Welcome to W J O E RADIO, Taking radio from the past into the new Millennium!
Philco 44
GE A-64
Westinghouse WR10-A
Westinghouse WR10A
10/18/06
Got a nice early set from 1930. A very nice tombstone. The veneer is lifted all over. Since it was on display at a local auction the front speaker grille has been picked at and damaged from everyone that had to touch the broken parts. The top has a couple gouges. That's about it! A lot of hard work and very time consuming to repair the veneer. I will start as always by gutting it first. This has a nice 8 tube chassis with the copper capacitors. Some wire wrought, but complete. We are off to a good start. OFF TO THE CHASSIS.............................................
10/22/06
We didn't replaced all the caps, except the electrolytics. As always I insist on using the capacitors I sell. This helps me evaluate and test my own stock. I left in the copper ones though. They aren't connected, but the chassis looks much better with them in there. I used the axials I sell under the chassis. This will help the performance and keep the original look. As you know by now i'm not one of those guys that needs to gut the chassis to grind and polish everything. I will clean it up and pretty much leave it as original. That is the goal here. To make this look and feel like it did in 1930. I do have to rebuild the wires to the tubes on top. Not to toughf though. We just need to remove the metal cans exposing the coils and the other end of the wire. The speaker is perfect and works. All I need now is to replace a couple weak tubes and were off and running. BUT now the hard part.
02/22/07
Been a while, but I have been working on this radio. I didn't get a picture before I tore it apart. I thought I did, but..........................Old age I guess. Anyway you can see where I had to rebuild the speaker grille. I circled the two sections in red. Keep in mind there was little to nothing there to start with. I had to imitate the good sections. As you can see the veneer looks pretty good. This is untouched. All I did so far was repair and sand in place. We have lots more to do. I need to make sure the stain covers all the veneer equally. Remember when replacing the veneer to begin with you want to match it up from the start. You need to try and match the color as well as the grain. This kind of repair is done in layers. Just like plywood. The last layer would be the veneer. In between there is lots of cutting and shaping, as well as gluing and clamping. In the end, again, more shaping and also some sanding.
03/19/07
I spent part of the weekend repairing the top. You can see where by the red circles. The repair nearer to the front was done using the bits and pieces from the rear repair. Once the veneer was in place I used an orbital sander to insure the top was completely flat. I didn't mention this, but I did have to lift and re-secure the top before the repairs were started. I think this radio sat in a humid environment for a long time. The markings in the front is an indent in the wood. It shows up because the original finish is still on the indented parts. this will come right out using a hot iron and a wet cloth. Once the original finish is gone you won't even know it was there.
03/21/07
I did finish up the indented section on the top. A little more sanding, then off to the stripping. I will post a picture once it's ready for the stain.
03/25/07
I did get to stripping over the weekend. During the initial strip i did find a couple spots where the veneer lifted. You have to go slow the first time around. There is always veneer lifting. Sometimes you can do more damage while stripping. I will repair as I go. Check out the photos below. I built a paint booth in the cellar near my workshop. Has worked great for many years. Above are two powerful fans sucking out the fumes. So I can strip and paint in the same space.
03/27/07
I finished the stripping. Remember this is done in multiple steps. There is the first strip: this will get the bulk of the original finish off. At this point you would use a scraper and a paste type of stripper. Then we have a second strip: this would remove most of what's left of the original finish. You would use the same paste type stripper and a scraper. By now you should be down to the wood. Use care with the scraper, because there may be loose veneer. The next step you want to use a liquid stripper and a #0 steel wool. Again use care, because the steel wool will catch parts of the veneer. It is good to find any and all of the loose veneer before you apply the finish. Just make sure you repair as you go. Dip the #0 steel wool into the liquid strip and go with the grain of the wood as if you were sanding. Work small areas at a time and wipe off the area with a paper towel. Keep doing this in every area until your done. The last step: The loose veneer problems should be over by now. So lets hope we found it all. Now you want to use the same liquid strip, but we want to use a #0000 steel wool. Again work a small part at a time. Always use fresh strip when going to the next area. Again towel as you go.
