Majestic radio

[vinrads]

Thanks Sam, unfortunately very little interest shown otherwise , it looks like people would rather discus what's the tallest radio. I despair. Mick.

[Herald1360]

I considered adding a ^^^WHS^^^ post, but when all was said and done, Sam had said it already.


The cap job was brilliant, any chance of a pic that shows the studding and spacers arrangement clearly?

[vinrads]

Ah-ha Thank's Chris some interest at last , sorry I thought about it but to engrossed in the project forgot to take some pictures , you can see the brass plates which I soldered on , there were quite a few people interested and some suggestions how to repair the capacitor , I was expecting a bit more feedback , Mick.

[Nickthedentist]

No, I'm very interested too, Mick.

Your repair job on the tuning cap is incredible; I have to admit that I would have probably given up and used the set purely as decoration. And I'm very impressed that you bothered following up the initial lead and buying the set in the first place.

Great to hear it works so well. I wonder when it was last actually used?

Do let's have pictures when it's all back together.

Nick.

[vinrads]

Hi Nick Thank you for your interest ,I often think when did the radio work last ,I get a great deal of pleasure bringing back to life these old radio's .It's not about the money but about the satisfaction that I have when I hear these old things talk again , I suppose it's like firing up an old engine that's not turned a for years . I will post some pictures when the chassis is installed in it's cabinet .

I have just finished constructing a 120 volt power supply to run the set using quit a beefy tx as the set takes about two amps / 120 volt more pictures to follow . Mick.

[vinrads]

The chassis is now installed in the cabinet the big black box on the right is the power supply for the radio it supplies several heater voltages and several ht voltages to power the set , the thing on the left is my 120 volt power pack needed to power the set from 240 volt mains .
The cabinet req a small amount of work but when you consider it's age it is in very good condition . swmbo won't have it in the house she hates it ! there is no accounting for taste is there, but she did give my a lift into the conservatory with it .

[PJL]

Excellent job you have done of that. It obviously went to the right home.

[crackle]

Hi Mick
Dont despair if you get very few replies to a thread, it happens to me a lot. There are probably loads of interested people following it, but they dont have much to say.
I am very impressed with your repair of the tuning capacitor, and the radio looks magnificent.

Mike

[vinrads]

That's praise indeed , thank you all who responded Regards Mick.

[Nickthedentist]

Thanks for the pics. Amazing work and speedy too

[terrybull]

Hi Mick.
I've just come back to this as it was me that spotted this (well it's difficult to miss) in the BHF shop and posted it in the where to get sets and parts section. I'm so glad that I did as you took on the challenge which it seems was not easy and overcame the problems. Your restoration is magnificent and it has gone from a dusty unloved curiosity to the wonderful wireless it now is. Well done.

[Boater Sam]

I think you were quite fortunate Mick in that the tuning cap has plenty of space between the fixed plates, I would imagine that doing the same job on a later small cap would be very frustrating.
It's a handsome cabinet, a fine piece of furniture. Pity its been expelled from the house but if it doesn't suit then so be it. Its worthy of a museum exhibit though. Thinking of which, has the museum in Dulwich got one of these?

Sam.

[Aub]

Have to agree with what Mike said in post 28. Fantastic job. Very well done!

Aub

[vinrads]

Thank Aub . The original point I was making is that you go to trouble of taking pictures down loading them doing a write up , when you get no or very little response it can be very disheartening , then you start thinking why do I bother ! Still I bother .Mick.

[Andrewausfa]

Absolutely keep bothering Mick! I think it's great you sharing work like this, sometimes a person just can't think of anything intelligent to add or ask. Sometimes the work is so self-explanatory from photos there's not a lot to say bar 'Good job'. Or 'Wow' that's a tall radio.

Andrew

[vinrads]

I have had this thought in my head since repairing the tuning capacitor, does it really matter if the moving vane is nearer to the fixed vane on one side ie not in the middle, my thoughts were if it nearer one side it must further away from the other side therefor cancelling out the higher capacitance with less capacitance. or am I talking daft? Mick.

[ms660]

Interesting question, I seem to remember I looked into this before and came to the conclusion that the capacitance value changes.

Lawrence.

[vinrads]

My memory is not to good these days, but just remembered after repairing the tuning capacitor I checked all four. at three points , fully closed fully open and half way ,and was surprised how close the readings were ,within ten pf of each other ,all the trimmers worked well within there range ,eg not to tight not to loose. Mick.

[ms660]

Originally Posted by vinrads

I have had this thought in my head since repairing the tuning capacitor, does it really matter if the moving vane is nearer to the fixed vane on one side ie not in the middle, my thoughts were if it nearer one side it must further away from the other side therefor cancelling out the higher capacitance with less capacitance. or am I talking daft?

A rough calc.....If the rotor plates of a variable capacitor are equidistant from the stator plates in a lateral sense and the distance between one side of the rotor plates and the stator plates on one side is reduced by a half (the distance the other side increases by a half) then the capacitance of the variable capacitor will increase by approx. one third....if I've got it right...

Lawrence.

[vinrads]

I think a practical experiment is needed .Mick.