Vintage Radio Restoration - STC A5130 Part 1 - Look Over and Caps Replacement
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Restoration of an STC A5130 valve radio from 1953 Part 1. Follow and help me restore this classic Australian Radio. I retired and needed a hobby and vintage radios are it! I have no background or training in radio but I've restored quite a few in the last 18 months and thought I would share my passion with you. I learned a lot from watching videos from other repairers so with this series I hope I can contribute something back.
For a radio restorer with
18 months of experience I salute you. I've been in this field and shudder at the fixes you take on. Keep up the great skill of your work. You inspire me. Last week in a video of yours I noticed your alignment tool all gathered on a glass jar. I asked my dummy, " why didn't you think of that"?
Hi Cosimo, I'm probably too dumb to know any better 😄 Ha-ha, the glass jar works great 👍🙂
Interesting. I like the overhead shots best as the hand-held ones tend to hurt my eyes which don't seem to get any younger. I, too, knew nothing about valve radios until I retired from my systems engineer job. YT is my sole teacher. Interesting seeing how people in different countries restore their radios.
Haha... Yes, sorry about that SY. I try to do it better in later videos 🙂
Your video shooting improved quite a lot since your first video. I am watching this after your latest videos.
Yes, I had to start somewhere 😄
Many thanks David. Really useful information and well produced. Looking forward to watching further productions as I get closer to taking may first job off the shelf. Peter
Thanks for watching DoctorFlat, very early video and they weren't the best. Good luck with your projects 👍🙂
Nice restoration, thanks from India
Thank you Satish 🙂
Another great video David! As I'm going slowly along discovering your videos, I think that your attention to details is to be admired!
Thanks Moshe, I try to do a good job, it's more rewarding I think. Thank you for taking the time to comment 👍🙂
You amaze and inspire me. If I had the means I may just try something like this myself some day. Keep up the great work.
Hi John, thank you. I hope you can do something someday, I only learned from the internet and UA-cam. Respect the lethal voltages though, good luck 😀
the choke elevates the centre tap of the power tranny giving you a negative voltage for the biasing of the output tube and so forth
Yeah, thanks Ian, these were early videos and my knowledge is better than it was then... I hope 🙂 If I remember I was surprised to see the choke on the centre tap and not in the HT, since then I have seen it in similar positions on other radios and understand it better. Thanks for your input, I'm learning this as I go 👍
@@DavidTipton101 any time you need help with electronic topology just ask me i do this 24/7 build missy audio amps preamps and repairing electronics
Thanks Ian, I may take you up on that 🙂
3:40 If that last valve you retrieved came out shivering and shaking, it was a *nervous wreck-tifier!* LOL
🙂
I do appreciate your soldering technique. It's spot on.
Hi Tim, Thank you, this was done quite a while ago, might have been my first video 🙂
When i first took an interest in repairing/rebuilding radios I found people here showing you how they did it. I immediately noted that some pronounce "solder" as you do, but we in America don't sound the letter L when saying it. I pulled out my trusted Webster's Encyclopedic Dictionary from the 1950s and looked that word up. It is correct in American English to pronounce it as we do, and the same dictionary references that the British Commonwealth pronounces it as do the French with the L sound. The origin of the word is also noted, and it is from Old French solder. Geography plays a big part apparently in such matters. Aluminum is another such word, as you know, and there are quite a few with different pronunciations. Keep up the good work!
Hi Jeff, I first knew of the US pronunciation of solder when we were shown US war time training films during my apprenticeship in the very early 70s, it seemed quite funny at the time. Aluminium in British english has an additional 'I' in it changing the words pronunciation. There is a great diversity in pronunciation and spelling between British and American english, you could probably call it language evolution 😀
David Tipton your vintag radio Receiver A5130 from 1953 is cool
Thanks Greg 🙂
Nice work Dave - great to see the whole process rather than edited shorts. Cheers, Chris :)
Thanks Chris, glad you got something out of it, Cheers.
Hello I just watched this one, and you did a great job, I also hook on to wires a lot.Just one thing, if possible , if you are going to leave a part, especially a cap, you should
try not to twist it. They are sealed and the motion might break that, and or the connectionsinside.!I have a small angled mirror, that is really helpful in those cases.You are very methodical, that is good in electronics!
Hi David, did I twist a component and leave it in there? I have given myself a slap on the wrist. That's good advice, thanks for pointing it out 🙂
No capacitors left behind!
