Grundig TK5 found for free

[Refugee]

On the way back from a local takeaway I spotted the tell tail sign of a Grundig speaker grille peeping out of a waste bin in front of the local leisure centre.
I pulled it out and carted it home to find that it is a Grundig TK5 minus one button.
One of the lid hinges pulled out of the ply wood as it was rusted down so it looks like the lid had never been opened before it was chucked in the bin.
I have found a manual but have not gone any further with it.

[vinrads]

Love it a man after my own heart, I am always looking in skips etc, much to my wife's annoyance. It's got to be worth having if only for the magic eye. Mick.

[ben]

Likewise!
Worth saving, change a few caps and add a bit of lubrication and it'll probably work!

[Refugee]

The caps were often pretty good on old German stuff.
I will bet on it needing belts though. I think they go hard and snap on these old German machines so less mess.
My other half goes on about me looking in skips too so we have the same problem but at least The valve stereo made up of two mono blocks from a skip back in the 1980s still goes down well. (psst it goes louder than modern ones).

[John Caswell]

The capacitors on these TK5 will definitely require replacement especially if they are the very dark brown/black Wima types. New belts of course and the record/play relay will need a a good contact clean, plus the various rotary cotrols.

John

[Refugee]

It is old enough to be a candidate for reforming with a rectifier and 100K 2W from my isolating transformer.

[Zelandeth]

In the bin? Really?

Well saved I say!

Couple of caps and most likely a belt And I'd bet that will be up and running in no time.

Reminds me that I really need to get around to replacing the belt on my TK14...

[Refugee]

Yes it was in a street bin outside the local swimming pool that is being converted into a gym.
I have not looked at powering it up yet.

[bobskie]

It's amazing what people throw away, well saved! Hopefully you can get it working again. I am always looking in skips too you just never know what could be in them

[Refugee]

My biggest skip haul was in the early 1980s.
Loads of mono-block valve amplifiers with valves still in them.
I still have four of them.

[stevehertz]

I threw one away exactly the same in my wheelie bin (basically working) a few months ago after removing the valves. A couple of attempts on here to find it a new home home (£5) having got no response. From the enthusiastic responses now, it seems that what is worth saving when got for free is a very different thing to paying a fiver for. Sad but true.

[Refugee]

The trouble is that they are only half track.
It is a bit of a pain if you only have tapes recorded on 4-track.

[stevehertz]

To me, the valves and 'eye' were worth a fiver.

[Refugee]

The eye still looks good in mine.
I will do an assessment as to if it is worth getting it going again as it is nicely built.
One with a BSR deck it sitting in my do do pile with a duff output transformer and stressed output valve to go with that no doubt.

[AC/HL]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

I threw one away exactly the same in my wheelie bin (basically working) a few months ago after removing the valves.

I hope you're being a trifle melodramatic here, a wheelie bin is no place for electronic waste. But it is a fact that FoC is the Forum's favourite price, witness the for sale section. Many of us are happy to give away surplus items, for the postage if not local. In truth it's much easier (and guilt free) than dumping or attempting to sell to a dwindling audience.

[bobskie]

Looking at these pictures again I realise I have the exact same model tucked away in my loft. I have 4 reel to reels up there, I used to use one a lot but ran out of room for it. I remember trying the grundig out it has a nice warm tone but on mine rewinding doesn't work, another project buried so deep in my pile I completely forgot about it.
They do look good with the magic eye all lit up, hopefully you can get yours working I'm tempted to start on mine but I have a few radios to finish first.

[Refugee]

I can make a 1/4 inch master tape for testing on a Phillips that I restored from a slime well. It was in the reel clutches mostly.
I have several other jobs to do in my workshop.
The ceiling needs to be fixed following a roof repair.
There is vintage speakers and all that.
Not too much in the summer because I grow my own veg.

[Welsh Anorak]

To be fair, I'm sure no-one would begrudge paying a fiver for a machine. But they might well object to paying much more than that to a courier to have it delivered!
Glyn (smarting from paying a fiver to send a second class envelope with some vintage POS advertising to a forum member)

[Refugee]

The shipping is a killer.
I will only bother if an arrangement can be made to collect an item.
They are giving free shipping to overseas contracts and hitting the home market hard.

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by AC/HL

I hope you're being a trifle melodramatic here, a wheelie bin is no place for electronic waste. But it is a fact that FoC is the Forum's favourite price, witness the for sale section. Many of us are happy to give away surplus items, for the postage if not local. In truth it's much easier (and guilt free) than dumping or attempting to sell to a dwindling audience.

Wohh.. is this a lecture?! Look, someone could have had the set for the value of the valves which to me were worth a fiver. A fiver is not a lot of money to pay for a working vintage tape recorder. Of course "FoC is the forum's favourite price", who doubts that?! Does everyone give everything away? - no! ??