64 Zenith AM clock radio

[Adam]

This model seems to be more unusual that the ones with the clock on one side, dial on the other, and speaker in the center. It's the same model as the first radio I ever had (which I got at a yard sale in the summer of 1986), except that one was a dark brown. I like the light green this one is better anyway. New power supply filter caps was all it needed, the clock worked already.

[dishdude]

Cute!

[Tubejunke]

I think clock radios are the next big ticket item in the tube/vintage radio world. They have too long been overlooked and generally low budget items that are hard to get rid of, so most people aren't going to sink much money in caps and such.

I tell ya. If you take interest in those and can figure out how to rebuild/repair the telechron clock mechanisms you could make a little money. They (the motors) sort of gum up or otherwise degrade over time. Recently I had an old Jewel clock radio (late 40s maybe) and that was the problem. The motor just hummed with no movement. I thought that it was incredible that they were well enough made to stand the electrical stress of a locked rotor over seemingly unlimited amounts of time.

I guess that's why the old clock radios that didn't sit too long basically run forever keeping good time in most cases. Good luck and post if you learn anything about telechron movements.

[jr_tech]

Boil them in oil !
Really, a little hot oil treatment usually does the job:

http://www.siber-sonic.com/appliance/telechron.html

jr

[Captainclock]

I have an old Philco tube powered alarm clock radio that's AM Only and it too has a telechron movement in it, the clock works perfectly but the radio on the other hand seems to have a dead spot between 900-1600 kilocycles that when you move the tuning knob just right the dead spot goes away and functions normally. I figured it might of been due to a cracked solder joint for the tuning capacitor assembly where it attaches to the Printed circuit board but have been unable to confirm that. I also had for a while an old Arvin AM Only Clock Radio from 1952 (that was the date stamped on the chassis anyways) that also had a telechron movement in it, and the clock movement worked perfectly from the start when it was given to me by a friend of mine who owns a local antique store, and all the radio needed to get it going was a new 12AU6 tube it didn't even need a new filter cap or anything (I'm thinking it was a clock radio that saw continuous use over the years which is probably why the original filter cap didn't dry out or anything and why the clock movement still worked) the only thing on the clock that didn't work was the radium paint that was on the hands of the clock dial as the radium paint had lost it luminosity over the years (it was the same way with the hands on the old Philco clock radio.)

The Arvin clock radio I ended up giving to my pastor so that he could have a nice clock radio for his workshop (he's a woodworker and has a woodworking shop that he had a clock in it but the clock gave up the ghost and so I offered him my Arvin Clock radio so he could have a clock in his shop again and also so he could have a radio to listen to in his shop if he wanted to.)

[Marco-nix]

Cute clock/radio Adam !..really nice.