This looks like a “typewriter” 📻 radio in the photo. It’s simply the lighting hitting the top speaker slots, along with 60 years worth of dust. I really like the top firing speaker. I’m sure it’s permanent magnet. Field coil speakers can be hard to fix if the field coil has gone open, since this problem can manifest itself in many other ways, like a faulty switch or burned out capacitor. That’s only two to mention. A broken wire can be a third, and it can be anywhere in the system. To mention as a number four, a fuse. Fifth, a bad tube. Sometimes, even the test meter may pass this up. My brain 🧠 may be next, as far as not being able to diagnose the problem. This is another great 👍 quality radio 📻, hinting that 1950’s look. Cheap Chinese radios 📻 do not compare. I think 🤔 this is a Bakelite case. I’d really like to know how to know when a radio is Bakelite, and not a Bakelite look-alike. One ☝️ way of testing this is wetting the Bakelite, and rubbing it with a fast 💨 motion, and smelling it. If it puts out a formaldehyde like smell, it’s Bakelite. I don’t know 🤔 if this is a good test or not, in case of accidental damage. I guess if it doesn’t harm the case of the radio 📻, I’m probably fine. I don’t know 🤔 if you can do this test, simply by the heat of the tubes as they warm up, by smelling the back of the radio near the ventilation slots. This would avoid unnecessary friction on the case of the radio.
Hi Jeffrey, It's Bakelite.
Wow!.....Hi David....I just watched the entire 1 hour and 2 seconds of this video....What a GEM.
That long segment of you replacing capacitors is epic....I would have never have thought of doing that whole segment in 1 take.....It shows David Tipton, a greenhorn radio restorer, raw and live...it's very amusing, and when you discover you put in the wrong value capacitor, that was very ,very funny......then later, you test a cap you replaced, and it tests good! haha.
Then while replacing caps, you say you forget to power up the radio before replacing them...classic ,classic, unintentional humor. Then you mention the pronunciation of the word solder...You say solder the American way,, then say it's pronounced sold-er, not, sodd-er.
and that you love Americans, even though they pronounce it wrong!!....🤣🤣Then we get to see your beautiful hands in the video, and get a peek of your bald head....What a great video! Please don't get me wrong...we all have our first videos, and mine are horrendous, but yours have a quaint appeal, and are very sweet and innocent...you have come a long way, my friend...and I will watch part 2 tomorrow.
You Rock!.👍👍👍👍
Buzz
I can't watch my first videos Buzz, it's too embarrassing. the sound quality is atrocious and the content uninspiring. It is pretty raw and uncut, I quickly changed the format in later videos. I worked for an airline so spent a lot of time with folks from Boeing and Douglas doing courses and practical training, everyone was helpful and friendly. We also traveled the US extensively and loved it. Thanks Buzz, I still have the radio and it still works so I must have bumbled something right. Cheers! 😄
This literally blew my mind.
Arrrh 🤯
Hello again, David. I can stop to see your restorations!...
Hi again lu9da, thanks 😃
Hi Dave , are you keeping well mate. Love your work.👍
I'm pretty good thanks Lawrence 🙂
,hllo davad رد my frand
I lave you for thes videoi
Abdul... 📻📻📻🎼
I love you for watching Abdul 👍😀
I love the vids - down to earth, no unnecessary health and safety advice, no bs. Only one bit I don't care for is the out of focus hand held gopro swooping around. Minimise the movement and keep it slow.
HI Andy, that is a very early video, I think I have improved on that now 🙂
@@DavidTipton101 yeah, I'm working my way through them and you're right. Getting better all the time. Crazy station designations down there in the antipodes. In the UK we had 'The light programme' and 'Radio Luxemburg' and 'Hilversum'. Come to think of it, equally crazy.
@@pintokitkat Ha-ha... right Andy, the dials suit the local requirements. I get a few comments regarding the Aussie dial glasses, I think they look pretty normal 👍😄
David Tipton your utube videos are awesome 👍👍👍👍👍😎😎📻📻😎😎😎👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thanks Greg 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to explain, that’s great
My pleasure Sam
Good on you David. Top Job.
Thanks ACHF 😀
Greetings:
My view of the power transformer shows it to be of a size suitable for use with lower frequency mains supplies such as 40 Hz or even 25 Hz mains (Ontario, Canada on Niagra power).
