This Heathkit sort of Fell into my lap today, I think it is Heathkits First Color TV Kit
warranty card inside and Diagram, but no build manual.

CRT test like brand new, almost pegs the Meter on all 3 Guns and Fast, BUT of Course it has a Cataract
Cataract should be easy fix, looks bad enough to just fall off
Has built in dot Generator, not sure how that works yet.
I am not sure what I want to do with this, I do not have the room for another big Set, I wish it were in a small metal cabinet

I powered up using variac, looks like the whole chassis and CRT come out as one Assy.
maybe I should pawn this off on Clark and see if his wife gets mad

Nice find, Terry.

How'd you find this (and how'd I miss it)?

.

someone also gave me a GR-265 1967 Heathkit today at the same time, I didn't pick it up yet

the GR-53 is enough for one day !
I unscrewed the legs so that I could slide it out of my truck and onto a cart, till I decided what to do with it

Terry

Hey Terry,

Very cool! I don't really have room for another large console, but we may have to talk. I just passed on a nice Philco Miss America set here in town because it was too big. It's disappeared from Craigslist and I thought maybe you got it

-Clark

HA
I am not out looking for these things, I don't want any Consoles, if it were in a small metal cabinet then maybe.
no no miss America for me !!
I don't have room for the consoles I have now as it is.

I think I will do the cataract in this GR-53, at least the whole chassis and CRT comes out as one part to work on

Terry

OUT OF THE BOX
Here is the Chassis out of the Box as one whole part, I do like the idea for Service
the CRT is RCA and the band around is so Tight that it makes me a bit nervosa to Remove to do Cataract
I will prob wear one of my motorcycle helmets and snowmobile Suit for this
they must have been Smokers back then because everything is Covered in a yellow film but does not smell at all

and some bad Repair work pointed out , all I have is the original Diagram, so this could be interesting if I go that far
But totally Cool !

Terry

I have one of those. I scored it a few years ago from the original owner.

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=261867

here is a resistor that one lead clipped and a wirewound tacked in , just dangling.
on the original schematic there are things penciled in relating to Green problems, well there was a intermit green drive problem.
I found the green cathode lead in the hole on the board but not soldered in..

I bet there will be more surprises

Terry, based on the nearly unused CRT and the unsoldered connection, it sounds like if you fix this set up you may be the first person to enjoy it in full working order.

I have not had the chance to do much with this GR-53 as other things keep coming up.
I figured I would at least do Cataract to make the set more attractive and in case I decide to sell it or pass it on to someone.
I just do not have room for any more Consoles in my Home.

here is the set apart and CRT ready for Surgery, it is a RCA Tube


Terry

Cataract Fun !
this one was more tempermental than the CTC11D that I did months ago.

it came off in one piece, and the Strong Glue smell just about knocked me out, Seriously it was like Being at a 3M Glue Factory.
so all that's left is clean up and re-attach the Face plate.



practice makes perfection, which this is good practice, but scary ... sort of


Terry

Nice work, Terry! Let me know if you want to part with that CRT

-Clark

Here is the Tube Ready for Re-installation, I didn't place too many double sided and sealed it with Tape all around like the old one was.
this way the Face plate can be easily removed to make it into the 21FBp22 Version.

I think what I will do is reassemble it to the mask and chassis and do minimal work and see what problems I can find from the original Builder
and if it's a Mess then I will prob part it out, I saw that it does have a RCA flyback, looks like the same one for a CTC 10 or 11, the Yoke is a RCA .
the whole Convergence assy and board is pre-assembled From RCA


Terry

Back in my misspent youth I assembled one of that model Heathkit sets.

As I was working on RCA CTC 7 - 10 ish sets at the time, I recall it was about the same circuit.

It performed well and outlived a Motorola Works-in-Drawer set.

I believe it burned through about three CRT's and a bazillion 6BK4's.

Jim

I am Curious myself how well this Model performs, I actually like it out of the cabinet like the GR-2000 I built months ago
that Gr-2000 performs Excellent, but who knows How this GR-53 will actually work, I never gave it a signal yet.

slowly Reassembling it here, one thing I think is a bad Design is how Close the HV Cage Corner is from the Bell of the Picture Tube, one sharp jar or Drop
could send the tube flying
I think the Cage should have a rounded Corner, I don't have a pic to show this yet

Thank you for your info
Terry

Cool!

Oh, no, please don't! These sets have a unique place in American history, and this roundie version was the start of lower-priced color TV for those who had the skills to build them.

If I was not 2000 miles from Madison, I would be trying to make a deal with you for this GR-53A, it is on my very short list of highly-wanted TV sets. I hope you have success getting it working well soon, Terry.

Yes, it would be a shame to part it out. The GR-53A was Heathkit's 1st color TV and very likely the very 1st color TV sold in kit form. These are rarer than any factory manufactured color TV's from the same era. See Heath's attached promotional introduction flyer (dated 1963) below:

Clever design having the chassis & CRT as a one piece assembly. Motorola did this w/their early color sets.

-Steve D.

Finally getting around to do something with this Heathkit GR-53 chassis.
But where to Begin?
Burned wires, Resistors hanging unsoldered, the Thermistor was missing and the leads twisted together.
Wires for Audio Draped over the h-out Socket..
I have a Paper Schematic to work with, hope its Correct.

I am surprised it even Gave a Raster, I have yet to Try the CRT since I did Cataract a couple of weeks ago.