1935 Crosley 515 Fiver Part 1 Restore 

It's always a good weekend when it begins with a Buzz video.

Way to go Buzz! Another great result! I agree, its a great feeling when an old radio comes back to life!

The tower on the dial is the WLW tower in Mason, OH. It was built in 1934 and is still standing.

Good one. Good to see 1970 video of family.

The Fiver. Looking forward to the restoration 👍

Wow ! I have seen the 5 model I before in looking for the brass ring or copper ring surrounding the dial. I found that ring in the yard of my Mom who purchased the house of which I found the dial ring . She had passed away in 1994. I wish she had seen it . She worked at Crosley in around the thirties . She told she had soldered wires or parts of the guts of the Crosley radios . I have the ring in my memory of my MOM. Her name was Maudie Coffey Jackson. I found it in the dirt with my metal detector . Like I said .. My Mom didn't the purchase of house till 1994.

The movie was fabulous! I was so enraptured by it, I forgot to eat my popcorn!

Great job Buzz. That celluloid dial was not long for this world anyway. But the hole on the speaker is on you 🤣 Perhaps use a different cone pusher in future

FYI Buzz... It was a common practice to scribble the customer name or claim number somewhere on the back. That provided easy reference for customer pick up PLUS it was a rough repair history (by order number). Done in the era before claim repair tickets became commonplace.

Where ever you are YOUR THERE with a Crosley. Funny slogan, cool radio, looks well thought out and built to last, great project choice pick Buzz. Will be another fun adventure for sure. 🤗 PS: maybe that transformer suffered a voltage spike from a lightning strike?

Thanks, Buzz! We so appreciate how you share your skills and wit.

Probably a relief that you poked that speaker Buzz - now the suspense is over! The cinema took me back to the Nixon and Carter years - yes I was there! Looking forward to the next installment!

Hi Buzz. Great job on the 8 mm movie.,I enjoy these very much. I am looking forward to more on the radio. Has always Liked and shared. All my very best.

Great job getting this old girl going Buzz, it will be a great restoration to watch. Looking forward to the next episode.

A few years ago, I found a barn find of a 1936 Crosley model 516 from a ham radio elmer for $30. He bought this radio new in 1936 and stored it in his barn since the early 60's . A few little differences. 516 uses two can capacitors, the dial is more rectangular with gold like bezel. The speaker grill wood pattern is a little difference, both dial and speaker grill same size. Someone replace the transformer in the 516 before I got it. I replaced a few resistors, including the can-ohm resistor and the two electrolytics all of the caps with yellow caps ... ugh. Cleaned up the cabinet and replaced the speaker cover. Couldn't get the short wave band to receive anything. Living in the city of Cincy, the local AM stations come in well without using a long wire ant. The building where these radios were built has been abandoned years ago and currently listed for sale. (the plate on the back the chassis has the address of the Crosley assembly building, look up google map to see the building today.) Powel Crosley owned and operated WLW radio with 500 k watt transmitter and antenna located in Mason Ohio (25 miles NE of the studios in the heart of the city. Today they run 50 k w using the same antenna location in Mason. Powel and his brother owned and operated the Cincinnati Reds, the first team to have lights for night baseball back then. Enjoy your videos for years and look forward to this restoration project. Thanks Buzz

Hello Buzz Here is the rest of the info you have requested. The speaker cone has a diameter of 5 1/2 inches, the basket diameter is 6 5/8 inches at the face opening the hole spacing is 6 1/4 inches. The output transformer primary is 255 ohms. The secondary is 1.4 ohms. Field coil is 1000 ohms. Hope this helps. John A Bellas

Well BUZZ you could rewind the old transformer as a separate project.? Love the looks of that radio, it was a great find I am looking forward to seeing it all nice and shiny. Nine that that you still have the old videos to share. Stay well. Leo.

Hello Buzz! ! have a model 515 too. I restored it about 15 years ago, it's been a good little radio I turn it on every now and then. Great video on this little old set as always! Wish you luck!

I have the factory Crosley service manual. It is service supplement 105 from October 1935. Looks like your B+ is way high with that transformer. You were at 300 volts at 70 Volts AC. Plate voltage on the rectifier tube is only 280 volts at full line voltage. There is no external center tap on that transformer, so that odd wire may be an internal connection from center of high voltage winding to chassis ground. The wire you labeled as center tap is just one end of the 6 volt winding.

Cecil B. DeBuzz so much talent, too little time. Thanks again buddy for the great entertainment. You are a rare breed indeed. My best to you and yours. Stay safe.

Good to see your making a new video on a new project thanks for sharing your talent my friend Doug 🙂

I am glad you didn't have to rebuild another transformer, Buzz! Looking forward to more videos!

Hi Buzz, another old timer radio to fix, good stuff. The transformer was unusual, it looks like the secondary had two coils wound adjacent to each other with the centre tap between the two. I was disappointed you didn't rewind it on the Buzz Winder though 🤨 As usual the Buzz cinema was a hoot 🤣🤣🤣

As soon as I saw that no show on the meter for the transformer, I thought, oh no. geeeez Buzz haha. Buddy,, I have to tell you that you and your brothers had and have the gift to do short vids. Good stuff pal.

