Trying to RESTORE a Dirty HUGE Vintage West German 1960s GRUNDIG Bookshelf RADIO
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- Опубликовано: 23 апр 2022
- Heavy old filthy vintage 1960s German radio (Grundig Type RF150) purchased faulty from eBay. Can it be restored to work again the way it did 50+ years ago. Let's find out.
Big thanks to Marc for telling me about this beautiful radio.
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Remember that this is just for entertainment and I am not an expert in these repairs. The processes in the video may not be the best way, the correct way or the safest way to fix these things. I do love fault finding and trying to fix broken things, so I hope that comes across in this 'Trying to FIX' series. Many thanks, Vince. 
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What a lovely looking radio! Good to see your workbench/studio all set up too! Great video as always, Vince 👍
Nice one Steve 👍👌
Hey StezStix Fix, looking forward to your next masterpiece..
hello dave 😍😍😍
Just a suggestion for future radios, you could use an FM transmitter; the kind you might have for a car, and then use that to play some roylaty free music to demonstrate the product, without risk of issues with copyright.
or better yet one of the pll quartz synthesized 2w ones from china that are much better than the crappy car ones and have more better range. Like the kind youd use for a drive-in church or movie
They go from 88mhz all the way up to 110mhz and have dual low and high power settings so much more handy too for testing and they run off 12v dc
I have one of those transmitters for my AM radio in my 1965 Cadillac so I can use my I-Pod to play through the original car radio.
Difficult not to distract from the originality but I’d instal a Buck converter to drop the supply on those lamps and cut the diffusers off the bulbs if you want to use filaments- you might even find the diffusers are over the top of the bulb glass. Of course, leds and a dropper resistor would enhance it… Great vid, Vince.
What a gorgeous piece. After all those years I can't believe that something more vital wasn't broken like the transformer, any of the caps, fuses on the board., even an old dry trace what just wasn't making a good enough contact. Speaks for that old German quality.
many blame capacitors for pretty much any and every fault, in my experience, theyre not , especially in that sort of age equipment,
That's what I was thinking. With all the rust and corrosion it must have spent a lot of time in a humid environment, but when the electronics are well-made that doesn't matter much, apparently.
The particle board construction just signals the direction Grundig, along with other manufacturers were taking in trying to be cost competitive with those clever Japanese. My grandfather had one of those old tabletop units from the late 40s in a lustrous REAL blond wood cabinet. The push-buttons and 'magic eye' intrigued my 5 year old self to no end! He was a certified Westinghouse electronic repair man and so, that radio was always in tip-top running condition!
The switchset is sticky and as long as you got a range switch down the Off switch will not stay off. The "AUS" (Off) switch kills power *and* releases the frequency switches. Usually a bit run down grease on the switches release rail.
The lamp holders can be pulled up and the bulbs removed without front removal. They are just pushed onto the sheetmetal latches.
Hello there Vince and greetings from germany!
For testing FM you could get one of these simple FM Transmitters and send royalty free music on different FM frequencies. Most times these devices can be plugged into whatever free headphone jack. Its also good for testing how accurate the pointer might be... e.g. sending music via 94 MHz and tune the radio to 94 MHz and so on.
Thanks for sharing the video!
yeah like the little 2w pll ones from china that are great for testing stuff and diy and whatnot
They definitely don't build them like this any more! Great video Vince, nice to see such a beautiful looking unit come to life again 😀
Thanks Phil, really is beautiful. I wish I had more space to display these type of things 👍👍👍
"Straight out of a Michael Caine film.... " Brilliant. I miss radios like this if I am honest. Today's stuff is mostly plastic rubbish.
OK, I agree, but for me, the sound of DAB+ is also great.
Great video Vince, the flex needs to be changed as that is single insulated cable which is no longer compliant as it should be double insulated.
You can use a 1 Amp fuse doing the calculations from the specs on the back.
Thanks for sharing.
You could always wire the bulbs in series to give you that warm light it should have and some clear heat shrink or silicone tubing over the bulbs to diffuse them. Looks like its a seperate supply off the board for the lights, probably 6v so by using 7v bulbs you get that warm light and the bulbs last a lot longer.
