Doug, good to hear you are restoring a TV too.
I'm getting ready to wash my nasty chassis too.

Carl

Someone here posted that you can use dish washing detergent and a scrub pad to clean the rubber CRT mask for the GE 805. That was a great tip. My CRT mask was very dirty and discolored. Here it is now:


Carl

Give me some advice on what you would do to improve appearance of this grill:



Carl

Carl, I went to Napa today for some of that Spray Nine. Naturally they didn't carry it, but the man checked and every neighboring Napa was out also. He's got me one ordered, and it should be here tomorrow.

Your front is nicer than mine. My brass just needs a good cleaning like yours. I'm interested in what you come up with to clean yours. I don't want to ruin the red lettering.
I'm missing the knobs for one complete side of mine. I hope to locate some.

Doug

You should also replace the screws on the front panel with ones that are more correct. The originals were panhead phillips so replacements should be easy to locate. Just spray them brown and no one will ever know the difference.

-Matthew

Doug, I was missing one of the small inner knobs and a fellow ARF member sold me one.
Bet you can get lucky like me.

Regarding the front, this morning I took both Bakelite half's outside and scrubbed them with Oxi Clean. The front in the picture is also after I rubbed it with Brasso and then Novus 2.

I'm assuming the front grill is solid brass - might be wrong. Like to know how to completely remove the finish so I can polish it. I did try Brasso on the grill but that did not help a lot.

Regarding rinsing the chassis, I'm thinking of masking off the Flyback cage and also putting masking tape around the coils that stick out on the top of the chassis. I'm not going to spray water on the underside.

What is your strategy?

Carl

I've never cleaned a chasis before like that. That's why I was so curious about what you were using on yours. I will definately try that Spray Nine on my chasis. I'm hvaing the speaker reconed in mine, and it will take about 2 more weeks. Other than that, the set is playing pretty well.
Doug

Here is a pic of my front. I had never thought about taking that gasket out until I saw yours. I think I will give that a try.
Doug

The brass front area was likely coated with clear lacquer to protect it from tarnish, so lacquer thinner should take any remaining clear off. I'd try a magnet to it in order to determine if it's solid brass. If it's brass plated you should still be able to gently polish it with something like Brasso. As long as you don't soak it in thinner, I doubt you'll wipe the red lettering out of the recessed areas. If the red does come out, just leave it until you re-coat it again with clear lacquer, then go back and wipe some red acrylic paint in the recessed lettering. Any smears you can clean up with water before it sets up.

I disassembled the entire cabinet. On the Front, I removed, and buffed the GE rectangular logo. The light green rubber gasket was also removed, cleaned with lacquer thinner to remove surface dirt and oxidation, then treated with 3M Rubber Dressing. That will make it pliable for another 50 years.

My brass grille/escutcheon was all corroded, so I wet sanded it all level, then shot a nice coat of gold lacquer, followed by a clear coat. After a few days of hard drying, I wiped in some Tamiya XF-7 Flat Red, which is a dead ringer for that faded red that GE used.

Thanks. I'm going to Home Depot to see if I can find some black screws. How about the felt circular pads which also holds the chassis in place - any sources for those?

Carl

I believe the grill is Solid Brass. I put a magnet on it but it would not attract. In addition, I scratched the back side and it was shiny brass colored.

Thanks Kevin. Last night I tried a quick wipe of Laquer Thinner using a cloth but the protective finish would not come off. I think I'll try some 0000 steel wool dipped in the Laquer Thinner this morning and see.

Then I'll take Lee's tip and try to locate Tamiya XF-7 Flat Red paint to reapply the lettering.

Carl

I'm going to try it too. I'll remove the CRT, tubes, and Speaker. Bag the CRT Yoke, bag the Flyback, bag the two cardboard covered Electrolytic Capacitors, use making tape to protect the coils sticking out on the top of the chassis. Make an "umbrella" out of masking tape to protect the two transformers underneath the chassis, wrap tape around the front potentiometers.

This will be the first time I have attempted this way to clean a chassis. At first I was sceptical but I've read that many folks do this and they do it with Tektronix scope chassis's too.

Carl

Putting together a parts order for anyone interested.
Do need advice on where to obtain the CL90 inrush device, and what are the Globar resistor values that you have found to work best.

x1 CL-90 inrush
x2 78 – 80 - 82 ohms. 20Watt wire wond Resistors

Capacitors
200 volt
.01uf 200v
.02uf
.1uf
.2uf
.05
.5

400 volt
.01uf
.02
.05
.1
.05

600 volt
.003uf
.1
.001
.002
.01
.04
.05

1000 volt
.005uf

Electrolytic Capacitors:
x4 150uf @150v C371, 372, 373, 374
x3 60uf @300v C383, 384 (SD is 60uf, parts list is 40uf)
30uf @450v C299
1uf @50v C346

Can Capacitors:
EC1 – on right side of chassis
10uf @350v C358 square
50uf @100v C354 triangle
100uf @50v C297 half moon

EC2 -middle of chassis
10uf @450v C406 half moon
40uf @300v C258 square
10uf @150v C257 triangle

my only comment would be to by all 630v caps or 1kv if the price is not much different. I get most of my stuff from mousers.

No reason to go low, and generally they will fit better.

I buy all my tubulars from Just Radios. They have 630v rated tubulars in the old "pre war" values, i.e. .005 instead of .0047, and they're good.

Always buy 630v rated tubulars - you'll never go wrong, and the extra voltage doesn't hurt.

As far as .05 tubulars are concerned, I buy 1000v rated .05s from Mouser. They come in handy when you need the odd 1000v rated cap when restoring TVs.

I agree, I'm going to buy 630volt axials.
I too like to order from JustRadios.com - I like their Excel Spreadsheet order form.

I removed the finish off the solid brass pieces and polished them today:


Brasso and Novus #2 works wonders on the Bakelite.
I'm pondering whether to protect my shiny brass pieces or just let them tarnish with age.

Been a busy day. Also found some Spray Nine and washed off the Chassis. Took a garden hose to it. I protected vulnerable parts with plastic and masking tape. Let it dry in the Sun. Took my air compressor and blew off moisture. I don't think I really need to bake it in the oven as it will be a couple weeks before I'll apply power to it.

Carl

I agree, except for one thing. That capacitor accross the flyback in hv cage desperately needs to be 1kv. That has a high rf pulse there.
Also, it's likely you will be replacing several of the mica caps, and, perhaps the video detector diode as well, which is inside of the detector transformer.
Bill Cahill
You will need to replace the selenium rectifiers with 4007 silicone diodes. You will also need to add some resistance to ac side of main diode. Diodes have alot less resistance than the selenium rectifiers did, so, voltages will be higher........

I got some Spray Nine also today and sprayed my chasis too. I used a paint brush and bottle bottle brush to scrub the chasis. I just wiped it off rather than turn the hose on it. I didn't feel confident doing that. I let mine dry in the sun too.

Doug

I have plenty of 1N4007's. Need to discern how much resistance I need in series with the 1N4007s. Regarding the "video detector diode .. which is inside of the detector transformer", I have no clue where look. I guess I'll have to take a good look at the SD.

My chassis has only one Selenium Rectifier. Looks like there is a rectifier diode - but it is broken. Perhaps there was a repair made.

Carl