Bob -

Is there a black cap hiding underneath that tuner? If so, what value is it?

You mean the thing in the center of the photo where the drum is taken out ? That's a coil of wire encased in some black goo.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6019/...a59fc65a_z.jpg

Possibly an RF choke on a B+ or heater feed through?

Yes, I think that is the heater choke. The is also one on the B+ somewhere in there.

That reminds me of a T shirt the girlfriend of one of the members of our college ham radio club had made up. Seems she thought that her ham boyfriend was not paying her enough attention, and that he was spending too much time on the ham radio. Working the transmitter knobs "Tune" and "Load"... So she wore this next time she met him ;-)
http://www.wa2ise.com/radios/tuneload.gif

:lmao: Yeah, if a gal ever tries to get my attention in that "creative" of a manner she will have and retain my attention indefinitly....That fellow is both dense, and lucky to have his girl that despret for attention and not have gotten dumped.

The cabinet is pretty scratched up - especially on top. Bad enough that I decided to do some wet sanding.

I used some 400 on the worst areas, then worked through 600, 1000, 1500 and 2000 grits. That got all but the deepest scratches out.

Then I buffed it with some Novus #2. I still need to clean out grooves, but otherwise it's looking good I think.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6096/...7a213918_z.jpg http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6093/...950b784e_z.jpg http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6111/...02edaa49_z.jpg http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6112/...fc4e3ccf_z.jpg

I hope I can get the scratches out of the faceplate too.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6056/...aff91401_z.jpg

Bob,

I have two faceplates for my Admiral 26R12. Both have a few scratches. But when I look at them with bright light shining through, it appears that the clear plastic is not completely clear. Both have a little bit of a cloudy swirl in them. Mind you, not much but if you look carefully, it is there. It is not bad mind you and the plastic cleaned up nicely.

Would you mind scrutinizing yours as well and see if the clear plastic is what we may call, "Crystal Clear" please?

It seems pretty clear to me. Also, here's the plastic in the 16R12 I've started working on. It's clear as well. Mind you I haven't cleaned it yet and it's quite dirty.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6222/...aae2d557_z.jpg

Here's the cabinet after some more buffing and Meguirs tech wax. Seems to me it made it more cloudy than shiny.
Other guys swear by Magnolia Glayzit so I'll give that a try although I've had bad results in the past.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6232/...16d95e82_z.jpg

Bob,

Look through it in a bright light please. I think that yours looks similar to mine. Yes, both of our faceplates are the same. Mine kinda looks like it was cleaned but not very good. Something like it is smeared.

Ever clean the windshield on your car when it was sitting in the sun? No matter how hard you try, it comes out smeary. Maybe I am being over critical but just a question. Quite frankly, it is probably the way it is supposed to be! In the late 40s early 50s, plastic was still relatively new. Thanks for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it.

I think the cabinet looks great. Of course once you sand it, it seems you never get the original depth of finish back. Then again it's better than looking at deep scratches.

Now I'm curious how you're going to clean out those grooves. I would not be looking forward to that step. :no: :D

I have used Novus Plastic Polish #2 on all sorts of plastic screen covers and radio dial covers. Makes 'em nice and clear.

Phil Nelson

I've had pretty good luck with sanding brown bakelite, but this black stuff seems less forgiving.

Cleaning out those grooves isn't as bad as the honeycomb on a 19A11 cabinet. I can get most of it out by running a thumbnail wrapped in a thin rag. I get any remaining crud out with toothpicks.

I've had good luck with Novus #2 on these old plastic screens too.

Bob,

It sure looks good. I am with you, have to cringe when you start working on Bakelite wondering if it will ultimately shine up. There was a "shiny" surface on the stuff when it was new. You hate to break the shine. But you hate scratches as well. I have a 26R12 with a very nice cabinet. But it has a large scratch on the top. I have been reluctant to work on the scratch. You have inspired me, Thanks!

Have not tried this, but I'm wondering if a few deep scratches could be filled in with several coats of clear or toned lacquer using a small brush. Then level with 600 and finer papers. At least the lacquer can be wiped off with lacquer thinner if it looks bad. I suppose an alkyd varnish would also work and require less build up.

If it's just one or two scratches, I wouldn't advise sanding. I've only sanded sun blasted, scuffed, and very scratched cabinets.

My before photos on this cabinet really don't show the full extend of the scratches. There were dozens.

I was very hesitant to ever try it too, but I read numerous other restoration threads where others swore it works great.

Here are some example of others cabinets I've sanded. The first one I ever tried was this damaged and faded Motorola 9T1. I figured I didn't have anything to lose.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2792/...6020685ab2.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1371/...c8a9f9bbfa.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4100/...89a126a32f.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/...b2981d35f5.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/...0d6c908347.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4116/...8ba20f8ff7.jpg


I've been wondering about that too. I've seen plenty of examples where cracks and voids were filled in with epoxy or super glue and sanded, but then primed and painted. Never read about attempts to retain the original bakelite look.

I guess I'll give it a go on this cabinet :(
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4009/...10cafd8254.jpg

Some people have tried mixing ground-up Bakelite with adhesive. Here's one discussion at ARF:

http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/...p?f=7&t=168408

Regarding Glayzit, I bought some and tried it a couple of times. Not impressed.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

Interesting. Beyond me why he went to 2,000 grit and buffed out with Mothers Mag Wheel polish, just to spray primer on. I would think primer would stick to rough bakelite a lot better.

