I finished reassembling the SPU chassis and am happy to announce that it actually seems to work properly :)
I'll be installing a reproduction cloth power cord. Just a bit more work left on the receiver chassis.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7220/7...52c087fd_z.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7086/7...c1140cd9_z.jpg

Boy, that's pretty. And look at that big honkin' globe 80. I've got a couple of them.

Thanks. Unfortunately, this 80 is a bit gassy and on it's last legs. Prices have really gone through the roof on globe tubes lately.
I'm tempted to throw a couple diodes and a dropping resistor underneath rather than put an ST 80 in there.

Wanna do another one? That one is beautiful. Mine has its original UX-280 in it. Has the little 'B' etched in the base.

LOL - Not anytime soon. This one has taken much longer than I expected with all the rust removal and painting.
I hope to have it running in a few days.

What does the 'B' in the base mean - Brunswick ?

You could do it with diodes and just leave the old '80 in there lit up for show.

Any concern about the B+ coming up immediately when it's turned on ?
For that matter, has anyone come across a solid state circuit that mimics a slow B+ rise like a real 80 would produce ?

Meanwhile, work continues on the tuner chassis.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8002/7...bcd3a4d8_z.jpg

I dont think it would be an issue to have it come up immediately. Someone may have an idea on how to do it

Put a CL-90 inrush current limiter right after the "on" switch. Makes it easy on tube filaments and it ramps up to line voltage slowly over about 20 seconds.

http://www.alliedelec.com/search/pro...x?SKU=70181362

It shouldn't be an issue since all the tubes (except the '27) are direct-filament types and will load the B supply as fast (or faster) than the '80 can warm up.

Yes. But the CL-90 will give the filaments a soft start in their old age (!)

Not a bad idea. Especially considering a set of four NOS globe 26s just sold for $222.50! http://www.ebay.com/itm/261027170666

I recently picked up another set of escutcheons and knobs. The originals with the dark patina are on the right.
Which do you think I should use ?
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8001/7...87939e64_b.jpg

You also have a third choice. Hardboil two eggs (yes! or boil three and use one for tuna salad for lunch.) Dice them in small pieces and put in a tight-sealing container. Put your shiny copper pieces into the container up on blocks, etc., so they aren't touching the eggs but are in the eggy H2S atmosphere (phew!) Check the next day for the patina. Leave another day if required. Might have to re-egg. Afterwards wash pieces, might want to lightly steel wool highlights, lacquer. Good-bye old egg parts. It's how I got patina on a too-shiny escutcheon on this radio:
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...02enlarged.jpg

I'd go with the new ones, personally. The new ones look patinated, but the old ones just look beat up and crappy... I mean, they look like they were mistreated and tossed into a barn for 50 years, whereas the rest of the radio doesn't look like that anymore, so to me the old corroded parts would look very much out of place.

And anyway, even if you think the new ones are too shiny, as long as they're not coated with anything then they'll tarnish over time and start to take on more of the 'antique' dark look.

Thanks for the advice. I just might try that egg trick.
Here's a closeup of one of the new pieces. It looks to me like someone did use an abrasive pad on it.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7085/7...c97aabc8_z.jpg

Here's the set with all the new trim installed.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8152/7...7315bfdd_b.jpg

I'm just about done restoring the receiver chassis.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7076/7...2fb440dc_c.jpg

While working on it, I discovered this little "gimmick" coil that had been clipped out of the circuit.
It's shown in the wiring diagram but not the schematic. I'm going to wire it back in and see what effect it has.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7073/7...f46db328_c.jpg

It's finally time for the first power up!
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5340/7...ac3f824d_c.jpg

First signs of life :)
I'm able to tune around the dial and pick up a few stations but only weakly. Also, the volume control has no effect. Neither does moving around the antenna.
Further investigation revealed that pulling out the 1st #26 tube also had no effect. So clearly no signal is coming through from the antenna.
Hopefully, I just made a wiring error on that tube socket or RF coil.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7225/7...018511c9_c.jpg

At least, NO SMOKE!!!

With a TRF you can move the antenna wire down to the second tube, to the third, and so on. Signal will be weaker and selectivity less but the relative signal strength should point to a problem stage.

Thanks for the tip. I found the fault at the grid of the 2nd stage. That bare wire should be soldered to the coil lug next to it :o
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5341/7...f48c34c5_z.jpg

I made the repair and fired it up again. It's much louder now and the volume control definitely has an effect.
I can't cut the volume down to zero for strong local stations though.
Also if I turn the volume up loud, the set starts oscillating then cuts out altogether.

I've never operated a set like this before so I'm not sure if that's normal or I should keep tinkering.
There's an RF compensating I can fiddle with and I could replace the original caps on the RF coils and detector with modern micas :scratch2:

My radio volume won't reduce to zero, either. But, it needs to be restored, so I dont go by anything mine does.

