[fields 100]

That is what one gets wanting SW bands cathedral - a little rubber nightmare (original photo). All the same, rewiring is almost done, and I am thinking of re stuffing the paper caps. What should be used for the sealing- bee wax or, maybe, paraffin? Making things more difficult, the cap's ends are of the stranded wire and protrude from the sides.


[Image: http://i881.photobucket.com/albums/ac17/...b49a95.jpg]

[Jayce]

That's the issue with AK sets once you get into the 30's with them, rubber wire nightmares! Great sets, crappy wires! Add onto this the fact that AK also went with a chassis design on some sets that was similar to the 1937-38 Philco sets and you are really in for some headaches. That said, once rebuilt, these Atwater-Kent units are good radios.

[morzh]

I just use hot glue gun for that.


If you do not want to crack the insulation (if it hasn't crumbled by itself) - do not desolder anything, bite it off, then solder the new parts.

[fields 100]

There is something else quite interesting in this set. Say, one needs to change a pilot bulb. Simple? No Sir! Please pull out the entire chassis, unscrew the dial pointer, remove the dial and, voila, here is your lovely bulb. Although, I must admit, that both bulbs were good and, I suspect, OEM replacement, as they both had mate glass surface.

[Arran]

 You can tell that A.K's quality was already on the downward slide by the time this set was made, but not consistently so. The dial mechanism and the pilot lamp sockets are ridiculously overbuilt for their purpose, then connect them up with rubber wire, and use cheap wafer sockets in the rest of the radio. The one that Joernone fixed up on you tube was a model 145, I could not believe how thoughtless the design was of the IF cans.
Regards
Arran

[fields 100]

Arran,

+1 on coils. One of them had deteriorated grid connector at the top.Amazingly, I could not pull it out without drilling out the mounting #8 2 bottom posts. It seems they riveted them after inserting the coil into the can. Day and night comparing with model 84 quality. BTW, 145 is similar to this one electronically but w/o RF stage.

[Arran]

Arran,

+1 on coils. One of them  had deteriorated grid connector at the top.Amazingly, I could not pull it out without drilling out the mounting #8 2 bottom posts. It seems they riveted them after inserting the coil into the can. Day and night comparing with model 84 quality. BTW, 145 is similar to this one electronically but w/o RF stage.

I know what you mean, most of the Philcos from that era have the coil assemblies were held on by a bracket and screw, and slipped up inside a metal can top of the chassis, and of the types inside cans held in by studs they are still easily removed once the can is taken out. Maybe A.K's logic was that you should replace the whole can and coil as an assembly, but most radio manufacturers offered you the option of replacing the coil, the trimmers/padders, the can, or the entire assembly, and designed their coils around that idea.
Regards
Arran

[fields 100]

There is a .01uF line capacitor in the right bottom corner of the picture, next to that big paper e-cap. Looking from the top it is rectangular black piece with a fastener nut in the middle. It is not paper type, made out of some plates with insulators between. Since this photo was taken, I completely rewired it and trying to keep it as original as possible, hence my question- should I still put Y type, or keep the original one?