UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > General Vintage Technology > Success Stories

Notices

Success Stories If you have successfully repaired or restored a piece of equipment, why not write up what you did and post details here. Particularly if it was interesting, unusual or challenging. PLEASE DO NOT POST REQUESTS FOR HELP HERE!

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 9th Feb 2006, 5:26 pm   #1
GJR 11L
Heptode
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ellington, Northumberland, UK.
Posts: 815
Default This may get lengthy too! (VHF90C)

Hello all & welcome to my odd, leaded solder-induced little tale of a set named "Ol' Smokey" due to the result of the Hunts cap-related incident that had led to my taking him apart. (SWMBO will not allow this anthropomorphism any longer, not since "George W" [DAC90A] allegedly gave her a belt of mains. From now I must not assign Human characteristics or gender to inanimate objects. )

Anyhow, after a rather more comprehensive overhaul than first projected (aren't they all), the set is running well. And so he, sorry, "it" chuffin' well ought to be. I simply replaced every waxie and that dreaded Hunts with brand new polypropylene jobbies, including the one that is hidden beneath the volume pot, which of course I only spotted as I was preparing to re-attach the volume pot and its bracket to the end of the chassis! That's me to a tee, that is.
A couple of the dropper segments were replaced with spares from the box of that lives in the hut, all valves replaced with known strong ones and only five resistors throughout the set required substituting with new.
That little lot has taken me a good few weeks since first I posted a thread about this set that, confusingly, shares its model number with an am/fm set of more conventional appearance. Limited grip, stamina and ability to stay awake got in the way a bit too, but this little set has been with me since I was much younger and I am rather fond of it.

Long story short:
Having satisfied myself that the set would not behave as though a new Pope had just been elected, I powered it up (Cheers Mr BBC Commentator for turning the word "power" into a verb) using the lamp limiter and as the device warmed up he, oops, it had obviously forgotten the words as all it did was hum!
The mains smoothing caps were left alone as, pre-refit, the set had shown a remarkable lack of hum for an untouched ac/dc set. Perhaps my regular use of the set had not preserved the caps as first assumed? No, something else was afoot here, after double-checking all the new soldered joints and noting that the pitch of the hum didn't seem to be 50Hz when compared to my almost new Ferguson clock/radio that hums like a and has done so always. I hadn't missed any dodgy caps, had I? No, as it happens, as I discovered when I accidentally nudged the UF89 (V4 on the Bush cct diagram) nearest to the smoothing can. All of a sudden I have a set that sounds better now than ever before, no hum and I mean none that's audible even at low bedside volume at night! (panic not, I have it plugged in through a timer that only gives it 45 minutes then shuts it down even if I'm asleep) So those ancient smoothing caps live on.

OK, what have I to hide? Why are there no pics emblazoned all over "Success Stories"? Well, the set wasn't that dirty and the grille cloth didn't come up 100% like new after gentle washing, so basically my Ol' Smokey ( ) still looks like an old radio. I always run him (Oh what the ) with a slim, microwave oven/sewing machine-style bulb behind the dial so there wasn't even anything interesting like a burned scale to sort out.

The bits I used are brand new and as such probably would deter some when compared to the brilliant recreated period caps etc. that some of you make.

Oh, and the camera's at the moment due to my failure to buy a firmware flash from a reputable source!

Tomorrow I shop! Tonight I'll enjoy my little Bush, not smart enough to be called a success in the way of those beautifully refurbished sets that appear in "Success Stories", but preserved for now.

Which leaves me free to make a big push on the backlog of sets that don't actually live here but are passing through.

It's ok, you can all come back now, I'm off.
__________________
John.
GJR 11L is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 9:00 pm.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.