1940-Style "Personal" Radio - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

batterymaker1 · 7th Feb 2015, 11:12 pm

I've been wanting to make one of these for quite awhile.
These style of personal sets I call "over and under" models--tuning knob is over the speaker, volume knob under. The antenna was built into a spring-loaded front door.
They were made by at least six manufacturers--GE and Admiral were the most popular.
All but one had cabinets made of Tenite, a type of celluloid that made the sets lightweight and easily molded.
Rarely do you see any of them in decent condition, as the Tenite suffers from shrinkage and warping.
I decided to make mine out of wood, so I found a GE with a hopelessly gnarled cabinet. I extracted the chassis and antenna from it.
Chassis was stripped to bare metal and new sockets were installed. The IF transformers had new leads attached to them--the petrified rubber leads had crumbled.
Once the chassis was assembled, I noticed the GE's speaker was in poor shape. Fortunately I found a junk Detrola set that sported one in perfect condition, including the on-off switch.
Took awhile to debug the radio, but I finally got it to play. On to the cabinet.
I wanted to find the thinnest MDF possible to use, as I wanted this set to be as small as possible. I found it by purchasing a half-dozen MDF clipboards. I cut the clips off and took off the rounded edges.
The front is a sandwich of two 1/4" and clipboard sheets of MDF. I also made a metal faceplate for the control panel and figured out where the antenna connections would be.
After trimming the top and bottom edges, I made the sides from clipboard MDF. The rounded sides are 1/4" round molding used on baseboards.
After gluing the cabinet together, I measured off the back door line and cut it off the cabinet.
The alligator-hide is actually paper! Got it from a craft store. I also got the hinges and latch from a trinket box.
The final front panel was cut and trimmed from a piece of sheet brass. I made the dial from waterslide decal, but it was a fight to get it in this version. I'd like it darker, but the printer was being very passive-agressive with me.
The switch and socket on top allow for an external antenna to be used, a la Zenith Wavemagnet. That will come later.
For the name, I found a hearing-aid battery with the name ABBOTT on it. So, 1940s homebrew sets are named Abbott. My wireless homebrews are named Windclyffe.
Hope you enjoy it. It'll be going into our radio club's contest in a couple of weeks.

Also made a mock advertisement for it!

BIll

batterymaker1 · 7th Feb 2015, 11:13 pm

Here are some more shots....

batterymaker1 · 7th Feb 2015, 11:17 pm

Gonna see if this works--here is video of the personal set in action:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v...27742734644660

Nuvistor · 7th Feb 2015, 11:56 pm

That is a nice finish and it works well, a good success story.
Frank

Sideband · 8th Feb 2015, 12:12 am

It seems that there is far more available on AM in the States, than over here! Good job!

Boater Sam · 8th Feb 2015, 6:51 am

Very smart looking set, well done. Good to see you on the forum again. There have been enquiries about repro batteries recently, hope you are back "in production"

Sam.

jmarc8848 · 26th Feb 2015, 12:37 am

Nice Looking radio - My small collection is only 30s and 40s AC/DC sets and my new interest is in vintage battery labels which I have seen else where on this site - Im a newbie so dont expect much at first - Thanks

unitaudio · 26th Feb 2015, 12:54 am

The advertisement looks totally authentic! It would have fooled me if I didn't know you'd mocked it up.

The crocodile skin looks amazing too. In fact, the finished item looks factory-built. Excellent stuff!

Regards,
Paul

jmarc8848 · 26th Feb 2015, 5:08 pm

I just noticed you mentioned an Abbott hearing aid battery and I recently saw this Abbott flashlight battery label on the web and thought some of you would be interested - The photo should be in an attachment to this reply - I hope

27th Feb 2015, 7:43 pm

Nice job, any chance of a bit of scale i.e. a rule next to it? Or 'go on how big is it', small battery sets are a love of mine.

Phil G4SPZ · 28th Feb 2015, 11:09 pm

Beautiful! I loved the advert too.

Danny27 · 3rd Mar 2015, 12:15 pm

Great work! The finish is interesting, something new to me.

batterymaker1 · 4th Mar 2015, 3:29 am

It's maybe 14" tall.

Radio Wrangler · 4th Mar 2015, 8:53 am

I really like the label and the advert.

And the set even looked good even before you went out alligator-hunting.

