This Sony KP-53S35 rear projection television is over 21 years old and we’re going to pull it apart. The aim is to get parts for future projects that are difficult (or unreasonably expensive) to buy on their own. Plus a few auxiliary items because it’s easy to get them at the same time. The “shopping list” sorted by size are:

• A large Fresnel lens that’s a core part of the main screen.
• The large front-surface mirror reflecting picture onto screen.
• Lens assemblies on picture tubes.
• Speakers.
• Caster wheels.

Since this might get messy, the doomed TV was moved out to the driveway for dissection. The rear service panel is the obvious place to start. [mle_makes] has taken apart many RPTVs and was recruited as expert guide to the process. [amybaldwindev] has not taken many things apart before and is here to learn.

With the service panel removed, we can see the heart of the TV: picture tube and electronics driving them. The rest of a RPTV is basically empty space.

Next to be removed was the large rear mirror. I was a little disappointed to find this was an ordinary rear-surface mirror, not a front-surface mirror as I had hoped for. Still, it has many future project possibilities.

The largest two circuit boards were mounted on a tray that could slide out for servicing, giving us a better look at the heart of the machine. Aside from some beefy-looking heat sinks, there is little desire for whatever’s on these non-HDTV circuit boards. They’ll be stashed away and likely disposed in electronics waste disposal in the future.

Old age made the circuit boards uninteresting, but old age made the picture tubes novel. They were removed next, and their focusing lens assemblies removed.

With the lens assemblies removed, we can see the picture tube behind a liquid cooling assembly. We knew to expect three tubes: one each for red, green, and blue. And it wasn’t too surprising to see color imparted by colored lenses. What’s puzzling is the fact the red and green tubes got colored lenses…. but the blue one did not. Do these tubes emit blue by default?

The three tubes are different in other ways: The red and green tubes had an extra circuit board on their control yokes, but the two boards are clearly different. In contrast, the blue tube had no circuit board on its control yoke at all.

Here’s how the three tubes (and their control yokes) were mounted in the case, which may be useful if they are to ever light up again.

The coolant (most likely ethylene glycol) in the chamber in front of all three tubes were drained into a glass jar for safe disposal. (Or potential reuse.) Once drained, the cooling assembly was removed to expose the picture tube face. Visible on each face is a burned-in rectangle representing 21 years of TV watching. Due to the geometry of the optical path, the tubes on either side had a trapezoidal pattern (visible here) and the center tube has a rectangular pattern.

These large powerful high-voltage tubes are not going to be used for their designed purpose in the future, but the glass work is beautiful and I hope to find an aesthetic way to display them. All the components were stripped off the glass vessel.

It’s a bit of a shame, as the wiring in the control yoke has aesthetics of their own.

With all the components packed away, it was time to break down the cabinet. It is mostly built from injection-molded polystrene and should be recyclable.

This is where a reciprocating saw (the Harbor Freight knockoff of a Sawzall) became very handy.

At the end of the day, a big bulky RPTV has disappeared. Its desirable components were packed for reuse, hazardous components were packed for safe disposal, and the remaining cabinet pieces broken up for household waste/recycling.

Yet to come: giving these salvaged parts new life.