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An unknown thing of beauty... - Printable Version

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An unknown thing of beauty... - kiwi_steve - 02-09-2016

I'm taking a break from the few Philco sets I have (because they deserve a lot of time and attention which I can't commit to right at the moment) and also a major restoration on a New Zealand made Pacific Radio model 38 (there is a thread over on ARF about that which I really need to get back to at some point but I kind of hit a wall with it so its in a box for now).  What I need is something relatively quick and nice... so I was looking through my stash of 'needing love' radios and saw this one.  I had no idea what this was until I pulled it apart - because the dial glass (plastic) was so badly fogged I couldn't read a thing... although I figured it was American due to the RMA label on it.  The stamping of the 'brass' escutcheon was very light and hard to read as well - although in hindsight it's quite obvious now that I know what it says.  All I really knew is that I loved the cabinet and saw a diamond in the rough.

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Airline%2062-316/20160124_093617_zpsaz4ycy0z.jpg]

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Airline%2062-316/20160124_093626_zpsvzhmavfu.jpg]

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Airline%2062-316/20160124_093643_zpsfxow0zvh.jpg]

So I pulled the chassis and found it was an Airline - probably nothing much to get excited about over there in Americaville but they are pretty scarce here in Kiwiland.  The dial is in great condition, although the lamps need new grommets to hold them in place (or I might LED convert the backlight).

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Airline%2062-316/20160124_094013_zpscfxidysj.jpg]

It took a bit of sleuthing to find the model - its not on the chassis anywhere... but turns out its a 62-316.  I'd kind of guessed at mid-30's and the ARTS&P label (The licensing for patents down under was covered by these labels purchased by the manufacturers based on the number of valves (thats the queens English translation of toob  Icon_mrgreen ) in the set) backed that up ('C' is 1936) I got the schematic and service info from Nostalgia Air and some photos of it all shiny and finished from Radio Museum and then got stuck in.

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Airline%2062-316/20160124_093715_zps6zkjxwc6.jpg]

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Airline%2062-316/schematic_zpsk7y2rj8x.png]

First I pulled the dial glass and cleaned it just to see if it could be saved or if I'd be teaching myself to heat-form plastics... fortunately for my quick'n'nice requirements it appeared to be some kind of varnish or something similar all over the front which cleaned off with IPA... there is a small crack on the edge but I've carefully glued that for now and it seems to be alright.

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Airline%2062-316/20160124_131909_zpsxcqswymz.jpg]

The chassis is in definite need of a full restore (even if just to get rid of the rust), but my intention here is to get it working and looking good and just enjoy it for a while, then later down the track i'll properly restore the chassis with a full strip and rebuild.  The power transformer is not original (I'm pretty sure), and the volume pot isn't either - but they both work fine so they can stay.  The valve-lineup isn't right either (wrong versions of the right valves anyway) - so I'll rectify that if I can find the right ones.

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Airline%2062-316/20160124_093959_zps2rbvy1ej.jpg]

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Airline%2062-316/20160124_094030_zps2xvuzlmx.jpg]

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Airline%2062-316/20160124_094519_zpstfbktftn.jpg]

So far I've electrically restored and aligned it (all the earths come back to one point - bit of a mission with modern short-lead components so its not pretty), tested the valves and scraped and sanded the cabinet ready to do something with it (although I'll take advice on that since its got some staining in the wood, and also appears to be coloured with something).  I'll add some more photos when I get a moment... but its sounding great, and is quite sensitive.  The only minor problem is the speaker is a little coarse / scratchy sounding but I'm pretty happy with it so far overall.

Chassis photos to come, but here is the cabinet mostly sanded - I still need to get into the black edging in the fretwork and clean the old varnish off that somehow.  Cabinets are definitely not my strong suit.

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Airline%2062-316/20160209_195004_zpsq3d2vbzu.jpg]

Cheers

Steve

RE: An unknown thing of beauty... - Kestas - 02-09-2016

Thanks for posting. I have one in great shape waiting in the queue, hoping it'll be an easy restore.

