F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

This is an interesting radio with an attractive cabinet design. I'm waiting for a shipment of new "rubber" tuning gang mount grommets, but have started the electronic restoration and polished the chassis yesterday.

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/...C21asfound.jpg

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/...%20started.jpg

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

The soft "rubber" grommets from Renovated Radios have been installed, along with regular grommets on holes for wires (Ace Hardware in the USA is a good source)

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/...20grommets.jpg

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

I like your jig for mounting the chasis. Did you make it.

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

Terry, I bought that jig and a larger version from Steve Strong. Please see
http://radiostands.com/

The antenna transformer had an open coil, L-1. Somebody had coated it with what appeared to be candle wax. I wondered why I found what seemed like wax spilled on a tube socket and another place in the chassis... The form containing L-1 and L-2 goes inside the form for L-3 and L-4. Whoever worked on it last also had lost one of the screw to mount the L-1 & L-2 form inside the L-3 & L-4 form. They also had the volume control mis-wired.

I found a coil in my parts collection, removed the wire, put it on the original form, and coated it with some of Rima's nail polish. I need to finish the radio and hope the valves are good to be able to test it. L-1 is untuned, so it should work.

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/...as%20found.jpg

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/...ransformer.jpg

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/...as%20found.jpg

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

I have finished replacing the resistors and capacitors. All of the tubes/valves have good filaments, and the audio works with a CD player connected across the volume control. I suspect that the RF and IF adjustments are way off, so now need to work backwards from the audio output to check and adjust it.

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

She is working and sounding loud! The RF and IF adjustments were way off, and I found one intermittent connection at the band switch I'd failed to solder.... I still need to adjust / align it, replace the dial string, and replace the grille cloth. I'm delighted that the tubes/valves are all good enough for it to work well.

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/...image001_3.jpg

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/...image002_3.jpg

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/...image003_1.jpg

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

That's a very thorough restoration going on there and I'm enjoying seeing the progress.
I think these sets are very robust my SAC 31 (the same as your apart from the cabinet) is working extremely well despite decades unloved in someones loft.

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

Do you (or you-all) also enjoy thinking about who previously owned our radios, and what they heard on them (WWII, perhaps the moon landing,...).

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

Very much, I own many 1930's radios and families must have sat in front of them listening to Winston Churchill speeches during the war.
The thought of that really make them seem all the more fascinating!

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

It is finished, although I would like to find a matching on-off & volume control knob.

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/...image002_6.jpg

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/...image001_6.jpg

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

Very nice indeed, the speaker fabric suites the set very well.
Interesting how this Bush set found it's way the USA, I might be wrong but I doubt they were sold there new in 1935.

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

Yes all the time, one of my favourites is a 1939 RCA Victor 45X11, an AA5 set which I listen to 2 or 3 times a week, I can't imagine that any of the US armed forces would have brought it across during WW11, more than likely came to one of the US bases here after 1945?

John

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

It had a huge old plug with three round pins on the power cord when I bought it, a strong indication that it was imported to the USA, but never used before now. It may not have worked for quite a few decades.

That fabric was a fortunate find. It is sold by Kenney Richmond on E-Bay.

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

The plug was probably BS546, a 1934 British standard which was largely superseded by BS1363 from the 1950s onwards. It is rarely seen in Britain today apart from in lighting setups in theatres, but it remains a current standard in places like India and South Africa.

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

My Grandmother took an Ekco 405 line TV to South Africa when she emigrated. Completely useless, but she had free passage with unlimited luggage on an ocean liner. It happens!

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

I just retrieved the plug from the trash can in my workshop area. It is marked 15A!

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

Standard UK rating of the era. You'd expect a radio to be fitted with a 5A plug, but if the only socket available was 15A you'd need an adaptor to use it, so it would have been easier to fit a 15A plug.

One of the objectives of the BS1363 standard was to eliminate the plethora of 2A, 5A and 15A plugs and their associated adaptors, which in addition to being inconvenient encouraged unsafe practices.

There was actually an even larger 30A plug in BS546, but this was largely restricted to theatrical and industrial applications.

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

Any thoughts on where to find an on-off & volume knob for this radio? Do you know if the small knobs were used on other models?

Indeed, I'd read about those older plugs earlier today. Multiple sizes with adapters must have been, at the least, annoying. The current plug and socket system in British areas is theoretically safer, but are injuries and deaths significantly different than in other parts of Europe or the USA? I am also a member of the small special interest group on electrical matters within Mensa, and helped write the original ASTM E2019 standard for conducting Property Condition Assessments of commercial, industrial and multi-family properties.

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

BS1363 does have many safety features, and the standard has been updated over time to improve it still further. The main drawback with it is that the plugs are physically large, though not as big as the 15A BS546 plug you've been looking at. I don't have any accident stats.

BS1363 was partly adopted to support ring circuit electrical installations in the massive postwar building boom. Ring circuits require a fused plug to be used safely. Almost all older buildings had been rewired with rings and BS1363 outlets by the 70s.

Re: F. Stephen Masek's Bush SAC21 restoration
 

Looks as though the knobs are probably the same as were used on the SAC25 and SAC35, perhaps other Bush models too. I don't recall seeing them on sets from any other manufacturer.

Paul