David

7th Feb 2015, 11:12 pm	#1
batterymaker1 Heptode Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Posts: 674	1940-Style "Personal" Radio I've been wanting to make one of these for quite awhile. These style of personal sets I call "over and under" models--tuning knob is over the speaker, volume knob under. The antenna was built into a spring-loaded front door. They were made by at least six manufacturers--GE and Admiral were the most popular. All but one had cabinets made of Tenite, a type of celluloid that made the sets lightweight and easily molded. Rarely do you see any of them in decent condition, as the Tenite suffers from shrinkage and warping. I decided to make mine out of wood, so I found a GE with a hopelessly gnarled cabinet. I extracted the chassis and antenna from it. Chassis was stripped to bare metal and new sockets were installed. The IF transformers had new leads attached to them--the petrified rubber leads had crumbled. Once the chassis was assembled, I noticed the GE's speaker was in poor shape. Fortunately I found a junk Detrola set that sported one in perfect condition, including the on-off switch. Took awhile to debug the radio, but I finally got it to play. On to the cabinet. I wanted to find the thinnest MDF possible to use, as I wanted this set to be as small as possible. I found it by purchasing a half-dozen MDF clipboards. I cut the clips off and took off the rounded edges. The front is a sandwich of two 1/4" and clipboard sheets of MDF. I also made a metal faceplate for the control panel and figured out where the antenna connections would be. After trimming the top and bottom edges, I made the sides from clipboard MDF. The rounded sides are 1/4" round molding used on baseboards. After gluing the cabinet together, I measured off the back door line and cut it off the cabinet. The alligator-hide is actually paper! Got it from a craft store. I also got the hinges and latch from a trinket box. The final front panel was cut and trimmed from a piece of sheet brass. I made the dial from waterslide decal, but it was a fight to get it in this version. I'd like it darker, but the printer was being very passive-agressive with me. The switch and socket on top allow for an external antenna to be used, a la Zenith Wavemagnet. That will come later. For the name, I found a hearing-aid battery with the name ABBOTT on it. So, 1940s homebrew sets are named Abbott. My wireless homebrews are named Windclyffe. Hope you enjoy it. It'll be going into our radio club's contest in a couple of weeks. Also made a mock advertisement for it! BIll Attached Thumbnails __________________ Just playing with high voltage....

7th Feb 2015, 11:13 pm	#2
batterymaker1 Heptode Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Posts: 674	Re: 1940-Style "Personal" Radio Here are some more shots.... Attached Thumbnails __________________ Just playing with high voltage....

7th Feb 2015, 11:17 pm	#3
batterymaker1 Heptode Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Posts: 674	Re: 1940-Style "Personal" Radio Gonna see if this works--here is video of the personal set in action: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v...27742734644660 __________________ Just playing with high voltage....

7th Feb 2015, 11:56 pm	#4
Nuvistor Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK. Posts: 9,433	Re: 1940-Style "Personal" Radio That is a nice finish and it works well, a good success story. Frank

8th Feb 2015, 12:12 am	#5
Sideband Dekatron Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Croydon, Surrey, UK. Posts: 7,580	Re: 1940-Style "Personal" Radio It seems that there is far more available on AM in the States, than over here! Good job! __________________ There are lots of brilliant keyboard players and then there is Rick Wakeman.....

8th Feb 2015, 6:51 am	#6
Boater Sam Banned Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Middlewich, Cheshire, UK. & Winter in the Philippines. Posts: 3,897	Re: 1940-Style "Personal" Radio Very smart looking set, well done. Good to see you on the forum again. There have been enquiries about repro batteries recently, hope you are back "in production" Sam.

26th Feb 2015, 12:37 am	#7
jmarc8848 Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Posts: 2	Re: 1940-Style "Personal" Radio Nice Looking radio - My small collection is only 30s and 40s AC/DC sets and my new interest is in vintage battery labels which I have seen else where on this site - Im a newbie so dont expect much at first - Thanks

26th Feb 2015, 12:54 am	#8
unitaudio Heptode Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Manchester, UK. Posts: 862	Re: 1940-Style "Personal" Radio The advertisement looks totally authentic! It would have fooled me if I didn't know you'd mocked it up. The crocodile skin looks amazing too. In fact, the finished item looks factory-built. Excellent stuff! Regards, Paul __________________ ...No, it's not supposed to pick up the World Service, it's not a radio!

26th Feb 2015, 5:08 pm	#9
jmarc8848 Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Posts: 2	Re: 1940-Style "Personal" Radio I just noticed you mentioned an Abbott hearing aid battery and I recently saw this Abbott flashlight battery label on the web and thought some of you would be interested - The photo should be in an attachment to this reply - I hope Attached Thumbnails

27th Feb 2015, 7:43 pm	#10
Guest Guest Posts: n/a	Re: 1940-Style "Personal" Radio Nice job, any chance of a bit of scale i.e. a rule next to it? Or 'go on how big is it', small battery sets are a love of mine.

28th Feb 2015, 11:09 pm	#11
Phil G4SPZ Dekatron Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Bewdley, Worcestershire, UK. Posts: 4,748	Re: 1940-Style "Personal" Radio Beautiful! I loved the advert too. __________________ Phil Optimist [n]: One who is not in possession of the full facts

3rd Mar 2015, 12:15 pm	#12
Danny27 Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Slobozia, Romania Posts: 4	Re: 1940-Style "Personal" Radio Great work! The finish is interesting, something new to me.

4th Mar 2015, 3:29 am	#13
batterymaker1 Heptode Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Posts: 674	Re: 1940-Style "Personal" Radio It's maybe 14" tall. __________________ Just playing with high voltage....

4th Mar 2015, 8:53 am	#14
Radio Wrangler Moderator Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Fife, Scotland, UK. Posts: 22,902	Re: 1940-Style "Personal" Radio I really like the label and the advert. And the set even looked good even before you went out alligator-hunting. David __________________ Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done