My 11 year old son's Admiral 30A1 restoration project

[Kamakiri]

As a few of you might have caught in another thread, my 11 year old son Nick (for some ungodly reason ) has decided that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his dad and take up television restoration as a hobby

After a complete recap of the chassis (which he did himself BTW, with my supervision and a little help on the filter cans), we powered it up for the first time tonight. We've been working on the set on odd days for about the last two weeks. I gotta say, the kid is FAST at recapping, and his board work is pretty darn good! I showed him how I install new caps, and he's quickly developing his own style. His work is very neat, and yes, he's been educated about all safety protocols in doing this sort of work

First power up with a variac tonight got us sound but no raster. Zero HV. But nothing blew up, shorted, squealed, or smoked. And that's not bad at all. Time to start checking resistors and replace the selenium rectifier (which yes, I should have done first).

Am I a proud dad? You betcha!!! And hey, we got to listen to some Jeopardy too!

[cameronflyer]

I'm so glad to see the younger generation getting interested in these restorations. Hopefully the knowledge won't die with us old farts.

[Sandy G]

Awrite ! Go Tim ! Go Nick ! Wish I had a "Young 'Un" to pass along my copious knowledge to.. Aww, shit... Who am I kiddin' ?!? THAT would only take till about 1.30 tomorrow afternoon, at the most..

[Celt]

I bet you are one proud daddy!

[M3-SRT8]

Hey! That'a nice story. Glad the youngster is plugging along.

Best of Luck to you both.

[rca2000]

Could not agree MORE !!

[Electronic M]

I started recapping tube radios a year of two younger than that, and my folks somehow managed to keep me from discovering TVs for several years thereafter. It is a good age to learn things like this, and he is lucky to have you to help him with TVs. I had to teach myself to fix TVs over the course of ~three years with as many sets to putter around with, and almost no source of advice.

[Kevin Kuehn]

It's pretty neat to see someone young these days following in dads footsteps. And from what I've gathered he'll have a very well rounded skill set as a young adult. That's certainly something you deserve to be proud of.

[kramden66]

That thing uses a selenium rectifier ? no hv i'd check like you said the resistors , also beware of the doorknob cap if it uses one , they can knock out hv , and ofcourse tubes even if test goodcould be suspect.

Way to go Nick , my son has the same name but it is Nic since his is spelled Nicolas , he is 14 and never touched electronics but is good at all kinds of other stuff
mike

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by kramden66

That thing uses a selenium rectifier ?...

There's a small selenium used create -6 volt DC for the AGC circuit.

[Down Under]

That's fantastic, well done.

I don't have kids, and I have wondered where my Predictas will end up when I'm gone. I'm guessing if Nick already has an interest, your sets will be in good hands for many years yet. Great news for a decaying hobby.

[Username1]

Way to go - When I was his age I was carting tv's home balanced on my bicycle seat
or on a lawn mower bottom if they were too big for the bike......

Good job to both of you !

.

[Reece]

That's really neat. Can't wait to see this set in operation, Nick and Dad.

[Steve D.]

Nick,

Great time for bonding w/your son. I see the set he is restoring is the exact Admiral model that was our families first TV back in 1949. I was very excited when my dad removed it from it's shipping box, powered it up and we had TV. I was younger than your son is now.

-Steve D.

[walterbeers]

Hey I think it's great that you son is interested in restoring that old TV, and he will probably do a lot more. It's a great way to learn about electronics, how to use test equipment etc. When I was about his age, my dad brought home an old Motorola table model, which got me really interested in TVs myself. I tested all the tubes, took out the chassis, looked for burned parts, etc, and it had great sound but only a wide horizontal bar across the screen folding in at both the right and left. I'd turn it on, listen to it, and always hoped that somehow if would start working. Well, it didn't, but I kept trying different things, adjusting controls, etc. I know now that it was a bad deflection yoke, but the set got junked, and then started working on others which I would most of the time get working. I bought a tube tester from Radio Shack, and someone gave me an old analog VOM, and next thing I know I was into fixing TVs, radios, etc, for friends, neighbors, and learning how they operate. After high school, I attended REI, an electronics school in Omaha, graduated, got my first class FCC licence, (which wasn't need for fixing TVs), and went into the business of fixing TVs, and everything else electronic. Gave it up as an income about 15 years ago, when everything went to cheap throw away junk, as there was no money in it any more. Only in the last couple of years, I got interested again, just as a hobby, getting a thrill out of seeing these old TVs working again. I also love to work on computers, upgrading them, etc. You sons interest could very well lead to a rewarding career when he gets older. (PS, yes I got bit a few times, but it taught me to respect electricity).