zenith transocianic & GE clock / radio & Minerva Tropic Master
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driving a couple hours away today to pick up some things a friend of mine is wanting to make sure gets to a good home.,, (pre-yard sale), free bee's to me.
Apparently John Massie has this Zenith radio from the mid 60's maybe? its not tube though, so we will see.
he also wants me to take another radio he has that he describes as the oddest looking thing. He says from the front it looks like an electric heater!,,
he wants me to haul away some misc electronics today so ill post up pics when i get home.
(This post was last modified: 06-04-2018, 07:29 PM by jcassity.)
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The modern ZTO sets are nice some folk think one is better than the other I am very happy with mine. Would not want to have to do a lot of work inside one with my big hands. One of my first sets to grab when the power goes out for a sit on the porch. Enjoy your new toy. David
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Well,
looks like i have 3 new toddlers to tend to.
First the GE radio,, its a nice working unit and i have not opened it up.. but will soon.
I may be needing to find a home for it because its not really my cup of tea but still i like it either way.
Second the Minerva Tropic Master. checked it out and yup original caps so that and resistors come next. It plays but while playing i littereally had a cap start to go out so ..... time to fix it up and let it live a few more decades.
Third the Zenith Transoceanic. This is an absolutely amazing radio.I jumpered all six external antenna inputs to one so i could just hook up my long wire. I know this isnt right but things came in really great. This one radio may force me to learn about doing proper antenna's and for a radio of this type, i bet i will not be wasting my time. This set has everything i was looking for in a radio plus a whole lot more but,, something seems missing with no tubes!!
all were free and i believe i am starting to become a collector,, why,, because of my new itch t get my paws on a hallicrafters sx-42!
the minerva will need all the normal things like cord, fuse and redo the caps/ resistors.
With the tube radios, i am putting in a 120v relay that makes and breaks dry contacts. the contacts of the relay joins in the long wire antenna. this way all the sets can share the same long wire,, and i just try to avoid having two on at once.,, like one in the house and one in the garage.
ive sense taken down the beverage antenna,,,, i cant seem to find enough level ground here on my property to make it effective enough but,, i learned a buncha stuff doing it and it does work,, i would like to see some flat landers install one cause its really easy.
(This post was last modified: 06-04-2018, 07:47 PM by jcassity.)
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now to hunt down a diagram for the Minerva. IM not really sure what the big deal is about this set, i gotta research its significance if there is any at all,, its just an 8 tuber,,
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The GE is a nice 5 tube AC/DC set the fun part is getting the clock to work. There were several changes to the GE set overtime. The TO will work with just a 10-15 foot piece of wire for a ant. Now all you need is a power outage! David
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the clock is working,, seems the knob on the back to set the clock is kinda stuck so i cant correct it ,, we will see. I have some experience working on clocks,, seth thomas type from long before elecic
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(06-04-2018, 07:51 PM)jcassity Wrote: now to hunt down a diagram for the Minerva. IM not really sure what the big deal is about this set, i gotta research its significance if there is any at all,, its just an 8 tuber,,
One doesn't really need 27 tubes to have a good radio, eight is more than most small radios. Eight was probably about average for the average console of the radio era..
Tom
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Lubrication of clocks in radios in this time period was grease so after 60+ years will be dried out might get lucky with a shot of WD40 or a couple drops of kero better to use to little than to much. David
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On the G.E they used Telechron clock motors that had the rotor and primary gear reduction inside a copper coloured capsule mounted in a hole in the iron. After 40+ years the oil usually dries up and the rotor stops working, I can't recall what oil to use but I think it was something like sewing machine oil, 3 in 1 oil, or electric motor oil, and the way to get it into the capsule is to remove the rotor assembly from the clock, heat it up, and to feed the new oil in around where the little pinion gear sticks out. Here is one web page showing the technique:
http://www.prepostmodern.com/rotors/
More on Telechron clocks:
http://www.telechron.net/main.htm
Regards
Arran
(This post was last modified: 06-06-2018, 01:16 AM by Arran.)
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Tom,, yup i know your right but sometimes i cant contain myself.
Arran, your making me want to take a second gander. the alarm & clock works fine but yes it has periodic noise even after i dribbled in some 3 & 1 on the motor output gear.
GE Alarm / Clock Radio
1- I am in search of a diagram
2- unit has no model number anywhere
3-internal wound antenna seems to "allow" the user to plug into the rear an external antenna yet this set "requires" a loop. I a assuming the antenna mounts & design being hollow are allowing me this option. Id like to figure out how to integrate a long wire yet in my gator clip testing of different combinations did not seem to improve a weaker signal.
