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Author Topic: Antique Radio Restoration Help Needed! Jeff Stricker Master Film Handler Posts: 481 From: Calumet, Mi USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 07-28-2005 06:52 AM                     Hi Mark, Excellent restoration! Not nearly as many TV restorers as old radio folks out there! I just took a tour of the Indiana Historical Radio Museum in Ligoneer, Indiana. Really neat stuff. My restoration work is confined to vintage amateur radio gear/and communications receivers (old Collins, National, Hammarlund stuff, and some esoteric motion picture gear now and then! ) I used to work with a guy from the Indianapolis area that was a big collector and restorer of vintage TV's. (his name was Jeff *something*) He had one with the vertical CRT and mirror in the sloping lid, also a color wheel (CBS system) TV. I remember our first family TV in 1949. It was an RCA with doors in front of the picture tube. That thing had a horizontal oscillator that wasn't worth a crap! It had an inscripion on the back where the RCA chief engineer attested it would produce the sound of the "golden throat". It did have pretty good audio, with that 12" speaker.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 07-28-2005 09:32 AM                        Nark; beautiful work on the old TV's. (Note use of stereo with b&w set.) Impressive. Louis  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-28-2005 10:50 AM                     Thanks Louis! The neat thing is the amp feeding those speakers is based on a Pass Labs design and is 10 watts per channel single ended class A....... The amp runs almost as hot as he TV does. Mark  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 07-31-2005 01:48 AM                     Very nice work, Mark! My 816K chassis is heavy sheetmetal box construction like your piece. I used a variety of products to break down the dirt and shine up the parts (metal-mechanical) w/o getting on the electrical components. It took some careful disassembly, patience and elbow-grease, but the effects are worth it! I used a gel-like metal polish to break down the surface dirt. Lots of Never-Dull and mineral spirits. Some carburator clearner around the all metal tuning condensor cleaned that up. All products carefully used to prevent unwanted damage to electrical components, and this cleaning was for the chassis top, front and sides ONLY! I'll use electronics cleaner and mineral spirits on the underside. But need to becareful not to remove color-coded component markings. As for wiring harnesses. You know how underhood wiring harnesses on 1960's cars were wrapped with the non-adhesive friction stype electrical tape? This tape is available through National Parts Depot www.npdlink.com and is relatively inexpensive. Mark, or anyone else, can you help me out with a couple of needed parts? I am in need top-mounted, canister style, wet electrolytic capacitors. 25Mfd (2ea), 16Mfd (2ea). Will take bad caps, just so I can aesthetically restore my radio. I have the original RCA books, but cap voltages are not listed. Cheers K.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-31-2005 03:12 AM                     quote: Will Kutler I used a variety of products to break down the dirt and shine up the parts Oh no , you took the patina off the chassis..... not necessarily a good idea. That patina is part of what makes an old radio old. You may have just lost half its value. All my chassis are kept as found as much as is possible. Sometimes on a really bad wood case though you don't have any choice but to re-finish it. This is all what contributes tot he value of an old piece like that. The 630 cjassis is a bit rough but the 721 is pretty nice. I was worried when I ultrasonically cleaned the tuner in the 721 becuase it came out shiny and like new but the guys say that part is ok and was typically removed and sent out for rebuilding anyway. Eventually it will dull again and look like the rest of the chassis does. For the electrolytics you should really go to that forum that I pointed you to earlier in this thread. Those guys can lead you to them. Also, leep in mind that the majority of electrolytics can be re-formed and still work like new. My 721 chasis is an excellent example of that in which I only had to replace one FP type multisection cap that 2 sections in it would not re-form out of 7 in the set. I always replace all the coupling/bypass caps though and in RCA equipment its also VERY common for mica caps to fail. There are instructions at this site on how to re-stuff the original electrolytic cans on a radio/TV.  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 07-31-2005 06:24 AM                     Hi Mark On the metal chassis, I don't know if I got rid of any patina...more than getting rid of all the dirt that tends to create problems for both electric and mechanical components. I did not sand or hard polish the chassis to a mirror finish...just got rid of all the dirt and crap. Mark, I registered for the Antique Radio Forum as per your suggestion, and have yet to get any replies for the parts I need. There is a place in Tucson called Elliots Electronics. They used to have all these electrolytic caps, and repacked them as you described. According to them, they advertised and had no buyers. About 1 1/2 years ago they cleaned house and dumped all of those caps in the trash! Mark, what say you about automotive wiring? Ford actually uses much of the colors that I need. If I found needed color codes in salvage yards, will the insulation hold up? Cheers, K.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-31-2005 08:34 AM                     HEllo there Will, It should hold up as well as it holds up in any auto but why use automotive wiring? You have antique electronic supply a stones throw away from where you live..... Mark  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 07-31-2005 01:58 PM                     Hi Mark The wiring I need is: Black w/ brown stripe Black w/red stripe black w/red tr Blue w/yellow stripe green w/yellow stripe red w/yellow stripe red w/green stripe black solid blue solid brown solid green red yellow blue shielded I am finding it very difficult to find the striped wire. The solid colors are not a problem. I would prefer wire with the modern rated hi temp insulation. 18-20 gage has been recommended for radio restoration. Automotive wiring still uses a lot of the color-coded striping. Antique Electronic Supply batted "0". Yes, cloth covered wire is being reproduced. Basically, it is the modern rated insulation with the cloth overcoat. But colors are very limited. I suppose I could always use solid wire and wrap some colored electrical tape around it to simulate the striping? Cheers K.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 07-31-2005 02:37 PM                        Maybe things have changed, but I thought striped wire was a custom order kind of thing. At least it used to be. When I worked on the wiring of the sets for the Jubilee show at Bally's years ago, the head electrician told me they had to custom order anything that wasn't solid color. The size of that construction project made those custom orders possible. If that's still true, you'll be better off looking in places that offer cable and wire remnants and leftovers rather than buying new unless you want to pay for some minimum order.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-31-2005 04:19 PM                     Hello there Will, You might want to get a big piece of large multi condictor wire of the proper gauge as alot of that has striped coding in it. Other than that Automotive stuff should work fin but be sure the insylation is rated high enough for the HV found in radios.... it may not have that high a voltage rating Mark  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 07-31-2005 04:28 PM                     Hi Paul, Mark I remember the days when I could walk into Radio Shack, ACE Hardware or some local electronics/electrical supply houses and pick up this wire pretty easily. But no more! Yes Paul, I can still custom order this wire, at a min order of several thousand feet and plenty of $$. Cheers K.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 07-31-2005 06:55 PM                     Mark: I registered over there, too! Will: Best of luck to you. I'm restoring a 1961 RCA color TV. Gettin ready for the fun cap replacement, and trying to find a new flyback for it. I think that Radio Shack's days are numbered.  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 07-31-2005 09:11 PM                     Hi Mark Well, I guess I can always turn my own cans on a lathe, making the lid with a double thread so that it screws into the can and fastens to the chassis w/a nut. Then I can pack them as per the web-site you referred me to! One question for you, though. What is the cambric cloth that they used to wrap the caps, and where do you purchase it at? I have never heard of cambric cloth. Cheers Kutler  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 07-31-2005 10:03 PM                        The usual capacitor replacement is to boil out the old guts from the electrolytics. When clean put a modern capacitor inside and fill with Epoxy. Looks original, works well. Louis  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 07-31-2005 11:22 PM                     Hi Louis Thanks for the info. Problem is I am having trouble finding any of the old style cans. Someone removed and discsarded the ones off my radio. K.  |  IP: Logged

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