We remember something about how electronics shipped to the UK without a plug - the consumer being expected to buy and install one themselves. So putting a new plug won't necessarily spoil it being 'all original'...
I remember at school being taught how to fit a plug as nothing had them fitted. It was so frustrating when I got my NES having to find a plug before I could play it. Funny how now most devices that use USB to power it once again don't come with a power brick.
@@carlstokes7321 It's just a waste anyhow, all do have a spare brick laying around, and if not just buy one👏 Simple.
@@carlstokes7321 like having to look for batteries for our toys too
@@Alexander_l322 - for some reason the mis'ess keeps 'bogarting' all the C-batteries..
@@chezsnailez well if you did your job properly then she wouldn’t need to use it as much! Haha got ya
I have the exact same one, I bought it at a local scrapyard for a few Euros.
It worked right away but had several smaller (mostly mechanical) issues.
I lubricated all the movable parts, cleaned the pots, etc.
I also recapped the unit, since two caps were bad and it only has around four.
It is one of the best performing radios I have seen, it can get a whole bunch of stations that no other radio receives here.
At night, even Shortwave stations from all over the world are nice and strong, without any external antenna.
Beautiful radio! Working beautifully with all original components! Great sound quality as well! Bring more vintage stuff Vince, they were more creative back then!
sound quality .... are you sure ? I get your enthusiasm for vintage stuff, but I don't think this unit is not even close to be labeled as HiFi -> High Fidelity, just old radio
@Cushty_Crow calm your tits Watson, there would be soon great sound of silence once the analog broadcast is gone
Being a child in the late 1960s this looks very much like what I would have wished for back then for a bedroom radio.
Really looks the business from that era.
Caution with those light bulbs. They distribute far more heat, when using that way, which may burn/melt the plastic display. Better not use it for a longer time and replace them with the matching types as soon as possible.
I know it takes away from the vintage - but I would calculate to adapt the bulbs to led - this device was built for 220V - driving it on 240 with that linear transformer… is not a good idea. A 7805 and a few warm white leds in series could take it a long way
@@cheapasstech They now make those screw in LED's in the same shape like the original ones and frosted.
@@ryan61384 I know they sell them for Christmas lights - but did not find led ones in this voltage
@@cheapasstech Not sure if they are the right voltage or not but they make LED replacement bulbs for pinball machines and other arcade games. If they are the right voltage then they might work. I have a receiver at home that I replaced the incandescent indicator bulbs with LED's that seemed to be a direct replacement based on the specs.
@@ryan61384 lots of 6V, 12V and 24V ones yes - they probably drive the 7v ones in this radio only on 6V to make them a little dimmer
Nice looking radio. In fact I have a radio in that period, Music Boy by Grundig, that was given to me in 1971 from my decease grandad, I still have it now although not working.
This has got to be one of my favourite videos ever. The mix of repair and restoration was very satisfying to watch. More of these please.
congratulation on the workshop and a nice one , great video 👍👍👍👍👍
Sweet lord that takes me back! My parents used to have one practically identical back in the day, must be almost 35 years since I've last seen it. Great job as always 👌🏻
Good work there! Those old Grundig table radios were great, and newer versions were made up until the 1990s. I have a couple of RF430s (1970s) that I haven't yet got around to looking at. My parents had an RF430, which I later kept until the 90s, but it finally went because the piano key mechanism was unrecoverable.
I'm actually jealous of this one Vince, Great job!
My dad and i would listen to a Grundig short wave radio at night ang get signals from half way around the world bouncing off of the atmosphere. I love Grundig radios, amazing craftsmanship.
