I started this winter's project today. The cabinet is in decent shape with the obvious veneer chip the biggest flaw. The plastic dial cover seems OK. Knobs are not perfect but these were made from a material that degraded over time. I'll probably just keep these though. The pushbuttons are in good shape although their escutcheons have a little tarnish and rust on them. The back is missing and the veneer on the top has a small separation at the very top that will take some careful work to get some glue under it for repair without pulling it off completely. It does have that pesky asbestos sheet on the bottom of the cabinet that has some wear and fraying. I've carefully put that aside but am debating whether to put it back or not. Any thoughts? If I do put it back I'll probably spray it with clear coat krylon to help keep further fraying down. The grill cloth is also in relatively good shape and with some care I think I can get it back into the radio for reuse after the cabinet is refinished.
[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ikxf2eqiiofdiv....jpg?raw=1]
[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/frgheimwdue5v3....jpg?raw=1]
[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/skavqbvfcvsd7m....jpg?raw=1]
I think someone has restrung the dial. It looks to me like simple cotton string rather than the usual dial cord and they have it rubbing on a frame part that it should have bypassed. That's going to be a PITA to string but that cotton stuff just isn't going to last too long.
[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i2hetceqnxpjoh....jpg?raw=1]
I'll have to make the "ZENITH CONSOL-TONE" decal as I have not found it anywhere online. That will be a new task for me but I see you can buy water slide decal paper for inkjet printers.
[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rbp2uc5lcg4mq8....jpg?raw=1]
It will be a fine sounding set when done. I would remove the asbestos, save someone else the trouble later. You can spray it with a water mist and remove with a putty knife. Dispose at the the recycling ceter hazard day or the like. Wrap in a large bag when you get it out. With new caps it will serve no purpose and freaks many out.
I have removed a few of these as RCA seemed to use that stuff a lot. Try to get it in one piece.
Zenith also seemed to do a lot of twisting wire leads together and soldering them in mid-air unless someone else has been in the chassis (I don't believe so). There are some dogbone resistors and some carbon composition. I've seen this in some other 6-D-2615 restoration docs, probably using the last of those dogbones up during the war.
With regard to the asbestos sheet and it's removal, in some radios you may have to come up with some shims or some sort of substitute for the thickness of the asbestos sheet as items like pushbuttons will scrap along the bottom edge of the escutcheon that surrounds them. I removed a torn up sheet asbestos from under a Canadian G.E H-86 chassis and didn't even think of this until I replaced the pushbuttons and noticed that they scraped the bottom edge of each square hole in the bronze dial escutcheon whereas they didn't before I removed the asbestos.
I haven't noted whether the pushbutton assembly in this set is suspended on rubber mounts or no but I will still see about replacing the asbestos either with a steel sheet or a chunk of exhaust gasket material, in AC sets the paper caps are not the only things that can melt and burn there is also the power transformer with tar and varnish inside it.
Regards
Arran
Bob,
They did stuff those babies with wires....
Here is good news!
I had the decals made from Radiodaze and he was adding them to the site.
When the site got redone he must have forgotten to add them.
If you only need one then I can throw one in the mail.
If you need more then you can just call or email them with the part # DCL-ZE-6R631
Me
Times I have been electrocuted in 2021
As of 1/01/2021
AC: 4 DC: 1
Last year: 6
(This post was last modified: 01-09-2016, 07:25 AM by OldRestorer.)
Thanks for the tip arran, I'll find some shims or washers to lift the chassis a bit.
Thanks Kirk, but sam sent me some of those, an exact fit! OK, I won't repost that jammie picture of you
Well, when you replace the caps you will have plenty of room, why not replace the carbon resistors at the same time for another buck or two? Snazzy set!
Thanks codefox but I'll be restuffing those paper caps so won't be gaining any room that way ... I know... glutton for punishment.... I do like the way the set looks.
For some reason I always like to start by changing out the electrolytics. This one wasn't too hard to get to. A few paper caps to take out first and a handful of leads to disconnect. I opened the can by rolling the blade along the raised edge until it penetrated the can, same approach as a tube cutter, slow pressure while rolling. I'll epoxy the can back on after its up and running. Most of the label is still there and a little glue helped fix some spots that were loose. So here are more pics than most would want of this
That electrolytic was a replacement anyhow, the original would have been a Zenith branded one, possibly with a black cardboard sleeve, not a Mallory brand one with a blue and red label, so I wouldn't worry about preserving the label too much.
Regards
Arran
Thanks Arran. Now that you mention it, I did see a black cardboard covered electrolytic in the restoration I saw someone else doing online so I suspected mine was a replacement.
Am continuing to recap and check resistors. So far resistors have been amazingly on spec. I did replace one dogbone with a carbon composition. Most of the Zenith caps are similar to Philco caps with a cardboard tube with wax caps on each end of the foil cap. I did run into two Zenith caps that were thin paper over a wax cylinder that completely covered the foil cap. Fortunately I was able to slide the paper off of the wax without any heating and without damaging the paper. For these, I built up the diameter of the new yellow cap until it was the same as the paper and would thus provide some stability to the stuffed cap. I then fill the remainder with hot glue. Here's a picture of one of these after sliding the paper off of the wax cylinder containing the foil cap:
