08-14-2012, 08:38 PM
Quote:Good job, Arran! Icon_thumbup
Looking at the photos in the eBay ad, I see one paper cap that wasn't replaced. Those RCA mica caps that look like cough drops might be suspect, also.
Well Ron, it will be quite a while before I get around to working on it, since the previous owner thought it was a 6K2 it's possible he may have been working from the wrong schematic so it could have one or two wiring errors.
So far I haven't had many problems with the mica caps in these sets, and they were using ones of that design right up until the war. The main issue seems to be the cases splitting and falling apart more so then leakage, I think it's one of those alleged problems that the internet rumor mill has blown out of all proportion like 6X5 tubes. If there is a problem with one or few I can deal with that but shotgunning them all may cause more problems then it solves. Like every other set I leave the changing of micas as a last resort when everything lese is exhausted.
It is also going to my friend's place in Montana for the time being since the set is in Butte, Montana, a shorter trip lessons the chance of damage, so it will be picked up in maybe a year's time. I have a full set of knobs for this radio and even have the proper speaker, though it needs to be reconed.
I think that I should mention why I went to so much trouble to find a chassis for this set. I bought this radio with a basement/shed full of radios in 1993, along with a Philco 96, a Philco 60, a Canadian Marconi type 12, two G.E consoles, and an assortment of table sets including this E-81 and a Philco 3118 tombstone. There was a lot of stuff that was basically scrap, rusty chassis, beat up sets with broken dials, smashed Bakelite sets, but I did save every set that was more or less intact. The E-81's chassis was badly rusted and almost junk, but it was all there, and it had one thing that made it stand out, it was the exact make and model of radio that my Great Grandfather once owned.
Up until now I haven't been able to find a replacement chassis and just kept it on the back burner since I had lots of other sets to restore. I did see an E-86 console in a junk/antique store about 10 years ago but the condition was too good to just part out. For some reason I have seen all sorts of years and models of C.G.E sets over the years but never an E-81 for sale, except from that guy on Radio Attic.
Regards
Arran