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Old 12th Mar 2017, 12:43 pm   #1
vinrads
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Default Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

The Midwest radio is finished! Don't you just love it, even my beloved likes it, a lot of time and hard work Has gone into restoring this, but it's all been worth it.

It required total strip down of the chassis and cabinet, the rusty chassis was sanded down to bare metal primed then when dry given a couple of coats of aluminium spray paint, on re assembly there were faults in the RF/Osc circuits these turned out to be broken wires on the coils once repaired the set worked fine.

The cabinet at some time had been partly stripped not very well and waxed yuk! It looked horrible.

A day later it was down to bare wood, then given a coat of American Walnut stain, then finished off with three coats of two pack wood lacquer.

All the chrome parts were sent off to be re chromed,a new dial from the USA was the finishing touch. I think it could be a keeper.

Mick.
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Old 12th Mar 2017, 12:52 pm   #2
Boater Sam
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Default Re: Finished at last

Sound job, even used genuine American wood stain, such attention to detail.

Looks smashing, next Mick?
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Old 12th Mar 2017, 2:00 pm   #3
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

Looks as good a a bought one! I can't quite make out the bands covered, what are they?
 
Old 12th Mar 2017, 3:03 pm   #4
vinrads
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

The coverage is much the same a general coverage com's set 125 kc/s to 65 Mc/s

I am now cleaning up the paint on the dial I had to let it harden and then scraped it off with a plastic tool
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Old 12th Mar 2017, 3:52 pm   #5
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

Lovely! Well done on all the hard work, that's some set.

Andrew
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Old 12th Mar 2017, 4:34 pm   #6
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

Superb.
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Old 12th Mar 2017, 11:18 pm   #7
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

Excellent Mike. I saw something like that in a barn during a trip to Ontario once-pretty rough though. They didn't want to part with it but it wouldn't have gone in the suitcase anyway I've just looked at your January thread. What's the history re your set?

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Old 13th Mar 2017, 3:17 pm   #8
vinrads
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

The only history is that I won it on EBay only me bidding about three hours round trip to collect it. A bit of research confirmed my suspicion that the cabinet and chassis are a marriage ,this is a very early cabinet for a different chassis, I would love to find an original cabinet there were several styles all high quality. But unfortunately they are in the USA .
But you never know, Mick.
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Old 13th Mar 2017, 8:08 pm   #9
Kevin Hoyland
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

Top class work mick, Keep it up.
Kev.
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Old 13th Mar 2017, 9:18 pm   #10
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

It looks gorgeous and very special.
The changed chassis is part of this set's individual history, so I wouldn't worry too much.

David
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Old 13th Mar 2017, 11:11 pm   #11
vinrads
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

Just in case anyone is interested the EM34 bezel was made from one of those round fittings you use to hold the chrome tubing used for worktop support. I cut a slice off to the req depth .Mick.
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Old 14th Mar 2017, 12:42 am   #12
Phil G4SPZ
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

Fantastic! I counted eighteen valves, what a chassis. Lovely restoration.
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Old 14th Mar 2017, 2:13 am   #13
usradcoll1
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil G4SPZ View Post
Fantastic! I counted eighteen valves, what a chassis. Lovely restoration.
I'll have to dig mine out from storage. It's almost the same, not as nice of course!
Does yours use the 6N6G direct-coupled double triode valves in the output stage?
That valve wasn't that common, even in the US. Only a few firms used them and for not that long.
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Old 14th Mar 2017, 7:49 pm   #14
vinrads
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

It looks like mine uses four 6f6's in the output and a 6f6 in the driver stage , Mick

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Old 15th Mar 2017, 2:11 pm   #15
PJL
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

Amazing, the later chassis is probably a better performer with wider coverage.
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Old 15th Mar 2017, 11:51 pm   #16
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

Wild looking set - well done!! How does it perform?
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Old 16th Mar 2017, 10:15 am   #17
vinrads
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

The broadcast bands MW/LM perform very well loads of volume, the s/w not up to a com's set standard, but very happy with the set .
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Old 16th Mar 2017, 5:38 pm   #18
usradcoll1
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

I looked over all the schematics for Midwest models' at my disposal. I couldn't find a 18 valve model, the same as yours. Your's seems to be a better design. The only model that has the same output stage is a 14 valve model, a little newer.
Your's seems to be the best of both worlds.
Maybe, they built a better set for export!
BTW, was the tuning-eye valve original or added by someone.
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Old 16th Mar 2017, 6:02 pm   #19
vinrads
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

Now that's a good question. it did have an EM34 fitted didn't look original wiring ,I fancied getting the Tunalite reinstated ,but noticed that there was never a connection to the anode /plate of the 6C5 and no transformer, so in this case the 6c5 is there just for show ! Interesting circuit this , I will try and get a picture. Mick.
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Old 16th Mar 2017, 6:05 pm   #20
vinrads
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Default Re: Midwest Radio. Finished at last.

A photo of the circuit .
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