Drill Holes in Admiral

[Sandy G]

Peter A. Keller ! Ayup, THAT'S the guy ! Strained my brain & couldn't remember his name to save my life.. Don't guess THAT'S ever happened to any of youse Byrds... Sho Nuff is FUN gettin' older, & parts of yr memory start winking out... Last nite, my wife aksed me who was the female lead in that weird film, "Fargo" & I couldn't remember HER, either... Could see her in my minds eye, plain as day, but couldn't lay a handle on her.. Of all the things I've lost I think I miss my Mind the most... Or, wait... Mighta been somethin' else... Hell, I can't remember anymore.... Has'n Fras'n Dirty Ras'n....-Y. Sam. Galoot & esteemed PHilosopher....

[kvflyer]

Originally Posted by MadMan

You could use black resin to fill the holes... might even be able to color match the bakelite, if you're good.

Not a bad idea. Too bad that JB Weld is gray because it makes excellent repairs, maybe better than Crazy Glue and clear epoxy. It sure did a great repair for the cabinet of my Admiral and you don't see it under the back cover of course.

Does anyone know if they make epoxy coloring stuff?

[kvflyer]

Originally Posted by bandersen

If the price is reasonable and the chassis intact, I'd go for it. Factor in the cost of a replacement 10BP4 CRT. At least it has all the knobs.

As for repairing the holes. I'd try some wood filler and stain. You don;t need to steel strength of JB Weld. Plus you could remove the filler fairly easily if it doesn't look right. Colored wax or shellac filler stick is another option. Treat it like a damaged piece of wood furniture in other words.

Bob has suggested a good alternative. Knobs and good chassis etc. are kinda essential. Tubes and a CRT can always show up... eventually.

[bandersen]

The bakelite is swirly dark brown. Yes, you can add dye to epoxy resin. Transtint works well and I've heard wood stain works too. Additives can weaken the epoxy a bit but in this case I hardly think that will be an issue.

Here's a close up look at an example.

[Tony F]

I'm tossing around the idea of taking a chunk of bakelite off of a broken radio cabinet. Then taking a hard disk angle grinder and grind some bakelite into power. Then experiment with various ratios of powder and JB weld to make the grey more brown. I don't think it will effect the strength of the JB weld.
Tony

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by Tony F

I'm tossing around the idea of taking a chunk of bakelite off of a broken radio cabinet. Then taking a hard disk angle grinder and grind some bakelite into power. Then experiment with various ratios of powder and JB weld to make the grey more brown. I don't think it will effect the strength of the JB weld.
Tony

Bakelite dust is hazardous to your health... not a good idea to grind it up.

http://www.sunnyray.org/Toxic-plastics-bakelite.htm

jr

[irext]

What about filling it with tinted wood filler. You can buy it in many different colors. Dark mahogany might be close.

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by irext

What about filling it with tinted wood filler.

Shrinkage might be an issue in holes that size. Epoxies, JB Weld etc. don't shrink as there's no solvent gassing off.

[Tony F]

I've got an excellent filter mask that I use for painting and it is rated for isocyanates and I plan on doing it outside, so no worries. I've been an automotive painter most of my career, so I know about nasty stuff like bakelite dust.
Tony

[MadMan]

They have clear(ish) epoxy glue. Permatex, I think, or Loctite. Maybe either. You could try dyeing that, should work. Also, I've found that epoxy glue doesn't stick to Scotch tape, like the not-sticky side of the regular stuff. Never tried it with the super clear Scotch tape. So I've used it several times to build molds for epoxy glue. Good way to remake a broken plastic boss.

Also, also, bakelite is still made and used. Not a whole lot, but it is still available in ashtrays and some car parts that need high-temp plastics. Just saying, if you need some to grind up, there are options.

[Sandy G]

Well, dammittall... Lost that book "Behind the Tube" & "The Cathode Ray Tube". 6 weeks/2months ago, we had a flood in my basement, & 2 of the things I LOST-And really so miss-were those 2 books. I may try to find 'em on used booksellers, but I feel like they were both likrly small printings. Dammitt, I SHOULDA brought 'em upstairs....

[jr_tech]

Sandy, sorry your books were destroyed, from the Keller book, page 155 is this about the 30BP4 ltb/conversion:

“A last-time build of 500 tubes was made for replacment purposes and the 30BP4 was discontinued after only one to two years of production. A conversation kit to allow replacement with a 27-inch rectangular glass picture tube was produced to allow future replacements to be made.”

Footnoted to a interview with John McQueen, June 1989.

Photo of Mr. McQueen, from page 157:



jr

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Boys, I'll look for that book tomorrow. There's ANOTHER book I wanna look for "Behind the Tube" from '88 by a guy named Andrew Inglis, who had been a Big Dawg at RCA from practically the beginning of the Radio era, & was an even bigger dawg in the television days. I'm thinking it was perhaps a college textbook, it just had that look & feel to it, & had a lot more technical stuff than a general info book typically has. He was NOT too big a fan of General Sarnoff-But about everything I've read about Der General paints him as a pretty bad, mean, nasty SOB. Well, it takes one to know one, & I'm generally a nasty ol' SOB, too. So there.. (Grin)

Powell's is one of my go-to places for old books, but they are out of stock on both.
https://www.powells.com/

[WISCOJIM]

Thank you, Sandy & jr. That's the first documentation I've seen of this. I've never seen a set that had the conversion done with the kit, only Lee's recent fabrication. My hope now is to someday find factory documentation of this, and a kit or a set with it having been used. Kind of amazing that DuMont would have gone this far to support their used TVs. I wonder if any were ever used.

.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by WISCOJIM

Kind of amazing that DuMont would have gone this far to support their used TVs.

.

Well, think of it this way...The Royal Soverign, if it wasn't Dumont's most expensive product, must have been high up in the running, was sold to hotels and public places (many of which were probably quite highbrow) that probably ran them constantly.

Those sets were probably more of a public representation/advertisement of Dumont than any billboard could ever aspire to be...Looking at it that way I can see why Dumont would want them to live long healthy lives...