Chassis Soldering made easy

[Steve A.]

Wow, you guys had a TV repairman?
I lived in the sticks- couldn't imagine a TV repair guy schlepping all the way from the nearest town.
We did have a shopping center (AKA strip mall) about 3 miles away.
Dad would take all the tubes out of the TV, cart them to Drug Fair and test them with the tube tester in the foyer- next to the laminating machine.
The new tubes were in shelves under the tester; you brought the ones you needed inside and paid for them.
I thought everyone did it that way.
/

You must be a youngster... back in the early 60's TVs were usually large pieces of furniture not easily carted down to the local supermarket. Just like the hi-fi consoles back then: we had a monophonic Magnavox console with 7 speakers inside of difference sizes and aimed in different directions.
As often as not you would purchase these in the furniture section of the big department stores...

Steve Ahola

[rjb]

TVs were usually large pieces of furniture not easily carted

Who said anything about carting TVs?
We took the tubes out of the TV and carted them to the communal tube tester at the drug store.

down to the local supermarket.

Man, you're really confused! The supermarket is where we rented the floor buffer!
Every Spring, after rolling up the rugs onto bamboo poles and stowing them in the attic.

Just like the hi-fi consoles back then: we had a monophonic Magnavox console with 7 speakers inside of difference sizes and aimed in different directions.

We had a Heathkit receiver & no-name turntable housed in a kit(?) wooden console.
One DIY "Concerto" speaker cabinet in the corner http://www.tubebooks.org/file_downlo...spkr_plans.pdf

As often as not you would purchase these in the furniture section of the big department stores...

That would be Two Guys, a few light years away on Rte. 18.

Drug Fair was like a general store- even more so than most modern chain pharmacies.
I got my first pair of Polaroid sunglasses there- as well as all my Renwal plastic models and a copy of Howlin' Wolf's Moanin' in the Moonlight.

[Enzo]

Some handy folks pulled their tubes and took them to the drug or grocery store and the big tester. Moat folks were afraid to go inside.

[Enzo]

Er, that is "most" folks, not people living under the drawbridge.

[Mick Bailey]

Anyone remember those huge Dynatron TVs that had roller shutters and fancy carved legs so they looked like some English country house furniture when not in use?

My relatives from Buffalo came over in '68 and bought a brochure to show off the new TV they'd bought. We though it was fascinatingly hideous at the time. A two-man lift for even the smallest sets.

They did radiograms the size of a coffin, too.

[Enzo]

carved legs like Queen Anne furniture?

We didn't have that brand, but in the 1950s many console TVs were sold as furniture. To watch you opened the doors to expose the screen. They came in many styles and colors, mahogany being very popular.

Even heathkit made a color TV in a console.

Television Computer System GR-3000 Television Heathkit Brand

[Bill Moore]

My folks had an RCA blonde "furniture" TV with the fold open doors. It was also billed as a "Hi Fi", and had a 45 record changer that sat on top. It had multiple speakers, and a really good sound. When dad bought a "portable" color set, I took the ancient RCA to my room, and found I could connect another record player to play the LP's I had.
Just out of high school, I got a job with an Admiral dealer, (he had several of us kids to deliver refrigerators, stoves, and TV's). I soon graduated to repairman, and would take the "suitcase" with the tester, and tubes, and really most of the time, replacing a tube or two, and re-aligning the color controls fixed the problem. Otherwise, it had to go to the "shop".

[catalin gramada]

I don.t think spoken in terms of wattage have any relevance .what I consider is more important is thermal mass or how much thermal energy is stored. My weller 80w is a little baby compared with another no name 50w which I use for general metal soldering.but have a tip three-four times biger at least

[olddawg]

I got into repair in the Mid/late 70s. Remember (I think Sylvania) "Works in a Drawer"? Our tech rep from Sylvania told me that they knew the tv repair industry's goose was cooked when they bought a Japanese set and ran it in a box covered with a blanket for a week and it didn't fail. So much for the good old days.