Admiral 14R12 Restoration

[Kevin Kuehn]

Nice job on the drawing. Yes that back design is a bit of a mystery. I wonder if the Masonite actually shrunk to the extent that the top screws pulled the corners off? I also don't understand the need for what appear to be so many extra screw holes, as if that back spent some time on some other cabinet.

[old_coot88]

That looks like the incorrect back. There also needs to be a lot more ventilation holes near the bottom to get a decent draft on them hot tubes.

[Crist Rigott]

It is the correct back. The elongated screw holes and the interlock connector fit perfectly. Also the cutout for the antenna terminals fits perfectly.

Kevin, the extra screw holes in the pictures are for the screws that hold on the 3/4 x5/8 braces which were removed when I was measuring the back. In my drawings, you can see them as dotted lines.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Originally Posted by Crist Rigott

Kevin, the extra screw holes in the pictures are for the screws that hold on the 3/4 x5/8 braces which were removed when I was measuring the back. In my drawings, you can see them as dotted lines.

Ah. Funny how quickly I can forget stuff. I had to go back to where I we originally discuses the set on CL to see what the back originally looked like mounted. Makes sense now that the corner hole were elongated for expansion and contraction, and then the large washers to cover the holes. But I also have to agree that that back doesn't allow for very good ventilation, but since it's spaced out from the chassis at the bottom I suppose it's suppose to work like a convection oven.

[Crist Rigott]

Now that the mini project is done I'm going to sand, rub out and polish the cabinet. It's been 2 weeks since I shot the clear lacquer.

I also added a resistor and capacitor to blank out the retrace lines per Admiral's instructions. Worked great. I even used an existing terminal strip that had 2 unused terminals very close to the brightness pot.

[Crist Rigott]

Here's the refinished cabinet. It turned out great! Not perfect but real good.

On to making a new back.

[kvflyer]

I have the 26R12 set. I also had two of those clear picture tube covers or whatever you call them. Both of them were not perfectly clear. Rather they had a little swirl of white or cloudy in the plastic. It was not something that would polish out. Mind you, not objectionable, just noticeable to me.

Just letting you know since both of our sets are of the same vintage and probably same plastic source.