Nice classic radio there Buzz always well done and interesting ,a pat on the back for Buzz ,Now take me to your Leader. cheers enjoyed.

Dear Buzz, first time viewer, I have heard a lot about your channel and wanted to view what it's about, I know I will enjoy this...):

Great to hear from you Buzz Have a good weekend! 🍺

I also have a 515. Transformer runs warm; I'll bet this set had some leaky caps and just that little bit of extra current draw caused it to fail. A lot of these cheap sets they ran the transformers very close to spec, especially Crosley and Zenith. They sold this set with 2 different dials, mine is red and blue.

Thanks Buzz, I'm proud of you too. I really enjoyed the transformer autopsy, it's amazing they last as well as they do. Keep at it.

Love the video buzz stay away from those speaker paper 😆.

I got one of these. I'll help you out a little. Mines a 516. Electrically the same. With the 80 pulled you should have 590V between the plates, and with it in you should have 515V. This is with 107V entering the radio (I added a dropping resistor to drop the line voltage on mine). Since your output transformer & speaker look like replacements. The speaker field should be 1200ohms, and primary of the output transformer should be 400ohms. Hope this helps. Glad to see you got it working so far.

Hi Buzz, Sorry about the transformer. I always worry about that when I get a new radio to restore and the coils too. So far I have been lucky. Anyway I knew you would come out in the end since you have lots of talent. Looks like there might have been some kind of rubber grommet in the tuning shaft. I enjoyed the mars 8mm. I like the L&H tune you use. I find myself whistling it when working on some project. Can't wait for the next episode as always. Dan

Well done buzz

Glad you got it going, I knew you could, wow two bad transformers in a row. I should work real good now with that new transformer....as long as you do not paint it RED....LOL Love the 1970 skit, great work.

Great stuff Buzz ! So cool the old rig is working with your new transformer & and recap job!

The type 78 can be used in place of a 6D6. It's actually preferable to a 6D6 from what I've read.

Another great one Buzz. I really look forward to your vids. We did much the same things as kids. Our videos were single frame at a time using different things moving them one bit at a time. We had a lot of time to burn back then. You gotta hit that transformer with some red. She just isn't going to look right otherwise.

Ed Wood would've liked your Mars sci fi!

To get your first e plate out of transformer bend the e plate out enough to get vise grip on then hammer the vise grip with hammer maybe come of several times later but works.

Great video Buzz. You do a great job and I enjoy your work also learn alot about these old time capsules.

Well done thanks for posting Buzz much appreciated !

Fantastic work Buzz. You are so clever! Transformer specialist!!! Not done a radio for ages, but getting back into the amateur scene. Trying out a very modern FT8 means of transmission. Very low power with great results. Building aerials , takes me back to my youth!!!. Look forward to the next episode with great anticipation. Can't wait to see the finished product. Best wishes Lynton G4XCQ

Howdy Buzz. Great to see you again doing another project. Sorry about the transformer going boogers on you and not wanting to re-wire it! (That's a lot of work and time). Can't wait for part - 2. Take care my friend and stay safe.

I find it interesting that a 6D6 tube is used as an autodyne frequency changer. This is a remote cut-off tube. Normally a sharp cut-off tube like the 6C6 would have been used for that role. I can't find any data on the 25A or 25B but I imagine that the 25A is a sharp cut-off and the 25B is a remote cut-off. Something to consider if performance is an issue.

Looks good Buzz you wont have to worry about the new transformer running to hot as you said its a bit over kill.

Recently subscribed, Love the restores and the 8mm videos. You and I have something in common , we both had a screw loose when we were born, lol! Question: do I hear Shemp from the 3 stooges occasionally?

Great job, Buzz! Darn those bleeping power transformers! I’ll bet those home movies were a lot more fun to make than they are to watch. Just kidding, that was fun. And Candy was a cute doggie.

Congrats on a successful power up after replacing the transformer Buzz. Sounds pretty good. :)

You may take a good and sharp picture of the dogs? Regards from Stig Österberg, an animal lover from Dalsbruk in Finland🐕🐕.

Those WAX CAPs got'ta go !!!

Very entertaining video and enjoyable 8mm home movie! Do you think this restore video will be a 3 or 4 part job?

That was when Crosley meant business. This Crosley even has the police 👮‍♀️ band, and civil defense markings. Back in the day, this Crosley would have probably saved your life. I don’t know who put those stickers on there, but if you’re going to refinish this, they’ll have to go. I sure like 👍 the label 🏷 on the back of this radio, it even bears 🐻 “Made in America” 🇺🇸. It also appears to have some reference bands listed on it. Radiotvphononut said Mr. Crosley would be turning in his grave, with his name used on junky record players and radios of today. Once ya get this radio restored, I hope 🤞 ya keep it safe and in your house 🏠. It will definitely be worth a few beers 🍻. Your friend, Jeff.

