Very thorough as always. I think you are the only one who gets away with bending back tabs on pots, they always break when I try it. May be worth indicating how long these rebuilds actually take, so viewers can better appreciate your work.
Thank you! It is difficult to put numbers to it... I basically work on them whenever I'm not doing other stuff, sometimes a few hours, sometimes a few minutes at a time. It adds up, yes, but keeping track of it might outweigh the benefit quickly :)
I'm also owning an Heathkit device and I think they are very well-made. It is very unfortunate that yours is in such poor condition. But you did a great job, especially with the case and the transformer! I'm really looking forward to see part 2
The basic construction is top notch, I agree. The build quality depends a bit on who soldered the kit in the first place. But in my unit, I think that old age and neglected storage over some decades did a number on it. I can't blame that on the owner really. But I'd really like to know who stabbed the speaker; that's uncalled for. At least it was cheap; and I had a fun project from it!
As always commendable work you put into your restorations, I have never seen anyone be so thorough and meticulous when restoring something and it makes me happy. No crap with reforming and shortcoming solutions, you take the extra steps to make it a lasting outcome. not even when I make a restoration I go this deep. I re-cap and clean and lube everything and fix broken parts but usually don´t take pots and switches apart that still work good so I am ever so slightly more lazy lol. I just now built together a Eico Model 1171 Resistance Decade Box kit and boy was that a poor instruction manual by far but here I had to take switches apart because it been sitting in bad conditions since the 50s and they gotten stuck, But I got a good result in the end. there is something with older tools that simply feels more genuine than modern things, They were meant to be investment to your work for a long time to come
Your attention to detail is mind blowing. I can't wait to see how this turns out. I have a Knight KG-221 that my dad built before I was born. I have vague memories of my family listening to the local police chatter on it. 50 years later, it's sitting on my shelf and I'm planning on rebuilding it soon...your videos provide a wealth of information and ideas. I also have a really cool Heathkit ignition oscilloscope that he built and it's been very useful through the years.
2nd random thought ... You know you can get little abrasive cutting discs for a rotary (Dremel) type of tool ... That might have been a faster and slightly neater way to get that opening bigger 🤔
Indeed, I have one of those and it will be featured in part two for a slightly different reason. But in this particular case I had two thoughts: 1.: let's thry that nibbling thingy I got years ago... and 2.: I didn't want to cause any more gauges by slipping with a cutting disc 😊 - upgrading the power outlets in these devices seems to be a recurring theme, so maybe I'll find a way to run a program on my tiny CNC for some? Worth a try at least....
I can't remember on what YT channels I have suggested things, so, if I am repeating myself, I'm sorry... You might benefit from a DIY baking soda blaster... Easily made from an empty plastic bottle, a plastic tube/straw and an air nozzle/gun. Good for gentle cleaning/stripping. You might research it on YT. I wondered, if heat might have loosened the stuck pots? Opening them to clean them being needed, too. But, would freeing them with heat make that process easier? Your skills are amazing = kudos!
Somebody suggested a "baking soda blaster" before; I still have to look into that. As for heat: I like to avoid that as long as I can, because too much heat changes materials and it's hard to get just right. So as long as there's a chance for something to get going at room temperature, I prefer that; besides, less chance of setting fire to stuff. That's my reasoning 😁
I am willing to see that being used. It will be interesting. I love those "magic eye" indicators they very cool. What did you used to remove the paint? Thinner?
The paint removal is done with "paint stripper"? not sure if there's a proper other term for it. It's strong solvents within a gel. The foil cover makes sure that there is little evaporation before scraping off the paint. Gloves and good ventilation are a must; In this case, I didn't film the 2nd round; the first one didn't quite get thorugh the paint all the way around.
Extreme Recombobulation! Of course it will work again - what would be the point if it didn't? I usually clean the dirty chassis with a stainless steel dish scrubber and some WD40.
Well, we got to end on a bit of a cliff hanger, don't we? :P I haven't tried the metal dish scrubber ones yet; the little green pad I'm using in the clip is a regular one and some water. That did a decent job.
@@atkelar I stick with metal if there are no descriptions, markings or paint I want to preserve. I also use it for scratching aluminum to give it a nice finish - it works way faster and easier than sandpaper.
I'm amazed every time how thorough you are! Thanks for this, really waiting for a second part! Why did you decide to restore the pots, btw? Are they weird values?
Thanks! The pots were completely stuck, as in: one wouldn't turn at all and the other was barely turning, while the "on off" switch was measuring "open" in both positins... so: way too much dirt on the contacts and in the moving parts. The "gain" one still needs a bit of contact cleaner, it's still a bit scratchy, despite the in-depth cleaning.
Oh, that way around. Well, especially the ones that have an integrated switch are not readily avialble in all values; also, modern ones are usually not equipped to switch mains voltage to begin with. And then, these run in several 100V in tube circuits; Again, I would need to see what is available in that size/voltage rating around here.
I did make some for the "tube turntable" motor (Musical 5 project) because the original ones crumbled to dust. In this case, I wanted to keep the innermost winding. Also, the 3D printed materials are usually not as heat resistant as the original stuff... and I can only ever tell after he fact if a coil will heat up or not 😊
@@atkelar yeah this one did get pretty toasty. Around 500ma @ 12VDC with a coil resistance of 17ohm But it's only on for short amounts of time for a educational fixture
Ah yes our good friend 'Nick O'Tar' (tobacco residue ) you might want to wear gloves when you clean something like this. One usually get a good does of 'third hand smoke' when playing with these old boxes. By the way the small micro holes in the speaker are likely caused by tar as well reacting with the chemicals in the paper in the cone. I have seen this same thing in other speakers that where in devices that came from 'Smoke environments'
Waring gloves is a good idea, though it's almost impossible to get a good feeling of stuff in those. I usually only take those out, when I need to deal with more agressive solvents or non-water based paints. Not sure about the cone; At least one of the holes I would think was caused by stabbing: Thre was a matching hole in the grill after all; I did think of some reaction or insects too, but the holes were too "sharp" IMHO. I'd expect a bit more jagged edges for these reasons. But at least it's about as fixed now as it can be 😁
@@atkelar yeah the cones are always problematic they can just decay, get eaten, poked, ripped etc etc. Will have to try coffee filters on the next one I repair, I usually water the wood glue down to a 25% water mixture as it is not as stiff when it dries as well you might want to put a coating of speaker rubber to stop it from decaying even more, as fidelity does not really matter on this bit of kit. 😄
If you need to replace the speaker mesh on a device like that ever ... Aluminum window screen material - it's not quite the same but is a very low cost 'almost as good as' in a lot of instances Just ... Random thought! ... *Goes back to watching*
Hi Atkelar, could you help me with a SONY CFM-10 radio?,it is working but The FM is a little out of adjustment and the AM is inexistent, there are some signals but they are VERY weak and they are in English from what I can hear ( I am Spanish speaking ) and I don't know where I can adjust the AM and FM frequencies, I hope you can advise me on what I could do at least and if you need to know anything more about the radio you can ask me.!
I'd love to help, but I fear I'm not versed enough yet to remotely diagnose a device that I don't own myself. The biggest issue with AM would be that there is barely a station left that transmits around the clock; so before giving up on that, I'd use a reference radio next to it to check if ther even is anything going on anyhow.
