CTC-16 combo

[DaveWM]

tested 1 can all sections test fine, second can 1 of 4 tested tested fine, did not get to the others, but I suspect they will be fine as well, 3rd can tested 1 of 4 tested fine. will check the others later but I suspect they will be fine as well.

checked the .001 2kv plate to ground cap on the Vert out tube. its one of those hard white shelled caps. It tested correct for value, but the eye would only null to about 3/4 fully open. On leakage again it would not fully open, and that was at 450v. All I have is some 1.6kv dipped caps. My guess is they are prob better than the 2kv that were in there when they were new, but I will prob go ahead and order some anyway if I can find them.

There is a .001 plate cap on the 6aq5 that is also a 2kv, argh...

I have some 2kv .001 disc caps but the one in there are 10%. I dont think it would matter on the audio, but not sure about the plate to ground on the vert out.

[DaveWM]

I added a micro sized fuse holder right by the horz out tube socket for the cathode of the HOT. I have a 300ma fuse in there. I also bypassed the fuse with a .1uf cap. With the cap in place it should be very easy to check the HOT current, just pop the fuse out and hook up the milliamp meter. I dont know if the cap will have any effect on the fuse, I know there is some voltage drop across it in operation, not enough to effect the HOT bias, but maybe the pulse could cause a false blowing of the fuse? fuse fatigue?

anyway I think I will now check to see where the takeoff for the B+ is on the pcb (its on the audio board) and see about putting in a line fuse there as well.

[DaveWM]

I went ahead and replaced that 2kv 001 with a disc cap, and pluged it all back in, still get a good raster, did not have time to hook up the tuner, so at least I did no harm to the HV with my HOT cathode fuse mod.

[ctc17]

let me make that sound nicer, you need to invest in some of those square chemical fuses if you want to protect the set and dont want the fuse to open from general use

[DaveWM]

I wish I had my camera (AWOL) I cleaned up the knobs, reinstalled the chassis, hooked up the audio, did a brief center converge (OTA pics), set the gray scale up, after a few minutes it makes a very nice color pic, excellant flesh tones, deep colors, etc...

Sound is good as well (I had not tested that since I had to disconnect the speakers to get the tuner into the service position.

the CRT is weak but does come up after a few. I am looking forward to pulling the cataract out to see how much nicer it will look.

I am going to give it a rest and tackle the SS power amp, I only had one channel, not sure if it was the amp or the tuner. Have not tried the TT to see if it spins.

I did a real quick rub down with some restrofinish, looks a lot better, not sure if its worth the effort to restore the wood work. I have not done much of that, I may choose a set that is not as cool looking to start off with my wood refinshing skills.

I hope the phono cart is not DOA, they are hard to come by and pretty expensive considering what they are.

[VintagePC]

Originally Posted by DaveWM

I hope the phono cart is not DOA, they are hard to come by and pretty expensive considering what they are.

Tell me about it... I flew to a different continent to get a replacement ceramic for a crystal cartridge (well, I was there on vacation and took advantage of it... but that explanation doesn't sound anywhere near as impressive...)

Good luck with the resto- I love reading about other people's repair stories.

[DaveWM]

well the SS amp was in pretty good shape, used compressed air to blow off the 45 years of dust, yuck...

it had two .0027 paper caps on the input, both leaky, hope they did not fry the transistors. Two small 10uf coupling caps were leaky and had a high ESR, replaced those, there was one 40uf 250v cap that was a bit leaky as well, and a single 500uf 50v cap (think it was a bypass cap for the power transistorss) was leaky. the rest were ok (a couple 500uf 50v on the output and a triple section 250v filter cap for the tube stereo power supply).

anyway will try it out tomorrow, at least can test it by touching the tape input and see if both channels work.

the tube stereo will def need some work, there were paper caps in the MPX board, so at the very least those will have to go. The AM was working but the FM was dead. Did not check anything at all on that, so maybe just a dead osc tube in the FM tuner.

[DaveWM]

well of course there was no way I waiting until tomorrow. guess one of the leaking B+ caps may have been the prob with the FM, as it was working fine now and both channels sound nice and clean. the MPX light is working but I did not try to see if there was actual separation in the channels. I wil pull the radio chassis tomorrow and replace those caps and give it a general going over. The face plate is VERY dirty, so I will clean it up when I pull the stereo. I can see some of the silver paint is warn, not sure how to fix that, but maybe on of those paint marker pens may do the trick.

this thing really bumps....

[miniman82]

If that doesn't work, maybe you can flip it around? I used to charge $10 for that service back when I was still repairing VCR's on a daily basis, it was pure profit.

[DaveWM]

Originally Posted by miniman82

If that doesn't work, maybe you can flip it around? I used to charge $10 for that service back when I was still repairing VCR's on a daily basis, it was pure profit.

I dont follow the flip it around?

Oh and I forgot to mention, the stereo FM separation sounds like its working fine. I will normally would use my small stereo transmitter to test, but again ran out of time, the OTA stuff seemed to be working. I will have to go play the rock station and wait for some led zep, or maybe queen bohemian rhapsody to come on, those are good test for separaion.

[VintagePC]

You should be able to get glycerin at just about any drug store. It's often sold as a moisturizing agent for dry skin or numerous other skin conditions.

It's a fatty acid, and quite friendly to rubber since it is not highly polar like an alcohol. (also non toxic!). It soaks in quickly and basically restores the flexibility of the wheel.

Originally Posted by DaveWM

I dont follow the flip it around?

I think he meant take it off and turn it upside down. In a lot of my tape drives, the top half of the rubber capstan/idler are pressed agressively against the plastic roller in the cartridge, while the other half is not... if you flip it upside down, you can use this "unworn" half without issue. It may not apply to turntables though, since the whole wheel is usually in contact.

If you do have to re-tire, sometimes a single layer of heat-shrink can work really well, if the rubber you're covering is still a smooth surface - it will provide a new gripping surface without costing too much.

[DaveWM]

I will check out the drug store.

I have some square oring material that I have used in the past. I freeze the idler, chuck in a small lathe, turn down about 1/8, but the square o ring on, hit the inside joint with some CA glue, freeze it again, back in the lathe, the final sand it with an emory board. works pretty well.

[bgk283]

Looks beautiful Dave, that CRT looks pretty good, did you say it was weak? Looks like it has some life left in it. Let us know what youre going to do with the cataract problem, ive got an FJP sitting in a tub of water for over a month now and so far, nothing...

[ctc17]

THE HOT WIRE DOES NOT WORK ON THE RCA STYLE!!! only the green zenith soft rubbery type.
Let it bake in the hot sun face up for a few hours and then rock it while lifting. If it doesnt come off I would put it back in. You know how easily these old crts crack and go to air. They are very fragile.

Simpsons look real good. I dont see much color bleed or anything.

[DaveWM]

I tweeked the focus, looks even better now.