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Old 5th Jun 2018, 8:33 pm   #1
ukcol
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Default Murphy Disaster

I have just finished work on the chassis of an A372 and managed to drop and smash the case whilst reassembling the set.

I have made a reasonable job of gluing it back together but its not the same of course.
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Old 5th Jun 2018, 10:12 pm   #2
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

Oh no you must be gutted. At least its not a rare set, always a few 362 and 372s on eBay, you’ll hopefully find a suitable doner.

John
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Old 6th Jun 2018, 8:13 am   #3
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

Ouch! Colin you have my sympathy.

I've got this one if you're interested.

PM me for details.
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Old 6th Jun 2018, 8:53 am   #4
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

I am sorry to hear that.

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Old 6th Jun 2018, 9:24 am   #5
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

Sorry to hear this. I feel your pain.
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Old 6th Jun 2018, 11:05 am   #6
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

My commiserations. Reminds me of the time I won a Dynatron Pathfinder TRV14 on eBay. Before I could collect, the vendor dropped and smashed it...
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Old 6th Jun 2018, 11:31 am   #7
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

Ouch!
I remember dropping a pristine example of a Murphy A100, even the mains lead looked new, I was gutted. Luckily Louis Coakley found me another which was almost as good condition.
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Old 6th Jun 2018, 1:15 pm   #8
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

Yes, they usually wait until you've fixed them.
I spent quite a time working on a Ferguson 382u last year, got it working well, polished up and put it on the table to listen to, came back into the room a little later, tripped over the mains lead and pulled it on the floor - smashed to bits
Steve.
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Old 6th Jun 2018, 3:07 pm   #9
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

Thank you for the sympathetic replies everyone.

Thank you for the offer Kentode, I'll PM you later.

Quote:
Originally Posted by music-centre View Post
...... tripped over the mains lead and pulled it on the floor....
My accident was similar Steve. I had the set face down on the front edge of my bench to allow the control shafts to pass unimpeded through the front of the cabinet as I refitted the chassis. The mains lead was draped over the edge of the bench to keep it out of the way. I moved to get a tool and my foot caught the mains lead and pulled the set just enough to tip it over the edge of the bench.

I was particularly upset because it is mainly the cabinet design of this model that I like.
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Old 6th Jun 2018, 3:22 pm   #10
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

I feel for you...

[My worst 'oops' like that was, having finished the alignment of a WWII-era military radio (which had to be placed on its side for access) knocking it over so it landed on its back - causing three of the valve top-caps to hit the bench and break the glass. Some distinctly Anglo-Saxon epithets were uttered.]
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Old 6th Jun 2018, 3:26 pm   #11
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

Been there myself!

Several years ago when I was working at ITN a freelance camera operator heard about my hobby and kindly gave me a bakelite radio for my collection - I can't for the life of me remember what it was nor can I now picture it in my mind - so I took it home, checked it over and polished the cabinet until it was gleaming but before I could take a pic to show him it somehow crashed to the floor and broke!!

Fortunately not long afterwards I found a non worker with a good cabinet on ebay which I duly purchased to make a good one out of the two and my generous colleague never knew the truth when I told him I had sorted out his gift and was very happy with it!!

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Old 6th Jun 2018, 4:59 pm   #12
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

I’ve done that before too, I have an Ekco U29, in a possibly quite rare dark green cabinet, it managed to slide off a seemingly horizontal surface, bounce off the tube face of my Alba 1500 chassis tv, and land on its side on the floor... put some nasty cracks down the sides! I recovered the cabinet bits, and used superglue (not cheapo stuff, proper Loctite) to stick it back together and some fibreglass matting and resin on the inside surface. Superglue makes a good filler for cracks in Bakelite, once fully set then sanded back with fine wet and dry, it polishes up very well. I’ve recovered quite a few cabinets like this now, even 2 round Ekco’s. I prefer this method to using car body filler and then having to paint the cabinet. I’ve got a Murphy SAD94L with a massive crack in it to do next!