Once the the cabinet is completely stripped we want restore the black parts of the wood. Since this radio had lots of black painted areas as well as veneer I have to tape up the parts I don't want painted. You should use the blue painters tape. I have used others in the past. It's ok to use regular masking tape if you are going to paint right away. One problem though! The regular masking tape can damage loose veneer when removing it. Also it doesn't covet the edges as well. Your end results will be better with the blue tape, and easier to use. I will use regular flat black spray paint. Remember your going to cover it with a clear lacquer. Below are a couple more action shots during the taping and spraying steps.
03/28/07
OK! Take a look at the picture below. This is the first coat of lacquer. The will be few more coats soon enough. A HINT: I have used many products. The best I have ever found is this Dutch Boy brand. I don't get paid to say this. Just wanted to pass on some good information. Don't buy cheap lacquer spray paint. Don't buy any paint from chain stores. Even the brand names chain stores carry are watered down versions of the originals. It's called profit! If you want the good stuff go to a paint store.
03/30/07
While waiting for the first coat to dry, I decided to rebuild the tuner control. Like many early thirties radios, most rubber parts have disintegrated, or hardened. Many of these sets used some type of rubber to move the dial scale. This radio is no exception. I use automotive hoses to repair them as you can see below. Just go to any automotive parts store and buy a foot of various size rubber hoses. All under 3/4 of an inch of course. For this radio I had to use a piece of Meltable wall heat shrink first because the inside diameter of the hose was a little bigger than the shaft. Meltable wall works great because it glues itself to the shaft. Then I cut a piece of the automotive hose and slid that over the heat shrink. There has to be a tight fit so nothing slips later. Then you align the dial scale and tighten the scale in place. THAT'S IT. It's just a matter of fitting in the correct diameter to the shaft and the tuning scale. One other note. I also cleaned the paper dial scale, and painted it with clear lacquer. This will protect it even more. I was lucky to get a good dial scale with the set.
04/04/07
I did get to finish the wood with three coats of lacquer. I have to lightly;y sand in between coats. The last coat is sanded with a super fine paper. Then I buff it with a cutting paste. You can get it at any body shop. It would be used to buff out clear coat. After that you want to wax it. I use Mothers car wax. The picture below shows it as it looks today. The chassis, speaker, and grille cloth are all installed and working. AHH, what about the knobs? Well that's another story.
The set came with two wooden knobs. Should have three. One of two I did get isn't an original. I had to order a special tool for my lathe, and it came in yesterday. I did start cutting the knob, as you can see in the photo below. I will work on that this weekend and update ASAP.
08/02/07
I finally got to the knob. Actually I did this a month ago. I just got to listing it here now. Been a good summer and been very busy. As you can see it the photo above the beginnings of a knob laying in front of the radio. In the photo below is the finished product. Bet you can't tell me which one is the original. There is one more step. This need a brass insert and set screw so it can be fastened to the shaft. Other than that it is ready to go very soon.
GE A-64
03/20/06
This is another radio with a challenging tuning knob rebuild. This, open coils, and open transformers is what you get when you buy at the radio shows. Not bad for myself because I can improvise, but just be warned! This is one of those sets with the tuning rebuild challenge! BUT it is a beauty and cost me only $18.00, So no complaints here. The knob has a two stage mechanical pulley system. Needless to say all the rubber is rotted and breaking away. Also all the rubber in the tuning float system needs to be replaced.That means the tuner and the pointer system. Take a good look at the upper right in the picture below. You can see the tuning knob and the rotted rubber to the right.
I need to remove the tuning knob and rebuild it. The three pictures below pretty much sums it up. First problem was removing the tuning knob with out removing the dial string. I used a wire tie and tied the string in place before removing the knob. Once the tuning knob is removed I have to take it apart, and clean out the bad rubber. While it was apart I added some grease to the bearings inside, then assembled it. Next I used a high strength automotive RTV and formed my own rubber using the knob itself as a mold. See the third picture below. Once dried you need to adjust the three screws, oil the shaft and adjust the tension spring at the rear of the tuning knob.
