Welcome to W J O E RADIO, Taking radio from the past into the new Millennium!
U.S. Gloritone 3072
RCA 128 NEXT
Gloritone
09/12/08
This is exactly how I found it at an antique shop.
The good things: It was painted many years ago when people didn't appreciate natural beautiful wood, and thought an antiquing kit was all that! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
I paid $40 for it in a booth that had a 25% off sale. Again the paint helps with the price, because it make items like this harder to sell. Another nice thing about the paint is the great protection it gave to the veneer.
My initial finding: Well not to bad! Anyone want to plug it in? Anyway all the tubes are present, the speaker needs minor repair, all the knobs are present, and there is only a half inch spot where the veneer is missing. There is another spot where the veneer is lifting. Of course all the caps will have to be changed. I will test the tubes too, and replace the cord. I will do all this before I power it up.
One problem, and this is where the paint does not help. It will need to be stripped. That's two layers of the antiquing kit, then the original varnish.
For the cons: The tuning knob shaft is worn, but still tunes. I will
make a new one out of brass. The tuning dial is blank. I'm sure it faded
through the years. I included a couple pictures of the chassis below. If
you know where I can get a new dial scale email
me.
09/18/08
I didn't replace all the caps before powering up. I figured it would be better to know if it can be fixed before doing all the work replacing them. I did test the tubes though. All were good except the #48 tube was weak. I just wanted to make sure everything else was OK. I did replace the cord and powered up as is. The tubes light to, but nothing happens. I did some checking to find the transformer was good, but no output on the other side of the diodes (#80 tube). As usual a shorted capacitor was the problem, taking the B+ to ground. Take a look at the chassis picture above. The red capacitor was the culprit. So far I replaced the three major electrolytic caps in the power supply circuit. The red capacitor, and the long light yellow box above the red capacitor near the center. This is a double capacitor. I couldn't see the values, but knowing this is early thirties set I will use 10uf 450 volt caps from my stock and adjust if needed later.
Now the B+ is up around 385 volts, and the ripple is very good, so the 10uf caps were a good choice. However still nothing from the speaker. One weird thing though, and I have never seen this before. Inside one of the coil boxes there is high voltage arcing between the coil and the metal box. A little more measuring and I found that the coil is open. I am still not sure where or why the arcing though. It wasn't continuous either. Seems like it needs a little time to charge up.
09/22/08
I found the coil in question is open. This is a lot like the Philco
coil in some of their early chassis. In fact I am willing to bet these coils
are interchangeable. The good thing though. Since I have wound so many of
them, I have the proper wire on hand. This is 0.0085" copper magnet wire.
YES, very thin! I was able to remove and rewind the coil with great success.
After reinstalling the coil and the rest of the capacitors we did get sound.
However very soft. For now I am a bit lost as to why. I don't have a schematic
though. I think I may need one to figure this out. I will attach
a couple photos later tonight.
09/28/08
Below is a photo of the repaired coil. I added a circle where the new winding
are.
11/12/08
I finally got to the cabinet. I was right about the layers. There was the original varnish, then the base tan primer paint, then the yellow finish, THEN the antique paint. In the grille work there was some veneer coming loose. You will see it in a red circle. I had to pull it off at this stage. Also you will see another red circle. Thats where the veneer was damaged before I bought the set. The grille will be very easy to repair because I have those pieces. All that needs is glue and a clamp. The other has to be matched and spliced in. I will update with the repairs later. After removing the paint I see there is a lot of nice details under it. Check out both pictures.
11/15/08
The radio just got the first heavy coat of varnish. It will need a couple
days over the heat to cure.
11/24/08
This coat has been sanded with a 220 grit and painted once again. Sometimes
the first sanding will expose wood and cut some of the stain away. It will
also show any flaws. SO this is the step to make any corrections. We need
to use a tact cloth to remove dust and other particles before we paint on
another coat.
11/25/08
Now we sand again with a 220 grit sand paper. This time we use more
care. What that means is: We want to be careful not to cut through the varnish.
We want to stay away from corners too. We just want to make sure the surface
is flat and even. Then another coat in 24 hours. Don't forget we need to
remove dust and particles before we paint again.
11/30/08
The last coat has been applied and the radio has been hanging over the
heat since 11/26/08. The finish is done in steps. First we sand with a 400
grit wet sand paper. Again we want to remove imperfections and insure a flat
surface. Then we use a standard rubbing compound, like Turtle Wax. We make
circles and use a wet soft cloth to apply, and rub until its gone. Then we
clean with a wet towel. The last step is a good wax. Once again I use auto
wax, like Mothers. The end result is a soft smooth finish.
DONE! 11/30/08
12/02/08