Hi James, it is designed for 50 Hz in Australia, it is a pretty standard size for a radio of this design, it operates at 240 Volts. Thanks 👍🙂
Aussie manufacturers do a nice job laying out parts and wire routing of their radio equipment..
You think so, it looks like a birds nest in there 😄
well... better than a rats nest.
Ha-ha right 😄
What I did with my tester like that was to solder on a couple of croc clips that I can clip on in circuit or half in circuit caps and test.. Works great. For that purpose I just took a double clip cable and cut it in half. Most of the time the tester doesn't care which lead goes where.. I am considering adding a third for transistor checking but as little of that testing that comes up it doesn't seem worth the trouble.
Hi Jerry, thanks. That was a very early video, the first I think. I now have two cap testers with croc clips on them. I also have a transistor checker with 3 clips, cheap unit from eBay but works well most of the time, thanks 👍😀
I like the cap tester you used. I have one like it. However I only use it to measure the ESR value. I use separate a cap tester for cap values. It works quicker. Up until last Summer I used an old Heathkit LCR bridge .
Hi Cosimo, It works OK, as you say gives the ESR as well. I have another cap tester but it's really only good for checking values. I usually just chuck them out if I doubt them. I saw one UA-camr the other day change a cap and it fixed the problem, when he tested it with a Heathkit tester it tested ok. Go figure 🤔😮
David Tipton yes, I did not like the Heathkit null bridge. Too hard to use and dubious results. Once upon a time null testers were all there was. In my work life At the lab we had a General Instruments bridge and it was a precision tool, until the digital model came out in the late 1970's.
Great video great work
Hi Andy, thank you 🙂
Super super super ❤❤❤❤
Thank you @antiquetaperecorderlovermu9699 👍😃
you are the best Mr
Thanks Karim 😃
Aahaa... there is that digital tester I use too. It better than any cap checker or bridge even though it neglects to measure leakage. The tester will check ESR, cap value, inductance, resistance and transistor, diode junction voltages. I test leakage with a variable 500 VDC , monitoring voltage applied and current with two separate meters. I gradually bring the voltage up from Zero while observing current. There should be no current, but a leakage below 1ma can be normal and acceptable. Once at the cap rated voltage I pulse the voltage on and off. After all is said and done I still change out the 50 year plus part. I even spot check new parts as a sampling incoming inspection routine. I did put short test leads with mini alligator clips on my digital tester.
I physically broke that tester so now have a new rechargeable one in a neat case, they are very handy. If the capacitor is very leaky it will sometimes show as a resistor. I don't have a DC power supply but wonder if I should get one (expensive) or make something out of a transformer and solid state rectifier connected to my Variac, I have all the parts. Food for thought 🤔🤔🤔
I had an old power transformer laying around , I bread boarded it on a plank using diodes on terminal strips in a full wave bridge and a input/output capacitive Pi filter using a 5 henry power choke from an old Philco radio. The whole system runs off a variac for voltage variance. Its just a temporary setup kept under the bench until I need it. I use an EICO VTVM to monitor the voltage and a Simpson 260 to monitor the current. It's something I did for amusement.
I thought you were referring to a manufactured one. Sounds like an idea, thanks Cosimo 👍
I pre solder my loops first I find it much easier to have the part in one hand and the pencil in the other the only is have to tin the wire your connecting to first
I agree Richard, I often presolder and add a bit of flux to the parts when I join them. This is a very old video, I might have changed my ways since then 👍😀
Very Very thank you Sir ji 😊👌👆🙏
Thanks Rssuthar 🙂
Hi. Suggestion. Use PTFE tubing instead of heat shrink stuff. Just a thought. Love the videos. Thanks for sharing.
Hi George, thanks for your comment. I don't have any PTFE tube and can't get it locally. I have buckets of heat shrink though 😄
Yo David, @1:01:45 in the video there is a square Capacitor 12 O clock High, which can also go out of spec, and then just above that there is what also could be a capacitor that may go out of spec, besides that so far so good..
APU I dropped a like..
Yes, the mica, usually OK unless they have high power on them. This was one of my first videos, at that stage I was told Micas will never give any trouble, I know better now 🙄🙂 I hope I changed the rest of the caps. Thanks 👍
Canadians pronounce it sodder, dad came from the old country Very particular about pronunciation so i call it SoLder too. : )
I have heard a number of Canadian UA-camrs call it solder and not sodder, Paul Carlson is one. I think I read it originated from an old French word soudeur meaning to join or weld and and the Americans stuck with the pronunciation even after the spelling was changed, I think 🤔
A strange little phenomena, when you solder at 14:06 I am hearing a low frequency hum through my headphones. It's very faint but it's there. It seems that your iron is inducing a frequency into the cameras audio circuit.
