R1155 receiver

[Radio_Dave]

I won this R1155 receiver, on ebay, in November last year, for the bargain price of £46. Lack of internal pictures, and my knowledge of these sets meant it was a unknown quantity, but you can imagine my joy when I found out I’d purchased a completely original, untouched example .

Electrical restoration involved changing a considerable amount of crumbling, rubber wiring, which apparently is a common problem with these sets.

Ordinary cardboard, tubular waxies were re-stuffed with modern caps, on sight. I checked two of the multi-sectioned capacitors and found they leaked terribly. I therefore decided to remove, gut and re-stuff all the tubular, aluminium capacitors with modern parts. Two out of the three rectangular, steel cased caps were open circuit, so again I had to gut and re-stuff them. Unfortunately it was considerably more difficult to open up these steel cases, but I got there in the end.

All potentiometers were removed, dismantled, cleaned, lubricated and then replaced. Contacts and switches were cleaned with Servisol. All valves were checked on my 2 panel AVO and were in great shape.

Cosmetically my biggest concern was the opaque looking dial, but I was over the moon when it cleaned up with soapy water and a good polish with Brasso. The pencil scale was made using laminate card.

All bolts and fixings were very rusty, so I soaked them overnight in phosphoric acid and the cleaned them up with a drill and sandpaper. They were then lacquered to prevent rusting. I made a mistake putting the dome nuts (used as control stops) into the acid, as they turned out to be plated brass rather than steel. I therefore had the fun of trying to zinc plate them, using zinc taken from a battery and vinegar as an electrolyte.

Control labels looked awful. I thought they were aluminium, but again they turned out to be plated brass. As I tried to clean them, I broke through the plating and they ended up looking brass rather than silver. The depth of the stamping wasn’t enough either and the black background was often removed as well. My solution was to make up some images and print them onto the reverse of some transparent film. Aluminium tape was then stuck over the print and the replicas were glued onto the original labels. The identification plate was missing so I made a replacement using a similar method.

The front panel was washed, masked and sprayed over with satin black paint. The case was stripped and I did my best to hammer out the numerous dents. It was then spray painted with satin black.

Anyhow, that’s about it. It seems to work really well. Even on a piece of 12” flex, used as an aerial, it pulls in loads of stations. It’s powered and amplified from the homebrew contraption that it’s sitting on. I had a bit of fun making it and I made up some R1155 style labels, for the sake of continuity


Regards
David

[HamishBoxer]

Thats one hell of a transformation,and love that power supply/output stage.

Regards David GM8JET

[dave walsh]

Well, of course, that's excellent David-starting with the e-bay price! You must have benefited from that alarming photo. Did you think the the insides might be worse or missing. What a great outcome. It looks so good. I was expecting more of the story on your PSU/Output stage thread but you have clearly been cracking on at an advanced pace. Mine still sits on the shelf. It was all of £50 but via a private seller who appreciated my interest and didn't want to auction it. It's a bit rough but nothing like the image you have benefited from. Thanks for letting us take a look.
Dave W

[Radio_Dave]

Thanks for the replies and thumbs up.

I believe its poor condition, together with no pictures of the innards and a very uninformative description led to it's cheap price.

I really struggle with making things from scratch, so I'm pleased with the way my PSU/amp turned out. It's only a MDF box with seperate transformers for HT and LT. HT is bridge rectified with a Si diodes and the amplifier is based on a simple LM386 design.

David

[John H.]

Hi Dave,
That restoration is a credit to you. Well done. How did the below chasis
re-wiring go, any pix ? Anyway congrats on this one, cheers, John.

[Radio_Dave]

I was very lucky that most of the single strand wire in the tuning heart was okay, but the wires surrounding and leading into it were in bad shape and therefore replaced.

I've attached some pictures of the underside and a box holding some of the left over bits and pieces

David

[Framer Dave]

A superb restoration, most impressive. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Regards,

[Sideband]

Definately enters you for the Hall Of Fame restoration award!


Well done Dave.


SB

[repairman 1234]

Well done! What an outstanding restoration!! I have a R1155 in storage that is fairly complete and clean, i would love to think of it looking like your superb example one day.

Thanks for sharing this with us.

[XTC]

That's a beautiful job Dave.

Pete.

[JimMac53]

museum quality.

[MichaelR]

Well done Dave, how does the set perform from the reception pointof view, are you pleased ?

Regards
Mike

[Radio_Dave]

Hi Mike,

Yes I'm very pleased with it, in every respect. I was a little worried at first because it sounded distorted, but this turned out be be a problem with my amplifier rather than the receiver.

As I mentioned earlier, I've only used it on a short piece of wire, as an aerial, but the reception is really good, it's certainly far better than any of the domestic sets that I have

[Andy - G8MNM]

Is it really the same one!
It looks fantastic. Well done!
I know you have just restored it but have you come across the following? -
http://r1155.blogspot.com/
I just came across it a short while ago whilst looking for something else.

Andy

[brianc]

That's what I call a real RESTORATION rather than a restoration. It looks fantastic - well done Dave. One question - was there much cleaning to do on the internals? The fact that it was untouched probably meant that the case was never removed. If it was dirty, how did you clean it so immaculately?
Again, a fantastic job. Although I'm a TV man now, I would quite like an R1155 project........
Cheers
Brian

[Radio_Dave]

Originally Posted by andyvandy

I know you have just restored it but have you come across the following? - http://r1155.blogspot.com/ I just came across it a short while ago whilst looking for something else.

Hi Andy, Yes I did find that website and probably every other resource on the internet, about the R1155 Although many of those websites were helpful, especially for photos, the majority of help and advice came from my numerous posts on this forum and I must take the opportunity to thank all those who replied to them

Originally Posted by brianc

One question - was there much cleaning to do on the internals? The fact that it was untouched probably meant that the case was never removed. If it was dirty, how did you clean it so immaculately?

Hi Brian, When I said untouched, I meant no replacement parts or parts missing. There was evidence of re-aligned and bends in the top of the screening cans suggest that the valves had been out on more than one occasion. I did clean the innards, but I didn't want that highly polished look that you often see. Another reason for not 'over cleaning' was that the aluminium capacitors seem to be screen printed over some sort of a painted base? (see photo) and this was easily marked or removed, if not careful.

Regards
David

[brianc]

Originally Posted by Radio_Dave

I did clean the innards, but I didn't want that highly polished look that you often see.

I know exactly what you mean and my question about cleaning it shows that you achieved your aim perfectly - it looks as though it hasn't been touched. Back to my question - how did you clean it without getting that highly polished look with not a scratch to be seen?
Cheers
Brian

[Radio_Dave]

Hi Brian,

Capacitors, valve covers, and any other removable parts were washed in soapy water as and when they were removed. The chassis, as it became visible, was brushed with white spirit and, immediately, wiped clean.... That's about it

David

[Guitarist28]

What a great restoration job.

Truly well done.

Regards

Rob

[brianc]

Originally Posted by Radio_Dave

Capacitors, valve covers, and any other removable parts were washed in soapy water as and when they were removed. The chassis, as it became visible, was brushed with white spirit and, immediately, wiped clean.... That's about it

Hmm. I must get some white spirit, Dave!
Cheers
Brian