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So here it is, all finished!
Again, the customer did not want a cosmetic restoration, just an electrical restoration. You can see that the pain is actually in decent shape, but it was just filthy. However, he was also budget mind, so that meant taking a few cost-saving measures, such as using only one color wire (making future repairs difficult, but too bad) and saving the old interstage transformers (which I tried to advise against, but to no avail).
To eliminate any static that may be present in the interstage transformers, I baked them in the oven and remelted the tar, boiling off any moisture that may have been in them. Unfortunately, they boiled over, so I had to scrap all the tar off of the outside and repaint the cans. But they came out nice! Oddly enough, they were not the typical bundle of iron wires so typical of Atwater Kent, but rather used actual C-cores. A much better design to say the least!
You can see that the chassis has been cleaned and the variable condensers have been readjusted and tracked. The power supply has had new capacitors installed and every resistor (most of which were way out of tolerance) has been replaced. The volume control rheostat has been rebuilt as well as the variable condensers, and the entire radio has been rewired. It's not the prettiest wiring job, but it's plenty functional and safe.
As the customer did not wish to purchase the correct electro-dynamic speaker for this radio at this time, it has been wired with a resistor in place of the field coil. However, if the customer ever wishes to use the correct Atwater Kent speaker for it, all he needs to do is flip a little toggle switch located in the power supply, disabling the resistor.
The line resistor (the old one resembles a heating element and looked dangerous) has been replaced with a modern, 28 ohm 50 watt power resistor.
The radio now plays extremely well with surprisingly good fidelity, sensitivity, and selectivity! Needless to say, the customer was quite thrilled with the result. He turned it on and without even touching the dial, it picked up a station. Oh, the look on his face was priceless!
And I want NO comments about the hole that I tore in my bed sheet! XD
Again, the customer did not want a cosmetic restoration, just an electrical restoration. You can see that the pain is actually in decent shape, but it was just filthy. However, he was also budget mind, so that meant taking a few cost-saving measures, such as using only one color wire (making future repairs difficult, but too bad) and saving the old interstage transformers (which I tried to advise against, but to no avail).
To eliminate any static that may be present in the interstage transformers, I baked them in the oven and remelted the tar, boiling off any moisture that may have been in them. Unfortunately, they boiled over, so I had to scrap all the tar off of the outside and repaint the cans. But they came out nice! Oddly enough, they were not the typical bundle of iron wires so typical of Atwater Kent, but rather used actual C-cores. A much better design to say the least!
You can see that the chassis has been cleaned and the variable condensers have been readjusted and tracked. The power supply has had new capacitors installed and every resistor (most of which were way out of tolerance) has been replaced. The volume control rheostat has been rebuilt as well as the variable condensers, and the entire radio has been rewired. It's not the prettiest wiring job, but it's plenty functional and safe.
As the customer did not wish to purchase the correct electro-dynamic speaker for this radio at this time, it has been wired with a resistor in place of the field coil. However, if the customer ever wishes to use the correct Atwater Kent speaker for it, all he needs to do is flip a little toggle switch located in the power supply, disabling the resistor.
The line resistor (the old one resembles a heating element and looked dangerous) has been replaced with a modern, 28 ohm 50 watt power resistor.
The radio now plays extremely well with surprisingly good fidelity, sensitivity, and selectivity! Needless to say, the customer was quite thrilled with the result. He turned it on and without even touching the dial, it picked up a station. Oh, the look on his face was priceless!
And I want NO comments about the hole that I tore in my bed sheet! XD
Category Photography / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1138 x 1280px
File Size 226.4 kB
Very nice! Those wires are so.... blue!
I see you were able to save the cloth loom to put them in, at least that covers them up.
Love those new Beryllium-Copper belts! Are the pulleys original too? Sometimes they used potmetal on those.
Nice restoration! These Atwater Kents perform rather well for what they are. ^_^
I see you were able to save the cloth loom to put them in, at least that covers them up.
Love those new Beryllium-Copper belts! Are the pulleys original too? Sometimes they used potmetal on those.
Nice restoration! These Atwater Kents perform rather well for what they are. ^_^
Well, You're part-way right! Superhets actually typically have two separate tuning capacitors, but they are built into one unit and look like they just have one. They are really two separate sections.
But yes, this one isn't superheterodyne. This radio is what they call a TRF, that is, Tuned Radio Frequency. It really dominated the market in the early days of Radio. By the early '30s, they had pretty much disappeared from the market all together in favor of superhets.
But still, good eye! I'm impressed!
But yes, this one isn't superheterodyne. This radio is what they call a TRF, that is, Tuned Radio Frequency. It really dominated the market in the early days of Radio. By the early '30s, they had pretty much disappeared from the market all together in favor of superhets.
But still, good eye! I'm impressed!
I have a Heathkit GR-54 shortwave vacuum-tube radio which has three separate (and separately controlled) tuning capacitors. Are you familiar with that model? Is it superheterodyne?
Mine doesn't work anymore (it died on me about a week after I got it!). I'm wondering if you could offer some advice on fixing it. I don't have a tube tester, just an analog multimeter of questionable accuracy.
One more question: A friend of mine who had a car with a vacuum-tube radio (and has, it seems, had some experience with fixing tube radios) told me to check the vibrator tube. He described it as a metal vacuum tube that buzzes a bit when in operation, and he said it's usually the first tube in a radio to fail. But the only metal can-shaped object in my Heathkit is the power supply capacitor. So what is a vibrator tube?
Mine doesn't work anymore (it died on me about a week after I got it!). I'm wondering if you could offer some advice on fixing it. I don't have a tube tester, just an analog multimeter of questionable accuracy.
One more question: A friend of mine who had a car with a vacuum-tube radio (and has, it seems, had some experience with fixing tube radios) told me to check the vibrator tube. He described it as a metal vacuum tube that buzzes a bit when in operation, and he said it's usually the first tube in a radio to fail. But the only metal can-shaped object in my Heathkit is the power supply capacitor. So what is a vibrator tube?
I'm not familiar with the Heathkit GR-54, but it's certainly a superhet. One capacitor is for main tuning, and the others are probably for fine adjustments. For testing tubes, I've found that as long as a tube glows, meaning that the filament is good, it'll probably work. If it doesn't glow, then it's certainly bad. It's rare for a tube to have a good filament, but be so weak that it doesn't function at least partially. Checking them on a tube tester and replacing them accordingly usually just improves the radio's performance.
The biggest advice I can offer to repair it is to replace all the old paper and electrolytic capacitors (ceramic, mica, and mylar caps rarely need to be replaced). They are famous for going bad. I had a radio where I didn't replace them just because. It worked fine, but one of the electrolytic caps literally died on me while I was using it! 9 out of 10 times, replacing the capacitors will fix the radio. If it doesn't, it was certainly something that needed to be done and is an important step in repairing any antique radio.
Now there is no vibrator tube in your radio, so no need to worry about looking for it. Vibrators are only used in low-voltage DC operated tube radios, namely for those in cars. They basically turn on and off rapidly, providing a rough "AC" current to feed a transformer so that the voltage could be stepped up for the tubes. AC operated radios have no need for one!
I found a manual for your radio here: http://tubularelectronics.com/Heath.....R-54/GW-54.pdf
One last thing: Just be wary of those high voltages!
The biggest advice I can offer to repair it is to replace all the old paper and electrolytic capacitors (ceramic, mica, and mylar caps rarely need to be replaced). They are famous for going bad. I had a radio where I didn't replace them just because. It worked fine, but one of the electrolytic caps literally died on me while I was using it! 9 out of 10 times, replacing the capacitors will fix the radio. If it doesn't, it was certainly something that needed to be done and is an important step in repairing any antique radio.
Now there is no vibrator tube in your radio, so no need to worry about looking for it. Vibrators are only used in low-voltage DC operated tube radios, namely for those in cars. They basically turn on and off rapidly, providing a rough "AC" current to feed a transformer so that the voltage could be stepped up for the tubes. AC operated radios have no need for one!
I found a manual for your radio here: http://tubularelectronics.com/Heath.....R-54/GW-54.pdf
One last thing: Just be wary of those high voltages!
Wow thank you very much! I'll check out that manual as soon as I can. I've been needing something like that! Just never got around to Googling it myself.
And yes, I've heard that high-voltage warning before (and my multimeter showed it too).
No wonder I've never heard of a vibrator tube from anyone familiar with AC-powered tube radios.
And yes, I've heard that high-voltage warning before (and my multimeter showed it too).
No wonder I've never heard of a vibrator tube from anyone familiar with AC-powered tube radios.
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