RE: An unknown thing of beauty... - OldRestorer - 02-09-2016

QUOTE*
Chassis photos to come, but here is the cabinet mostly sanded


Please don't sand....
Lacquer thinner and #0000 steel wool will clean off every bit of finish without hurting/scratching/destroying the veneer.
Sanding takes off the Veneer and especially on the grill work as in your photos, it is sanding the edges and not the center of the grill pieces. If it is done too deeply, when stained, it will be darker in the center and wont take stain on the low areas... I almost NEVER sand a radio...

I don't see any issues on it so you didn't sand through.
It is a beautiful radio...

Kirk

RE: An unknown thing of beauty... - sam - 02-09-2016

steve
please start a post in cabinet restore

thanks sam

RE: An unknown thing of beauty... - kiwi_steve - 02-09-2016

(02-09-2016, 10:35 AM)Kestas Wrote:  Thanks for posting.  I have one in great shape waiting in the queue, hoping it'll be an easy restore.

No problem, it was a pretty easy radio to work on - all except the dial 'string' on mine - which I assume should be a drive belt... one of the 4 wraps of string rolled off the pulley while I was doing the alignment and jammed in the mechanism... so I had to pop the little spring-rivets out of the dial and rotate it to get in with a small screwdriver (the needle wouldn't come off with what I deemed excessive force so I just worked around it) to un-jam it and work it back into place - at some point I will need to use the correct belt material...

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Airline%2062-316/20160124_094509_zps3jfvmugh.jpg]

(02-09-2016, 11:52 AM)OldRestorer Wrote:  
Quote: Chassis photos to come, but here is the cabinet mostly sanded

Please don't sand....
Lacquer thinner and #0000 steel wool will clean off every bit of finish without hurting/scratching/destroying the veneer.
Sanding takes off the Veneer and especially on the grill work as in your photos, it is sanding the edges and not the center of the grill pieces. If it is done too deeply, when stained, it will be darker in the center and wont take stain on the low areas... I almost NEVER sand a radio...

I don't see any issues on it so you didn't sand through.
It is a beautiful radio...

Kirk

Hi Kirk, thanks for that advice.  I will consider myself properly chastised and educated - I will not touch the cabinet again until I have some lacquer thinner - I have some 0000 steel wool here somewhere that I bought because I thought I might need it one day.  I used a rubbery sanding block (which I don't really like since it wrapped around the fretwork, attacking the edges harder - I'm going to retire it) and did not attack it too hard - and I was careful to try and not sand through - I just wanted to knock down the rough spots and try to even the tone of the wood a little... it worked but only to a very small degree.

(02-09-2016, 01:28 PM)sam Wrote:  steve
please start a post in cabinet restore

thanks sam

Hi Sam, I considered doing that but the title of that section is 'Philco Cabinet Restoration' - I didn't want to put another brand in there... but if thats where it should be I will gladly start a thread there for it.

Cheers 

Steve

RE: An unknown thing of beauty... - Kestas - 02-09-2016

Can you replace the drive belt (string) with an o-ring? There has been tips lately that one can use a garter spring in place of a belt or o-ring. Garter springs should last virtually forever.

RE: An unknown thing of beauty... - kiwi_steve - 02-09-2016

(02-09-2016, 06:15 PM)Kestas Wrote:  Can you replace the drive belt (string) with an o-ring?  There has been tips lately that one can use a garter spring in place of a belt or o-ring.  Garter springs should last virtually forever.

I don't think so - I can't easily get a closed-loop in place without serious disassembly.  I have some wide flat hair-bands that I'm going to try super-gluing to a suitable length... failing that I'll await the day I need to replace the current setup...

RE: An unknown thing of beauty... - Kestas - 02-10-2016

I hope you're not referring to the conventional rubber band (you call them elastics?).  Those seem to rot away in short order.

One accepted method is to use a length of o-ring trimmed to size and superglueing the ends.

RE: An unknown thing of beauty... - OldRestorer - 02-10-2016

The other radios section is for all restorations, both electrical and cabinet.
No chastising here, just a plea not to do it. Icon_lol
It is exactly what you said. sanding through the sides and wearing down the fretwork edges.
Unfortunately you will have to sand it to get it smooth again if you used a grit less than 400. The wool wont do it.
You need to use a block, not your hand or a soft block. use a flat piece of wood if you dont have a sanding block.
Sand 400 evenly and slowly. it will smooth and somewhat level the veneer

Kirk

RE: An unknown thing of beauty... - kiwi_steve - 02-11-2016

Thanks Kirk - your pleas have been noted and the sanding block in question retired.  I'll go lacquer thinner shopping in the weekend.