That was often a problem on sets of this era, no AVC, so some had a local/distance switch on them to introduce more resistance or by some other way attenuate the signal coming in.

Edit: also, I recall that a good ground is essential on a radio of this type: the volume control can't "short to ground" at the bottom if there is no ground connection. Also, do you have this file? good info on how to stop the squealing, etc. and it says the set doesn't like a long antenna.

http://www.fyrbotlz.com/files/Radiola_18.pdf

And another (you probably already have)

http://www.nostalgiaair.org/referenc...adiola18-2.htm

Thanks for the info. Adjusting the compensator capacitor and using a ground made a big difference.
I'm just using the ground in an AC outlet and I bet a "real" ground would work even better. The antenna is only 3' long and pulling in all the local stations well.

That's great. See how it does late night picking up DX. Might need another 10 ft. of wire. Folks used to hook onto the window screen for an antenna.

I installed a single wire antenna that stretches east to west across the interior of my attic. I also have a TV antenna, and rotor up there. Cant use it for much else. Roof is rather low.

My Fairbanks Morse will pick up alot of stations when I use this wire as the antenna.

As a kid I had a workshop in the back yard back home and wires up in the air stretching from tree to tree. Now over the past dozen years or so I was collecting antique antenna insulators so a few years back decided to put up a long wire as in days of yore. Used two ribbed glass insulators and #12 black plastic insulated stranded copper. Stretches from the top of the chimney which is about 30 ft. high and runs 60 ft. out to a 20 ft. high pole at the back of the garage/shop. I have lead ins at both ends for use in shop or house. It yanks a lot of juice out of the ether.

I found this stuff called "Liver of Sulphur" at a local Dick Blick art supply store. It's formulated to darken copper.
I first gave it a try on some pennies. The first attempt with a dirty penny came out splotchy. The second was polished with Noxon first and it came out great. I'll polish up that trim piece next and try it for real.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8024/7...59af6725_z.jpg http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5198/7...90ea24f6_z.jpg

I never thought to look in an art supply store for liver of sulfur, which is why I went the boiled egg route. Making a note to check at Michaels locally. Another way is to hang the piece on a tree branch and wait for pollution to do it, if you've got lots of time.

It's just a few dollars and you mix it one tablespoon to one cup of water so a little bottle will darken a whole lot of copper.

I discovered a few things while experimenting last night.

First, it works great on very clean copper. Any contaminants make it splotchy.

Second, liver of sulphur doesn't work on brass - only copper.

Third, I was wrong about my trim pieces. They're not brass plated copper - they're copper plated brass! I don't doubt they did this to get the nice dark brown surface possible with liver of sulphur.

Unfortunately, some of that copper plating is gone do to over polishing so I can't get a nice even dark surface. So I'm just going to clean up the original trim the radio came with for now.
I'm considering getting some copper sulfate (Zep root killer) and re-copper plating the new trim I picked up so I can darken it properly.

Finally, boy does this stuff stink!

While I ponder what to do with the trim, I finished off the electrical restoration.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8162/7...5352fe77_z.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8022/7...aeac435f_z.jpg

I used to copper plate with copper sulfate and it's pretty easy.

As a side note, if you are stringing an outside long wire antenna from your house to a pole, or a tree, on one end between the insulator and the pole (or tree) you should have a rather stiff spring, so that when the pole (or tree) sways in the wind, it won't snap the antenna wire.

I have the insulator at the pole end of my antenna hooked to a flexible wire that goes through a brass pulley and then down and wrapped around a cleat. I can untie this wire from the cleat and lower the antenna to the ground if I ever need to. The pole (and obviously the chimney) don't sway at all in wind and the antenna has survived some ugly ice storms. Trees are another story: some use the pulley arrangement and a spring, others a sash weight on the down rope to allow for the trees swaying.

Good tips. I have an attic directly above me where I could try running a long antenna - probably about 50'.

I picked up a reproduction dial scale and speaker wire from "The Radiola Guy".
The speaker wire is very flexible. Just like the remnants I found in this Brunswick model "A" and an RCA 101 speaker. Nice stuff :yes:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7133/7...68e40977_z.jpg

If you find the little light cover for yours, I'd be sure interested to get one, too! This little Brunswick is looking beautiful! Mine looks alot like yours did when you started, needs capacitors, but is still very playable, for now. I dont ever run it unattended.

I have a search setup on ebay, but I don't expect to ever find one - at least not at a reasonable price. It should be fairly easy to fabricate one though. Possibly from a salvaged bit of thin, curved brass or copper stock.

Maybe someone that has one could post a picture of it. It would be nice to know what it should look like.

I managed to find some 3v bulbs for mine. They cast a reasonably nice soft glow...

There's a good close up photo in this thread: http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/...c.php?t=153769

It also confirms than the escutcheon should have a dark brown patina.

It must be bent, or something. Dunno, it looks odd to me somehow.