Dumont RA102 "Clifton" restoration

[bandersen]

Buckle up - this is going to be a long ride!

A few months ago the legendary Elli Buk's collection was auctioned off over four days in Boston. Within that vast collection were many collectable early TVs including three rare Dumont Cliftons. The auction house was going to allow Internet bidding so that just left one hurdle - transportation. Sire I could use a commercial shipper, but that would get expensive and I was wary they would know how to handle a fragile TV.

As luck would have it, I have an old friend that makes an annual trip from coast to coast picking up and delivering vintage electronics. Better yet, he's not that far from Boston. So, I contacted him about the possibility of picking up, storing and delivering the sets. He agreed which just left one hurdle - actually winning one of the Cliftons!

No Cliftons the first day of the auction but I wanted to get my feet wet with the bidding process. First up, a GE 803 which I lost out on. Then, a nifty bakelite Crosley that I won Then, three lowly 7" Motorolas no one wanted at $250. The auctioneer lowered the bid to $150, $100 then $50 when I figured what the heck and got them. Good for parts if nothing else I figure.

That was it for day #1. Day #2 had a couple Cliftons on the block. I lost out on the first one to another VK member. The second came bundled with a bakelite 10" Emerson and National 7" TV-7W which at the time I didn't really want to deal with as not to overburden my friend but I figured I had to got for it. So I did and I won

Now I just had to pay up (they took credit cards) and bide my time for a couple months until they would arrive.



So many missing knobs The 7VT2 gold knobs are impossible to find. The blond knobs are tough too.


Finally, here's the Emerson, National and Dumont sandwich.

[oldtvsandtoy]

Greats sets. If you would like to sell the bakelite 10" Emerson Let me know. Its a set I would love to have. Already have the back for it.

[bandersen]

This is a model 614 Emerson. I also have an Emerson 648 in an identical bakelite cabinet. I plan one keeping one and selling the other. Not sure which yet, but both already have backs

[bandersen]

The big day finally arrived. All the sets fit inside a min-van with room to spare. A Philco 90 and RCA TM-35 monitor came along for the ride.



I love the wooden knobs and big dials The function knob was loose so I stuck it in my pocket lest it get lost.


Clearly it had a back originally, but I haven't been able to find a photo of one




One side has some scuffs but otherwise it's in good condition.




Serial # 6278. I wonder how many they made ?


Here's the power supply. It had been removed to lighten the load.

[bandersen]

The Clifton was much to heavy to carry up the stairs to my place so we decided to pulled the upper chassis and CRT. We carefully pulled off the front wooden knobs and removed two screws at the rear of the upper chassis. The CRT is very securely mounted the the chassis and it pulls out as a complete unit.

The empty cabinet is still quite heavy but we managed. Or I should say they managed as I was just manning the camera I did help carry up the chassis though.

[W4rtc]

If one or both of the 807 are bad, let me know I have some.
Joe

[Ampico-kid]

Originally Posted by bandersen

Clearly it had a back originally, but I haven't been able to find a photo of one

Well....here you go. This is what the back of the Clifton looks like...........Not much to it.







And a close up of the ID tag attached to the back.......................

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by W4rtc

If one or both of the 807 are bad, let me know I have some.
Joe

Thanks, I'll keep you in mind.

Originally Posted by Ampico-kid

Well....here you go. This is what the back of the Clifton looks like...........Not much to it....

Excellent I was picturing a masonite back with 100s of holes in it.

[bandersen]

Time for a closer look. While cleaning the CRT I discovered it's a 12RP4. Never heard of that one before.


It's listed in my CR70 so I hooked it up. The emissions are great but I had to drop the cutoff from -52v to -36v to get a response.


Next up a little cleaning.






Here's a closer look under the main chassis.




I found some evidence of rodent activity but all the wiring looks OK

[bandersen]

Now here's a look at the lower chassis.

[bandersen]

The CRT gasket is a massive check of rubber. There's a small scratch in the safety glass and I'm not sure sure it really is "safe". It looks more like just plate glass to me.



Here it is all back together.


I used some lemon oil follow by Howard's Feed 'n Wax on the cabinet.


It's looking a whole lot better now I think all it needs is a little touch up on the screen surround and the black base.

[David Roper]

What a beauty. Now...how soon will we see it workin' ?

[W4rtc]

Man that set really cleaned up nice.
Joe

[N2IXK]

That is one serious "brick s***house" design there. A 12" tube with 2 parallel 807s for horizontal sweep? And a SEPARATE 807 just to develop the HV?

Talk about wretched excess! I love it!

[Kevin Kuehn]

Really fascinating to watch this one unfold. Looks like you've got a really great original condition Clifton to restore. Thanks so much for sharing the experience with us.