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The underside. WHAT THE DICKENS??! Who put that huge filter capacitor in there? It's the wrong value and definitely the wrong physical size. It's so big that it's DENTED on the far side from being smashed into the radio.
 
Rubber coated wire! If you've ever come across something with an old rubber band around it, and the rubber band is half disintegrated, you can understand the folly of coating wires with rubber. If you touch these wires the insulation will shatter as though it was made of ice.

Notice the red wire on the right, coiled around the capacitor lead. That's there for a reason. What looks like a mess under here is actually a carefully planned parts layout. It's important to place the new parts in approximately the same place.

There's a paper capacitor buried down there. How are you supposed to get to that? If it was the year 1960, no problem, just move the wires aside. But it's 2019 and the insulation on the wires is petrified.
 
 
 
Time to get working on the radio, but first, some cosmic strangeness. Remember the white plug mentioned on the previous page? I Googled this radio to see if I could find what the original plug looked like. I found this picture and thought, "Oh wow, it actually had a white plug.

Then I looked closer.

This isn't a radio similar to the one I'm working on, this IS the radio. It's the same radio!!

I got this radio from my son-in-law's mom, who got it from a guy she works with, who said it belonged to his father, He wanted $20 for it. So how is it that it was sold at "Shelly's Sales?" Did the guy's father buy it and somehow his son ended up with it?
 
 
 
Amazingly, the paper finish protectors behind the knobs survived all these years.
 
The radio is going to be restored in reverse order. I'm going to refinish the cabinet, then work on the radio's electronics.
I spent more money refinishing the radio cabinet than the radio cost me.
 
The instructions on the Formby's can were absolutely useless. It says to dip the steel wool in the Formby's, melt the finish, then dip the steel wool in the Formby's again and repeat. All it made was a big mess. Then my gloves melted.
 
The way to do it is to melt the finish and wipe it off with a rag (and wear gloves that don't melt).
 
Adding some contrast to the cabinet.
 
The bare cabinet.
 
 
 
Two quick repairs. The crack in the veneer was held in with rubber bands. When the Formby's evaporated it had glued itself back together.
 
Spraying the cabinet. It was sprayed with three coats of lacquer, then sanded. Then three more coats and sanded again. It looked good after that, but for some reason I decided to apply one more coat. Big mistake.

It had become humid outside and the final coat "bloomed." Part of the cabinet turned frosty white as water molecules mixed with the lacquer. I sanded it all out, sprayed it again, and the same thing happened again. Now, I'm not a violent man by nature, but...

 

 
 
I thought these knobs would polish up in five minutes flat. After an hour polishing the first one, I realized they aren't plastic. They're Bakelite.
A Dremel with a polishing wheel was used on the other two.
 
Here's the new grille cloth. It's not white. A white grille cloth wouldn't look right in this old radio.
 
Old and new dial covers.
 
After the dial was polished, it looked brand new. It's crystal clear! What is this made out of??
 

 
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