Building a TV from parts

Hi.

I am interested in fussing about in my basement - I want to
build a television from parts. I have an engineering background
but can't seem to find any guides that show me the basics or
steps. Is there a good book out there or link? I would prefer
something that didn't get too technical, but really just goes
over what parts go where and that kind of thing. A real basic
guide.

I'd appreciate any constructive advice.

Thanks!

On Fri, 28 Sep 2007 19:06:41 -0000, pbd22 wrote:

I am interested in fussing about in my basement - I want to
build a television from parts. I have an engineering background
but can't seem to find any guides that show me the basics or
steps. Is there a good book out there or link? I would prefer
something that didn't get too technical, but really just goes
over what parts go where and that kind of thing. A real basic
guide.

If you really want to learn about television, buy an old black and white or
color television. Think something pre-1970's. People often put them on
the curb to be thrown away, or push it into a dusty and dark corner of the
garage or basement.

The 1st thing is to get is a schematic diagram from Howard Sams. It
includes a functional block diagram, parts list, alignment, and various
test point values for resistance and voltage. Using all of that
information you can bring the tv back to life. The only component that's
really hard to find now is the CRT. They just don't make them anymore.
Only one place remains that will rebuild an old CRT provided they have a
new electron gun. Messing with certain areas of a TV can kill you, as
there's between 10K and 30K of high voltage on the CRT anode.

pbd22 wrote:
Hi.

I am interested in fussing about in my basement - I want to
build a television from parts. I have an engineering background
but can't seem to find any guides that show me the basics or
steps. Is there a good book out there or link? I would prefer
something that didn't get too technical, but really just goes
over what parts go where and that kind of thing. A real basic
guide.

I'd appreciate any constructive advice.

Thanks!


Twenty years ago, the Heath Company (Benton
Harbor, Michigan) produced several excellent
kit TVs, based upon designs of the Zenith
Corporation. The manuals for those sets
addressed circuit theory and signal
processing. They came with good schematics.

Most of those designs used discrete
components with little LSI.

Heathkit was purchased by the French who
drove the business into the ground. Zenith
faded from the scene as a major T.V. producer.

You might be able to find old Heath manuals
at a swap meet or perhaps on eBay. Search
for heathkit tv manual. All ancient NTSC
stuff.

Modern TVs rely on LSI components to such a
degree that there is little to note since a
set appears to be just an assemblage of
'black box' components.

--
pete#2

"Ham1" wrote in message
...
So you have an engineer degree, does that make you able to do this. Why
do people thing that a engineer is god.
THE SHUTTLE BLEW UP FORM A ENGINEERING **** UP.


"pbd22" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi.

I am interested in fussing about in my basement - I want to
build a television from parts. I have an engineering background
but can't seem to find any guides that show me the basics or
steps. Is there a good book out there or link? I would prefer
something that didn't get too technical, but really just goes
over what parts go where and that kind of thing. A real basic
guide.

I'd appreciate any constructive advice.

Thanks!




Yeah he probably couldn't ever use a speel-chekor eether.

"pbd22" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi.

I am interested in fussing about in my basement - I want to
build a television from parts. I have an engineering background
but can't seem to find any guides that show me the basics or
steps. Is there a good book out there or link? I would prefer
something that didn't get too technical, but really just goes
over what parts go where and that kind of thing. A real basic
guide.

I'd appreciate any constructive advice.

Thanks!

Really not practical. A few years ago you might have been able to improve a
particular analog TV, but since they are going away in a little over a year,
not worth while. Among other problems, you would probably need parts that
have a 1000 piece, or more, minimum order.

Somebody once figured out that the cost of building a Chevrolet from parts
was 4X the dealer price of the car.

Tam

"Ham1" wrote:

So you have an engineer degree, does that make you able to do this. Why do
people thing that a engineer is god.
THE SHUTTLE BLEW UP FORM A ENGINEERING **** UP.


"pbd22" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi.

I am interested in fussing about in my basement - I want to
build a television from parts. I have an engineering background
but can't seem to find any guides that show me the basics or
steps. Is there a good book out there or link? I would prefer
something that didn't get too technical, but really just goes
over what parts go where and that kind of thing. A real basic
guide.

I'd appreciate any constructive advice.

Thanks!



