RUSS' OLD RADIOS
  • HOME
  • FOR SALE
    • CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
    • DO IT YOURSELF SPECIALS
    • EXCEPTIONAL DEALS
    • WITH MP3 PORTS
  • RESTORATION
  • BLOG
  • BEFORE/AFTER
  • CONTACT US
  • UNIQUE RADIOS
  • 1920'S Superheterodyne

Radiola 20 - She Made Me Do It

4/17/2018

2 Comments

 
I was going to part it out. The two Radiola interstage transformers were good.

The "restorer" could not get the knobs off, so he could not get the chassis out of the cabinet. "No sweat"' he thought. I'll just slather poly on everything - the dials, knobs and bezels included. But first, since I can't get the cabinet stripped of the old finish properly, I'll just scrape it with a knife(?).

Well, when he got done, it looked pretty good from around 10 feet away. Sue said that she liked it. So it was diverted towards 2 or 3 days of restoration which was mostly figuring out how to get the poly off of everything.
Picture
Above: As found
Picture
The former owner managed to remove most of the character of the wood by scraping the front panel. So much so that the bezels were raised by a little lip where the scraper could not reach. So I added a little bit of grain and a knot or two prior to refinishing.
Picture
Completed 5-tube TRF - 4 each 199 and one UX 120 for audio output. I still need to find the paper instruction label for the underside of the lid.
2 Comments

Atwater Kent 82 - "Good Condition"(?)

4/15/2018

5 Comments

 
Picture
Craig's List item. Before and after.
Yeah, the radio chassis had a few issues, but, so did the cabinet.
Picture
Fortunately, in the process of replacing the front veneer with a single sheet of Mahogany, the seller did not get the damaged front panel firmly glued to the arch. Unfortunately, the original trim was lost.

Since the back side of the panel was also damaged, I found it was easier to just make a new panel. The picture above shows the original front after it was reglued and cleaned up. At one point I was going to re-veneer but other damage caused me to reconsider. Much of the grill area had been "patched" with a filler similar to Bondo or some sort of wood filler.
Picture
The geometry of the arch trim is a somewhat more  difficult than most people would think. Not impossible, but, just try to calculate the inner curve (at a tangent to the outer curve).

The rest was router work and adding the Zebrawood veneer.
Picture
Picture
IF the most important consideration regarding the restoration of a chassis is the amount of rust, then this one was not so bad. Unfortunately the power transformer had been replaced and was missing it's cover. Another interesting deficiency was discovered in the tuning cap. There was just enough oxidized metal deposited on the insulators to cause the volume control circuit not to work.
Picture
Picture
This volume control is much better than a simple rheostat placed on the antenna input but also more complicated. If you get a chance, it can be seen here:

http://www.nostalgiaair.org/Resources/480/M0001480.htm
Picture
Aah, Spring, fresh flowers and old radios!

P.S. No, I didn't pay $100 for it.

Russ
5 Comments

    Author

                         Russ Webb

    Picture
    Russ Webb & Fuzzy

    Best Buddy, Radio fixer







    Categories

    All
    All
    Antiques
    Electronics
    Radios
    Repair
    Restoration
    Travels
    Vintage

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2025
    November 2024
    December 2023
    March 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

CUSTOM DESIGN BY SUE WEBB  06/2013       Redesigned by Russ Webb     Approved by Fuzzy   Updated:  Pretty much all the time, but I forget to change this date
Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos from valart2008, rafeejewell