[rfeenstra]

The radio is reinstalled in the cabinet.  This is a good sounding radio.  The bass and treble/selectivity controls seem to give a better balance than most of the other radios I've played with.  Sensitivity is good and i can pick up a lot of stations on the SW bands.

For grins and giggles I've been playing with the lighting of the dial.  I'm using the LED strip from the back light of a laptop that I accidentally smashed behind my car seat.  The LED strip consists of 40 LED's in 4 series sections.  It lights through a 30K resistor from the -60 volt bias/field coil supply.  Unfortunately, the color temperature looks to be about 5000K.  Way too white so I need to put in an amber or red filter.  Right now it is always on.  I'll need to put a relay in there if I want it to switch with the magnetic tuning along with the flood lights.  I'd rectify the 6.3 volts that feeds the floods but it would not be a high enough voltage to light the 10 LED strings.  Brightness can be varied by changing the series resistor value.  It'll light with a 75K resistor. The ring is between the shadow mask and the dial, shining through the gap in the dial and into the back side of the station selector ring.  Not very original but I kind of like the effect.  It's easily removable so I'm not too concerned about originality.

           




One final question for you finish gurus.  This is a very nice cabinet but the finish is slightly checked and the grain is very slightly raised.  Has anyone attempted to do a light sanding and then a coat of lacquer to fill in the crazing and cover the grain again?  Or is there another way to get back to the smooth, glossy finish it originally had without a complete refinish job?  Over the years the finish has lightened up a bit as the color is more brown under the bezel, but I'm not too concerned about that.

Aside from replacing the damaged grille cloth and maybe something with the finish, this project is almost done!