Zenith Chairside 7-s-240
 

Heyooo,

Got me a chairside!! Seems to be a 1938 7-s-240. Anywho, its a little beat, the cabinet needs some help but its not too bad. The dial cover is missing as well as the tone control knob, and tuning belt.

Got it stripped down today, have a diagram and cap list. The volume control isnt great, the shaft is spinning inside when pushed against the stop, doesnt take much. The crimp on the fiberboard inside isnt holding anymore. Its serviceable but it would be great to find another. The outer fast spinning pointer is broken, so I gotta find one of those, thoughts?? And the inner main dial pointer is bent 7 different ways. Does anyone have a picture of what its supposed to look like?

And the dial faces, haha I think i found the place that does the dial decals, but if anyone has a source let me know. Im pretty stoked!

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...pswrvfvvjm.jpg


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She has potential. I hope all goes well.

That's a real beauty! I love the copper chassis - lots of room to work under there. Good luck with it!

The cabinet is really ultra-moderne for the late 30's. :thmbsp:
The chassis is really nice! Too bad, someone was rough with the dial. The bezel is the classic "Teardrop" style, which makes it more desirable.

Looks like it has the rare 6t5 eye tube, hope its strong... :)

SR

So far so good, found all the parts except for the broken brass pointer...Got the tuner gear train all cleaned up and lubricated. And the dial cleaned up surprisingly well. So well im not gonna redo anything but the outer dial face.

The cabinet however well was pretty beat, the radio part was fine, still needs to be stripped because of some dis coloring on the front under the speaker opening. But the real crappy part is the base. Used a trade secret (TSP) to get the house paint off and it didnt damage the wood or finish, but there are some pretty bad black spots that are soaked through the veneer. Ammonia, cat pee or coffee or something. Also there are sections that were pretty chewed up, so since im doin this one up right cause well, its awesome...and I already had the wood pretty wet from removing the house paint, decided to soak the joints and get it apart. Another 15-20 min of soaking em it came right apart. So the veneer is 2 pieces square which makes it easier. This is my first cabinet repair like this, dad is helpin with the wood stuff. Im pretty stoked cause im finally learning this aspect of it. SO yeah, if anyone has a lead on parts such as the brass dial pointer please let me know!

Now for more pics!


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Bob Galanter (ohohyodafarted) had a thread on 'removing dark rings' that shows how to get blackening out of wood that might be relevant. Nice work so far.

There is an acid that's basically a wood bleach that does take off dark spots...this is deep though, seemingly all the way through. And with the side of the magazine holder all beat up just replacing it is the way to go

Another highly desirable feature is the "shutter-dial", well loved by the Zenith collectors.
Too bad, the scratches are around the Zenith logo on the dial. :sigh:
All in all, the set looks like it's going to turn out great. :thmbsp:

I have a chairside as well in the storage waiting for 'some day' as it's pretty rough too. Our local state prison has several industries inside it including a furniture repair and construction shop. Besides making cubicle furniture for state offices, they have a dip-n-strip service. Haven't tried it but I was thinking of sending a radio cabinet or two over there that are beyond 'touching up.' The intricate trim seems to lend itself well to dipping.