Super nice Grundig! Enjoyed watching the bit of restoration on this video. The kind of finished reveal "faux pas" at the end had me chuckle a little. It would have been something I would have done, getting excited to show off a finished project and forgetting to connect something important. 🤣
🤣👍Thanks Shawn
Hey Vince, to overcome copyright issues when testing any items with FM radio you could use an FM transmitter from an MP3 player playing copyright free music. That way you can show off the capability of the speakers without issues 👍🏻
Of the many different makes of radio/electronic equipment that have passed through my hands I remember that Grundigs of any variety were always describable as "class". Also anything by Roberts Radio. On the question of the 13A fuse, I was advised its purpose was to protect the cable to the wall socket, not the device or the user! Of course, there's no harm in selecting a power consumption compatible fuse (e.g. 3A) but I was told there was no need. Your videos are, of course, most enjoyable, for which "thank you".
Little tip for scratches on wood, you can get touch up felt tip pens in different shades of brown specifically for wood.
Deeper scratches can be filled with wax melt sticks, also available in various shades of brown, which you melt into the scratch. Then use a sharp blade to take off the excess. You can even mix them to achieve the desired colour.
Great video, and what a wonderful piece of equipment.
Awesome video! I love all your repairs and restorations!
I like the stylish look of this radio too. Tomorrow I will buy the same one here in Belgium, for 10 euros (!), also in working condition. Your video will help us to restore it. Thanks a lot for your video, you've convinced me to buy it!
What a beautiful unit, thank you Vince for inspiring me to get into electronics
These are great quality old sets that sound great when working.glad you bought this VInce as I so enjoy seeing radio repairs,and yours is sounding so good too,that was a benchmark for grundig.almost like ‘quality built in’ that type of thing.lights look superb too.
That's awesome, I live in Netherlands and I had this radio as a kid in the 90ies, loved picking up random broadcasts from across the world with it, remember being very puzzled with number stations and even more so when I learned English hehe. Thanks for taking it apart, cool stuff!
8:21 when you take the cardboard off of the new plug, it shows a 13 amp fuse on the right hand side Vince.
We had the exact same radio when I was in elementary school. Hearing the years it was produced we must have had one of the first. Great to see it again.
Where you said the meter on the left is the volume meter I think it shows the strength of the station you are listening to.
Really enjoyed that Vince, very therapeutic. I LOVE old radios and used to collect Roberts, still got about 4. The sound the vintage radios give is magical.
Really enjoying your content - any change of seeing you? I like to put a face to a voice.
Looking forward to more of your really interesting videos. Regards from North Wales UK
Love the sounds of cleaning, very relaxing it's definitely a hidden gem throughout your videos.👍
Hi Vince.
Fuses, especially ceramic cartridge types are often filled with sand or similar to quickly stop the arc that forms when a fuse blows.
When the fuse blows the wire melts and starts to separate forming an arc, the arc needs to be cooled or quenched quickly to prevent further damage to the circuit being protected.
The sand will fill the gap and often melt forming an insulator where the arc was. There is a lot of science in correct fuse design.
By the way, the BS1362 fuse ratings available for 13Amp Plug Tops in the UK are commonly 3A, 5A and 13Amp. Less common are 1A, 2A, 10A but are available !!
Beware of the extra heat that those bulbs will give off, possibly melting any near by plastic.
What a beautiful looking radio. Especially on the sideboard! Great video & fix Vince! 🙏🏻
Great content, there have been a few times when I've found that the plug has been the cause of the power loss not just the fuse of coarse there can be many reasons for failures unfortunately we live in a disposable society where things are thrown away for the sake of changing a fuse or plug but it's nice when it's a simple fix.
I love vids like this Vince. This radio could very easily have just been thrown away, instead it has now got a new lease of life to be enjoyed again.
Really enjoyed watching this. Great work.😉
Never thought a change of fuse would end up in such an entertaining video. Great job as always 👍
Thank you, Vince. Nice restoration. I spent a lot of time playing around with such old audio equipment when I was a teenager (flea market finds). Lots of fun and very often a lot of sound for the low power ratings. 5/10/15W really can suffice. You should try out something from the Luxor Dirigent series (eg a 3200) some time. Really nicely built equipment. Keep up the good work!
Congratulations 🎉🎉 to you Vince. You deserve the new
Set up. I enjoy watching your videos. Keep up the great content.