04/11/06
We can't install the knob yet. Next we need to replace the four rubber bushings for mounting the tuner. This can be tricky because your dealing with two sides of the chassis, screws, nuts, washers and a sleeve. The best way to do this is one at a time. Remove the hardware remove what's left of the old bushing and replace it. I use simple rubber wire grommets found at any Ace hardware store in those hardware trays. You will need eight of them. Match the size with the sleeve. Use one on each side. Insert the sleeve into one of the grommets before use install it. Once this is done there is one more rubber part. At the very end of the tuning scale is a rubber piece that needs to be removed. I used the same RTV there as well. You could use a softer type but I already have this one, and it works good enough. Just make sure the metal part of the dial scale is centered as it dries. Now I have a very precise and smooth tuner. This will bring me to the chassis. Lets see what's wrong and get this working.
04/13/06
This doesn't work at all. I had to replace the cord first. I used the brown rayon cloth covered wire I sell. I didn't try to power it though. I just replaced the cord and all the caps. Yes, I used my stock of capacitors. How many retailers of capacitors can tell you they use their own parts? I then tested all the tubes. I don't always, but this type of chassis wasn't known for having the best tubes. I was right too! The 6H6 is bad, and the 6SJ7 is very weak. I have to buy the 6H6.
04/20/06
I bought 8 of them NOS from Ebay because they were a great deal. Now I can tell you the radio works great. Of course I have to make all the adjustments, alignments.
04/25/06
The chassis and the speaker are good as well as the tuning. Pretty good sound too! The case had no damage. it just needed to be refinished. So I have no information for this set while restoring the case. The pictures below are chassis shots from underneath then the rear top. This was before I replaced all the caps.
05/04/06
Sorry no before photo. Couldn't't find it. This is it though. The black parts are original. So is the grill cloth!
Philco 44
11/20/04
First Eval: The tuner is stuck and looks pretty complex. It uses rubber wheels and gears, and has a mechanical dial lamp assembly that lights up only the part of the dial scale you need to see on each band. A nice set up though, but adds to the complexity. I will have to remove all the works including the dial scale wheels and dial lamp assembly in order to repair the tuner mechanism. I will also have to replace all the dampeners mounted to the tuning cap. They are dry and breaking apart.
OK! Now that we have the dial scale removed we can see most of the tuning wheels. They are dry and slipping. I will have to remove all of it and rebuild the wheels. I used to repair VCR's so I have hundreds of VCR belts. Find a match and with some RTV adhesive you got a new rubber wheel. Works great too. Some cleaning and grease we got a whole new assembly. The rubber on the dial scale is good but worn and flat in a couple spots. I will use some RTV adhesive and a flat belt to repair that. The most important thing about repairing round rubber wheels is to have a form. You want to make sure it stays round while curing. Look at the picture below. I used a wrench, but use your imagination. It needs to fit snug so even pressure is held on all sides. I had to use a little scotch tape as a shimmy, but as you can see it came out perfect and works just as good! In the first picture you can see some of the old rubber I had to remove.
11/27/04
OFF TO THE CHASSIS: First thing to do is repair what others thought was a repair. Parts hanging on by wires are not repairs. You can see the orange cap hanging off the back! They also removed the original cap. There should be two side by side. I have an original so I will install it, just for looks! I won't connect it though. I will use new capacitors in place. The schematics call for a double 8mf 450 volt capacitor. I will use two of my own custom 8mf 450 volt capacitors. They are very small and will fit under the chassis.
11/28/04
Well I replaced the caps, and checked out the rest of the set for apparent damage. I didn't see any, so I will power it up for the first time. I will use a variable transformer tied to an isolation transformer, and set the voltage at about 90. Then I will measure the voltage at the transformer first. The transformer output is measuring about 550 volts AC, and the DC side is measuring about 350 volts. Also the dial lamp works! I will replace it anyway. I have about 25,000 of them in stock if you should need any go here "www.wjoe.com/diallamps.htm". Anyway, so far I can tell the 80 tube is good and the power transformer is good. I also know there aren't any shorts to ground. I can now go to full power at 120 volts. BUT, nothing! No output ,no noise, no hums. On a normal day I would say the high voltage supply was not working, but I know it is! I will poke around with my signal tracer and see if I get anything there. It could also be an open coil. I did get this at a show for a great price. Those guys always sell the junk they cant fix. That means open coils, or a bad parts they can't find anymore.
