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Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - Printable Version

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RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - NostalgiaRadioTime - 07-06-2018

I remember those laminated dials, Ron. In fact I still have one for a model 89 I decided not to use because it just didn't look right. I'm perfectly happy with RD's scales now. The height of the embossed lettering really isn't noticeable unless you're looking at the dial from the side. All I meant is if they could get it flush they'd be a perfect match to the originals. It's not a complaint by no means...never look a gift horse in the mouth, and these dial scales are a gift from RD to all of us! Icon_thumbup

RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - Ron Ramirez - 07-09-2018

I received the reconed speaker today. Rich did a beautiful job with it. It looks great and sounds great. Icon_thumbup Icon_thumbup

If you need a speaker to be reconed, I would not hesitate to recommend Rich and Sound Remedy.

Anyway, I connected the speaker cable to the newly reconed speaker and, after listening to it a while, gave the set an alignment.

Now all I need to do is to fix that antenna clip and its broken phenolic insulators, and the electronic restoration will be complete.

RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - Paul Philco322 - 07-09-2018

Rich Stamer is the real deal. 

Like the dial, maybe I can change out an earlier one I bot for a Philco with a new improved style.

It looks very sharp.

Paul

RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - Dan Walker - 07-09-2018

Ron, I have been following your progress from the first post and now I just bought an RCA
tombstone model T7-1 which is very similar to yours.
 The plus going for me on this one is the dial  plastic is in mint condition
  You have done a very good job of explaining things which will be a great help, especially with the dial pointer.
   Thanks 
 Dan Walker  in Calgary

RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - Ron Ramirez - 07-10-2018

Dan

Very neat! Icon_thumbup It looks like RCA Victor of Canada took an American T7-5 chassis and simply added a 6E5 tuning eye. Of course the cabinet had to be somewhat redesigned to accommodate the tuning eye. I like it, thanks for sharing. Thank you also for the kind words re: this thread, I appreciate it.

RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - Arran - 07-11-2018

Ron;
  RCA used to do things like that on both sides of the border, make a 7 tube chassis, add a magic eye, and you have an 8 tuber, not much different then Philco in some ways.
Regards
Arran

RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - Ron Ramirez - 07-11-2018

Interesting.

Well, I finally ordered a piece of phenolic, so I will be attempting to repair the antenna terminal when it arrives.

RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - Joe Rossi - 07-11-2018

Ron,  Always a pleasure and education to see the master at work.  Joe

RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - EdHolland - 07-12-2018

I'll be interested to see this repair Ron.

My RCA has two-pin plugs which connect to the loop antenna. These are simple pins, swaged into a piece of thin rectangular Phenolic. One has broken, and although superglue holds it together, it would be nice to make a proper repair with new phenolic sheet.

Cheers

Ed

RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - Dan Walker - 07-12-2018

Ron. I noticed that the decal for the band indicator at  Radio Daze is different than the one on my radio,
in that the colors are reversed. In this photo of my radio I see that the  red is on the right and the orange is on the
left. Radio Daze decal is reversed
  If you took any photos of your decal before,,,how were the colors arranged.
  Maybe the Canadian version was a little different. Arran might know.
Did yours have the RCA decal at the bottom?
    I will probably wait and see before I order the decals
 I got my dial pointer off  with the help of your suggestions.
 Dan in Calgary

RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - Ron Ramirez - 07-12-2018

Dan

Unfortunately mine no longer has any decals. It is obvious that someone did a (poor) refinish to my T7-5 cabinet at one time, even with an entire sheet of veneer missing on its left side. So anyway...I am sorry but I can't answer your questions about the decals.

RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - Dan Walker - 07-12-2018

Thanks Ron.
  I am not trying to hijack you thread, but
 If this is any help to you, here are some photos of mine after I used toned lacquer on it.
  Mine had the original finish on it , but it was real bad so I had to strip it and start over.
 I did it as close as I could to the original colors.
 I still have to apply the decals and the final coats of lacquer.
 Dan in Calgary.

RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - Arran - 07-13-2018

Dan;
  I'm not sure about the band switch decal on those sets as I have never had one, however what is interesting is that your Canadian RCA uses a U.S style name decal rather then the typical Canadian one with the the twin circles, with gold backgrounds, that has the RCA "Meatball" in one, and "Nipper" in the other, and "RCA Victor" in a cursive fond underneath. I suppose what you could do is get a U.S band switch decal, slice it up, and re-arrange the coloured segments, although it would be tedious to do so. Have a look through the decal section on the Radio Daze site under G.E, and C.G.E, as well as the U.S and Canadian RCA Victor pages, and see if they have what you need. By the way, I think that the front panel of your set needs more medium walnut tone spray, apparently someone involved in building the cabinet goofed and sanded through the veneer, it also looks like it was darker on the right and left sides of the control panel between the moldings and the first set of grooves.
Regards
Arran

RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - Dan Walker - 07-13-2018

Thanks Arran;
 I will look through the CGE decals also.
Dan in calgary

RE: Ron's RCA T7-5 Electronic Rescue - Ron Ramirez - 07-22-2018

So let's wrap up this thread:

The phenolic sheet finally arrived this past week. I really dislike the fact that the auction site allows a seller to post a tracking number and they then consider the item shipped, even though the seller may not actually ship the item until days (or weeks) later. Such was the case here...it was a week from payment of the item until it actually shipped. Once it finally shipped, though, it only took a few days to arrive.

Here is the last bit of work which needed to be done to the T7-5 chassis, and why I needed the phenolic:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/T7-5/T7-5_074.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/T7-5/T7-5_074.jpg]

As you can see, the antenna Fahnestock clip was riveted to a piece of phenolic. Another piece of phenolic mounted behind the front piece, allowing the Fahnestock clip to be well insulated from the chassis. Both pieces of phenolic were broken at one time. It was like this when I bought the radio.

I wasn't paying close attention when I ordered my phenolic sheet, and ordered 1/8" thickness. I should have ordered it in 1/16" thickness, as that is what the radio had originally. However, the sheet was now here so I went with it.

After some cutting and drilling, this is what I had:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/T7-5/T7-5_076.jpg]

They say, "measure twice, cut once." I didn't. Dumb mistake. So I ended up measuring once and cutting twice.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/T7-5/T7-5_077.jpg]

The large hole, which did not go through the piece of phenolic, is meant to take care of the clearance for the rivet. This worked well:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/T7-5/T7-5_078.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/T7-5/T7-5_079.jpg]

Yes, the phenolic is twice as thick as the original, but this chassis is now finished.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum/T7-5/T7-5_080.jpg]

Well, I really should get some of that black hi-temp engine paint and repaint the 80 tube shield.

Other than that...that is it for this RCA T7-5 electronic restoration. I hope to get the cabinet redone before cold weather sets in.