Pye 808 finished at last.

[vinrads]

The dial was broken when I acquired this radio it needed a full restoration a forum member supplied me with a better dial ie not broken as much and a reaction control ,after replacing most of the usual capacitors and a few resistors the set worked , what to do about the dial ,I was given a companies name that may help me with the dial , I sent off the broken dial they managed to scan it and gave me an estimate of £65 for two not to bad I thought , skip a week an email informed me that due to unforeseen problems it would now cost me £104 inc vat which they didn't mention before , after much deliberation and taking into consideration that a forum member Graham (radiogram ) would buy a dial off me I gave them the go ahead ,I paid the bulk of the cost which was £65 it was either that or the radio was scrap.
I must say I was very pleased with the finished dial when it arrived they had cut the holes ,after I told then not to, but all ok apart from the little boss which holds the tuning indicator disk was a tad to big I overcome this by bushing the boss out with a piece of card and super glued it in place , originally the brass bushes were riveted /crimped to the perspex they had to ground off , same went for the L/S A/E sockets I didn't bother re fitting these I found some rivets that fitted the holes perfectly so they look the part , what a job , I now have the radio running under it's own steam , with a 90 volt pack 10 x pp3's squeezed into a nice plastic case ,and a two volt accumulator which I brought to life and is still going strong .
Was it worth it yes it was , I just need to make a back for it if the chap that I acquired from cannot find it .

[Aub]

Well done. Looks good.

Aub

[Lloyd 1985]

Looks good, the new dial sets it off nicely! I’m sure I have a knob from one of these in the spares box..

Regards
Lloyd

[radiograham]

Originally Posted by vinrads

The dial was broken when I acquired this radio it needed a full restoration a forum member supplied me with a better dial ie not broken as much and a reaction control ,after replacing most of the usual capacitors and a few resistors the set worked , what to do about the dial ,I was given a companies name that may help me with the dial , I sent off the broken dial they managed to scan it and gave me an estimate of £65 for two not to bad I thought , skip a week an email informed me that due to unforeseen problems it would now cost me £104 inc vat which they didn't mention before , after much deliberation and taking into consideration that a forum member Graham (radiogram ) would buy a dial off me I gave them the go ahead ,I paid the bulk of the cost which was £65 it was either that or the radio was scrap.
I must say I was very pleased with the finished dial when it arrived they had cut the holes ,after I told then not to, but all ok apart from the little boss which holds the tuning indicator disk was a tad to big I overcome this by bushing the boss out with a piece of card and super glued it in place , originally the brass bushes were riveted /crimped to the perspex they had to ground off , same went for the L/S A/E sockets I didn't bother re fitting these I found some rivets that fitted the holes perfectly so they look the part , what a job , I now have the radio running under it's own steam , with a 90 volt pack 10 x pp3's squeezed into a nice plastic case ,and a two volt accumulator which I brought to life and is still going strong .
Was it worth it yes it was , I just need to make a back for it if the chap that I acquired from cannot find it .

Looking good,hope mine looks as good.Will need to find the missing bit for the tuning drive,plus could do with the 4 bolts for the front.

[vinrads]

Hi Graham ,I bet they are hiding along with the tuning spindle ,I have noticed no matter how much we try to keep things together parts still get lost, joking aside I think they are two BA similar ones were used for fixing the backs on some Marconi/HMV sets I will have a look to see if I have any at least I have a sample , Mick.

[Restoration73]

A very good outcome - I assume it's printed on perspex. I would recommend Greygate
Plastic Polish DTD770A to remove any scuff marks that seem to be visible.

[vinrads]

Good point ,they seem to show up more on the picture than in normal viewing ,having said that the dial has to be handled quite a lot ,during fitting the brass bushes etc ,I will try the polish I think I have some , Mick.

[McMurdo]

it's a nice complete thing now so if you get pleasure and satisfaction from it, that's money well spent. Hopefully it will still be around long after its present owner has gone, giving pleasure to others.