Yes, maybe, depending where in the circuit I sometimes get a hum through the radio speaker 🤔
I assume most (if not all) of your vintage radios are AM only. If so, there wouldn't be much on the AM band worth listening to nowadays after restoring them but this can be a fun hobby and a great stress-reliever - if you enjoy doing it.
Hey RJ, yes, most of my radios are AM, I do have a few FM radios from Europe. There are still AM stations locally and one plays oldies, the rest are talk or sport
@@DavidTipton101 None of the AM stations remaining here in SA play much in the way of music nowadays (if any at all) - it's all talk and sport (OK for fans I guess). For instance, Adelaide's 5AA hasn't been the same since Bob Francis passed away 3 years ago. FM isn't much better - junior on-air announcers and more commercials/competitions than songs being played - when a song is played, it's mostly 10-minute auto-tune produced "X-Factor" rubbish from this decade, not a classic 70's or 80's hit from a well-known rock band/solo artist which kind of destroys the listening experience for me.
So I can appreciate the quality of your vintage radio restores; they're a slice of nostalgia preserved for many years to come.
It is a pet hate of mine when someone says sodder instead of solder.
Solder is the correct English word.
Sodder is derived from the French souder as I understand it.
I'm prepared to cut some slack for French and Canadian folks but the Americans have no excuse 😉😉😊😊😁😁
Eric
Hi Eric, I don't mind one way or another really, it is kinda strange though. Oddly, Paul Carlson who is Canadian pronounces it solder. More baffling is how soldier is pronounced 🙂
If you have a waxy wonder that is hard to read try blasting it with your heat gun, the dirty surface wax often runs off revealing the writing more clearly.
That's a good idea Steven, I'll remember that, thanks 👍🙂
nice radio
Hi Ian, yes, bit of a classic radio 👍
46:58 At least you corrected yourself here by saying *SOLDER!* The Yanks quite wrongly say *sodder.* I don't know if the Canadians say it that way. Hopefully they'd be better-educated than the largely-ignorant yanks.
Hi Neil. Sodder is from French "souder," but an L was added later to comply with English language rules... I think.
The Yanks arn''t wrong, they just pronounce it a different way. We don't pronounce the 'L' in salmon, do we? Don't even get me started on 'soldier' 🙄
ah yes an old STC or as they were later referred to as "Stuff The Customer"
Oh dear 😯
Wow Mr Tip. , scary cant they be taken out and housed down with some soap then dried for a day or 2 in the sun? without the tubes in ofcoarse and Speakers off?
I did wash a radio in the early days and I can't remember why, it didn't harm it but most of the parts had been removed 🤔
I'm restoring an old Sparton Tube radio circa 1946 and ran across something on the schematic that I have never seen before. The last resistor listed says R18 2700 ohms 5. w. w. w.. All the other resistors show the ohm value and watt value as an example R4 100 ohms .5w etc. My question is what does it mean when there are 3 "w" s like that? I went
ahead and replaced the R18 with a 2700 ohm 5 watt resistor. The radio works and I have the proper voltages but the resistor is getting extremely hot. Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.
Hi James, The Sparton are nice looking radios from Canada I think. I was going to say it stands for World Wide Web but of course it means 5 Watts 'Wire Wound'.
It will get hot, it's probably dropping voltage for plates or screens.
You can check the Wattage the resistor is dissipating by measuring the DC voltage drop across it and using ohms law to calculate the current, (I=V/R) then convert it to Watts, (P=I*V)... or be slack like me and use an on-line calculator: ohmslawcalculator.com/ohms-law-calculator
The Wattage reading should be about half the resistor Wattage rating, give or take 🙂
@@DavidTipton101 Thanks David I think you are right not sure why I didn't think of that. I assume that maybe the wire wound resistors dissipate more heat than regular ceramic or film resistors
@@jameshochstetler6093 Higher Wattage resistors tend to be wire wound to carry the current load, the ceramic resistors I have seen are wire wound 🤔
David, are these new caps marked for outside foil - useful if they are?
