Sunday, January 12, 2014

Radio Completed

Here is a list of what I did:

  1. Cleaned inside and outside
  2. Painted inside and outside
  3. Refurbished and painted plastic knobs
  4. Replaced vibrator with solid state version
  5. Gutted rectifier tube and installed 1N4007 diodes
  6. Replaced all tubes
  7. Replaced all paper capacitors
  8. Re-canned electrolytic capacitors
  9. Replaced first IF transformer
  10. Replaced and re-stung dialcord
  11. Cleaned and lubed tuning mechanics
  12. replaced volume/tone control
  13. Repainted dial lettering
  14. Replaced interconnecting wiring
  15. Complete alignment
  16. Replaced all labels
  17. Straightened all sheet metal
  18. Added tube retaining foam
























Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Assembling Radio


 Hooking up the interconnecting wiring


Dial light rewired
 
 
 Covers painted

Bezel straightened and cleaned up


Knob Work

The radio did come with knobs but two of the knobs that are made from plastic are highly cracked. The other two knobs are made entirely from metal and will clean up well with steel wool. Looking for replacement knobs turned up nothing so I decided to restore the ones I have. First I sand down the cracked portion of the knob and then apply JB Epoxy. I had to use a drill to keep gravity from pulling the epoxy from drooping. After the epoxy is hard I then used a rasp and sandpaper to shape the knob back to the original size and shape. And last is to paint the knobs the correct cream color.

Knob before any restoration

Knob ground down with cracked plastic removed

Knob spinning waiting for epoxy to harden

 Epoxy hard ready for shaping

 Knob shaped ready for paint

Knobs completed. Painted them with ivory Krylon.