I won this on Ebay last night for $25. I was the only bidder. The listing said one knob was missing. Shipping was also reasonable: only about $23. I think it will clean up pretty nicelly. I hope I can remove that ring stain on the top. I'll have to see when it finally arrivces.
Doug

I just picked up the same set a couple of weeks ago for $20. The covering has some challenges and the outside is filthy but the chassis looks pretty good. Brought it up on the variac and had no HV until I noticed that the 6BA6 was not lighting. Changed that out and had a white line. I put it in line for a recap.

So I take it this set has a power transformer rather than a series string? I haven't located a Sams yet to familirize myself with it.

Sure wish I could find a nice one as depicted in my avatar. I've come close. but no cigar.

I saw one a couple of weeks ago in an antique store in Wisconsin for $65. Nice lookin' set. I was surprised how much shallower it is that the one Doug and I have.

I probably would have bought it except that I had just picked up a Sylvania Sylouette console so my TV thirst had been filled.......for the time being anyway.

This set also came in a nice walnut cabinet, but I haven't seen any in a long time. I had one in 1964. The turret tuner needed frequent cleaning. It's quite heavy -- power transformer.

Setchell Carlson was sold through electronic distributors, and their main pitch was "modular construction" which made repair easier. This model has only one or two "modules" which can be disconnected. In reality, the modules didn't do much except increase the manufacturing cost.
=====
Ron

It just arrived. Now I've got something to do this weekend. Here are the 1st two pics. I'll start removing it from the cabinet this evening.
Doug

Well the CRT tests strong. What does concern me is that both the power cord and on/off/vol knob were missing. I know it's common for cords to be missing as well as knobs, but the on/off knob was the ONLY knob missing. It makes me wonder if this set suffered a maj malfunction resulting in smoke casuing the previous owner to disbale it from being powered up.

I've gotten it out of the cabinet and can see no signs of any damage. I like the was the chasis is laid out. This should be easy to work on. I plan to start some recapping this afternoon. I'm certainly not going to try even a reduced power up until those filters are replaced or checked on my Eico cap checker.

Doug

Well I've had my 1st trial run with this set. The main electrolytic can checked ok, but the tubulars checked leaky, so I replaced them. Upon bringing it up with the Variac, I got a sharp pic with marginal audio. However, I had vertical problems. I went ahead and replaced all the bumble bee caps in the set as well as a .03 and a 1 meg resistor in the vertical. Unlike other sets I've done, I didn't order a Sams before hand, so I'm going about this somewhat blind. I do have a Sams for a P 62, that that is an earlier model, and there are some differences.

As far as the vertical, I've got a 1 way sync. Putting the vertical hold in the middle of it's range produces a double pic as shown. To get a ful pic, I have to have it maxed out, and it will only roll one way.

As far as observations about this set, I've noticed two things. One when they wanted to tie two parts together, they just did so in mid air rather than using a terminal lug. The other thing caused me to learn a lesson. They did not enclosed the HV circut in a cage. While trying to adjust the vertical, I reached around the set with my left arm, and the inside of my elbow brushed against the flyback. I can't describe it as a shock, but more of a brief burn as I could smell burning flesh. A few hrs later, it still stings a little.
Doug

For the vertical, try adjusting the height and linearity to pull up the bottom of the picture a little. Sometimes a mis-set height or linearity will shift the range of the vertical hold. If that does not help, see if there are any paper caps that you missed (the bumble bee caps are paper inside).

Hey Tom,

I've had the set playing for about 30 min. With the V Hold maxed out, it does give a stable pic. It didn't lose sync once. I have adjusted the height once, but I will play with it some more. This set, instead of called them Height and Linerity called them Height Top and Height Bottom. The voltages of the vertical mult, ac cording to my schematic for P62 seem normal. I didn't see any more bumble bee or paper caps, but I'll check again. There must be something I'm missing. The vol has to be almost maxed out to get decent audio, and this set uses a good 6" speaker, so it should be better. I'm going to fire it up again and start checking voltages on all tubes andd see what I come up with.

