1941 STROMBERG CARLSON model 542 restoration and repair PART 1
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- Опубликовано: 18 апр 2023
- This lovely old Stromberg Carlson console radio has been in its owner's family since new. It is a true survivor - the cabinet retains its original finish and light patina - and it even worked when I applied restricted power, as these old valve / tube radios often do.
It does have the usual issues though, and I will attempt to put it back into reliable working order. 
Хобби
Great job Don. A nice long video on this topic was exactly what I needed to make my day. Restoration videos are becoming more and more scarce.
Hi Manuel. Glad you enjoyed it. This should be an easy restoration but a nice radio when it’s finished.
Cheers
Haha.... well played Don, I'm still smiling 😄 I'm traveling around and completely missed this video. All week I've been getting obscure references to tea bags in the comments and couldn't work out why when there was no speaker repair in the video. All the same your speaker look pretty impressive when you had finished it. The tubes of Liquid Electrical tape seem to be clear with blobs of black. Great job on the radio so far and finding the bad solder was clever, hard to find something like that.
Looking forward to part 2 Don, Cheers and take care 👍🙂
Hi David,
I knew you were travelling from a comment on your last video and I was thinking "He'll see it sooner or later Ha ha!" Just a bit of fun.
Every fault is a puzzle waiting to be solved. The bad solder was just circuit tracing 101 but I do think I should get myself a signal tracer. Any that you would recommend?
Cheers and safe travels!
I love old tube type radios and this Stromberg Carlson is one of the best. I'm so glad that you're restoring it I sure am looking forward to the next episode. Gene from Tennessee.
Hi Gene, Glad you enjoyed it. It's rare to find a radio from this era in such good condition - especially the cabinet. Part 2 will be along in a couple of weeks.
Cheers
Great work Don, I think this one is going to turn out real nice once completed looking forward to part 2.
Cheers Dom
Love the dial glass on this one Don.
Looks like it will be a nice radio when it's done. Should sound great too once back in the cabinet
Yes I think it will come out pretty well. I haven’t seen another one of these radios before. I think they’re pretty uncommon, so all the more reason to do a minimal restoration on the cabinet.
Thanks again, Don. I'm looking forward to the next installment in this series! Cheers!
Cheers Otto. Glad you enjoyed it.
You are doing well Don, i like your methods of fixing the dodgy mechanisms :-D.
Sanding a tube in a pillar drill was ideal.
Ok ideal would be a tube that was spot on without any work, but that would be no fun lol.
I did detect that you wanted something to eat, sausages may have been your desire.
Dam i want a sausage sandwich now :-D.
Teabags to repair speakers, that must be a crime 😀
You are not the only man to solder to imperfect wire, mistakes are a good reason to swear lol.
Keep up the good work Don :-D.
Hi Harvey! Unfortunately there was not a sausage to be had. A sad situation indeed.
This radio seems to have more than its fair share of dodgy solders & wiring. More to come in part 2.
Also see: Jim Burns - He REALLY tares a radio down!
Great job on the speaker. Tip top tips with the Tipton's teabags. 😂
Cheers! I hope David doesn't sue me!
I have to say I was expecting a bigger chassis inside that beautiful and upscale cabinet. I'm sure it'll sing though-best of luck with it Don.
Yes it's a typical 5 valve design and only 1 short wave band. There's plenty of room in the chassis and I suspect that they used the same chassis for more complex sets. That's pretty typical of the radios from this era that we get here. I have only seen one that had a noticeably bigger chassis and that was the Kriesler Projectographic. But even that was only a 6 valve design (it had an RF stage). Very different to some of the American radios I see on RUclips with heaps of valves and huge chassis.
my thoughts exactly, a beautiful cabinet, and a very cheap chassis, ( the fake preselecter buttons surrounding the dial are a giveaway.)
Interesting use of teabags 👍 I sometimes layered toilet paper with nitro as it seemed to mimic the original materials quite well and retained some flexibility.
Hi Klumpy, That sounds like a good idea too. The teabag idea came from David Tipton of "Dave's Radio Adventures" - a great restoration channel. hence the "Tipton's Tea Bag" reference. It did work rather well though so I would recommend it.
A very good job Don - look forward to seeing you do the next part.
Cheers John. Yes it's progressing well. The chassis is rustier than I thought though. Might have to paint it.
I'm so happy to have found your site. That is a beautiful radio and I can only assume it has been well cared for over the years. All the best from your commonwealth cousins in Canada.
Hi Mary,
Glad you like my channel! I don''t often get comments from Canada. I believe our two countries have a lot in common. I'd love to visit one day.
Anyway I'm currently working on Part 3 and the radio is nearly finished.
Cheers
@@Donno308 Fantastic, I keep looking for part 3.
@@maryrafuse3851 I meant part 2. Anyway I'm working on it. Hopefully I'll get it finished this weekend.
