A fool and his money - Not a Cossor

[ChristianFletcher]

This story starts on a boring Saturday night after drinking one or two glasses of red wine and having a browse on eBay (never a good idea)

Well I purchased a very sad looking Cossor 635. I actually bought it because it was in such poor condition and it was very very cheap. I thought it would be an ideal project to practice my cabinet work and re-veneer it. It was so bad nothing to loose,I couldn’t make it any worse.

It is fair to say I hadn’t done my research and I didn’t have a proper look at all the listing pictures it was cheap, I just liked the Art Deco styling and wanted to try my hand at the cabinet restoration. I really like radios of the 1930s more than any other period.

Well after feeling very smug about my purchase I sent pictures to all my friends and “Andrew” pointed out in a Private Message that he was pretty sure they didn’t have ferrite rod antennas in 1930!

Oh Aaaaaaaaah was my reaction

Well you have to laugh I didn’t even bother to unpack the radio when it arrived and it remained hidden in the garage for 12 months while my embarrassment subsided. To be quite honest serves me right, I didn’t look at all the pictures and I don’t even blame the seller. All the information was there and I failed to see it. With time passing it’s just funny and one for experience etc.

But I am left wondering what this radio chassis actually is and if anyone can help me identify it. I’m planning on doing the cabinet restoration and maybe a good candidate for having a MP3 module fitted. I’m sure someone could get pleasure owning this and who does not care about its history and authenticity etc

Valves are

ECC85 ECH81 EF89 EABC80 EZ80 EL84

Any idea on the Chassis or any embarrassing purchases you don’t mind sharing?

Regards Chris AKA Allthegearnoidea

[David G4EBT]

The 635 dates from 1934 and had a mains energised (field coil) speaker. Had the set have been intact, like all pre-war sets it would have proved quite a challenge to restore the electronics, not to mention the cabinet. You can console yourself Chris that apart from the enjoyment derived from taking on the challenge, it would have cost far more in time effort and money that the set would have been worth.

As to the chassis that you have, it appears to date from 1956ish as it has an FM tuner (ECC85).

If nothing else, it has a very nice shrouded mains transformer which amplifier enthusiasts will be eying up!

[Nickthedentist]

Ah, never mind, these things happen to the best of us! I've bought cheap clocks in a similar way, only to find that the original movement has been ditched for a quartz one. All there in the photos, if only I'd bothered to go through them all.

The knobs are very 1950s too. GEC or Marconi possibly? You can see where someone's applied a (nicely-done) "finger plate" to disguise the holes where the original knobs would have been.

The chassis probably came from a Bakelite set with a smashed cabinet, or a radiogram which was being broken up.

[Walterh]

The FM tuner is from Telefunken. Many other radio manufacturers, as e.g. Blaupunkt or Körting used them in their radios. But i don't know the manufacturer of that chassis you have...

Walter

[Lloyd 1985]

Oh dear!! At least you didn’t pay too much for it, I once bought a TV22, which was shown working, paid a fortune for it!! When it turned up I opened it to find a Thorn portable black and white chassis stuffed in the case!!! I was not happy...

Regards
Lloyd

[ChristianFletcher]

Thanks Everyone for the generous comments my ego had not been bruised and I think the story is perhaps more interesting.

I think the comments about this being from a radiogram could be correct. I think the tuning dial may have a diamond shape on it. It had a valve socket for I am guessing a magic eye tube. The speaker says Elac. Any ideas on the model or manufacturer. I have managed to extract it from the enclosure into which it was installed using nails and modern looking gaffer tape

I think I’m going to break my normal rules of changing out grid caps and main smoothing and just power it up on the lamp limiter, just to make life exciting.

This takes bodging to a whole new level I’m actually impressed at the way this was thrown together LOL

[ChristianFletcher]

P.l. M.12628

[ms660]

That scale looks like the Cossor original, along with the band change indicator.

Lawrence.

[paulsherwin]

Given that the damage has been done, you can at least have some fun with it with a clear conscience, including improving your veneering skills. You might even be able to sell it for big bucks if you do a good cosmetic job on it.

[Maarten]

What brand is the mains electrolytic?

[ChristianFletcher]

Yes I think I will get some fun out of it. I am happy to be playing with any type of vintage equipment there is always something to learn even if it’s from my mistakes.

Yes you could be right on the Cossor Dial being part of the original. The later radio chassis has some pulley wheels that were maybe the original dial cord configuration with a remote pointer

I would have liked the early Cossor Chassis and although some of the transplants work is crudely done and electrical wiring unsafe there could be a interest back story I probably should not criticise other people’s work.

I guess this type of re-tasking must be fairly commonplace.

Thanks for the comments. Regards Chris

[music-centre]

Hello Chris,
The knobs on the replacement chassis look similar to ones I have seen on Decca sets such as this RG103 Radiogram.
Steve.

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/decca_2_rg103.html

[ChristianFletcher]

Steve I think we may have a winner. I just need to download the pictures from the radio museum but that looks really close. Amazing deduction Steve!!

Thanks regards Chris

[Nickthedentist]

Chassis looks spot-on. Well done indeed, Steve!

[ChristianFletcher]

Steve Still gets a gold star and a Cherry on the top. It looks like I have a slight variation. The chassis I have has an additional smoothing choke transformer style adjacent to the mains transformer. The RG103 also employs two EL84 in push pull where as my chassis has a single single ended EL84 . But it’s really the same set so brilliant work.

Now it’s worth saying I normally go for early radios and this is the first VhF set that I have owned. I hadn’t appreciated the VHF module and it’s separate tuning wheel. The dial cord is not connected to the Vhf tuner and that’s something would be nice to reconnect. So this really is going to be very interesting for me to work on a VHF set for the first time. So more questions to come.

Thanks everyone for help and especially star comments from Steve.

Chris

[ms660]

Looks more like a Decca RG100 chassis to me, (single ended output and onboard rectifier)

https://www.service-data.com/product...24/1552/t11224

EDIT: Post crossed.

Lawrence.

[Nickthedentist]

Or the more well-known Decca 66 tabletop radio?
https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/decca_gram_model_66.html

But the knobs would indicate that it was a radiogram once, as Lawrence says:
https://hifiwigwam.com/forum/uploads...8fa4bf9574.jpg

[David G4EBT]

Originally Posted by ms660

Looks more like a Decca RG100 chassis to me, (single ended output and onboard rectifier)

https://www.service-data.com/product...24/1552/t11224

EDIT: Post crossed.

Lawrence.

Looking at the datasheet diagrams Lawrence, you're spot on with that.

(Excellent 15-page Maker's datasheet by the way).

[Radio Wrangler]

The usual surplus traders in WW and PW had loads of different radiogram chassis for sale in their adverts with tiny low-res illustrations that didn't give much away. Usually they were manufacturing overruns and end of line stuff from various manufacturers. Even the schaub-lorenz monster tape machine cropped up in such sales.

Likely someone bought one and went looking for a cabinet, any cabinet that was handy.

Methinks you're having more fun from this one than you'd have got from an original one.

David

[ms660]

For ID only, Mods permitting:

https://www.easyliveauction.com/cata...h-may-lot-267/

The trader sheet shows the FM antenna input on the chassis layout for the 66 radio version.

Lawrence.