Stumbled onto a mind numbing amount of CRT info here

[bobbyb13]

http://repairfaq.cis.upenn.edu/sam/tvfaq.htm

Didn't see this anywhere on the forum so figured it would merit posting (as long as that is ok with Saint I suppose.)

Samuel doesn't seem to mind sharing his stuff as long as you don't try to charge money for his work.

He is also quite funny while be overwhelmingly informative.

It should only take me about 3 years and a dozen dozens of rum bottles to absorb all of this.

Bobby

[buttersoft]

I'm sure a lot of us will have seen that by now. It's not just CRt's it's everything consumer electronics - lasers in CD players, Toasters, the works.

The problem is there's almost no proper structure to it, and a lot of it is couched in terminology no one would think to use besides Sam or the poster of a particular problem. I know i've seen info on there about colour smear and grid voltages vs beam current feedback, for example, and just never been able to uncover it again

Not meaning to be negative, it's all useful, and it's good that it's being preserved. Thanks for the reminder

[bobbyb13]

The issue for me is that I only understand so much of what is there.
It certainly is not for the totally uninitiated (like me) but I can say that I am learning things from it.
I've learned plenty from your posts buttersoft!

Entirely possible that I never saw it here because what is new to me is old hat to those of you who know the arcane art of the CRT.

I've just been searching for what I was accustomed to as an auto mechanic- concise diagnostic flowcharts.

I am having problems finding that for arcade monitors/ old TVs.

Bobby

[jennifer]

And you probably won't ever find such a concise flow chart...Most every thing I have ever seen starts off " Theory of operation"...Personally, I had a really hard time with that too, and sent me off on a lifelong quest to understanding...It wasn't until the mid 50s or so there was a periodic table of elements introduced  to electrical theory textbooks (first page mind you), and then the television was invented...Think about it.

[bobbyb13]

The more I learn about CRTs the more stunned I am about it all.

The math alone is pretty amazing and by the time I got to the speed and precision that the guns run at (and therefore what the deflection coils are managing to accomplish?!) the whole thing made my hair hurt.

"Theory" of operation is right-

It's like someone figured Stephen Hawking should write the manuals to all these things.

If I'm lucky maybe I can figure out where to find good replacement parts and how to repair my own stuff before I'm pushing up daisies.

[jennifer]

Luckily you are in good company since there is little call for analog anymore and most of the math a has been done for you at this point in terms of parts and service manuals...Unless of course you are planning something exotic and rewinding your own yokes or something...Not to mention the equipment used would have cost a kings randsom back in the day, but today after the the decline of the television service shops the market is flooded with high end equipment for pennies on the dollar...Valves have gone the full circle however, and some of those big amp tubes can be quite spendy...The quickest way to an understanding IMO, would be get yourself a analog oscilloscope, the 25Mhz is a good learning platform, and progress to a 100 Mhz multi channel as finances/experience allow.

[Gilrock]

……….
I've just been searching for what I was accustomed to as an auto mechanic- concise diagnostic flowcharts.

I am having problems finding that for arcade monitors/ old TVs.

Bobby

Search for Randy Fromm flowcharts.  That's what I used to work on my first CRT.  Concise single page flowchart.