Engineers can spell "from"

On Sep 28, 6:36 pm, common_ wrote:
"Ham1" wrote:
So you have an engineer degree, does that make you able to do this. Why do
people thing that a engineer is god.
THE SHUTTLE BLEW UP FORM A ENGINEERING **** UP.

"pbd22" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi.

I am interested in fussing about in my basement - I want to
build a television from parts. I have an engineering background
but can't seem to find any guides that show me the basics or
steps. Is there a good book out there or link? I would prefer
something that didn't get too technical, but really just goes
over what parts go where and that kind of thing. A real basic
guide.

I'd appreciate any constructive advice.

Thanks!

Engineers can spell "from"

Many years ago I had the pleasure of building a $400 Heathkit GR-2000
kit color TV. Not only was the project fun and informative, but there
was a genuine thrill when it lit up for the first time (no smoke) to
show a badly out of convergence Johnny Carson doing his standup. My
roomate in college soldered late into the morning building a Heathkit
Star Roamer shortwave receiver. It's a real pity that Heath is no
more.

wrote:
On Sep 28, 6:36 pm, common_ wrote:

"Ham1" wrote:

So you have an engineer degree, does that make you able to do this. Why do
people thing that a engineer is god.
THE SHUTTLE BLEW UP FORM A ENGINEERING **** UP.

"pbd22" wrote in message
groups.com...

Hi.

I am interested in fussing about in my basement - I want to
build a television from parts. I have an engineering background
but can't seem to find any guides that show me the basics or
steps. Is there a good book out there or link? I would prefer
something that didn't get too technical, but really just goes
over what parts go where and that kind of thing. A real basic
guide.

I'd appreciate any constructive advice.

Thanks!

Engineers can spell "from"


Many years ago I had the pleasure of building a $400 Heathkit GR-2000
kit color TV. Not only was the project fun and informative, but there
was a genuine thrill when it lit up for the first time (no smoke) to
show a badly out of convergence Johnny Carson doing his standup. My
roomate in college soldered late into the morning building a Heathkit
Star Roamer shortwave receiver. It's a real pity that Heath is no
more.


In the late 60s I started building Heathkits and for Christmas of 1969 I
built my father his first color TV, a 19 inch set that worked great
right from the start (except for needing alignment).

Years latter (1977) I built my first computer, a Heath H-8. It had 4 K
of memory and stored programs on cassette tapes.

It is a pity that there are no longer any companies like Heath but that
is just how the world is today. Most people just don't have the time or
patience to build electronic kits nowadays.
--
Bill R.

Remove nospam_ in e-mail address to reply by e-mail

On Sep 28, 3:29 pm, "Ham1" wrote:
So you have an engineer degree, does that make you able to do this.
Why do
people thing that a engineer is god.
THE SHUTTLE BLEW UP FORM A ENGINEERING **** UP.


Actually, it had more to do with a change in the O-ring composition to
make it 'environmentally friendly'. The engineers had stuff that
worked but didn't have the political clout to insist on keeping the
winning 'recipe'

GG

On Sep 28, 8:07 pm, Bill R wrote:
wrote:
On Sep 28, 6:36 pm, common_ wrote:
Many years ago I had the pleasure of building a $400 Heathkit
GR-2000
kit color TV. Not only was the project fun and informative, but
there
was a genuine thrill when it lit up for the first time (no smoke)
to
show a badly out of convergence Johnny Carson doing his standup.
My
roomate in college soldered late into the morning building a
Heathkit
Star Roamer shortwave receiver. It's a real pity that Heath is
no
more.

In the late 60s I started building Heathkits and for Christmas of
1969 I
built my father his first color TV, a 19 inch set that worked great
right from the start (except for needing alignment).

Years latter (1977) I built my first computer, a Heath H-8. It had
4 K
of memory and stored programs on cassette tapes.

It is a pity that there are no longer any companies like Heath but
that
is just how the world is today. Most people just don't have the
time or
patience to build electronic kits nowadays.
--
Bill R.

Remove nospam_ in e-mail address to reply by e-mail

The construction techniques now are so specialized that most folks
would have a real hard time with it and worse, it wouldn't work as
well as the one from China that cost half as much as the kit. Trust
me, soldering quad flat pack chips with 0.5mm lead spacing requires
considerable skill and excellent tools. That clunky old soldering iron
simply won't cut it. But if you hunt around on the net, there _are_
kits to be had though I don't think you'll find any TV kits any more.

GG