Admiral 20X122 restoration project

[bandersen]

Here's a little update on the inside of this set.

I've finished re-stuffing the capacitors. My aluminum seams were a little sloppy on the base so I used some JB Weld for filler. I'll file it down and paint silver.



The flyback test good, but 'sings' a little. I'm not sure if that's normal while testing or maybe the HV cap is leaky?



The power transformer seems to be good too.



Finally, I decided to do something about that dirty, rusty chassis. I used Naval Jelly, Q-tips. steel wool, 600 grit sandpaper and WD40.
Be very careful when using steel wool to not get any bits into the electronics!



Any suggestions on keeping that rust from coming back? Some guys paint their radio chassis with lacquer. Does that make sense here?

[7"estatdef]

If you want to be a copycat I did mine in grey hammertone.

http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=67156
Terry

[zenithfan1]

Clear satin enamel works too, seals it up and is not too shiny. Krylon makes a good one that sprays on really nice and smooth. Looking great Bob! Nice work on the caps too.

[Phil Nelson]

After the Naval Jelly, etc., treatment, I doubt the rust will come back any time soon, if you keep it in a dry place. Using the set from time to time will warm it and keep things dried out, too.

About 10 years ago, I used Naval Jelly to remove rust from scuffs & bleeding pinholes on the painted faceplate of my Hallicrafters SX-42. No signs of rust reappearing. The radio spends most of its time in our indoor storeroom, the proverbial cool, dry place.

If you decide to paint it, I'd make sure the cleaned metal is clean, clean, clean, as in rinsed with lacquer thinner, denatured alchohol, or suchlike. A thin coat of primer before the paint is a good idea, too.

Re Bakelite, I don't think polishes will penetrate it. I have used harsh stripper to remove factory paint from Bakelite, and it didn't penetrate (or damage) the original surface a bit. In a couple of cases, the stripped Bakelite looked so great that I left it bare rather than repaint in the original color.

If you like the look of the wax, that's not a bad solution. It may hold up for quite a while, although it's a semi-permanent coating, like polishes. People who are really hooked on giving Bakelite a deep, glossy luster have applied multiple coats of hand-rubbed lacquer, just as with a wooden cabinet. I don't go for that because Bakelite things were bare when they left the factory, not coated with polish, lacquer, or anything else. My NIB Radio Receptor UHF converter has an original Bakelite finish that shines like the sun, and it is bare.

Nice job on this set, by the way.

Phil

[bandersen]

Thanks for the compliments!

Phil, that's good to hear regarding the rust not reappearing. I'm not crazy about painting it if I don't really need to. I'll think I'll leave it bare for now and keep an eye on it.

I've been buffing out the bakelite periodically for the last few days and it's looking really good so far. Time will tell.

[zenithfan1]

I've also used a little 3-in-one oil on small rusty areas that may rust again. Stops it dead. Once metal rusts in one spot, that's where it will come back, it's like cancer for metal. But like you guys said, keep an eye on it and see. I don't like painting whole chassis either. Good luck on a real beauty Bob

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by 7"estatdef

If you want to be a copycat I did mine in grey hammertone.

http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=67156
Terry

Nice job Terry!

I'm going to hold off on painting this chassis for now. I did do a little looking around for some hammertone paint over the weekend though and couldn't find any.

Where did you get yours?

[Tube TV]

Bob , the chassis looks great .
I don't think you will have a problem with the rust returning .
I had a radio chassis that had rust .
After it was cleaned down I put a light coat of turtle wax on it , and it still looks good .
About 10 years later ...

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by Tube TV

Bob , the chassis looks great .
I don't think you will have a problem with the rust returning .
I had a radio chassis that had rust .
After it was cleaned down I put a light coat of turtle wax on it , and it still looks good .
About 10 years later ...

Thanks, perhaps I'll give that a try.

I've spent a lot of time lurking in the antique radio forums. Those guys go to great lengths sometimes like replating a chassis with cadmium.

Seems to me that every TV chassis I've come across has been bare steel or maybe zinc plated.

[7"estatdef]

TNX! That was about 6 months of working on that set a little at a time. It was working great for a year or so then it developed a vertical sycn problem that turn out to be a .01 mica in the output of the seperater. For some reason it only liked a mica cap there. That was another headscrater that took me awhite to figure out. I think I got the paint at Lowe's of Home Depot. I didn't have much of a choice not to paint as it was really rusty.
Terry

[zenithfan1]

Damn Terry! Great job! I love to see 'em come back from the dead like that!

[7"estatdef]

Back in the 70's I picked up the table model of that set at a hamfest for .50c Someone had done alot work to as just about all the caps where replaced and some resistor. But the set wasn't working. The horiz osc coil had gotten twisted and the leads where broken off the coil. With some fine wire and a glass I was able to get it back together and working. Used it till the mid 80's and traded it off for some. When I saw the consolette just waiting for the trashman to come and get her I just could let that happen. So into the backseat of my little Escort it went.
Terry

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by 7"estatdef

TNX! That was about 6 months of working on that set a little at a time. It was working great for a year or so then it developed a vertical sycn problem that turn out to be a .01 mica in the output of the seperater. For some reason it only liked a mica cap there. That was another headscrater that took me awhite to figure out. I think I got the paint at Lowe's of Home Depot. I didn't have much of a choice not to paint as it was really rusty.
Terry

Hi Terry,

Maybe you can help me avoid the same issue.
Do you recall which cap that was - C315, C402 or C??? in this schematic?

Thanks!
Bob

[7"estatdef]

The early 20A1 is a little different. It uses a 6AU6 Sync Sep .The later version of the 20A1 is like yours. It was the .01 on the plate of the 6AU6.
Terry

[bandersen]

I've finally got a set of the four outer metal cover knobs, but they look pretty crappy. The brass is worn off pretty badly exposing the underlying base metal.

I picked up a Caswell brush plating kit a while ago, but didn't get very good results. My pieces came out looking too dark and coppery.
That antenna is proper brass. The drawer pull and knob are my earlier attempts.



I decided to give it one more try before giving up. So I did some homework and altered my technique. It turns out it's supposed to look crappy right after plating. You need to really buff it out. I think I had been plating it much to heavily.

Here's my new technique.

1. Really, really clean the piece to be plated using Soft-Scrub, Brasso whatever it takes to get the base metal clean and shiny.

2. Stroke the item to be plated about 30 times with slow even strokes. Rotate a bit with each stroke with each stroke covering about 1/5 of the knob. Move the negative alligator clip occasionally.

3. Rinse with clean water and immediately buff out with Brasso.

4. ??? I haven't tried this yet, but my plan is to buff with my Dremel and coat with high gloss lacquer. I'll let you know how it goes.



Here's a pic of before cleaning, after cleaning just prior to plating and the final finish.



Here's a pic of a knob after plating but before buffing.



Finally, here's a pic of all four replated knobs