Another old newbe!

[Tommyd]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum today.
I'll post a couple of pictures of my latest and just completed project.
It's a Magnavox Windsor, 1948 we think. It is now totally restored and I listen to it almost everyday. I'm sorry my before pictures are not very good. It was a mess and I didn't think it could be brought back. It looks new now. No, I didn't do the work, a retired EE here locally did it for me and he farmed out the cabinet work.
The lamp was a gift to me from a friend's estate.
The telephone number is BR549, for anyone wanting to call that phone.

I have another Magnavox, 1949 I think, that I will restore next as soon as my piggy bank is full again. That cabinet is showroom new. It did not come with the FM receiver which was an option in those days as I understand it. That is a model CR192. The specs say there was an, “A” and a, “B.” I need the A if I can find one but would take either as I understand it is a dial thing. Mine will mount above the Broadcast and Shortwave receiver.

Thanks for this forum, I have now spent about 5 joyous hours on it and I must get on to other things. I'll be back soon.

[Electronic M]

Welcome!

I have a similar Maggie (same tuner chassis with FM), but it has a smaller plainer cabinet. Someone installed a 60's VM changer in mine. The 4 PPP 6V6 audio output tubes and 2 12" speakers in mine can really rock the house...Even with the original caps....It wasn't run long that way. It is currently buried in the garage waiting it's turn on my bench for a full recap.

[Tommyd]

Hi Tom C.

Mine actually has only 1=12 inch speaker. But there is a bank of 4-4 inch speakers above the one that is visible in the picture I posted. Later I'll try to get better pictures of this one and the one that is coming up.

There is a place near here, south bay SF, where the guy has like 100 or more vintage radios. When I get time I intend to look through his, "stuff," to see if I can find the FM tuner I am looking for. I was mistaken in my description of the, "A" and "B" models. It is a mounting issue, mounts above or below.

Would love to see yours, got as picture?

What I'm looking for is an FM modulator, model CS192.

[Tommyd]

I think I found the Magnavox FM modulator, model CS192 that I have been looking for. I found a whole radio Model #152b. I told the guy I want it, now the only question is can my brother get there in time before someone else does. Very good buy. When I have it in my hands I'll share more.

[Tommyd]

I finally got my new-old Maggi. I got this one on CL for $70. It was up in Oregon and I am bay area California. My brother gathered it up for me and we met half way yesterday to exchange toys. I bought this one totally for parts. I will move the FM Modulator out of this one and put it in my other Magnavox which is waiting to be recapped. As you can see from the pictures it is identical except it doesn't have the FM Tuner Modulator option installed. Also, it has a near showroom perfect original finish to the cabinet.

My only question now is should I attempt to repaint the face plate to match the gray of my original? When I remove the blank cover I can take it down and compare it to rattle cans to see how close I can come. My thoughts are it will look better if it is the same color as the other face plate. I think that would be true even if the grays don't match exactly but are pretty close. I welcome comments.

Also, I paid to have my Windsor recapped and aligned. I like the guy and his work a lot but I question if I should try to recap this one myself? I have no tools to align it with but I certainly can solder in new capacitors. Again, I welcome any comments anyone might have about this.

Thanks...

Tom

[Electronic M]

Here is my Maggie.

I really need to dig mine out of the garage, recap and display it...

If you can make the paint job look right and not ruin the control labels, then there is no harm in it. An alternate option would be to swap the face plates of the AM tuners so the whole thing is copper....Your call.

[Tommyd]

I was lucky enough to find this record changer, I actually have two of them. One is in the Windsor I already restored and this one will go in the one I am about to restore. I have two newer, not very high quality, record changers I swapped out to replace with these.
Your Magnavox uses the same physical configuration as my Windsor, in that the FM Tuner is below the main AM/Shortwave receiver/amplifier. I notice that in both your Magnavox and my Windsor the FM modulator bezel is a slightly different shade of brown from the main tuner/amplifier. I also note that in the case of my Windsor the backing plate is larger than the bezel but in case of the model 152B which I will be restoring, the bezel occupies almost 100% of the opening. I can see just the very slightest edge of the backing plate.
I'll get it apart these days as I have time and see but I am wondering if I will be required to cut that backing plate in order to install the FM Modulator, or if there is something already punched out below the blank cover.
I'll post pictures as I get it apart.

Yes, restore that Maggie. They sing really really well. I listen to the Windsor almost everyday.

[Reece]

When looking to match with spray paints, besides looking at paint stores and home centers, try auto parts stores too. Could be some car color is what you're looking for.

[Tommyd]

Thanks Reese,

From the photos I have attached here you can see my initial paint attempts. That's just a first coat and although it does not match perfectly, it will look a lot better than the copper. Also, it is not a real tough job to remove that FM modulator and repaint that front panel. All I have to do is unplug two wires, remove two screws that hold the FM in the cabinet, remove two more screws and the knobs and it comes right off.

This is my first recapping. Previously I had trained technicians do it for me. It has been a learning experience. The biggest challenge for me was finding the right parts, that and the schematics matching perfectly the radio I am actually working on. The kind of manufacturing that produced these radios is really a representation of something that is truly hand made. Individuals choose those various capacitors and hand placed them into the chassis and hand soldered them in place. Thus, just because the schematic says it is a mica capacitor, don't be surprised to find a paper capacitor in that space instead. On a given day as a result of inventory or others factors, someone may have chosen the substation or maybe they simply got it wrong. I found that kind of mistake 3 times in the FM modulator.