I think the dogs name was Poochie - hard to be sure... beautiful radio - The burning question is will you paint that brand new transformer Red ? Nice work my friend

great job buzz

Unfortunately that particular variety of Power Transformers were notorious for shorted HV Windings RCA and GE and Westinghouse Also used these power Transformers and I had a couple of old Tombstone Radios that used these types of Transformers that were from the same time period (1935) and thankfully they didn't have any bad HV Windings, but they did have bad wiring jobs (someone replaced the original power cord in an old RCA 5T Tombstone from 1935 that I have and they wired it up wrong so that when you tried to turn it on it would blow a breaker.)

Love the Laurel and Hardy music !!

Hi Buzz, that HV winding was a real disappointment. Why they used that center tap connection the way they did is strange. They could have just run a wire out, that would have been a lot more reliable. Looking forward to the next part.

Limey here. I like old radio's too Buzz. Wot no Buzzwinder this time? Whats up with the speaker thing.

I Just love to sound effects...

Nice set of videos! I am rebuilding a 515 and my radio also had a 78 tube in place of a 6D6. Did you reuse the 78 or replace it with a 6D6?

Crosley has always been one of my favorites and they did use some interesting engineering . Loved the video, Buzz. Too bad about that transformer but it's good you had a new one. Hey take care and good luck on the next parts and thank you for the laughs.....

I Told you you should have got a zenith lol Funny I bought two Zenith Transistor radios this last month for projects. Or you could call it a Tabletop tombstone radio. A Crosley from 1935 now those are pretty hard to come by. Did you pay big bucks for that one Buzz?

That ground wire must be the High voltage center tap and one side was broken off.

Hey Buzz! Perhaps it's just me?, but I could have sworn I heard Car 54 where are you? & One Adam-12, One Adam-12 on The Police Band. Might want to go back and try it again. Love your video's Buzz!...until you get to handling a speaker. Perhaps Peanut should be the one handling the speakers? Just Saying. :)

Hey Buzz. I have this same radio, with the same friction tuner issues. Where did you get the replacement plastic?

To hell with those purist Buzz. Paint power trasformers whatever color you want. 78 tube is better than a 6D6 at least as far as an IF tube goes. 1935 radio costing 19.99 then is $432.15 today. So you got a great deal at $90 . Too bad about the old power transformer but the new one works fine and the radio works! You and your brothers were great cinematographers early in life. What happened? BTW my first dog, a German Shepard ,was named Candy too. Steve

Not to be weird , but was that TV in the Buzz Cinema a Sylvania by any chance? My friend had one like it in the early sixties with a bad on/off switch. you had to unplug and plug in the set.

Greetings: I read something in here about two bad transformers and hoped it was not the new one (apparently they were referring to the previous video, whew!). I was hoping you would bench test it first unloaded, but I heard that you wired it up after replacing a bunch of caps first.

I dont know why youtube brought me here (probably because of algorythm link to Techmoan channel) but i must say, this is a great video

Nice job Buzz, what are the odds of two bad transformers!

Nice job on the restore thus far. It's a shame you didn't want to (or could not) re-wind the transformer. Putting a hundred bucks into a radio you already have a hundred bucks into sucks. OTOH, you couldn't buy anything new like this at any price today. So 200 plus whatever you need to buy in supplies for the rest of the radio is worth it if you like the style.

Hi Buzz! I think the dog's name is Willie. Only a guess though.

The power transformer decided, "Better dead than Red".

Nice job Buzz....no smoke too.....well at least at 47:50...John

Another good one! Looking forward to the finished product and how you got there! Just wondering; what ever happened to John from Arkansas? Did he finish the the Thunderbird?

Great to see a new project! Did your radio originally have “feet” that are now missing?

I would guess Nellie!

Looks like the new transformer seems to be key

Whenever I peruse the old ads I notice all the time radios priced without the tubes. That's insane. You're selling a product that doesn't work. But at least with this Crosley, you get the full price of a complete radio that actually works. 20 bucks supposedly is the modern equivalent of 432.37 Now, this is 1935. 3 years earlier, a 1oz gold coin had a face value of 20 Dollars. So it's more like 1700 Dollars.

GOOD JOB BUZZ

Decal name looks like it could be, "Millie."

I'll bet the dog's name is Willie

What happened buzz? I watched the whole video and no red transformer?

1:45 I think it says Nellie

Maybe dog named Nellie?

Great Buzz, I have This model too!! will be following closely:) Notice my handle:)

TRF set

43:35...that wasn't your fault: the speaker cone crumbled-(!)

p.s. David Tipton sent me

Looks like “Nellie”.

I hope this one gets a bright orange transformer for halloween!!!!

hope you keep the dogs

Name looked like "isabell" to me

because you want it red and have it in for the purist⛔

im thinking one of your past lives you were expired by a speaker cone

BILLIE THE PUPPY?

Nellie

First time on your channel. About to find something else.. too many irritating comments from your peanut gallery of wise cracks. Distracting. Good luck.

But Crosely WAS a cheap- radio!