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Old 27th May 2019, 9:16 pm   #1
sexton_mallard
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Default Auritone 16D8 clock radio

This unit was another car boot find that cost me a quid. I had a clock radio as a present from when I was a kid and always wanted to own one again with a VFD. This specimen has a nice bright VFD which must have a similar phosphor to a EM84 from the phosphor fluorescence colour.

After basic lead and plug checks it powered up fine but the radio had no FM and a loud 50c/s buzzing on LW and MW. Must be mains smoothing then! By substituting a 1000mfd electrolytic cap on the end of meter leads I found the culprit, a 1000mfd 10v cap had dried out and corroded one of its leads. A replacement cap went in OK and a good clean of the case followed. Performance is good on all wavebands. The polystyrene/acrylic/polycarbonate faceplate appears to have been scrubbed with a scourer in the past and is a bit cloudy which does spoil the appearance considerably. I tried Cif/Vim/Jif which did not make much difference. I will carry on researching clear plastic restoration.
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Last edited by sexton_mallard; 27th May 2019 at 9:22 pm.
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Old 27th May 2019, 9:20 pm   #2
music-centre
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Default Re: Auritone 16D8 clock radio

Unusual with that colour display for the time, I have had good results with metal polish on Perspex if its just scratched.
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Old 29th May 2019, 7:22 pm   #3
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Default Re: Auritone 16D8 clock radio

Love a good VFD & that colouring does look different to many I've seen. As to the faceplate, perhaps one of the car headlamp restoration kits would bring it back. I have used Brasso (the wadding type) to good effect previously on both scratched and yellowed Perspex.
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Old 29th May 2019, 10:55 pm   #4
McMurdo
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Default Re: Auritone 16D8 clock radio

Gosh, that's brought back memories with a jolt! My last employed job of 20 years and that was my workshop clock (had a seperate hifi for the radio). Always kept good time and was plugged in the whole time I worked there. The VFD versions of this sort of thing were way more classy than LED IMHO.
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Old 29th May 2019, 11:12 pm   #5
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Default Re: Auritone 16D8 clock radio

Good result so far. It's always nice when you find a childhood memory electrical item at a car boot sale for a bargain price

Like others, I've had success at removing minor scratches and scuffs from clear plastic using Brasso metal polish. I use liquid Brasso, rub it into the scratched surface with a cloth then let it dry. Then spray on some furniture polish like "Pledge" and use a soft dry cloth to rub off both the dried Brasso and Pledge together. This also works for those clear plastic record player / turntable dust covers.

Usually the vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) clock radios had a blue or green plastic filter fitted to the display which gave it a more intense colour. I wonder if someone removed it from your clock radio in the past? I'm comparing it to the VFD clock radios I have, all of which have an added filter. The "Interstate" one in my post here, has a blue filter: https://vintage-radio.net/forum/show...9&postcount=24

I have a big collection of clock radios, from 1950s valve radios to present day DAB/DAB+ models. Various clock types too, mechanical, electric analogue and electromechanical digital (flip and roll-over digits), electronic display (VFD, LED, LCD with LED backlight) and clock radios combined with other media (cassette recorder, 8-track cartridge player, CD player, TV, SD card, MP3) or AUX input for anything else. Perhaps I should do a post about one or two that I've restored. I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested. Since the 1980s clock radios have been so cheap that people don't usually consider them worth repairing. I'm glad you fixed yours!
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Old 30th May 2019, 7:45 pm   #6
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Default Re: Auritone 16D8 clock radio

Thanks guys for your stories. I tried the Brasso & Pledge method and it has brought the faceplate up much better (and looks better in the flesh than in the pic below). There is still some scoring and a strange squiggle mark which actually looks like a contamination of the plastic as it radiates out from the injection point. I showed this set to my daughter explaining that this was my main form of entertainment before I got my Hi-Fi at 16.

For years I never realised what a VFD actually was until the orange glowing cathode wires, the honeycomb grid and the anode with the fluorescent target in a flat glass package with a evacuation pip on the back and a splodge of a getter seemed to be like a valve...

This set only has a thin black mask with clear windows behind the slightly blue tinted faceplate so allowing the full brightness and colour of the the VFD to show.

That Interstate clock radio is a beauty. My Nephew picked that exact model up at the same car boot a few years ago and I have been on the look-out for one ever since.
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Old 30th May 2019, 8:10 pm   #7
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Default Re: Auritone 16D8 clock radio

If I remember correctly these were sold in the “Kaleidoscope” shops and mail order by the same company in the 70s. “Kaleidoscope” published occasional little catalogues with various items, some electrical. I had a LED alarm clock which had a tilt switch to activate snooze. Of course “Kaleidoscope” still send out catalogues but they stick to ladies’ interests now.
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Old 1st Jun 2019, 4:07 pm   #8
Phil G4SPZ
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Default Re: Auritone 16D8 clock radio

Good result, well done! Several decades old and only one faulty component, which when you think about it has probably been powered-up most of its working life. This radio is from the late discrete solid-state PCB era, which I find to be amongst the most reliable and easily fixable electronics ever produced. Things went downhill after ICs, firmware and SMDs started to appear!
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