This is the Pye that Stuart R kindly offered on the UKVRR forum from Lucian's collection. I collected it today and decided I would give it a bit of a clean out before it comes out of the car.
I removed the Mouse nest and hoovered out the debris. Then the floor of the cabinet was given a good soak with anti bacterial spray. It isn't too bad inside. The mice have chewed up the convergence controls label and the speaker cone. Maybe to make their nest. They certainly had a good food stash! It seems Mice don't just live in windmills!
I have given the rear of the car, Henry hoover and me a good anti bacterial going over! You can't be too careful IMHO !
The floor of the cabinet will survive I think. The tuner drawer has suffered the worst, from what I can see the PCB is a bit corroded and the drawer is seized solid! The set looks and smells better already ! It will stay in the car tonight and then be moved to my big shed (carport) that is dry but well ventilated tomorrow.
I think I will have to strip the set out completely to make sure the cabinet is clean inside and dry. Then I can move on to the electronics. I think I may ask my mate Mick to bring his tester and just see what the A56-120X tests like before I embark on what will no doubt be a marathon refurbishment.
I wasn't much of a fan of the 731 back when they were still current but I liked the 725 as it ran cooler and was more reliable than the 731 on the whole. I bought a load of Pye CT222 and 223 sets ex-rental from a local firm in about 1981. I did very well with them so I remember them fondly.
Hopefully this set will be saveable...
Here are some pictures pre and during cleaning.
Don't think I would like to take that one one!
I agree the 725 was a lot better product than the 731 chassis.
Frank
I think it would be sensible to replace the flyback tuning capacitor before powering up. In fact I have been thinking of going over each panel at a time to look for any obvious problems caused by damp or corrosion before I put the set back together. Next job is to test the tube, then if that is reasonable I will strip the set out to give the cabinet a second good clean and dry out.
Looking inside today it has dried out from my first attempt at cleaning and is looking and smelling better. There is some surface corrosion but I have seen worse. In fact I have seen others restore much worse! I intend to take my time with this I have other projects on the go so I will do a bit at a time with this one!
Good news today! Mick tested the tube for me, We gave the tube a short time to warm up then set up the tester. The readings are excellent and improved further as we watched. Mick then reset the tester and tested again, even better well into the green on all guns! Funny how sometimes the worst looking sets have the best tubes. Next worry is the LOPT....
This afternoon I have started the strip out. I have removed the chassis frames with the panels still fitted as I think the panels are less vulnerable if left in the frames. There is some corrosion around the line Osc IC. I think I may have a chip in stock so I may just replace it.
The nuts holding the dropper 'bus shelter' in place were completely rotted, despite soaking in oil they both just crumbled when I tried to undo them. The biggest problem at the moment is the tuner drawer which is stuck fast. It seems the mouse wee was draining out through it... The metal frame is really rusty and the two little Philips screws I need to remove are very rusty. I very much doubt they will come out without rounding off and access is very tight made worse by the fact I can't open the drawer.
I think I am going to remove the tube next then access may be slightly better. The next problem is a dismantled set takes up more room than a complete one! And it is "banned" from the house until it is sterile! 🤢 Tube removal will have to wait for another day!
This reminds me of my GEC C2219H which had to go into storage in 2013 in a garage. Despite the back cover being tightly screwed on and the set having been wrapped in polythene, when I brought it out of storage earlier this year the bottom of the inside of the cabinet was covered in mouse droppings and there was white mould everywhere, although it was relatively easy to clean it all out. Good luck with this one, hope you manage to get the drawer to open!
Laurence
I have just restored the same model set. Removed psu and line o/p boards and replaced all h/v caps and electrolytics. The large can at the bottom of the line panel had leaked out. Needed tripler and BU208. It has the same Mullard red label crt as yours which came up as good as new. Colour would not turn down due to a cracked print on front control panel. I fitted the LEDCO i/f gain module and it now produces a cracking picture.
@malcscott I think that is what I am going to do. I will make a list of capacitors etc and check I have stock first. Did you replace the flyback tuning capacitor? If so could you tell me where you got one from please?
This reminds me of my GEC C2219H which had to go into storage in 2013 in a garage. Despite the back cover being tightly screwed on and the set having been wrapped in polythene, when I brought it out of storage earlier this year the bottom of the inside of the cabinet was covered in mouse droppings and there was white mould everywhere, although it was relatively easy to clean it all out. Good luck with this one, hope you manage to get the drawer to open!
It is surprising how small a space a mouse can get through, I heard somewhere if you can fit a pencil in a hole a mouse will fit through it. I once found a dead one in a microwave that came in for repair, the poor thing had got into the ducting and chewed through the turntable motor supply wires which was why it came in for repair. Poor old Micky was absolutely rock solid like a piece of coal. I had to snip him in half to get him out! I didn't tell the customer as I thought she may not want the microwave back, I just wrote "restore power to motor" on the invoice! It must have squeezed through a very small gap to get in and what attracted it? A mystery !
@slidertogrid Flyback tuning cap was the first one i replaced despite the old one reading spot on. I had one in stock. What value is it? i will check if i have any.
@malcscott Many thanks! Much appreciated. It is 6800pf +- 5 % at 2KV .
@malcscott If you would consider selling it could you PM me with a price inc postage please? Can I pay on paypal?
Rich.
@slidertogrid PM me your address and i will bung it in the post tomorrow for nowt.
@slidertogrid I fitted 6n2 in my set which is the value stated in the cct diag. I well send one of those as well.
Amazingly, I remember a few of these being sold in our local Currys in Holton Road, Barry as new old stock as late as 1980/81! The were priced quite a bit cheaper than the bang up to date stuff. They must've been hiding in the stores for a few years!
These 90° ones were more reliable than the 110° ones weren't they?
@tazman1966 They would have been old stock by then, hopefully not stored in a damp warehouse.
I liked the 725 chassis, not too many faults and can’t remember having to take one into the workshop for repair, all done in the house.
The IF module used to give trouble and I know Ledco made a replacement but I found resoldering the through holes on the PCB and any other dry joints was a complete cure. A huge improvement on the 697 chassis, the 691/693 were fine but that 697 I was never happy with.
Frank
@tazman1966 The old stock was probably from the Pye plant when Philips took over. They had a massive clear out of all sorts to make space for the spares they were providing for the G11. Apparently, according to the rep they found a load of brand new Pye CT205s which they were going to donate to hospitals until someone pointed out how prone to going up in smoke they were. They were then "crushed" and disposed of. The place I worked for bought a large quantity of new 205 parts around that time as we were keeping them going as decontrolled rentals. I remember a load of line panels brand new but no LOPT fitted.
I remember a place in Peterborough, (probably was Currys) had some CT227s around that time so maybe Currys did a deal with Pye for the lot?
@nuvistor we fitted the LEDCO replacement I.F and found the results varied for some reason, maybe it was the panel that varied in quality or maybe some sets just didn't suit the panel. On some sets the picture had faint ringing on others the AFC pulled off tune when on. I preferred to as you say, resolder the original. The problem was that the 'ceramic' coating on the capacitors extended down the lead out wires which resulted in a poor connection. I would heat the joint and ease the cap out a bit then solder up the lead throughs and mostly that would result in a permanent cure.
