Rust

The original cabinet was oil / diesel damaged , a bit worm infested , and the cabinet just a bit too tired to restore for my liking. So I decided to try something different, to design a cabinet , and basically give it the typical 30’s look , a bit art deco and with a look it could go into any room of a house. The tracking arial makes a huge difference instead of the old common piece of wire , as you will notice with the radio playing , with the knob on the arial getting adjusted. The arial is a proto type where the base will also be made out of American Oak , a bit of Brass Plate added , Bolts the same in the radio , and repo cord for the cable . The Knob was actually made for a Stewart Warner console radio , which was left over by a guy who is a magician on a lathe , which was made out of wood. You will also notice the small case on the bottom right at the back of the radio , which I made to house two fob watch type Volt and Amp meters. The edging is Brass Angle , with Brass Bolts , with Felt added to the holding Brass Plates . This alone , took a day and a half to finally built and finish.

1/ The chassis was fully stripped , where I replaced all valves with new / old stock,
caps where done, as with all wires cloth rewired
2/ Cloth wire was used to fully rewire the radio , with cotton turns on the valve leads
and power cords
3/ All brass hardware , nuts and bolts where buffed and sealed.
4/ The valve cans where re sprayed as close to the original Blue , ” didn’t think they
had a metallic paint back then ” which where rusty and made of steel.
5/ The caps are aluminum , where I buffed them as well , and sealed , as they
where Blue as well where I could have sprayed Blue if I want to later.
6/ The other two caps where buffed as well, which where painted , ” The size of
pressure can caps.
7/ Variable cap was cleaned in Caustic Soda
8/ Dial lamp was a rebuild with all brass and copper fittings s buffed and sealed
9/ The rectangle boxes in Blue is power packs , where RED and BLACK is 2 x 135
packs and GREEN and YELLOW are 2 x 6 VOLT rechargeable 7 amps packs for
memory where I have bolted to the chassis. The 135 pack was bolted to the base
plate.
10/ The speaker I rebuilt , rewired , all hardware buffed and sealed with repo
power cord. The Brass rings x 2 I cut , drilled , made 5mm ferrels for spacers
With the speaker grill which is basically aluminum fly screen , where I
sprayed , made a stencil up and sprayed R.G.B. ” Radio Gram Bloke ” with the
rubber extrusion, for what they use in cars around the doors . The rings is where
I went for the art deco look.
11/ The wood Is American Oak, where the base is 25mm thick, the surround is 5 mm
thick, with the Acrylic 8 mm thick. The wood I stained In Australian Walnut
which is a typical 20 -30 s look stain.
12/ The Brass Face plate has been engraved , where I used a porcelain paint and
Baked .
13/ The Brass Screw head bolts , are typical 1930’s , where I found a box of them
they also have a very fine groove around the head , which just gives that little bit
detail
14/ I used some Gold pin stripe , as High lights , where I think it sets the radio off

15 / Im currently making up a small compartment where I have bought some volt and
amp fob watch style gauges where these will be attached in American Oak to The
135 volt pack , with Brass bolts etc

Overall , this was a big learning curb for me , because there was a lot of things
to take into account , measurements , design , changes ” just the speaker grill was 10 attempts , with colour , mounting the speaker and everything to size. The cabinet I had laser cut , as with the wood. Then it was the scenario , of making everything fit , drill holes, shortening brass bolts , to use brass dome nuts.
The reason I built the cabinet was for ”promo ” work , when people come around , if they want a restoration done , plus I wanted a conversation piece that was different , and possibly looking interesting. So , now it will go into my display room with the other Radios / Gramophones. Thanks for watching the video.

Cheers

Duration : 0:3:50

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