The following is a step by step of what I went through to get where I am now. I'll write it here for others who are not trained technicians but want to try this. I can say that if you have a basic understanding of electricity you can do this. It doesn't take very expensive bench equipment to get it done. That assumes there was nothing basically wrong with your radio before you started out, other than the old capacitors.

I took on the Broadcast/AM/Shortwave amplifier first. That is a Magnavox CR-197 chassis. That parts list is fairly accurate and I was able to obtain most of the correct parts the first time out. However it took me several days to recap the thing and with every interruption I lost my place. Before I heated it up I took half an hour and just looked. I inspected every solder joint and found 4 that I re-soldered, 3 of which I had never soldered originally. That's because I always waited to solder the ground lugs in case I needed to use them with another capacitor. I discovered that finding good ground lugs in the vicinity of the new capacitor physical footprint, was often a valuable commodity.

After having corrected those mistakes I turned it on and I was thrilled it didn't smoke. But it didn't play either. It popped and spit a lot, so it made sound, but no radio reception. On the recommendations of a technician I know I used a small glass rod I have that is a pointer of sorts and gently began to tap the tubes. I had cheeked all the tubes and I thought they were all good but both of the 6V6GTs and the 6SN7 produced an audible sound through the speaker when I gently tapped them. I know all three of them aren't bad but since I had duplicates of all three I simply replaced them all, with more good used ones. The noise went away and the amplifier sprang to life, I had good clean sound out of the phono selection, but still no radio.

I then used that same tapper and went underneath and gently tapped each of the capacitors I had installed while the radio was on. What I was looking for was a cold solder joint hoping that the vibration would reveal any for me. But what I found was a .001 Mf disk capacitor that sent an audible sound through the amplifier every time I touched it. I had no idea a capacitor could do that and I assumed it shouldn't. I replaced it and the Shortwave began to work too.

I listened to Radio Cuba however I have no idea what they were saying, and so then I listened to a radio preacher who believes that Hillary has lied. Louisianan I think. That came through loud and strong. I was encouraged. I was happy it was working but I questioned the accuracy of the information it gave me. My brother reminded me that Hillary is a lawyer and as such probably has lied. I can't find an accuracy setting so I'll accept that explanation for the time being.



I then began to check all of the values of the capacitors that I had installed against what the schematic said should be there. And I found where I had installed a .01 Mf. Instead of a .1 Mf called for in the circuit and I had also miss-installed two capacitors, swapping the one for the other. When I made those corrections it opened up the signal path and the AM now sprang to life.

When the thing didn't work from the get go I assumed I had done something wrong. When I bought the radio the guy told me it had been in one household since bought new, although the old woman that owned it had not been able to listen to it for years. He said that he turned it on when he first saw it and was able to hear a radio station in the distance, not loud. From his statement, and he had no reason to lie to me, I assumed that the radio was basically alright, just bad caps. If yours doesn't work from the start after you have recapped it, you cannot assume it was OK before you started unless you have some credible information to suggest it worked well when last turned off. That said, the first thing I would do in any event is go back and check everything that was just done. It is incredibly easy to make a mistake.

From the attached pictures you can see that mine is still very much a work in progress, but it is working. I carefully recapped the FM and although I found some discrepancies in the capacitor types and locations, (see my note above), it worked from the get go right off the bench. The analog pointer is not perfectly matched to the frequency, but it is so close I don't think I am going to try to correct that just now. I don't think that it needs to be realigned, all stations seem to come in OK.

I will note that I broke down and bought a capacitor checker so I could verify values before I began working on the FM, it is a Magnavox model 192B chassis. That tool would have saved me a lot of grief with the Shortwave/Broadcast amplifier. I saw them as cheap as $29, I paid $59 for the one I bought.

I was unable to obtain any new 6U5 tuning eyes. They are as scarce as hen's teeth. But I did find someone who has a stash of a few new 1629 tuning eyes. The 6U5 is a 6 pin base with a filament voltage of 6 volts AC. The 1629 is an 8 pin octal base with a 12 volt filament voltage. Since the input voltage is AC it can be doubled to very near 12 volts DC, with a very simple circuit. There are examples of that circuit here: http://www.nostalgiaair.org/Referenc...sh/Flash04.htm
and here: http://www.antiqueradios.com/chrs/journal/eyetube.html. The diagram on the bottom of the CHRS website is the easiest to follow I think.

The adapter I made for the Shortwave/Broadcast works fine, but you can see I will have to re-manufacture the one I made for the FM as the wire is too short to go back that far. I'll make the new one at a 90.

So that's where I'm at. I'd love to hear stories from others about your recapping ordeals and feel free to ask me anything.

Have a great day

Tom

[tvtimeisfun]

Hi welcome you have very good taste in hifi I have five Maggie's. I have not great skills to post pix I wish you a great time on this site.. Timothy

[AlTinkster92]

Beautiful radio! Congrats! Al

[tvtimeisfun]

Bueatiful Maggie's I have a recapped Windsor chassis and a regancy with the manuals and 3 magnificent Magnavox consoles and a recapped chairside Maggie what great units to have I trade tvs for these monsters... Timothy

[Tommyd]

Thanks Timothy/

Pictures! We want pictures.

I have trouble now deciding which one to listen to.
The small Maggie sometimes doesn't seem as clear to me as the Windsor. Both are awesome it's a frequency lock thing with the FM Modulator. Sometimes it sounds, "fuzzy." But it is tax season and so I am preoccupied until after the new year.

Tom

Originally Posted by tvtimeisfun

Bueatiful Maggie's I have a recapped Windsor chassis and a regancy with the manuals and 3 magnificent Magnavox consoles and a recapped chairside Maggie what great units to have I trade tvs for these monsters... Timothy