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Old 7th Jun 2018, 9:53 am   #13
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alvin View Post
Several years ago when I was working at ITN a freelance camera operator heard about my hobby and kindly gave me a bakelite radio for my collection - I can't for the life of me remember what it was nor can I now picture it in my mind
I now recall it was a Philco but I can't remember which model.

The same misfortune happened with a little HMV1410G hybrid portable which toppled off the top of a tall filing cabinet smashing the dial.That was around 10 years ago and I finally found a suitably wrecked donor set with a good dial last month - all good things come to those who wait!!

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Old 7th Jun 2018, 10:57 am   #14
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

My sincere commiserations.
I have not managed to break many cabinets myself, I’ve been very lucky.... so far. but unbelievably I have broken the Murphy set like yours without FM. Fortunately got another at Golborne.
That’s life!
Peter.
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Old 7th Jun 2018, 11:12 am   #15
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

I feel your pain. I had a similar mishap with an Akai 4000DS reel-to reel that had the rare perspex dust cover. I spent ages cleaning and polishing the cover, and then placed it on the settee whilst I attended to something else around the house. These covers aren't too easy to see when placed on a black leather settee, why oh why didn't I put it back on the machine, you can guess what happened next, they don't make good cushions. Split it into several places boy was I mad with myself that day!
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Old 7th Jun 2018, 7:52 pm   #16
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

A few years back I was upstairs in my radio shack (the "Wendy House") in the shed when I turned to come back down through the trap door, missed the top rung on the ladder and fell sideways about three metres onto my motorbike smashing the perspex screen and then onto a forties bakelite radio smashing the case on that too. The annoyance masked the pain of the fall as both items were cherished. My wife looked in and saw what had happened and merely asked what all the noise was, as I picked myself off the floor amid broken bits and pieces. I am a little more careful now. I have learned my lesson.
Alan.
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Old 7th Jun 2018, 8:17 pm   #17
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

I did the same with a small Bakelite Baird VHF/MW radio. I had got it working but got my leg tangled in the mains lead pulling it off the table and breaking into several bits.

Look on the bright side, you could fill the cracks and spray paint the cabinet a completely unique and peculiar colour to mask the cracks

Christopher Capener
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Old 7th Jun 2018, 8:58 pm   #18
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

I was an apprentice back in the late fifties, and in addition to all the other tasks in the workshop I had to make sure that all the repaired sets, tv and radio, were polished and looking their best. I had no problem with the wooden cabinets, but not so with the Bakelite ones, so one day I found a bottle of fluid, carbontetrochloride, I decided to give this a try. At first it looked promising but to my utter dismay the cabinet became a gooey mess.
I was given a severe telling off by the boss, who was a very understanding man, a new cabinet was ordered (you could in those days) and that was that.
Cheers
John
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Old 14th Jun 2018, 8:26 pm   #19
ukcol
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

After I had repaired the cabinet i found that I had managed to lose one of the knobs.

I have finally found it and took some pictures. The worst of the damage is on the bottom where it won't be seen. The left hand side isn't too bad and I may be able to improve on it when I can summon up the enthusiasm.

There is also a crack in the front near the bottom left hand corner but fortunately it hardly shows, it extends between the 2 arrow heads in the picture.

BTW

The nominal coverage on VHF for this set is 87.5 to 100 MHz but it will tune Classic FM on 101.1 MHz without disturbing the alignment.
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Last edited by ukcol; 14th Jun 2018 at 8:36 pm. Reason: Added a BTW
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Old 15th Jun 2018, 10:27 am   #20
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Default Re: Murphy Disaster

Well done Colin, that looks really nice! It was fortunate that the perspex scale wasn't damaged or even worse the fragile pointer.

Thanks for mentioning that Classic fm will be able to squeeze in. Does that affect the accuracy of the other end of the scale?
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Last edited by Kentode; 15th Jun 2018 at 10:30 am. Reason: Pointer picture added.
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