Just purchased this old radio

Well......what do you think?
I believe it to be a HMV 1122 from 1951.
It's absolutely minging, but in pretty good shape. I will soon be on the clean up phase.
As for the internals.....well that's a different case altogether, and I may need advice from Fat C... just in case I go to electrocute myself .
I think it has been untouched inside, and I will not be powering it up until I have replaced some essential capacitors, and given it a good clean. All the wiring will have to be replaced too.
You will laugh when you see a photo of the insides .

 

Lovely old radio nice find .
You can get radio Luxembourg 208 on that NG !

 

Even better news then
I listened to that in bed every night as a wee boy

I need to research how to treat the wooden cabinet. Apparently it is a paper thin veneer on those.
I am also after an old 60's/70's stereogram, like my Aunt had .
This could be an additional hobby for me now. Not sure why I have suddenly aquired this liking for old radios, and players .

 

That's a modern radio, you need one like ours with proper valves




Ideal for sitting around and listening to the BBC Home Service of an evening

 

Blimey
How old is 'that' one .
Mine has 5 valves

Pic on the way shortly.

 

Valve replacement comes after the capacitors, if it needs new ones .
I think I had better clean this in the garden. I thought it was odd that the transformer wires were 'all' black, until I brushed them and found that they were coloured after all .

 

1940's, our dining room is all furnished with 1940's stuff.

 

OOOOH..... are they EL84 and ECC81 valves?....

Can't beat the sound of tubes in comparison to scratchy transistor radios....


looks in good nick, but get a tester on those resistors and capacitors , just in case...and don't touch anything until you've dis-charged the electrickery.... The current is massive on valves.

 

Hi Simon,
No, they are X78, N78, U78, W77, and DH77.
I am currently trying to clean the wood up, but it is proving much more difficult than I thought. It's like it has never been cleaned before, and the grime just won't come off .
I think I will just sell it on as untested, once I have made it look as nice as possible . The reason being, as you say, safety reasons. I have had 25 years or so in the electronics field, but not in 'test'. Best leave it to the experts, and I will probably make more money that way too .

 

What are you using?

 

The shop suggested something very mild like a baby wipe, so I have used wet wipes. I didn't want to use furniture polish , but I tried an area and had more success, but it still isn't good enough. The area still looks very grimey.

 

Ok, well, I'm not going to contradict the shop at this stage. So, I think you may have to take it day by day with the baby wipes. They are a gentle formula and you can only manage a very "gentle" action with them - so, each day a little bit more will penetrate and a little bit more grime will come off.
Just think: if it has decades of grime on it, a wipe with a baby wipe really isn't going to get the imbedded grime off in one application. But, you know that already!
Consider it a labour of love rather than fast results and just keep plodding on. I know it *will* get there - eventually - it just depends on how patient you are (or want to be )
There are more abrasive cleaners you could use, but, at this stage, I do think a more softly-softly approach will garner results.

 

Sell it on ?
I have just chucked one in the skip, clean and in working condition (two months ago)
Along with an Ekco Mariner radio

Jack McH

 

But I have a feeling I can double or maybe triple my money on this one , and that 'can't' be bad can it?