Thanks Reese,
From the photos I have attached here you can see my initial paint attempts. That's just a first coat and although it does not match perfectly, it will look a lot better than the copper. Also, it is not a real tough job to remove that FM modulator and repaint that front panel. All I have to do is unplug two wires, remove two screws that hold the FM in the cabinet, remove two more screws and the knobs and it comes right off.
This is my first recapping. Previously I had trained technicians do it for me. It has been a learning experience. The biggest challenge for me was finding the right parts, that and the schematics matching perfectly the radio I am actually working on. The kind of manufacturing that produced these radios is really a representation of something that is truly hand made. Individuals choose those various capacitors and hand placed them into the chassis and hand soldered them in place. Thus, just because the schematic says it is a mica capacitor, don't be surprised to find a paper capacitor in that space instead. On a given day as a result of inventory or others factors, someone may have chosen the substation or maybe they simply got it wrong. I found that kind of mistake 3 times in the FM modulator.
The following is a step by step of what I went through to get where I am now. I'll write it here for others who are not trained technicians but want to try this. I can say that if you have a basic understanding of electricity you can do this. It doesn't take very expensive bench equipment to get it done. That assumes there was nothing basically wrong with your radio before you started out, other than the old capacitors.
I took on the Broadcast/AM/Shortwave amplifier first. That is a Magnavox CR-197 chassis. That parts list is fairly accurate and I was able to obtain most of the correct parts the first time out. However it took me several days to recap the thing and with every interruption I lost my place. Before I heated it up I took half an hour and just looked. I inspected every solder joint and found 4 that I re-soldered, 3 of which I had never soldered originally. That's because I always waited to solder the ground lugs in case I needed to use them with another capacitor. I discovered that finding good ground lugs in the vicinity of the new capacitor physical footprint, was often a valuable commodity.
After having corrected those mistakes I turned it on and I was thrilled it didn't smoke. But it didn't play either. It popped and spit a lot, so it made sound, but no radio reception. On the recommendations of a technician I know I used a small glass rod I have that is a pointer of sorts and gently began to tap the tubes. I had cheeked all the tubes and I thought they were all good but both of the 6V6GTs and the 6SN7 produced an audible sound through the speaker when I gently tapped them. I know all three of them aren't bad but since I had duplicates of all three I simply replaced them all, with more good used ones. The noise went away and the amplifier sprang to life, I had good clean sound out of the phono selection, but still no radio.
I then used that same tapper and went underneath and gently tapped each of the capacitors I had installed while the radio was on. What I was looking for was a cold solder joint hoping that the vibration would reveal any for me. But what I found was a .001 Mf disk capacitor that sent an audible sound through the amplifier every time I touched it. I had no idea a capacitor could do that and I assumed it shouldn't. I replaced it and the Shortwave began to work too.
I listened to Radio Cuba however I have no idea what they were saying, and so then I listened to a radio preacher who believes that Hillary has lied. Louisianan I think. That came through loud and strong. I was encouraged. I was happy it was working but I questioned the accuracy of the information it gave me. My brother reminded me that Hillary is a lawyer and as such probably has lied. I can't find an accuracy setting so I'll accept that explanation for the time being.
I then began to check all of the values of the capacitors that I had installed against what the schematic said should be there. And I found where I had installed a .01 Mf. Instead of a .1 Mf called for in the circuit and I had also miss-installed two capacitors, swapping the one for the other. When I made those corrections it opened up the signal path and the AM now sprang to life.
When the thing didn't work from the get go I assumed I had done something wrong. When I bought the radio the guy told me it had been in one household since bought new, although the old woman that owned it had not been able to listen to it for years. He said that he turned it on when he first saw it and was able to hear a radio station in the distance, not loud. From his statement, and he had no reason to lie to me, I assumed that the radio was basically alright, just bad caps. If yours doesn't work from the start after you have recapped it, you cannot assume it was OK before you started unless you have some credible information to suggest it worked well when last turned off. That said, the first thing I would do in any event is go back and check everything that was just done. It is incredibly easy to make a mistake.
From the attached pictures you can see that mine is still very much a work in progress, but it is working. I carefully recapped the FM and although I found some discrepancies in the capacitor types and locations, (see my note above), it worked from the get go right off the bench. The analog pointer is not perfectly matched to the frequency, but it is so close I don't think I am going to try to correct that just now. I don't think that it needs to be realigned, all stations seem to come in OK.
I will note that I broke down and bought a capacitor checker so I could verify values before I began working on the FM, it is a Magnavox model 192B chassis. That tool would have saved me a lot of grief with the Shortwave/Broadcast amplifier. I saw them as cheap as $29, I paid $59 for the one I bought.
I was unable to obtain any new 6U5 tuning eyes. They are as scarce as hen's teeth. But I did find someone who has a stash of a few new 1629 tuning eyes. The 6U5 is a 6 pin base with a filament voltage of 6 volts AC. The 1629 is an 8 pin octal base with a 12 volt filament voltage. Since the input voltage is AC it can be doubled to very near 12 volts DC, with a very simple circuit. There are examples of that circuit here:
http://www.nostalgiaair.org/Referenc...sh/Flash04.htm
and here:
http://www.antiqueradios.com/chrs/journal/eyetube.html. The diagram on the bottom of the CHRS website is the easiest to follow I think.
The adapter I made for the Shortwave/Broadcast works fine, but you can see I will have to re-manufacture the one I made for the FM as the wire is too short to go back that far. I'll make the new one at a 90.
So that's where I'm at. I'd love to hear stories from others about your recapping ordeals and feel free to ask me anything.
Have a great day
Tom