Lovely piece of quality equipment. Be careful the heat from those over-voltaged bulbs doesn't melt the frequency chart or anything else, replace them asap
Yes I would recommend connecting them in series to half the voltage, save you buying new bulbs. Those 4V bulbs will run way too hot!
The fuses in UK plugs are ceramic and filled with fine sand to prevent arcing when they blow due to over-current.
Great video 👍 can't believe you didn't need to replace any caps.
When I restored a couple of 60s Roberts radios I use the Novus range of plastic cleaner on the tuner facia and it looked like factory new. Brought back the sparkle and removed some scratches.
Cheers for the tip Chris 👍👍
Nice one Vince, greetings from the motherland of this beauty. 😊
You could have re-wired the bulbs in series to drop the voltage that each lamp sees in half. They may be dim, but they will last much longer and you would be able to use the parts on hand. The bulbs you used will have a much shortened life.
Men: ‘what a lovely looking radio, let’s put it there on display’
Wives: ‘what’s that old junk doing there? Put it back in the loft’
For the record, I love it and it’s a great repair, my only comment would be those lamps look too bright, they need to be dimmer and “warmer” because in those days there wasn’t enough coal, 3 day week, share a bath, we couldn’t afford the power for extravagances like bright radio lamps. Good video Vince.
Here in the states I use Old English furniture polish for the wood. It's black Walnut polish that fills scratches and nicks very well. I use it on Walnut gunstocks.
What a beautiful radio Vince. I really enjoyed the cleaning. Sounds so warm. I love it. Excellent video
An Easter Sunday Vincent fix video is more than I could have asked for
Wow!!! It works!!! Great fix Vince!!! 👏
cool! I love you having a go at this old stuff :)
Beautiful job - thanks for sharing 👌
Aah the weird uk plugs, that brings back memories. They are robust but the fuse is obsolete now if you have RCD. Treading on one with the prongs up is something I'll never forget.
The connector on the backside is called TA/TB connector in german TonAbnehmer/TonBand in english turntable/tape also you can plug a cassete player in, or you can make a cable with the right plug to listen to music from the phone. I have a few german tuberadios from the 60s and they have the same blown lamps it's hard to find diffused, but normal do the job great too.
They sell little diffuser caps that cover the bulbs & tint them different colors. I used them in my 1960s car. At one time the various warning & indicators in the dashboard had green, red, and blue lenses for various functions that became sun faded so they were white instead of the colors they were meant to be. Then I found the little colored caps for the bulbs. They come in many neat colors.
22:44 That was the nice thing about the "old" transformers. They had multiple terminals (at different stages of the winding) that gave multiple voltage inputs. This was also great with old pinballs and arcade games. You just had to move some jumpers or resolder some wires to get the desired voltage input. Also, these "old" transformers created less dirty electricity that the new switchers do.
I just love these old wooden and brushed aluminum Finishes. I've got an older denon from the 70's that has this finish.
I got it in a thrift store 20 years ago and it still sounds amazing.
great fix. i love seeing older tech live on. built to last.
Great work, it looks amazing lit up.
I had a family member who worked at Grundig's factory in Penge who used to swipe stuff that was going to be binned and we would fix stuff up, the old bill now have the place and they do all their forensic electronic work there. BTW had an absolute brilliant week in the watches... Seiko Actus very rare fully working and absolutely accurate for... £8 woohoo ^-^
My grandparents still have a similar model in the living room it still works fine and sounds pretty amazing considering it was build so long ago.
I got the same radio. Those radios are made between 1971 to 1974 . They were Grundigs first series of domestic radis fitted with transistor instead valves. The only fault at mine were a loose dfial cord, so the pointer stucks even the knob was turned. Easy to fix.
A higher mains fuse rating is has no limitation of the electrical safety. The radio got an internal mains fuse matched to capacity of the mains transformer.
