Bendix Drop Leaf Tabke Radio Maodel 646

[ejfud]

Hey guys don't get down here much, but wanted to share something thats been in my house for years. I never knew it was a radio till today.

I think I want to do a refurb on her. Recap, needs tuner string and a cab refinish. The dial glass with the woodgrain is flaking off mine. Does someone make these decals today?

Picture is not mine.

[cdmarion]

Hey Gary,

Nice radio, I saw one of these at an antique mall a few years ago, it took me forever to figure out where the dial was. Before i could buy it someone took an old metal car and destroyed the finish on the top, really gouged the wood. I was furious!!!

As a side note, whenever i see an end table or step table i always look for a cord and usually go a step further and look at the back. Just to make sure.

Not long after that i found this '47 Bendix step table model 697A with the phantom dial, i just finished re-capping this radio last week. It works like new. Note the lower lid of the step table slides to the rear to expose the phonoghraph.

Enjoy your new radio.

Chris

[Sandy G]

Then you have the natty "Guild" series of radios that are disguised as other things-a spice chest, a crank telephone, & the one I have -an AM/FM set from '64- is made to look like a lantern of sorts. Its called "The Town Crier", actually, it isn't TOO tacky...

[toxcrusadr]

Ah yes the tacky Guilds. I have the phone models, both of em. I'd like spice chest, the one with the landscape on the fabric, but they're hard to find reasonable.

As for the Bendix drop leaf, I'm sitting next to mine right now. When that paint comes off there is no replacement available that I know. Not a highly valued radio so nobody is making a decal. Very cool though. My dad worked for Bendix so I have several in the collection.

[Old1625]

Some cheap contact paper with woodgrain pattern may be translucent enough to work on the phantom dial glass. Or you can test your skills as a painter by reconstructing the grain with acrylics....

I snagged one of those dropleaf ones back about 20 years ago, restored it, and gave it to a friend--and back then landlord of my business location--as a Christmas present. I was at his house just the other day, and it's still there and working.

[Charlie]

Picked up the later version of the Bendix 646a two days ago. Pulled up the Sams for it. It appears that the 1946 and 1947 models have different components in the rectifier circuit. Does anyone know if there an updated schematic for the later model?

[Dangler]

nostalgiaair has the Rider's for it, but it doesn't say anything about changes to the power supply circuit. Maybe someone modified it?

[Charlie]

If you compare the Sams and Riders diagrams, you can see they are from the same source. While Nostalgia Air does have many diagrams, I typically find them difficult to read.

I also noticed over on the other radio forums, some guys had pics comparing the chassis... it's mentioned and shown that there's some minor differences. Even looking at their photos of the undeside of the chassis (they took some good close-ups), I can see that one photo looks like mine, and the other photo looks like what's in the Sams diagram. Mainly, it looks like the resistors and capacitor around the rectifier tube and lytics are different and connect in different places.

My concern here started out when I noticed that the paper label on the filter can was gone, and since there are some differences between the newer and older chassis, I'm not 100% sure if the lytic can in my set is the same as in the older version. And, since the label is gone, I don't know what values the leads are. Yes, I could simply take a reading with my meter, but I am not going to trust the value readings of a 60 yr old can.

Anyway, I thought maybe someone here might have had some experience with this particular chassis.