CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[kal]

Thanks Ile. I've updated the Barco1 page.

So Mike, are you saying that you absolutely CANNOT mix Barco1 and Barco2 mods?

This severely limits which projectors can be mod'ed.

Kal

[kal]

Thanks Ile. I've updated the Barco1 page.

So Mike, are you saying that you absolutely CANNOT mix Barco1 and Barco2 mods?

This severely limits which projectors can be mod'ed.

Kal

[oliverg]

Yeah I conversed with Mike a few weeks ago (and Curt)

I just bought a 1209 off Curt

The video output boards (neck boards) are 762292, and the video switcher board is a 761781.5. That's the same video chain as used in the Barco 1208 models up until 1997-1998.

Mike said there was nothing he could do. I'm pretty sure those are 120Mhz neck boards though. Greg E seems to think they are quite moddable (the earlier non S boards).

//e - what are the suggestions you have? I would love a list, as I'm quite handy with a soldering iron.

Kind regards

[Barry]

I am curious what you paid for your 1209.....I just got one off eBay. With Curt you kow what you are getting for sure...mine turns out to be quite good as far as I can tell. We will have to compare notes on upgrades. Right now I am converting to colored C elements and looking for glycol. I thought it owuld be simple....anyone have a favorite source? C elements are on the way.

[oliverg]

I paid 4k - which was well worth it for two 9/10 tubes (R/B) and a brand new G tube. (PT22, not PLUG19s)

I could have bought one for 3-4k off ebay, but as it turns out, lucky I didn't - it was sold by a well know sheister here in Australia called "Ozsellingstuff" (aka finedigital, aka projectorpoint, aka .. well the list keeps going). It turned out to have 20000 hours on the tubes!! 40000 hours on the chassis. I am very hesitant to buy off ebay, I would rather get the after sales support from Curt. So far he has been just brilliant - I can't say enough good things. Plus he's a nice bloke to boot. He and Kal make a fine team.

I was going to get Mike Parker's mod set (Barco 1) but as mentioned above, this isn't possible with my boards. Mike has been very kind to offer a modded set of boards - and if I like them, I can buy a set off Curt who will give them to Mike to replace the set he's going to give me.

As for colored C-elements, I dont really want to cut the light output - I might do one (alot of people say just do the red and green) - whilst others aren't so positive about them - Curt knows a place that does them for $150-200 each from VDC - and he can ship them directly

I may even sell my 1209 - as I have a G90 on the way. OR I'll get another 1209 and stack them with my C2 VP. OR I'll get another G90 - just depends

[Barry]

Curt is for sure the source.....I got mine off eBay but had the luxury to see it before I bought it...had 1100 hours and 9/10 on all tubes...frankly I can even see faint wear. I lucked and got it for $1525. Curt has a great piece here on how to DIY the C element change. I did a similar change with a lens change on a 1208 and the results were much better color. Don't worry about light output IMO. I will be curious what you find on the MP mods for it. Let me know. Also on my 1208 I switched to the Port 3 input for a big improvement in contrast and resolution. Again Curt has written broadly on the issue.

[oliverg]

$1525!!?

You suck!!!

[oliverg]

IIe ... you are the man.

Thanks very much for your PM

[Barry]

ell I started setting up my 1209. I have a question about horizontal amplitude/width adjustment. I tried adjusting the image to occupy the full area of the scan but maxed out at about 85%. It would seem one would want to use all of the available scan face ( leaving the usual .25" on the edges to avoid over scanning). Instead there is ~.7" on each side....any guidance on this?

Comparing my old 1208 to the new 1209 I noticed that the lettering on Winged Migration had much sharper edges likely due to the lack of air space in the liquid coupled lenses. All text looks sharper....could there possibly be more? (MP mods in my future?)

[Ile]

[Barry]

Ile,

Once again right on here...got the 1209 out to the edges! I plan to calibrate the 1208 17V as well.

Almost the same question on a Runco 980 Ultra/NEC 6PG....the vertical raster won't go more than about 65%. I found references to the horizontal in the Curt Palme guides but not the vertical. Anyone know if there is some master vertical height adjustment?

Thanks,

Barry

[Ile]

[Barry]

Ok, got the CRTs out and started to change out one of the C-elements. This model had a recirculating tube wrapped around the back of the CRT to allow recirculation of the fluids by convection. When I went to drain the fluid by removing one of the ends of eh tube I managed to get sprayed by the coolant....it was under pressure. After washing my mouth and body I proceeded to drain the fluid. I washed off the assembly to get rid of spilled water and hit it with high pressure air.
Now I am wondering how I can refill the glycol and do it w/o any air. I don't think the convection will work unless it is free of air.
Any suggestions?

[Ile]

Pressure is pretty normal in this tube type, so drain also other tubes. I have always used towel wrapped over tube, when removing tube...

Plastic bottle with nozzle connected to hose would be fastest way to refill.
Small funnel that fit to hose or syringe works fine too.

[Barry]

I got the glycol with the squeeze spout so I was thinking I could resestablish pressure by squeezing a little more in and pinching the tube behind the fill point while I reinsert it to the fitting. Is keeping pressure necessary? What about making sure all air is removed?

[Ile]

[Barry]

Wow, read that thread and lots of thought went into it. Basically it covered all of my curiosities regarding convection and air bubbles and introduced the the issue of expansion which I hadn't considered. Since the system was found without air bubbles i will make that my goal. Pressure doesn't seem to be a positive attribute so I will leave it at or below room pressure.

I would think that glycol, being a liquid, might expand a little under temperature and surely the expansive property of the plastic hose will compensate for a little expansion.

I am going to assume that it was designed properly and try to match what I found rather than try to to improve on it.
I will be more cautious on the green tube and try not to drink any more glycol!

[Ile]

[Barry]

Ile,
I did check your idea with the reservoir. It seems like a lot of work and I am not sure it is necessary. However, I am thinking that it would be a reasonable idea to release the pressure on the Blue tube which is still in the set. I am just not sure if it is worth it enough to take it out of the set with all that is involved there.
The set is 10 years old so maybe it will be good for 10 more if I releive the Blue.

Barry

[Ile]

[Barry]

Ile,

the pressure was so great in the others that it squirted all over so i opted to remove teh BLUE and drain it of the pressure. Turns out it had a different type of clamp on the hose which was harder to open but I finally was able to. I had a near disaster putting it back in as I was trying to reattach the black box neck boards I managed to mangle about 5 pins on the neck. So I took it out, straightened them and put it back in ever so gently. She powered up, no problem, converged it in daylight (temporary) and it looks fine. I can't yet determine in bright light what the color shift is though the reds look a lot cleaner as does the green. I want to run it for a few hours to see if I get any glycol leakage when it heats up.

I think that the glycol reached a level of water saturation and goes to steady state with the internal pressure neutralizing the absorption of more water entering the system....just my theory.

Tonight I give it a good go to set it up. The focus coils got moved around a bit in the process so I am not sure what impact that has.

I have now completed my intermediate hard CRT task!

Barry