[vinrads]

Gone where ! David came today to drop the Ekco A22 cabinet off ,I demonstrated the Pye he was suitably impressed . The Ekco cabinet req some work to rebuild the foot on one side my next project .Mick.

[radiograham]

Hi,after many searches in numerous places ie attic cellar two chests of drawers etc i have found the missing parts of the friction dial drive.Just got to find the missing handle and other cabinet bits and pieces.Needless to say it was under my nose all the time. Graham. PS. the pic is the one you posted but the bits i found are identical.

[stevehertz]

First class job as ever Mick!

[vinrads]

Thanks Steve , I tipped the radio on it's side the other day forgetting about the two volt wet cell, I could smell something it was the acid eating the old curtain on the bench ,what an idiot! luckily it didn't cause any damage to the case it ran out through a small hole in the bottom I gave the area a good soaking with WD 40 , seems to be ok ,I now have it powered via two u2's remember them and dropper resistor , it's ok for the few times that I will be playing it . Mick.

[McMurdo]

Gone where !

Oh I'm talking about the next generation thenceforth, I'm not suggesting anyone's impending demise

[vinrads]

Some pictures for Graham as requested, you will need to remove the small nut /spring and tapered spacer, fit the drive together then re fit the parts, good luck . Mick.

[radiograham]

Originally Posted by vinrads

Some pictures for Graham as requested, you will need to remove the small nut /spring and tapered spacer, fit the drive together then re fit the parts, good luck . Mick.

Hi,the photos confirm i fitted the bush for the spindle the right way round.Just need to s/glue this in now and refit the drive.Sussed out removing the speaker to refit the drive. Graham.

[radiograham]

Originally Posted by vinrads

Hi Graham ,I bet they are hiding along with the tuning spindle ,I have noticed no matter how much we try to keep things together parts still get lost, joking aside I think they are two BA similar ones were used for fixing the backs on some Marconi/HMV sets I will have a look to see if I have any at least I have a sample , Mick.

I think i have found the 4 bolts for fixing in the cabinet,the only thing i dont get is the length of them,not long enough to go thru the baffle board they screw into nuts sunk into the wood which is ok but there are circles which show there must have been something on the inside but what i dont remember.I have the drive back together now so that is ok. Graham.

[radiograham]

Originally Posted by radiograham

I think i have found the 4 bolts for fixing in the cabinet,the only thing i dont get is the length of them,not long enough to go thru the baffle board they screw into nuts sunk into the wood which is ok but there are circles which show there must have been something on the inside but what i dont remember.I have the drive back together now so that is ok. Graham.

pics

[vinrads]

Hi Graham it's looking good , I can confirm the screws look correct I have just checked on mine they are 14mm long in total , a couple of pictures showing the screws the one from the front is showing the screw just starting to thread ,the only thing I can think of is there must be something causing the speaker board to stand off a bit .
I noticed you haven't fitted the little brass boss I had to wrap some thin wire round it to get it to fit then super glued it in when you do it you will notice it pulls the dial at an angle this is normal. good luck Mick.

[radiograham]

Originally Posted by vinrads

Hi Graham it's looking good , I can confirm the screws look correct I have just checked on mine they are 14mm long in total , a couple of pictures showing the screws the one from the front is showing the screw just starting to thread ,the only thing I can think of is there must be something causing the speaker board to stand off a bit .
I noticed you haven't fitted the little brass boss I had to wrap some thin wire round it to get it to fit then super glued it in when you do it you will notice it pulls the dial at an angle this is normal. good luck Mick.

Yes it is getting there, I was pretty sure the bolts were right. As I say I seem to remember there was a rubber grommet on inside, you can see it on mine and yours. What this did I cannot remember. I am not going to bother about it. The only thing I cannot find is the handle and mounting plates, might have to try making something as running out of places to look. Having said that I don't think I would have thrown them away. One thing I noticed the knobs are very tight fit, were yours? Graham.

[vinrads]

Regarding the knobs, these are strange they have a square hole with a spring to one side two of mine had no spring, I ended up drilling and tapping to take a 6BA grub screw the one with the spring which was loose had to be packed out with a piece of card.

Mick.