Howdy folks,
I don't often post here, but have been a Videokarma member for some time now, and read the postings religiously. In any case, I was the fellow that acquired the Hoffman Colorcaster in the Bay Area that was on eBay recently. I apologize in advance for the large number of photos, but I'm hoping this thread will serve as an excellent set of "notes" when I get going on the restoration, and (hopefully!) successfully complete it.
The story of how exactly I came to acquire the set is a bit peculiar. My grandfather is a bit of an eccentric, and has a penchant for random gift-giving. A few weeks ago, he decided that all of his grandchildren ought to have new hunting rifles in time for the opening day of rifle season here in Michigan. I don't hunt however, and I only occasionally shoot trap and skeet, and he knew this. He happened to be at my home one afternoon in late October, and noticed that I was admiring the Hoffman on eBay. I briefly explained what the set was, and he muttered something under his breath, saying no more about it. The morning of Halloween, I received a call from my grandfather saying that he had been in touch with the seller, had purchased the set for $500, and that he was working with a shipping company to have it shipped back to the Metro-Detroit area. I then posted the set on uShip, and paid to have it shipped back to my home in Michigan, having felt that his incredibly generous gift was already much too great.
It arrived the morning of Monday, November 10th, 2014 in a pickup truck driven by one Robert Giacometti of Buzz's Transport. He took the utmost care with the set, and even went to the trouble of purchasing a large metal bowl to place over the plastic bump out on the rear of the set. It arrived in Michigan precisely the way it was when it left Saratoga, California. Needless to say, I was thrilled with Mr. Giacometti's service, and would highly recommend him to anyone here. As soon as it was moved into the basement I began poking around. It's by no means perfect, but with little work it should be pretty presentable.
Here's the set with the back off:
The top of the chassis:
Rear apron of the chassis:
I quickly figured out how to remove the side panel that hides the underside of the chassis:
And then the panel covering the controls up front:
And then finally I removed the front safety glass and CRT bezel. It would look that the CRT is one of the later "grey screen" 21AXP22s:
It was at this point that I noticed the serial number sticker on the front of the CRT. The serial number on the CRT, and the serial number on the chassis match, thus indicating that the CRT is likely original to the set.
It was at this point that I decided to test the CRT. I noticed that the CRT base is Hoffman branded, but the tube is RCA built. It has a date code of 6 -13, which I believe means the CRT was built during the 13th week of 1956, between March 25th and March 31st.
I nervously connected my Beltron to the CRT, and was greeted by normal looking glowing heaters!
With 6 volts on the heaters, the CRT looked like a dud for a few mintues, when the meter movements suddenly sprang to life, pushing up toward the top of the scale. I allowed it to sit for a minute, and then looked at the life test. It took a full 15-20 seconds before the red gun (the weakest) began to fall!
Curious, I looked to find the lowest heater voltage the CRT would still "pass" at. I let the CRT cool for a number of hours, and then tested again inching the heater voltage gradually. At 3 volts I found pretty decent looking emissions on all three guns and an 8 second life test on the red gun.
I then turned out the lights and looked for any abnormal glow in the neck or near any of the elements. I found none, so I'm guessing (and hoping) that the tube is still under a hard enough vacuum to operate correctly.