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Old 14th Jan 2015, 3:08 pm   #81
MajorWest
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

It's possible to mould knobs using fibreglass. With practice this can be done effectively.
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Old 15th Jan 2015, 3:59 am   #82
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

These type of push-on knobs really needed to be made in nylon, GRP, or ABS. It wasn't just the Soviet sets that made the mistake of using ordinary polystyrene, early Philips portables were notorious for losing knobs.
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Old 15th Jan 2015, 12:14 pm   #83
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

I have repaired broken plastic knobs where the plastic socket that engages the shaft has disintegrated, by gluing the broken bits together, winding plenty of turns of thin steel wire firmly around the plastic socket, and then encasing the wire in Araldite. I use stainless steel dental wire that I picked up many years ago in "Proops" emporium that used to be in London's Tottenham Court Road, but I have seen similar wire sold as binding wire in Yacht chandlers.
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Old 21st Jan 2015, 2:51 pm   #84
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

I think I have found the solution for the knobs. I will use K-8 Japanese knobs fitted on Soviet plastic in-between (don't know how to translate) piece. See pictures. I will cut the flange of the knobs for the volumen and tones knobs, but I will keep the flange for the tunning knob
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Old 2nd Feb 2015, 9:47 pm   #85
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

This are my last advances on the Selena. I solved the problem of the knobs with spindle adapters from old Soviet equipment to fit the K-8 knobs. I hope to assemble the radio this week.
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Old 10th Feb 2015, 11:10 pm   #86
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

This is how the Selena looks like after restore. I have included a picture of how it looked at the beginning.
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 9:04 pm   #87
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

Resuming the work on the Soviet radios.

The next "victim" is my VEF221, which in fact, is a "RITMO" (Cuban copy, under licence of the VEF221). As this is one of the most recent in my little collection, it is in not so bad condition, althought it doesn't work.

I found two main problems on it. The volume and tone controls, have cold junctions; and the pulley in the axis of the variable tunning cap is loosen. That will be the first two issues to solve.
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Old 31st Mar 2015, 12:13 pm   #88
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

"Cold Junction"? Is that a bad solder connection? If it is the usual technical English would be "Dry Joint". Strictly speaking that's for a joint which was never properly wetted by the solder when it was made, but in common use it's any soldered joint which has failed.

"Cold Junction" specifically in technical English is the term for one of the two junctions in a thermocouple pair. The other one is not surprisingly the "Hot Junction". Of course there's confusion possible there too- the reference junction is normally referred to as the cold junction, so it's entirely possible for the hot junction used for measuring the temperature to be colder than the cold junction
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Old 31st Mar 2015, 12:56 pm   #89
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

Don't forget, Miguel is not writing in his native language. His English is perfectly understandable, more so than many of our incumbents.
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Old 31st Mar 2015, 1:08 pm   #90
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Seems the Herald360's post has been deleted. Don't worry, that's one of the reasons why I love this forum. I can improve my English too.

Edit: As you have answered this I've reinstated it to make sense of the conversation.

About the cold junction ("soldadura fría"), I just translated literally, the term that we usually use to refer to that. I know about thermocouples junctions, being myself a metrologist.

In fact I'm not sure that it should be a dry junction, cause what I have seen on most Soviet stuff (and recently on Chinese stuff), it is that the junction between the piece and the solder gets oxidised, and they fail to make electrical contact. I think it should be a chemical reaction between the metals and the flux.
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Old 31st Mar 2015, 1:21 pm   #91
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

All faulty soldered joints are normally described as 'dry joints' in English, regardless of the actual cause. I think 'joint' or 'soldered joint' is the correct translation of 'soldadura', not 'junction'.

The context makes it all perfectly understandable though.
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Old 31st Mar 2015, 1:35 pm   #92
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

Got it Paul. Thanks

Now another picture of the RITMO with the piece that cover the pulley removed, showing the mechanism.
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Old 31st Mar 2015, 3:52 pm   #93
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Miguel, what a splendid job I would be proud to have done that. I can't see from the pictures, what is the VHF coverage?

A trifle OT, please remember English doesn't have rules only reports on current usage.
 
Old 31st Mar 2015, 4:33 pm   #94
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

Quote:
Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell
what is the VHF coverage?
See: http://www.radiopagajiba.lv/VEF/214_317/vef221.htm
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Old 6th Apr 2015, 3:09 pm   #95
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Finally I finished the RITMO. I built a new PSU althought I kept the original transformer. I used a button type bridge rectifier and an LM317 as regulator.

I also included a power cord plug cause as the radios are increasing in number, :bba a power cord for each of them is not available so they "must" share. I inccluded one of those plugs on the VEF206 too.

The RITMO sounds nice, both in MW and SW althought there are just a few stations on the later band an I'm not interested on them. FM is not OK, but Cuban FM is never OK, so I don't mind.

Next one will be the "Siboney", a Cuban copy of the Soviet Spidola 231
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Old 13th Aug 2015, 1:44 pm   #96
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

There is a new piece in my little collection of Soviet radios. In this case a Selena VEGA 215, kindly given to me by forum member Alan Worland and his wife Susanne. In this case, the set does not need restoration as it is "brand new" (or should I say "new old stock"). I just had to re-wire the mains transformer to operate it from 110V mains as it was set for 220V. the radio sounds wonderfully.

Here some pictures of the radio and the growing little collection.
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Last edited by Station X; 13th Aug 2015 at 7:53 pm. Reason: At Miguel's request.
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Old 17th Aug 2015, 3:15 pm   #97
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This weekend I searched hard in my parents' house amd I found the original mains cord of the Selena. I had to make some fixings, as the cable was broken on several parts, and the mains plug was also broken. But I also found a mains plug from the Soviet era with its inscription "Сделано в СССР". See the pictures.
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Old 18th Aug 2015, 9:41 am   #98
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Re post no. 97

Miguel, is the mains plug a typical USA 2 pin type?

By the way, you mention a mains voltage of 110 Volts - what is the mains frequency please?
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Old 18th Aug 2015, 12:09 pm   #99
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

60Hz, same as US. There are also some 220V supplies in hotels and the like, but still 60Hz and US 2-pin socket
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Old 18th Aug 2015, 12:54 pm   #100
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Default Re: Restoring my old Soviet radios

It is as Chris said.

I must add that 220V mains is available for domestic use on request, and you jave to pay for the instalation. In the case of 220V, the mains plug is more complicated, cause althought the regulations state to use the plug that Chris said, Cubans connect 220V with any mains plug available. You can find the US type, but also Russian, Japanese, etc. You can even find a 110V wall plug to supply 220V. This has been the cause of a lot of accidents and burnt devices, and even houses.
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