This is the saga of the Admiral 17T1. I bought for $100. Took it home, hooked up a VCR, and this is what I got:
Adm 17T12 010 by
H Boyars, on Flickr
Click the pics for the original photo.
I opened the chassis and saw stuff that had to fixed. Like these open solder connections:
17T12 035 by
H Boyars, on Flickr
And this cardboard electrolytic:
17T12 037 by
H Boyars, on Flickr
The point is that it really needed electronic restoration, which I started two years later.
Two potential problems were (1) I was using an early 19A1 schematic, and (2) The only diagnotic equipment I had was a multimeter.
Making no progress, I resorted to testing components by replacing them. Someone suggested that C37 and C39 might be problematic. Unlikely that mica caps would fail, but I went ahead and replaced them. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that they were rated 1,000 volts, so I used 630 volt caps. Here's a schematic showing the offending condensers (in yellow):
Adm 17T12 8900 by
H Boyars, on Flickr
Lo and behold, the instant I turned on the power some wire insulation melted, the wax on C41 melted, and the horizontal size pot was toast. I replaced the pot, wiring, and resistor and then put the set away for six years.
I started again last year with the Wallace-Telaides schematic, tube testers, a capacitor tester, and lots of other stuff. Tested every capacitor and resistor except micas, ceramic, and tiny dogbone resistors. Checked continuity throughout the set including the resistance of every coil. And ensured that I had a good set of tubes. Even tested the picture tube on a Philco 7053 CRT tester.
Replaced everything that needed replacing, then rechecked the wiring for every component. This is what it looks like today:
Adm 17T12 5020 by
H Boyars, on Flickr
For Tube TV: I'm guessing that the horizontal hold control with the slug is the transformer on top of the chassis directly over the hhold pot. If so, the slug is centered and has no screwdriver slot for other-than-factory adjustments.
Phew, that was a lot of work. I hope the links work.
Winky