I picked up a Wards 62-418 this week. It has the famous movie dial and a tuning eye. It also has a chrome chassis. I think this set must weigh 60lbs or so... it is the heaviest table top radio I've ever encountered.
I pulled the chassis and about a quart of old dog food pellets fell out. I guess there were some rodents at one point. No smell, no chewed wires, and no stains.....weird. The movie dial film looks to be in one piece. It looks like someone replaced a few caps back in the late 60s. The speaker may need to be reconed. If not, it will need repair.
Anyone have any info on movie dials? This is my first one. Anything I should look out for?
Here is a photo from the web. I didn't think to photograph mine before pulling the chassis. Other than the nice finish, mine looks identical.
So, I have spent the entire afternoon working on this set. It is now recapped and playing well. I spent some time learning about the movie dial, and I am impressed. It is a great piece of technology for 1936-1937. The dial is a strip of film, inside a round canister. There is a light bulb in the center of that container, that is surrounded by a metal shield with a hole cut out. The film scrolls past the hole, and an image is projected onto a reflector, which then reflects the image onto the dial of the radio. There are several adjustments for focus, tilt, etc... it is basically a miniature movie projector, and the dial is the screen.
No wonder the set weighs so much! I would imagine half of that weight is in the dial alone. I discovered that I am very lucky. My dial film is in good shape. Most of these sets suffer from shrinkage and warping of the film. Replacements can be had, but with some expense and difficulty. Mine is in good shape and I managed to get it focused and adjusted. The slight bit of shrinkage is in the police band range of the dial. Broadcast looks like new.
The tuning eye lights up, but does not deflect. I will fix that tomorrow.
The artist formerly known as Puhpow! 8)
(This post was last modified: 03-09-2014, 06:20 PM by Jamie.)
I have been eyeballing a radio just like this on sitting at a friend's place of business. Also, there was one of these at that auction I went to last month. They are a BIG table radio!
I have a console version movie dial radio. It is in line waiting for full repair . I recapped it a while ago but the room has to be completely dark to see the projection. I need to learn more about them myself before I go crazy with it.
I am not aware of any source for filmstrips except from another radio. Rock Sea Enterprises made them at one time. The original owner sold out everything but the movie dial equipment . If he had enough interest he would look into making them again. I believe there were at least 4 different filmstrips.
I have seen 2 different projector types .One has a projector in the rear of the chassis and the other is on the side. Mine is a side projector. Good luck
Henry
Jayce, if you want to buy it, pull the chassis and double check the condition of the film. Once the chassis is out, the film is easy to examine. Just turn the dial knob and the canister rotates. If it has bad film, don't buy it.
Henry, mine is a side projector too. My dial was very dim when I first turned the set on. I thought it wasn't working. You can increase the brightness by adjusting the height of the light bulb. There is a thumbscrew on the side of the bulb holder... loosen it and lower the bulb and the dial will be much brighter. I also cleaned the bulb and the reflector and now it is pretty bright, even in a well lit room. There is also a lever near the thumbscrew - it is for focus adjustment. There are two lock screws on the back of the reflector that seem to adjust tilt. Of course, yours may be different than mine and I am certainly no expert on this. Just passing on my experience with this one set.
Hey, looks familiar! Mine looks just like that! My placemats even look the same!
I had a radio chassis that came home full of dog food, too, in a Rogers Majestic console. I think a young toddler found a hole in the chassis that was just the right size to feed dogfood pellets into, and made a game of it.
(This post was last modified: 03-10-2014, 10:44 PM by palegreenthumb.)
Hey.. that looks exactly like the dog food that was in mine! Maybe they owned two radios? I hope it was a toddler... When I get a radio that's had mice in it, I want to wash my hands every time I touch it. You think maybe it could have been squirrels or pack rats just stashing food in them?
I have a few movie dial sets and think highly of them. I measured the projected dial on my console one and the slide rule is 76 inches wide, making it a VERY selective and fine tuning set.
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