4- the IF's seem to be those type with a variable mica cap,,, that being said, and judging from the once in a while random "pop" noise,, i have to assume i best stock up on these small IF's while i can or find out if i can purchase the adjustable mica caps in the right profile for these tiny cans individually. i have a few sets now that have these type of caps.
Now that i can see the internals, i had no idea the motor was basically air tight with a seal at the output and an o-ring cover. If it is empty or void of oil,, it should float in water LOL.
I see an alternate less risky way of getting oil in the GE Radio clock drive motor. if i am very steady, i can spin by finger a very very tiny drill bit into the side of the motor cover in the location that would place the hole "UP". inject the oil then clean the surface and then plug it off. I have to assume it will lay sideways or upside down in a box sometime in the distant future so i have to think about not allowing the oil to run out but yet offer the next guy a visual indication there is a oil port.
I re-cap'd this radio inside of 15 minutes,, all the resistors visually had great looking color bands,, and nothing made me think i should demo and replace them. it works fine.
I added a polarized power cord. Did not install a fuse though.. i should.
MINERVA TROPIC MASTER
1- still hunting a diagram but i learned that if your speaker grill is in a Louver design, its considered "early" and likely was a real armed forces moral radio especially if it has the 50v PP tubes then it did see the front lines.,, however some military units had 25v tubes and to that even the associated original schematics do not match the actual product illustrating how hap hazard disorganized this company was about profits. Late models with the letter "M" over the speaker would be considered "late" models mostly bought by civilians and never really saw a battle field.,,==. so..... if the speaker has a louver then it made it to the line, if it has an M, it made it to your momma.
**in my situation i have the military tube layout (50v PP tubes) but i have an "M" over the speaker grille.
2- there is no model number anywhere on this set
3- nostalgia air has a few diagrams i just found so i will one at a time see which one if any match my set.
4- documentation state this is a weather proof case & chassis,,, i seriously disagree as you could have a better effect using a trash bag.
5- a 120v antenna picking relay will be easy to position.
6- this set will need a full going though,, a lot of discolored resistors and the caps are questionable,, and since one smoked on me , , why not just do it now. After all i only have a full blow 87 Merc Cougar resto in process with custom EEC Chip tune going on, a garden totally out of control, these radios to baby sit , tons of typical life things and moving targets everywhere i turn.
(This post was last modified: 06-07-2018, 08:38 AM by jcassity.)
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Is this your 'nervia?
http://www.nostalgiaair.org/pagesbymodel...010877.pdf
Those GE were commonly four tubers though some are AA5.
Tom
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well tom,, apparently the "Early" model 117 is mine with the tube layout.
I am heading out to the garage now to shake out the caps and resistors to see if they match.
if the early diagram matches,, then this may have made it to the front lines.,, because none of the 50v PP tube layouts were sold to civilians.,, these all were army/navy exchanges/PX's,, and i think i actually found the navy "NSN" (national stock number) for armed forces procurement.
found some original ink stamping for tube designations as well.
thank you very much for plotting that diagram for me,, i downloaded all three nostalgia air has because another gent at another site mentioned conflicts all over the place with these sets.
if i start running into that sorta stuff, im tossing diagrams and just replacing the values of items that are installed now. I dont want to over complicate this.
(This post was last modified: 06-07-2018, 09:16 AM by jcassity.)
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This GE radio i have is an AA5
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Quote: "I see an alternate less risky way of getting oil in the GE Radio clock drive motor. if i am very steady, i can spin by finger a very very tiny drill bit into the side of the motor cover in the location that would place the hole "UP". inject the oil then clean the surface and then plug it off. I have to assume it will lay sideways or upside down in a box sometime in the distant future so i have to think about not allowing the oil to run out but yet offer the next guy a visual indication there is a oil port."
The one drawback with that is that you stand a chance of getting metal shavings inside the rotor capsule, the heating method should not hurt anything, the gears are mostly metal with one phenolic gear, all of which are fairly heat resistant, I suppose heating it in an old toaster oven where you can control the temperature would be safer then using a soldering gun, and hoping a heat sink will cool it down. Another method I saw to get the oil inside, without opening the capsule, is to place it under a vacuum, but how many people have the equipment to do that. I think that you can open some of these rotor capsules, but I don't know about the type used in these clock radios.
Speaking of the radio portion of the G.E, if the IF cans have trimmer caps on top then they will NOT have silver mica caps inside them, just the coils, and possibly a resistor. If you are hearing thunder crashes look elsewhere, such as dirt in the tuning condenser, or volume control, or possibly a bad solder joint (such as between the loop antenna leads and the tuning condenser). If the set uses seven pin tubes then it would be a good idea to clean the tube sockets, and tube pins, if the chassis looks dirty.
Regards
Arran
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