Hi Tre, no markings but it can be determined a number of ways if you need to. I don't bother too much about it myself but others do 👍🙂
.@@DavidTipton101. Thanks for reply, David. I haven't tried reversing capacitors to see if hum is changed in any superhet circuit applications; must get around to it some day. Testing for outside foil, I can only think of alternately touching each wire of a cap to an amplifier mike input, to check for noise - or maybe a tube grid cap, though I don't know how successful it would be. Any ideas yourself. PS. I enjoy your rebuilds very much.
@@trebushett2079 Your idea is very good. For me, I attach the leads of my oscilloscope to the capacitor leads and touch the capacitor body, flip the leads and whichever direction gives the least interference note the lead the ground clip of the oscilloscope is connected to, that is the outside foil. Mr Carlson's Lab channel has a video on doing it and he has a black box he built to test them. If I was going to wholesale test caps I would make a jig with two vertical probes on a block of wood connected to my oscilloscope and just hold the cap either way to determine the outside foil and mark it with a marker.
I found the link to Paul Carlson's video: ua-cam.com/video/BnR_DLd1PDI/v-deo.html&ab_channel=MrCarlson%27sLab
Hi, for the price " it was a good deal " I hope you got the rear part in cardboard ? Thank you for sharing :)👍
Hi Alain, thanks. Yes, I got a cardboard replacement 🙂
an old capacitor's mark is "Ducon"! in french, ducon means "moron" or "asshole"...
So when I swear at capacitors, I'm calling them by name... who knew! Thanks André 😄
Hmm an aircraft engineer, So you replaced the elastic band :-D, sorry my silly mind.
You had to be careful repairing airoplanes as peoples lives depended on the correct operation of every part.
You work in a careful way with radios as well, no excessive force and keep the structure sound.
No reply needed, i'm just leaving comments to show appreciation.
Most of the aircraft I worked on had at least 2 up to 4 lacker bands zx8401ztv 😄 Thanks for your comment 👍🙂
👍👍👍
Thanks la la 😊
I thought you said STD and I'm not talking about interstate phone calls either! xxx Why are all the brilliant guys straight? I need a husband too you know????
Haha... thanks Andrew 😄
So you need to be careful of asbestos covered wire in old radios?
I haven't seen any asbestos covered wire that I know of, I hope not 😥
classic 1950 radios no earth on the ac cord and i bet no mains fuse
Nah, don't need all that safety stuff 😉, I don't think that came in till the 60s - 70s as far as I know. I remember my Mum's radio catching fire in the kitchen when I was very young 😮
@@DavidTipton101 its amazing i still see crazy stuff like this. i do test and tagging and some of the electrical boo boos
Wax caps need to be checked for leakage...
Hi Andre, yeah, most are no good after 70 years, I just change them all. Even if they still work now they will fail sooner rather than later.
tr spelling colour the american way david, it seems they do it all the time
I'm all for streamlining George but I prefer to stick to the English spelling 😄
Hola amigo yo mepregunto de donde saca tantos radiios aqui en chile los teinicos nolos toman encuenta para nada nisiquiera una pregunta ..juan
Hola Juan, hay mucha radio aquí.
You must have had some intensive anger management therapy before starting on that radio.
Hi Paul, No, I had anger therapy AFTER the radio 😄 Thanks
In response to your request for suggestions in this video, I have a couple of videos that I would like to suggest you watch. I may have already mentioned them to you in another video, not sure, but just in case, since they are such excellent videos, here they are:
ua-cam.com/video/BnR_DLd1PDI/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/67M7fsbLUIU/v-deo.html
A radio might work without applying the things mentioned in these videos, but it will work much better if the "rules" are followed!
Keep up the great videos! Thanks for the "stop gap" short ones too.
Hi Wayne, thanks, I'll look at them, always happy to get suggestions 🙂
Do you look at the QUALITY of your video? Your info may be good for us but the blurry, erratic videoing needs a whole lot of work. Use a tripod and zoom out a little. But, thanks for the electronics lesson. Very helpful even if I do have to go out now and buy a seeing-eye dog. Cheers
Thanks for the feedback Ragbear Good Life, That was my first video, I try to get better as I go along 😉
Stc stadard telephone company
Hi ajhnubia, correct.. well it's really Standard Telephones and Cables but good enough 🏆🙂
LOL! I'm guessing this is your first video because i still have your wedding ring on.
First thing I learn working on anything with voltage is to wear nothing conductive.
Hi Tim, I always wear my ring 👍
Mi face book es juan eduardo bravo zuniga busqueme ahy radios mios .juan
Lo siento, no puedo encontrarlo juan