Doug

On sets where the controls are labeled height and linearity, both affect the height and both affect the linearity. And quite often I find that the labels would make more sense if the labels were swapped. The way your set is labeled may well be a better way of describing what the controls do.

Did you ever clean the volume control? It's standard procedure (in this house, anyway) to clean all controls and switches. I do it at the beginning when testing tubes and cleaning their pins, etc.

Phil Nelson

Well I think I've fixed the vertical sync. There was a .003 cap in the vertical circut. Not having one I used a .0047. This evening I took that out and tired a .002. That gave me good vertical sync with the vert hold set mid range with roll each way.

Phil, I cleaned the controls yesterday after the 1st power up. There WERE dirty though. I also had to spray some Deoxit in some of the tube sockets in the audio section because just wiggling the tubes would cause the sound the quit. There IS a strange control that I am not understanding. It's located on the back of the plate that houses the vol, tuner, and contrast. This control does affect the volume. It has to be maxed out to give decent vol. With it maxed out and the vol control about 3/4 max, I have decent vol. This control does not protude thru the cabinet back, so I assume it was not something intended for normal owner adjusting.

I made the mistake of not ordering a Sams while I was waiting for the set to arrive. I was hoping I could limp by with using a schematic for a P62, but it has circut differences than my P63. Unfortunately the only one listed on ebay has the owner away until the 29th, so it will be at least a 1 1/2 weeks before I can get one. But that will tell me what that control does. I know it can't be AGC because it has no crotrol on the video. I did take a pic of it. It's the one that has the 9N written by it.

You can also get a Sams from the Howard Sams web site. If you are willing to download it and print it yourself or just view it on your computer, you can get it immediately.

Doug,

I have the SAMS here for the P63 and that back panel control is -not- shown as stock. I suspect your set may have once been used at a motel. That secondary control was likely added to limit the overall volume from being set too loud. If the wiring leads over to the main volume control, that would confirm my hunch. I'd be happy to scan the SAMS for you, but all I have is an 8 1/2 x 11" scanner. You'd need to splice the fold out pages back together. Your P63 looks almost identical to my P65 I was working on last winter. I haven't compared the schematics extensively, but offhand all I see are a couple variations in the power supplies. Out of curiosity, do you notice any vertical flag-waving(bending) in the picture?

Kevin, STOP! I just finished scanning them.





Scans are here, copy them soon, they'll only be up a few days:



http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/9817/pf402316jpg.jpg
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/34/pf402315jpg.jpg
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/3203/pf402314jpg.jpg
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/3357/pf402313jpg.jpg
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/2056/pf402312jpg.jpg
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/1079/pf402311jpg.jpg
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/7062/pf402310jpg.jpg
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/7075/pf40233jpg.jpg
http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/9818/pf40234jpg.jpg
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/4035/pf40235jpg.jpg
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/8056/pf40236jpg.jpg
http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/2056/pf40237jpg.jpg
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/2296/pf40238jpg.jpg
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4556/pf40239jpg.jpg
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/319/pf40232jpg.jpg
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/948/pf40231jpg.jpg
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/2656/pf40230jpg.jpg

Jim, no worries, I haven't scanned them yet. But thanks for the warning.

Jim, I got them saved and printed out. Thanks a bunch for scanning them.

Kevin, I had wondered, in the back of my mind, if that control had been an aftermarket add on. I never had thought about that TV being a motel model though. I looked at it today. The leads coming off of that control go directly to the 6AQ5 audio output. I think I'll just leave the control wired in and set to max rather than try to undo it. As far as the pic bending. Once in awhile I notice it just as the pic cames on, but it straightened out after about 5 sec. Otherwise, it's good stable pic.

One other odd thing I noticed. Upon lookingn at the back of the set, there are antenna terminals for both VHF & UHF. When I removed the back, there was no lead coming off the UHF terminals, thus proving I had a VHF only set. I wonder how many people over the years got these models thinking they were getting a UHF set?

Doug

You're welcome.

Jim