Ferranti '045' restoration: Part 1 - the electrics.

[Yorkie]

Hi,

Very well done David; another set saved and now working. The magic eyes are a true bargain; you did well to spot them.

Kind regards, Col.

Thanks for your kind words Colin.

Initially, I have to admit that I wasn't enthused by this radio and saw it more as an obligation to my nephew than anything I'd have taken on by choice. However, as I got into it, it 'grew on me' and I started to quite like it, even before it had given an account of itself 'on air'. I also did a bit of research and discovered that the Ferranti model 045 six-valve receiver was introduced in 1954, and was one of the first AM and FM radios. It is a large and heavy table model with a walnut-veneered plywood cabinet. There's quite a lot of work in the cabinet, and it would have been quite costly to produce compared to injection moulded Bakelite.

The 'Magic-Eye Tuning Indicator' would have bumped up the price, and the radio covers short-wave, medium-wave, long-wave and VHF, and has a tone control, so again, compared to the average radios on offer at the time, it would have been an upmarket model. The refinements reflected in the price of £35 14s 0d, plus 33% Purchase tax in 1954, giving it a selling price of about £47.50 - about a months wages for a working man, and a bit of overtime too! In 2010 taking into account inflation - the price of the '045' would equate to £950, so was an expensive radio in its day - twice the price of a more basic no-frills 'transportable' radio, which typically, would have lacked a magic eye, would not have had FM or short-wave bands, and would have been housed in a smaller bakelite cabinet rather than walnut veneer, and would have a smaller speaker. (EG, the DAC90A etc).

So all in all, the '045' turned out to be a very nice radio, well worth preserving!

It will be in the hands of my nephew tomorrow - I'll be as sorry to see it go as I hope he will to see it back, with a new lease of life!

As to the four EM80 magic eyes, yes, they were a lucky find, especially as I'm going to need one for the Pye Fenman1 which will be my next radio project. I'd mentioned that the push-fit knobs on the Fenman1 are notorious for being fragile polystyrene, and thus, must be very carefully removed - not simply yanked off from the front. I discovered that the whole chassis complete with the dial and knobs can be removed, so that the knobs are accessible from the rear and can be carefully pushed off rather than pulled off from the front.

I've managed to remove the knobs by gently prising them off with an adjustable spanner across the spindles of the pots, using a small wooden block as a fulcrum, and though I've got them off in one piece, and relieved that I didn't wreck the vulnerable glass tuning dial in the process, I'm sorry to note that the knobs are all crumbling away, so I'm going to have to see if I can make some sleeves in nylon or tufnol which can be fixed to the knob discs, and drilled .25" diam to be fitted to the 'D' shafts with grub screws rather than those horrid circlip type spring clips. The knob sleeves are about 1" long, and I doubt there are any other knobs of a similar pattern available as they'll all have suffered the same fate, so I'll try to approach the knobs with the same latteral thinking, enthusism and and ingenuity with which my chum Colin would approach the task!

I'll give an update on progress when I get into it, but for now, due to other commitments, all projects are on hold for a couple of weeks or so.