I agree about Glayzit. When I mentioned my poor results with it on ARF, several members rushed to defend it so I though I'd give it another try.

Here are the listed ingredients. Seems to me it's just mineral oil, wax and some propellants.

Heptane
Hydrotreated Light Petroleum
Water
Mineral Oil
Propane
N-butane

I have both the brown and black cabinet for this tv. The brown one is scratched on top but is original to the chassis. I'm wondering which color would be more desired? I'm thinking the black knobs went on both colors?

Cool! Do you have the chassis for both of them too ? I'd never seen the black model until I got mine a couple months ago. Yours is the 4th I've seen since then so now I'm not sure which is rarer.

Brown knobs go with the brown cabinet. They're much more common than the black knobs if you need some.

Anyone know if there are any differences between the 20X1 and 20Z1 chassis, other than the control locations?

The 20X1, 20Y1 and 20Z1 chassis are pretty much identical. Sams lumps the all together in the same folder.

I've pretty much finished buffing out the cabinet. The grooves were actually pretty easy to clean out.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6103/...fb64660ffe.jpg http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6050/...d60fd69896.jpg

Here's a closeup of an area that was sanded and one that was just polished.
I wonder if something like black shoe polish would help any :scratch2:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6222/...554c21ba71.jpg http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6235/...54242b33aa.jpg

It looks very nice as is.

Personally I sort of like a duller satin look on Bakelite, especially after dust settles on it, because there's always dust around here. :D

Yeah, I know what you mean ;) That's another reason I don't like using oils or waxes on bakelite - the dust sticks to it.

I cleaned up the brass outer knobs with Brasso followed by Simichrome.
I let the inner knobs soak in some diluted 409 then buffed with Novus #2.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7158/6...de0ee9f4_z.jpg http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6213/6...d2c2d68a_z.jpg

The power cord is all brittle and cracking. Luckily, I have some NOS replacements.
I carefully removed the old cord while preserving the rivets.
I read that it was possible to soften the replacements in hot water and mush them over the old brass rivets.
It actually worked :D
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7027/6...03500ea6_z.jpg http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6231/6...49656238_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7173/6...a2180713_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6...da0fe11b_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6...645d8262_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6...83fe8cfb_z.jpg

next, I replaced the old crumbly faceplate foam with some closed cell insulation held on by contact cement.
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6101/6...048659f6_z.jpg http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6037/6...21ca3fdd_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6...6d30bc9d_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6...553837a5_z.jpg

And so another project comes to an end :)

I must say that's some mighty fine TV restoration work there. :yes:

Does that semi chrome keep the brass from tarnishing for a reasonable time, or do you end up clear coating with lacquer?

Thanks. The Simichrome can claims it will prevent tarnish from returning. I suppose the longest I've had bare brass treated with Simichrome is 2 years and it looks OK. I have coated some knobs with Mohawk lacquer formulated for brass and they look like new after a couple years too. Time will tell.

Bob, as usual, that set looks and functions super. Good Job! and thanks for the tip on how to replace the cheater cord. I don't have those rivets either so I had to resort to something not as pretty. You can bet I will try your trick for sure!

Just curious - where did you find those cheater cords? It's not like you can go to Wal Mart and buy em.:scratch2:

Thanks! I have to give credit for the hot water tip to Tom Albrecht This is the first time I've tried it and it worked even better than I expected :)

I got lucky on eBay last year. I think I paid $4 each for a few Belden cords from a seller that had dozens. I also scored a 20 assortment pack.

Maybe try setting up a search on eBay for "cheater cords" with email alerts. I'm sure some will pop up eventually.

Another excellent restoration project Bob, I've been following this one on You Tube as well... You must be seeing Admiral TV's behind your eyelids by now when you close them!:D
Out of curiosity how big are these sets dimension wise? I'm guessing they're quite compact going by the pictures...
Great stuff anyway, I always enjoy your posts/videos. :yes:
Cheers Glen

Thanks. Yeah, I've pretty much memorized the schematic by now. It's nice to have a couple of the same chassis for comparison.
It is pretty small as vintage TVs go - about 18" deep, 15" tall and 14" wide.

Excellent work! Your set seems to have just left the factory:thmbsp:

Hey Bob - I've been working on my Admiral tuner and I noticed in your vid "Admiral 20x11 restoration part 4 of 5", it doesn't appear that you put parts M!05 and M113 back on (the clip and the washer) at12:09 in the vid. I do see you remove them (at least the washer) in 10:48. Am I missing something? I was trying to figure out how mine went back in. :scratch2:

I think I forgot to put them back on when I recorded the video, but I did later. I could take some photos if that would help.

I'm thinking the spring wire went on first, then the washer, then the rotor contact plate, then the rotor assembly. But a picture would be good.

You got it :yes:

http://www.bobandersen.com/images/ad...0X11_tuner.jpg

Yeah - mine is correct :thmbsp: Hate to have to pull that out again. I changed out all the resistors except one Sunday and reinstalled it. Still get multiple images though. I'll figure it out. That's part of the fun and the "why I do this" .

I just picked up this little Regency antenna booster. I'm surprised how well it matches the styling of the Admiral TV.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7190/6...656e97d9_z.jpg

Set Looks Great! Where did you get the insulation foam? I can think of a few places I could use it. Is it fairly soft?