1948 (TS-4H) Motorola VT71 restored!

[bandersen]

zenithfan1 inspired me to post a little photo diary of my VT71 restoration.

Enjoy.


Arrival. It's in good shape aside from all the knobs being wrong.


Pretty much all original.


Ugh. Need to re-solder a CRT pin.


Apparently, this is the melted CRT mask. It hit a few tubes and the speaker


I really hope I never need to do this again!


Refinishing the cabinet. Citristrip is my favorite stripper lately.


Applying new decals from radiodaze.


The usual. Replaced the selenium with silicon. Wax caps with poly. And HV caps from Allied.


Ready to fire up. Got those knobs from a blonde VT71.


First signs up life using a 7VP1 CRT from an RCA WO-56A scope.


Seems safe enough to hook up the 7JP4


Old components. Those two caps in front were the source of much hair pulling. They came from the vertical oscillation/sweep circuit.
I assumed that mica caps rarely go bad. Boy was I wrong.


Replaced the 12AT7 and got my 1st stable image


Here it all is back together. I still need to track down a fine-tuning knob and do something for a CRT mask.


Here's some of the gear I used.

[Dan Starnes]

Great post,, loved it!!!

[Eric H]

Very nice, that stuff isn't foam however, it's the infamous VT-71 mask that is always melted, it's water soluble, not that that's any help when it's on a speaker cone!

Renovated Radios makes a repro mask now for about $43.

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by Eric H

Very nice, that stuff isn't foam however, it's the infamous VT-71 mask that is always melted, it's water soluble, not that that's any help when it's on a speaker cone!

Renovated Radios makes a repro mask now for about $43.

Wow! They can really melt all over like that? I guess that makes more sense than a maniac with an insulating foam canister

[Tube TV]

Looks great ! , the VT-71 is next on my list to get .
They sure look like a fun set to restore .

So how long did it take from start to finish ?

[Tony V]

Nice job! It looks like the crt was in good shape also as you dont see many with a perfectly centered picture. I hope to do both of mine soon!
-Tony

[Sandy G]

The chassis is clean & purty enuff to be left out of the case...Great job !

[jpdylon]

Nice job. Especially like the way that cabinet turned out. I'll have to try that citrus stripper

[zenithfan1]

Beautiful job! It looks new! Thanks for sharing, I'll have to try that stripper too.

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Originally Posted by Tube TV

... So how long did it take from start to finish ?

About a month working ~ 2 hours a night. Would have been a week less if I had replaced those mica caps from the start!

[bandersen]

I'll have to try that stripper too.

They changed the formulation recently and it's even nicer now. It leaves your place with a nice smell of oranges

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

The chassis is clean & purty enuff to be left out of the case...Great job !

Thanks! I went a little nuts on cleaning up that copper

[Sandy G]

Which was the one of these little guys that the mfger had to be "cute" & used an 8" CRT ? I thought it was Motorola...

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Originally Posted by jpdylon

Nice job. Especially like the way that cabinet turned out...

Thanks. Here's the stuff I used. I like Behr - it's all water soluble.

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Which was the one of these little guys that the mfger had to be "cute" & used an 8" CRT ? I thought it was Motorola...

Yep. They made a few models with an 8" CRT. I haven't found any yet.