I love electrical restoration / repair / alignment (and that fits with my background in electronics) but I will admit to being an utter n00b at this point where cabinets are concerned... I've backlogged about 8 nice wooden cabinets simply due to not really being sure where to start or how to proceed once I have - the chassis' all work perfectly and some like my Philco 89B I detailed on here are display-ready - but they are all sitting naked and waiting.  

What I have done is a couple of basic little box-shaped cabinets where I simply scraped and light-sand finished them then did about 8 thinned-down coats of semi-gloss poly on them (and I'm aware that some people don't like poly - but its what I could find and afford, and the finish was quite nice to my eye, although nothing like what I often see here).  No rubbing out or any other processes - just thinned down to about 1/4 strength and brushed on at about 15 minute intervals.  This is one, A NZ-made Courtenay 5M which was one of the first sets I ever restored and gave to my Aunt and Uncle as an xmas present because my Uncle had a similar one as a boy:
[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Courtenay%205M/20141225_164116_zps7ypinqna.jpg]

And regarding the hair bands - they are much bigger and beefier than normal ones, but yes they contain elastic... I don't expect them to last but it was $2 for about 8 of them - my daughter wanted one so I have 7 to play with and each one is about 10mm wide (3/8") and quite beefy compared to normal hair ties... and probably nearly 1' long - I was also thinking of trying leather or synthetic leather - but sewing it in place would be difficult at best and I don't know how it would go being glued.  Radio Daze sells the proper belt stuff I think?  by the foot and in a kit... but postage to NZ is ridiculous - around $40NZD to get a small package from there to here.

Right, time for chassis #9... I sense a cabinet fest coming up soon... watch this space for questions... or maybe I'll do the 37-61 I have sitting here so watch the other space for questions  Icon_lol

Cheers

Steve

RE: An unknown thing of beauty... - kiwi_steve - 02-11-2016

Quick question for Kirk (and maybe Fred or any of the other cabinet refinishing gods we have here who might happen to be browsing) - how do I fix / remove / hide the stains in the timber surface before I go any further?  I have significant problems with the top of this one, and an even worse problem with another similar cabinet (second pic - I should do a separate thread on this one too because it's going to be a relatively nice looking beast when its done, and its giving me headaches, a sure sign I'm going to enjoy it  Icon_lol )

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Airline%2062-316/20160210_172640_zpsbnukhxgd.jpg]

[Image: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/4wdstuff/Courtenay%2095%20Dual-Wave/20160209_195330_zpsuficlgat.jpg]

Cheers 

Steve

RE: An unknown thing of beauty... - TimC - 02-14-2016

Hi Steve,

I have used Boric acid with great success.
Wet Boraxo does a great job. May take a few applications.




Tim

RE: An unknown thing of beauty... - Eliot Ness - 02-14-2016

Do a search for wood bleach. I can't find the threads right now, but I've some pretty bad (black) stains removed with wood bleach.

RE: An unknown thing of beauty... - kiwi_steve - 02-15-2016

(02-14-2016, 04:47 PM)TimC Wrote:  Hi Steve,

I have used Boric acid with great success.
Wet Boraxo does a great job. May take a few applications.

Tim

Thanks Tim - Borax and Boric Acid are apparently very different beasts - I'm still reading but it looks like Borax can be used to neutralise Oxalic Acid after its been used to de-stain wood... 

(02-14-2016, 05:02 PM)Eliot Ness Wrote:  Do a search for wood bleach. I can't find the threads right now, but I've some pretty bad (black) stains removed with wood bleach.

Apparently thats a catch-all term for a lot of different stain removers including 2-part mixes, bleaches and acids which all do different jobs depending on the stain... I'm more confused now than ever  Icon_lol

RE: An unknown thing of beauty... - TimC - 02-15-2016

Sorry I mis-informed. I confused Boraxo and Bar-Keepers Friend. The latter contains Oxalic acid and works well on dark wood (water) stains.
Failed chemistry in school  Icon_crazy