Westinghouse Columnette Model WR-10

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by vortalexfan

Did this radio have the curtain burner cord on it?

Those were only on early AC-DC transformerless sets. They hadn't found a way to make all the heaters drop all the line voltage yet so they put a 3rd conductor made of resistance wire in the cord...Most of those were not really as bad as urban ledgend.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Those were only on early AC-DC transformerless sets. They hadn't found a way to make all the heaters drop all the line voltage yet so they put a 3rd conductor made of resistance wire in the cord...Most of those were not really as bad as urban ledgend.

OK so it would be safe to leave the original cord intact on the radio then?

Also I've already got 3 of the 8 capacitors capacitors replaced on the radio.

there's one capacitor in the radio that is hidden behind one of the IF Cans that the only way to get to that capacitor is to remove the IF Can and get to the capacitor then, how hard is it to remove the IF Cans in this radio?

[Electronic M]

If the cord looks fine it probably is fine... Always visually inspect if the insulation is damaged or it is excessively inflexible replacement is advisable.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

If the cord looks fine it probably is fine... Always visually inspect if the insulation is damaged or it is excessively inflexible replacement is advisable.

The cord only has a couple of spots where the outer insulation is worn through but the inner insulation is intact yet. The cord is still pretty flexible yet.

[vortalexfan]

OK so I replaced some of the paper caps in this radio and cleaned up the rust on the chassis and put the tubes back into on this radio and went to power it on to test it out and I'm getting no power, the tubes aren't lighting or anything.

Any suggestions as to what to look for next?

[Electronic M]

Check cord, power switch and power trans for continuity...something is open.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Check cord, power switch and power trans for continuity...something is open.

Ok I'll check those.

[vortalexfan]

OK so I figured out that the original cloth cord had an open somewhere in it on the neutral side so I swapped it out temporarily with a modern cord (planning on getting a replacement cloth cord to install on this radio when I get the chance) and it powered right up, with all of the tubes glowing nice and bright and hot.

The only thing is is that there was no audio except for some crackling noises from the volume control when you turned it up and down and tapped on the anode cap of one of the tubes.

Although the good news is that it seems the power supply caps are still good as there was no 60 Hz hum coming out of the speaker!

[vortalexfan]

OK so a little update, I figured out why I wasn't getting any audio, it was because I accidentally got two of the tubes put in the wrong sockets, I put the tubes back into their proper socket and it came to life and it works perfectly!

[bgadow]

Good job! Another one lives!

Neat trick for a cloth cord: find a long, thick brown shoe lace. Cut off the ends, they are hollow like a sock. You can then cover a new cord and it will look like an old cloth-covered cord.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by bgadow

Good job! Another one lives!

Neat trick for a cloth cord: find a long, thick brown shoe lace. Cut off the ends, they are hollow like a sock. You can then cover a new cord and it will look like an old cloth-covered cord.

I actually found a website called Merry Tunes which sells all sorts of antique radio restoration parts including cloth cord, tubes capacitors and more and their stuff is reasonably priced as well.

I ordered 8 feet of brown cloth cord and a brown bakelite plug from them and a new pilot light socket (the original pilot light socket was busted) for $20 from them.

So now to wait for those parts to come in (should be here by wednesday hopefully.)

[Titan1a]

Alright!

[vortalexfan]

Well about a week ago I had ordered some radio parts from an antique radio restoration parts supplier based out of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada and they said they shipped the parts out on Monday and here it is Friday and I still don't have my parts.

Anyone else experience issues like this when ordering radio parts for restoring their old radios?

The Company I ordered my parts from was called Merry Tunes Antique Radios

https://antiqueradiosandparts.com/in...te=common/home

maybe some of you guys on here may have dealt with this company before and can tell me if I may have gotten ripped off or not.

[Electronic M]

I don't know them, but given the something like month customs processing delay the only time I ordered from Just Radios of Canada I try not to order anything from up there.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

I don't know them, but given the something like month customs processing delay the only time I ordered from Just Radios of Canada I try not to order anything from up there.

Ok, well when I first ordered from them I didn't realize they were in Canada until I saw their email to me saying they had shipped through Canadian post.