc.) Then you just trim it very close to the edges of the cabinet, then use an electric vibrating sander to bevel the edges up to the existing edge of the cabinet.
Stain and varnish it and bingo it's fixed. Have done this on a top and a side of two Victrolas and it came out fantastic and I absolutely HATE carpentry and woodworking, but this is a cinch. And would never know it was done it looks so good. I will have to do this to the rotten top on my CTC-10 once I am done with the electronics end of it.
Crappy cabinet veneer no longer scares me away from purchasing otherwise good items such as tvs and victrolas.
Frenchy

And oh yeah, if you do the new veneer thing, varnish or urethane the newly sanded surface first, that way the new veneer will really stick to it. Just make sure you roll and press the veneer down slowly and gradually from one end down the the other (usually easy to do since the veneer comes in rolls and has a bit of curl in it)..Frenchy