07-26-2013, 06:23 AM
When I got home last night I couldn't find the cabinet.... looked all over. I thought maybe aliens had abducted it. Then I finally located it in the house. She had found a place for it in an antique cabinet in the living room where we keep the Philco 90. I thought that was a good sign.
Finished the radio refurb last night. I moved it up to the front of the list as it was one she found and I felt like if I got it looking good and working right away it may encourage her to find more. 8)
The electronics refurb was more challenging than most I've done. Mainly due to the fact that 95% of the components did not have any markings other than a part number that did not match up with anything on the schematic. Plus the schematic was fuzzy and hard to read. I blew the schematic up to a size where it took 4 sheets of paper taped together. With that and the Beitman's schematic, which was clearer and mostly legible with a magnifying glass, I was able to figure out the values. Also, the mica capacitors were a type I hadn't run across before. They looked like small candholm resistors. That threw me off for a little while. Finally, all the old repairman's alterations were a bit of a challenge too. Let's just say those guys were "creative". The radio plays very well. Good reception, nice volume and tone adjustment. I was pleasantly suprised with it. I used the gojo, Howard's Finish Restorer and Howard's Feed-n-wax process on the cabinet after I glued the loose stuff. First time I have tried those products. I was really happy with the results. Not as dramatic as I thought, but very good. For the faded part on the grill cloth, I darkened it with a moist tea bag applied to it, and then carefully drying it with an iron set at about 3. I did this about 4 times before I felt the colors matched pretty well.
On to the next project.
Finished the radio refurb last night. I moved it up to the front of the list as it was one she found and I felt like if I got it looking good and working right away it may encourage her to find more. 8)
The electronics refurb was more challenging than most I've done. Mainly due to the fact that 95% of the components did not have any markings other than a part number that did not match up with anything on the schematic. Plus the schematic was fuzzy and hard to read. I blew the schematic up to a size where it took 4 sheets of paper taped together. With that and the Beitman's schematic, which was clearer and mostly legible with a magnifying glass, I was able to figure out the values. Also, the mica capacitors were a type I hadn't run across before. They looked like small candholm resistors. That threw me off for a little while. Finally, all the old repairman's alterations were a bit of a challenge too. Let's just say those guys were "creative". The radio plays very well. Good reception, nice volume and tone adjustment. I was pleasantly suprised with it. I used the gojo, Howard's Finish Restorer and Howard's Feed-n-wax process on the cabinet after I glued the loose stuff. First time I have tried those products. I was really happy with the results. Not as dramatic as I thought, but very good. For the faded part on the grill cloth, I darkened it with a moist tea bag applied to it, and then carefully drying it with an iron set at about 3. I did this about 4 times before I felt the colors matched pretty well.
On to the next project.
