Hi From Cathy Lissen/Eveready Kenilworth??

[paulsherwin]

No need for that level of paranoia. Just replace the mains lead with a 3 core lead earthing the chassis, and make sure there's a 3A or preferably 1A fuse in the plug. A plug in RCD is a good idea, particularly if you don't have an RCD in your consumer unit, but is more likely to prevent damage to the radio than damage to people.

Of course, you should treat restored old valve gear with caution, and not leave it powered up unattended. You also shouldn't leave young children alone with it.

[cathy_vintage]

Hi from Cathy ... stripped off the speaker mesh and washed in biological washing liquid, dabbed dry with paper towel and then left it on the top of the boiler to dry. Lots of grime around the loudspeaker cone but removed with a soft paint brush and careful use of vacuum cleaner.

Pics of the grill before & after. I found some spray adhesive in Ash's garage so following Paul's method to re-attach it

[60 oldjohn]

Wow! what a difference in that cloth. I bet you have caught the bug, don't go to any more Boot sales, or radios will follow you home and before you know it you will have a house full. Are you doing anything with the wooden case?

John.

[paulsherwin]

That has come up very well.

Spray PVA is normally very good for reattaching speaker cloth, but it can be difficult to remove if something goes wrong. You might want to consider bog standard wallpaper paste if the glue doesn't have to cope with a lot of stress.

[cathy_vintage]

Yes he's caught the bug ... & bid on an early 60's tranny radio 'project' like the one they had at home.

Paul I checked the spray adhesive of Ash's and I think it's the wrong type, as it's like the old 'Evostik' smelly stuff not PVA. So I made a thick mix of a bit of wallpaper paste, as you suggested and used that. I covered it in clingfilm (to stop glue sticking to the box) and placed a box of his bike bits on top to keep it weighed down & flat and it's come out OK. Please see pics.

Bye for now ...Cathy

[cathy_vintage]

Hi from Cathy .. there are some little round labels next to the preset buttons. Any idea how to make these look a bit better. Would they have been for preset stations chosen by the manufacturer or added by the owner? Also, Ash has worked out which knob is which but would these have been labelled originally. we think we will just give the exterior wood a good clean and polish until we know we can get the set to work.

[Radio Wrangler]

Table radios with preset pushbutton tuning were set by the user to their favourite stations, so the usual arrangement was to have some sort of paper label the user could write on, with a celluloid cover to protect them from finger-marks.

In those days radio stations and their frequencies were considered fixed forever... fixed enough to be printed onto tuning scale glass. Just looking at an old scale and reading all the evocative names can be quite a trip. Nowadays, almost all have vanished and people who want something they like have taken to feeding audio to a private signal source (look up 'pantry transmitter' on this forum.)

David

[60 oldjohn]

Hi Cathy, The labels should be removable, as well as writing on them some were printed, either on paper or celluloid I think and plastic. I may be able to help with paper type. These are often found loose inside sets.
Re the cabinet, I would just give it a quick wash with water and washing up liquid, not immersing it and drying it as quickly as possible then leave it a few days (or a day outside in this weather) to dry completely before giving it a couple of coats of Clear wax. I do this for most of my sets if they are not too bad a condition. I like to see the natural patina.

John.

[60 oldjohn]

Looking at the case again, there are some minor scratches, before waxing and polishing I would use one of the touch up pens or small bottle of stain available from hardware shops in various colours. One tip is you will not get an exact colour match but a slightly darker shade is less noticeable than a lighter shade.

John.

[paulsherwin]

Poundland sell sets of 3 scratch cover pens.

[cathy_vintage]

Hi Ash Here ... I just found a new reel of this wire that I got years ago for a job and never used. I think it will be suitable for the re-wire. A bit over-the-top extravagant but she's worth it. Anyway .. a customer bought it free-issue so it cost me nothing.

http://uk.farnell.com/alpha-wire/585...rfnonsku=false

[richrussell]

PTFE and silicone coated wires once they get a little dust on them can look very much like the original rubber coated wires so are a good choice.

[Paul_RK]

Re. the 'speaker cloth, I don't think there's any chance that it's original to the set. It's a sort of "woven string" that's very robust and must often have been used in the 1940s, perhaps '50s, to replace damaged grille cloths. I've a few 1930s radios fitted with something identical or very similar, and in every case it's a period replacement for original cloths that were more decorative but usually so delicate that the family cat could easily tear them. The cloth on http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/lissen_8453.html may well be original. The "woven string", though, rarely looks out of place - it's much better to my mind than many a modern cloth chosen by restorers - is part of the radio's history, and, as you've found, it washes well and doesn't tend to come apart. Probably good for another 70 years at least, and nobody's going to make a hole in it by accident.

Paul

[Boater Sam]

I have found many of the older original cloths have what I can only describe as gold tinsel in the weave. They seem to be particularly fragile and very difficult to clean. They also seem to have a lot of weave and little weft in their construction so they fray and come apart easily. 70 years of smoke and soot takes its toll.

For those station labels I have used the plastic from butter ( Margarine for the masses ) tubs, its yellow colour looks authentic, and it will take drawing ink if roughened slightly. Or print labels on clear film such as water slide and affix to the plastic. The light will shine through much as the originals.

Any sounds from the set yet? Waiting with bated breath.

Sam.

[McMurdo]

I think Lissen probably used that sort of weave originally at least on some 30's sets. A few brochure pics I have show it and one of my sets here has it. I also suspect that it was /could be sprayed to represent expanded metal.

[cathy_vintage]

Hi thanks for comments on cloth.I guess it's original and a sort of woven string type. Looking fairly acceptable now. It's definitely creamy coloured on the ouside and a browny colour on the other side.

Capacitors arrived this morning .. so out with the soldering iron over the next few days !!

[60 oldjohn]

I would say your cloth is original, I have a Lissen set and an Ever Ready Model C both with identical "cloth" to yours. Strangely yours seems to be cut on the diagonal when both my sets the warp or weft runs left to right. Looking at Pauls link to RM, I would not be surprised if I had supplied that cloth, It looks good on Philips sets amongst others.

John,

[cathy_vintage]

Hi Ash here... I received all of the new capacitors today, so started with re-stuffing the smoothing block capacitor. Ordered some turret tags but nothing like I remember ..tiny compared with the old days. So I used some brass strip and used PTFE cable as described earlier. Idea was to solder caps to brass terminals on one piece of Tufnol and sandwich that between to identical pieces, with a notch in the top one to allow the wires to pass through as on the original. Paxolin looking base is broken so I will search my hoard for a new bit. I have lots of epoxy glass but not really 30's. I need to put three identifying markers on the outside wires before I fully fasten it all together on the chassis

Enough for today !

[richrussell]

That's far neater than what I did with the wax filled cardboard box capacitors on my 1930s set! I just gutted it then stuck the new capacitors to the card with hot melt glue, and resealed the box

[cathy_vintage]

That's why I am posting on here ..so I can be 'judged' and resist the urge to 'cut corners'. Cathy calls it 'my homework'