Yah, who knows what really happened with that flyback. I know that I saw a big blue arc and a bunch of new melted wax, and I know that the TV works well now. The rest is all guesswork.
I dug out my little old dime-store analog meter and it pegged the needle in the 250ma scale, so I guess the current is higher than the 100-140ma given in the schematic (assuming that this 25-year old Radio Shack special is accurate). Not sure where to go with that, since the grid voltages on the HOT look normal, as noted earlier.
http://antiqueradio.org/art/temp/Phi...MSchematic.jpg
I'm a little peeved with Philco for using cheap sockets on the HOT and damper. Their terminals are above the chassis.
When I began unsoldering the cathode lead, the terminal instantly snapped off. Altoid tins are made of better material. The pin socket is like a bent strip of tinfoil with holes -- not very practical to repair. I have wonderful new sockets in the parts chest, but they're a normal style with terminals on the bottom. The original sockets are wedged into tabbed holes in the chassis, so replacing a socket with a standard type is not a plug-n-play job. Meanwhile, the TV plays fine with a cathode lead soldered directly to the HOT pin, so I'm tempted to pretend that I never saw those oddball sockets.
Leaving the old fly in place is sounding better. Instead of looking for more trouble, I'll play the set for another long spell today and see how it holds up.
Regards,
Phil Nelson