Admiral 20X122 restoration project

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by Tube TV

Bob , the chassis looks great .
I don't think you will have a problem with the rust returning .
I had a radio chassis that had rust .
After it was cleaned down I put a light coat of turtle wax on it , and it still looks good .
About 10 years later ...

Thanks, perhaps I'll give that a try.

I've spent a lot of time lurking in the antique radio forums. Those guys go to great lengths sometimes like replating a chassis with cadmium.

Seems to me that every TV chassis I've come across has been bare steel or maybe zinc plated.

[7"estatdef]

TNX! That was about 6 months of working on that set a little at a time. It was working great for a year or so then it developed a vertical sycn problem that turn out to be a .01 mica in the output of the seperater. For some reason it only liked a mica cap there. That was another headscrater that took me awhite to figure out. I think I got the paint at Lowe's of Home Depot. I didn't have much of a choice not to paint as it was really rusty.
Terry

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by 7"estatdef

TNX! That was about 6 months of working on that set a little at a time. It was working great for a year or so then it developed a vertical sycn problem that turn out to be a .01 mica in the output of the seperater. For some reason it only liked a mica cap there. That was another headscrater that took me awhite to figure out. I think I got the paint at Lowe's of Home Depot. I didn't have much of a choice not to paint as it was really rusty.
Terry

Hi Terry,

Maybe you can help me avoid the same issue.
Do you recall which cap that was - C315, C402 or C??? in this schematic?

Thanks!
Bob

[7"estatdef]

The early 20A1 is a little different. It uses a 6AU6 Sync Sep .The later version of the 20A1 is like yours. It was the .01 on the plate of the 6AU6.
Terry

[noah300g]

The flyback from my 30A1 is arcing, but I know the whereabouts of an old 20X122 nearby. Would the flyback be the same for this set?

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by noah300g

The flyback from my 30A1 is arcing, but I know the whereabouts of an old 20X122 nearby. Would the flyback be the same for this set?

30A1 uses Admiral part #79B7
20X122 (20X1 chassis) uses Admiral part #79C28-2

However, the Thordarson substitute is the same for both - FLY-1.

I checked my Admiral schematics and the listed resistance values for the two flybacks are within about 10%. So, they're not identical but close.
I'd hazard a guess that it would work OK.

Please tell me you're not going to trash a nice 20X122 just for it's flyback...

[zenithfan1]

Clear satin enamel works too, seals it up and is not too shiny. Krylon makes a good one that sprays on really nice and smooth. Looking great Bob! Nice work on the caps too.

[bandersen]

Thanks for the compliments!

Phil, that's good to hear regarding the rust not reappearing. I'm not crazy about painting it if I don't really need to. I'll think I'll leave it bare for now and keep an eye on it.

I've been buffing out the bakelite periodically for the last few days and it's looking really good so far. Time will tell.

[zenithfan1]

I've also used a little 3-in-one oil on small rusty areas that may rust again. Stops it dead. Once metal rusts in one spot, that's where it will come back, it's like cancer for metal. But like you guys said, keep an eye on it and see. I don't like painting whole chassis either. Good luck on a real beauty Bob

[zenithfan1]

Damn Terry! Great job! I love to see 'em come back from the dead like that!

[7"estatdef]

Back in the 70's I picked up the table model of that set at a hamfest for .50c Someone had done alot work to as just about all the caps where replaced and some resistor. But the set wasn't working. The horiz osc coil had gotten twisted and the leads where broken off the coil. With some fine wire and a glass I was able to get it back together and working. Used it till the mid 80's and traded it off for some. When I saw the consolette just waiting for the trashman to come and get her I just could let that happen. So into the backseat of my little Escort it went.
Terry

[bandersen]

I've finally got a set of the four outer metal cover knobs, but they look pretty crappy. The brass is worn off pretty badly exposing the underlying base metal.

I picked up a Caswell brush plating kit a while ago, but didn't get very good results. My pieces came out looking too dark and coppery.
That antenna is proper brass. The drawer pull and knob are my earlier attempts.



I decided to give it one more try before giving up. So I did some homework and altered my technique. It turns out it's supposed to look crappy right after plating. You need to really buff it out. I think I had been plating it much to heavily.

Here's my new technique.

1. Really, really clean the piece to be plated using Soft-Scrub, Brasso whatever it takes to get the base metal clean and shiny.

2. Stroke the item to be plated about 30 times with slow even strokes. Rotate a bit with each stroke with each stroke covering about 1/5 of the knob. Move the negative alligator clip occasionally.

3. Rinse with clean water and immediately buff out with Brasso.

4. ??? I haven't tried this yet, but my plan is to buff with my Dremel and coat with high gloss lacquer. I'll let you know how it goes.



Here's a pic of before cleaning, after cleaning just prior to plating and the final finish.



Here's a pic of a knob after plating but before buffing.



Finally, here's a pic of all four replated knobs

[peverett]

I have replated small brass items in the past with good results. I have had some plastic knobs (that were originally chrome/silver) replated with good results. These were from a small GE tv.

If you want to replate plastic, check with the people who do automobile restorations. They can do this or point you to someone who can.

[zenithfan1]

WOW! That looks great! I never even thought of re-plating stuff like that, I'll have to try it, I have more than a few things that could use it.

[bandersen]

I'm currently tearing apart and reconfiguring my workshop. Should be back to working on this set soon....