Cheers
Great job on that speaker cone. Those fine coil wires can be a problem.
Cheers Jim. This one seems to have more than its fair share of bad solders and dry joints
Nice repair of that speaker. Might be worth replacing the voice coil dust cap. I have an identical speaker in an STC radio of similar vintage to yours and the dust cap was missing which allowed dust to get into the voice coil gap causing scraping. I blew it out with compressed air and glued a new dust cap into place. Problem solved. (Tipton tea bags eh ;-)
Hi Ian, The radio is now back with its owner. Perhaps I should have put a dust cap on it, however these speakers didn't originally have dust caps. It probably would have been pointless anyway because the rear of the voice coil is exposed to dust etc. as there is no spider as on modern speakers.
Cheers
The Tipton joke was gold. Dave?
super work
Cheers Andy
I wont one. I love that dial and the shape of the cabinet looks so nice and fancy ! For as grand as the set looks it has a rather low tube count.
Maybe the extra bassyness is because of the added weight of Tipton's massive teabag?
Anyway: that looks like an amazing radio! Really impressive cabinet. Looking forward to your next video.
Thanks Dave, oohhh, Don of course! Good work on a very nice radio and your editing is very good ands sits very vell this the morning coffe, we don't have Tipton in Sweden...
Hi Leif! I hope David doesn't take offense at my use of Tipton's tea bags! There is no such brand of course.
수리용 JIG 정말 멋져요.. 나도 만들어야지..
I like the speaker🖒🖒
Let's hope it comes off, without too much drama ...
There is allways that one screw ...
Nice work as always. Tell me, did that Tipton tea leave you with an insatiable appetite to re-stuff capacitors? Lol
Hi Simon,
Since drinking Tiptons Tea I must admit to feeling a twinge of guilt every time I see an un-stuffed capacitor.
RE your tea bags I have a coffee purcolator and it uses a paper filter to contain the coffee where the hot water passes through. The paper filter is quite light and is much larger than the Liptons tea bag it might make a very useful speaker patch.
Not a bad idea! I’ve never got into filtered coffee myself - it’s either cheapo instant or espresso for me, but I’ll give them a go next time. Cheers!
@@Donno308 They come in packs. I do think they do become easy to use when wet I recon.
I hope it works OK good luck.
Don, I used to use the same solder sucker as you. However, they were not that great, seem to clog easily and sometimes hard to use. I switched to "ENGINEER Engineer Solder Suction Device SS-02" off of Amazon. So much better. You may want to try one if you have any issues with the type you are using. Thanks for the videos, keep them coming! Orin
Hi. Yes, I have been putting up with that old thing for too long and you're right - it isn't very good. I'll have a look at the one you suggested. Thanks!
😊😊
Nice Video, I'am wondering where to buy tiptons speaker repair kit ;-)
Nice I'm surprised Stromberg made any thing for the civilian market during the war.
Hi Mack. So was I. Most manufacturers stopped production during the war. Nevertheless there are a few around so there must have been some production.
@@Donno308 I had a Army signal Corps BC-348 which was a great receiver and used by hams, also had a Stromberg EE-8 field phone. They made some great equipment.
I haven't seen that tea brand in the US. Can you suggest an alternative?
Hi Vic. Well, you could just buy Liptons. It's almost the same lol.
@@Donno308 Ha! We have some in the pantry!
You can get replacement Field Coil Loudspeakers from Deutschland(Germany).
Good to know, although I imagine the freight to Australia would be pretty expensive. But for a high value radio it would probably be worth it.
i have exactly the reproduction grill cloth for this radio what size is it at my work at Speaker Hospital we can re-build the speaker if needed
Hi Ian. Thanks for that. I'll check the size and get back to you shortly. I think the speaker will be ok but I have other speakers that need work.
Cheers
Hi Ian. The speaker baffle is 37 X 46 cm. I guess an extra cm or 2 to turn over the edges so 40 X 50 would be ideal.
I do have a suitable piece of Airzone cloth. It's close but not identical, so if you have the identical material that would be great.
Hi Ian. Just following up on the grille cloth. You can email me at: donno1955@hotmail.com.
I have fitted the Airzone cloth. It looks good but if you have the original I would like to change it as this radio is so original. Just let me know how much & payment details.
Cheers
Why do you not use stand-alone, DC power with limited current power supply for capacitor testing/training? Why do you use variac? Until diode tube is not working, there is no sense to use it. Even simple DC/DC PSU from some Liion battery can deliver 400V and few miliamperes for cap training. Just clip it to cap and check current!
Good point. I don't have a stand-alone power supply bit I think it's about time I bought or built one.
Another superb repair/refurb Don,I really enjoy your video productions!
Cheers Colin. I think this one will turn out very nicely. It's a pity I have to hand it back to its owner - I'd love to keep it!