11/30/04
I put a couple hours into this only to find that there is a third supply that isn't working. Although it was staring right at me I never thought to even check it. Well guess what? It isn't working! With in a few strokes of my volt meter I found an open chock......or coil...........depends how you look at it. I won't find an exact replacement, and I don't need one. I know from the schematic the impedance is about 1700 ohm, or 1.7K. I did find a transformer with a winding close to 1500 ohms and with the same footprint. I will use it and I will replace the capacitor that was connected to it.
WOW! Now were are cooking with gas. The voltage is where it should be and the radio has life. However, all it does now is make a loud grinding noise that comes and goes. I found by tapping on one of the capacitor banks it got louder and stronger. No doubt that cap bank needs to be replaced. There are six caps in this one. I will replace them all with regular axials and save the original can to rebuild later for the next set. You can see the new choke in the second picture below. Top dead center. On the right you can see the six caps I installed. In the first photo, on the left you can see the old choke and part of the original cap bank on the top. You will also notice I found a few more caps to replace. These were replaced to enhance the sets performance. And it did! Works great now. Nice sound too, with good bass response. I also rebuilt one of the bakelite cap banks too. It doesn't seem to need anything else electrically. I did a four hour run test, and all looks good!
12/03/04
Now to reinstall all the rebuilt tuner parts. The new rubber works great! I grease and oiled everything that needed it and now we have smooth tuner. I have to replace the grommets though under the tuning cap. It flop around and feels cheap. I found the perfect replacement at the hardware store. These are your everyday rubber grommets used for metal chassis to guard wire from getting cut. You need to use two for every mounting screw. Not to easy because you need to line up a lower and upper grommets, the screw, a washer, and the tuner at the same time. Also two of the screws were soldered. So that has to be removed before the screw. In the picture below you can see the new tuning components. All working free and smooth.
12/04/04
OK, I got all the grommets in and they were a perfect fit. What a difference when handling the tuner. Now off to the case. It will need some of the veneer to be lifted clamped and glued all around. This will take a while since you have to do it in steps and wait 24 hours between them. Take a look at the photo below. You will see what I mean. The monkey before me figured they would make it shiny so they slopped on some high gloss.
12/18/04
Well! It took a while but all the bumps are gone! Wave after wave of them. A whole week of lifting gluing clamping section at a time, but I was able to save the original veneer. Take a look at the next photo and you will see for the most part the bumps are gone. Of course these now have to be sanded! So they are going to get worst before they get better. There is still some waves in there. They are just a lot better now.
12/22/04
OK take look at the new pictures! You can tell where the waves were. You do have to be careful here because you don't want to cut through the veneer. This is done in three steps. Well three grits of sandpaper. The first would be a 150 grit attached to a rubber sanding block. Use the flat side. This will get the bulk, but be careful! Keep in mind you will never get it perfect, but you can get it so close no one will notice. Next, after a careful inspection, use a 200 grit sandpaper. Again use a rubber sanding block, and use the flat side. This time sand a bit harder. This time your trying to level out the waves and smooth the wood. The next step would be a 220or 240 grit sandpaper, BUT use your hand not a block. This will do little with taking down the waves, but will smooth the wood quite a bit. While your doing this, you can feel for large bumps and/or parts you may have missed. Take a look below at the photo's.
12/30/05
The case still needed some cleaning up and some more sanding. This time it is selective depending on where and how much. Now we are ready for stain. But we have light spots now! If we just stained the whole set these light spot would show right through. What we need now is a very dark stain, a cloth towel, and q tips. We need to use the q tips and towel to spot stain and blend in to match the rest of the case. I will let it sit for 3-4 hours in heat, then wipe down again. If all looks OK, I will stain the whole case in the same dark stain. You must soak it then wipe off the access. Look at the pictures below. This is now ready for the first coat of finish. I will use lacquer in a spray can for this one.
01/02/05
We got the first coat of lacquer on and she looks good already. I will sand it with a 400 grit sand paper clean off the dust and go for a second coat. I will wait at least a day though. Check out pictures below. Looks nice, but not nearly done yet. In the second picture you can see the bumps are gone!!
01/04/05
Now she is ready for the second coat. Simple enough! The first picture shows the pay off for all the sanding and special staining. Both show the nice dark antique look coming along!! This will be sanded once again with a 400 grit, and a third coat. The important thing is to keep going until it looks right. The grain should be filled in by the third coat.
08/02/07