Here in germany all sockets fused with 16A and there is no fuse fitted in the plug, The mains cord is capable to handle high short circuits currents up to 3000 A ( for few milliseconds ) before the breaker in the panel trip. As long as you leave the mains cord as it is there is no danger. A replaced mains cord should not have anymore lenght as 1m and a cross section area of 0,75mm²
This radio has also plastic cabinet. But a sort of high quality ABS plastic. The schematic is free available in the internet from different sources.
I own a lot of old Grundig radios, most portables from th 60th . The boy series.
15:50 So cool seeing your whole setup Vince! I love the super sturdy overhead camera mount, annoying when knocking the table and the camera jitters. Cheers!
What a nice radio but much to big. It indeed looks lovely and sounds great. Nice new working place you got yourself there. I'm happy you put the spider out and didn't kill it❤
I grabbed a Grundig portable radio out of a skip at local tip yesterday and it works perfectly and the sound is so loud you don''t need to use more than 20 percent of the volume control. Other radios don't get anywhere near the volume of the Grundig.
Not bad for something made back in 76-78, I never really took them seriously before but would love to find more stuff they made.
I really like to see you do the radio/hifi repairs the other stuff's great aswell though.
Awesome job, it looks amazing 😎👍
You could try a pen on those scratches in the wood, you can get a set an colour match to cover the scratches. Also I remember my parents 1st colour TV was a Grundig.
Keep up the good work fella and, as always, stay safe.
The fuse ratings were on the backplate in German: 110V-100mA and 50mA 220Volt.
100mA seems rather low. How power efficient is one of these?
@@supercomputing942 I don't know, these radio's aren't that power hungry. It's on the backplate, usually those are correct. Tube radio's also use low rated fuses. Equipment these day tends to use more power and need fuses of a couple of amp.
@@js0000356 yeah it should be 100% correct, but im just used to seeing at least 2 or 3 amp fuse ratings in most power supplies and electronic nowdays.
@@supercomputing942 I can imagine that these rating must seem a bit different to you. These older ones do not use that much power and the speakers were more efficient this speaker is 4 watts. I am quite used to these amp rating since I restore old radio's.
This turned out great Vince. A really nice looking radio. 👌
Welcome to another episode of Mr Vince's Lab.
Wow! This brings me back. My perants bought a radio gram made by Alba. Whish I still had it.
Incredible transformation. What a beaut it is.
**IMPORTANT**
Me M8 Vince,
Just a heads up, that there are a two types of DeOxit, One is for direct contact switches, whilst the other which is extremely important to know about as it does not destroy carbon contacted devices Eg: "potentiometers" and "carbonised" contact switches found in keyboards and portable gaming systems, if the carbon is removed from the rubber the switch will not work, and if you replace the carbon with a conductor it could damage "electrical current" sensitive components.
Anyway I want you to know I watch all your videos and drop a Like, BUT Most importantly in support allow all your adds "As long as they are under 30 seconds to run through"..
Love the sound out of this - it's gorgeous!! And the clunk of the buttons! If you're keeping it running I'd probably recap it just so it lasts :)
I really appreciate everything labelled in German. „Klangwaage“ is a really nice word :)
Great video, it came out really well
One of the plugs on the back is for an external loudspeaker. The other DIN plug is to connect a tapedeck. You can use it to playback tapes and / or recording the tuned-in radio station. With the TA/TB switch you activate this port for playback.
possible bluEtooth hack
Wow, I haven't seen such a big Grundig radio in over 30 years. My grandma had something very similar and I love spinning to see what stations I receive.
Lovely display on that radio, from the golden days of grundig before they were an argos own brand
Yes, it is a very nice looking radio, probably quite expensive back in the day 👍
Great repair - lovely machine
that finished radio is gorgeous. i hope you get the right bulbs for it.
