Very nice looking Admiral in Michigan.
 

Someone should go for this one, no bids yet and 22 Hours to go.

http://cgi.ebay.com/RETRO-BAKELITE-S...3%3A1|294%3A50

Why did you have to tempt me Eric? I'm too close to GR to pass it up. I made a bid, but if someone here outbids me I'll be happy to congratulate them.

They say it's date stamped 1953, but the model number seems to suggest a 1955 model.

Any Zenith experts know for sure?

John

Heh, heh, :D
I wanted someone who could pick it up to get it, I don't think it'll survive shipping.

I don't know if the whole thing is Bakelite or just the front surround?

The whole thing is bakelike. I have three that are similar. Admiral liked to use bakelite in that time period for some reason.

I have a chassis with picture tube from one of those.

Well, I can't complain about the price. Now I need to take a short drive to Grand Rapids.

John

Story goes that the head of Admiral was good friends with the head of the Bakelite Corp. They say that the bakelite consoles that Admiral sold were the largest bakelite pieces ever sold.

Heard that Admiral had a bakelite molding machine that was huge, like 3 stories tall. Seems it had to be big to make the bakelite consoles, like mine:
http://www.geocities.com/wa2ise/radios/admtvbb8.jpg
A machine like that had to be a huge investment, so they'd want to make a lot of use of it.

Destiny at work
 

Well, I won the auction on Thursday. My neighbor had asked me to go to Holland Michigan with him to help with some issues with his nav electronics on his new sailboat.

The TV was in Zeeland very close to Holland so we picked it up on the way there. The seller was very cooperative and delayed a trip by an hour so that we could pick it up.

$5 and no gas. Can't beat that!

It's still in my neighbor's vehicle. I need to find a spot to put it tomorrow.

John

Great deal John, glad it's in good hands and not a Fishtanker. :yes:

Is it as nice in person as it looked on eBay?

Yes, it's really clean. The seller kept trying to point out defects to me that were pretty minuscule.

I haven't spent any time with it yet. I still need to get it out of my neighbor's vehicle. Then I want to test the CRT. I suspect it's o.k.

The knobs are very wobbly. Maybe that's normal.

John

I'm glad you got it John as i know now its in good hands. Please post a topic on it when you decide to work on it as these are favorite era of Admirals and want to watch your progress.
-Tony

Well, the channel selector knob is wobbly because it seems a bit big for the shaft. Perhaps it's from wear. I can shim that.

The CRT tests great! The G1 cutoff is good and the emission is in the middle of the good range on a Sencore Supermack. It barely needed to warm up.

The CRT has "Admiral" stamped on the bell of the CRT. The Aquadag is peeling and the other labels appear to have been removed. The base says "Thomas Electronics (TEI), Passaic, NJ" So, it appears to have been rebuilt by them.

The chassis is squeeky clean. This set may need nothing more than a recap. The deflection yoke appears to have gotten quite hot. There is something that looks like a varnished cotton wick that wraps around it and it now looks like charcoal. I think it's just the material and not a real issue.

I don't have a photofact yet so I'll need to get one.

The speaker has two transformers on it. One has the wires cut. The speaker plug in the chassis has four wires going up to the speaker. One pair are the ones that were cut from the original transformer. They must have rewired the socket in the chassis.

This set is so clean it's hard to believe.

I'm putting it away now until I finish the Sylvania. I'll probably work on the Philco next since it's in my living room. Hauling the Admiral down to my basement to work on it will be a trick. Since I probably need to recoat the aquadag on the CRT I'll have to remove it anyhow. That will make carrying it much easier. CRT's still scare me though.

John

Your description of the yoke sounds typical-the plastic they used deteriorated and falls apart. Real common on fifties sets. It can be a problem sometimes depending on how they are mounted. Shouldn't effect anything electrically.

Those knobs usually have a small metal spring where they snap on the shaft and often they go missing. Not too hard to make up a replacement.

I can echo what others will say: these are usually easy sets to bring back to life. Simple designs, but not too simple.

The spring is there and holds the knob securely on to the shaft, but the shaft is a bit smaller than the hole in the knob so it still wobbles when you grab it.

It does look easy to work on. I've got to figure out where to display it.

John