Great video vince really enjoyed watching your videos
The fuses used in UK electrical plugs are available as 1A, 2A, 3A, 5A, 7A, 10A, and 13A, although 3A, 5A, 10A, and 13A are the most common (some extension leads use 10A fuses, computer power leads sometimes have 5A, other lower powered devices are usually 3A, and kitchen appliances which have higher current draw are usually 13A. UK plugs and sockets are made to British Standard 1363, and the fuses in the plugs are made to British Standard 1362)
Im guessing that the 13A fuse in the plug is what the plug came with, as the radio may have come from the factory without a plug fitted
If that is the case, then the reason why it had a 13A fuse is because whoever fitted the plug didn’t swap out the fuse for the correct value when they fitted the plug
EDIT: also, fuses have sand in them to absorb the energy of the explosion that occurs when the fuse blows
And that power cable looks like it may be single insulated, so just be aware if the cable gets damaged you may end up with live wires exposed (modern power cables, at least in the UK, have 2 layers of insulation, so if the first layer gets damaged there is no immediate shock risk)
Thanks Pineapple 👍 Yes this power cable is single insulated, certainly not as safe as modern day radios. Does look better though and will probably last longer 👍😁
The fuse rating should also depend on the cable. A 13A fuse should not be used with 3A cable. (I'm not sure of the amp rating of that old, single-insulated, twin-flex cable, but of course it wouldn't be rated for mains usage these days. I remember similar cable used to wire up bedside lamps, etc. in the 70s, so probably only rated at 3A.)
@Ellis The DJ the 1A fuses that i have seen in shaver plugs are not normal plug fuses, and they are made to a different standard
I will admit I’ve never seen a 7A fuse used anywhere, but they do exist and are available (i have specimens of each rating of fuse)
Why do you have fuses on the plug itself ? Its an extra protection ? Or the main house power line is direct without safety breakers ? Its only in GB i think..
@@drorhaz socket circuits in the UK are generally on a 32A breaker, whereas the plugs and sockets are only rated for 13A, and often, appliance cords can have a lower rating than 13A (the power cords that come with devices like games consoles may only be rated for 3A or 5A, and some extension cords are only rated for 10A)
That is indeed a lovely thing . I love the style of it . Grundig did some quality stuff . I currently use a little grundig Yacht Boy radio on my boat . It has a very similar style to this
So enjoyed this video.not much fixing but plenty of cleaning
Hi Vince, nice video. Problem with those lightbulbs often is, they are designed with 220 volts on the transformer in mind and burn out much faster when driven by 230 or even 240 volts, resulting in, say, 8 volts instead of the intended 7. If you just replace them they will not hold very long.
My father Mr Amar Nath Gupta was a big fan of Grundig, had a colour tv, Tape recorder, cassette deck
I want to work on an old radio now ! Great video. 73's Andy M6APJ.
Grundig anything was excellent, all my early stuff was made in West Germany, by Grundig, did you notice how accessible everything was that was a common theme, because even though they were reliable they knew eventually everything needs serviced or repaired.
I thought it must have been post-1990 as it said made in Germany, as opposed to West Germany, but a quick search showed it was produced between 1967 and 1973. A very nice piece, so much more attractive than today's plastic rubbish. If we get at least a year out of something new today we're happy! I recently sold my old Pioneer component car hi-fi (separate CD player, graphic equalizer, tape player and radio 'brain'), that I bought as a teen in the late 80s. They mostly worked ok but some aspects needed attention. But to expect anything made today to still work 35 - 50 years from now is ridiculous. A lovely radio. It would be great to see more of this type of old tech being restored, rather than the newer stuff. Cheers Vince.
Love the radio. Reminds me of my teenage years. Had one similar to that.
Having a proper work table will help you focus on your repairs much better!
Great to see! You deserve it! Now let's fix something...
Great video. I have a 1975 Party Boy 500 and can confirm that these 1960s/70s Grundigs are indeed fine sets. They weren't as solidly built as their Hacker and Roberts equivalents but the electronics are top-notch. Same story with ITT. This must be a late 'Made in Germany' model as they moved radio production to Portugal in the early 1970s. This later became the home of Grundig audio system manufacturing when radio production moved again to Malaysia ~1980.
The hole in the plug was to enable visual inspection for the presence of an earth cable.
People also used it as an entry to earth the radio's antenna.
very cool, I love these vintage radios...
Such a beautiful device. Nice joh Vince 🙂
1st class video to watch thank you take care kind regards from me kenneth