Graves Aerial AC superhet

[OldTickTock]

Sounds interesting so far Mark, go on give us some photos as you go.

Chris

[Mark R]

Some before pics for you

cheers Mark

[OldTickTock]

Excellent, a very rustic looking affair, look forward to your progress.

Chris

[Mark R]

I have just finished recapping and rewiring the plug and all the other crumbly stuff. I thought "what the hey", and In typical Sir Sydney Weaveringtonham style applied the mains and..................working!:D
Just plugged the big aerial in and away she went, must confess not the original speaker or output TX but hey!
just some final voltage checks and switch cleaning then the big job of the cabinet starts.
Thanks Paula for letting me have this set!
And Chris I have revisited the picture in post#4 (I think), Possibly is the aerial model.

cheers Mark (who is in cloud cuckoo land cos he did it without a circuit at last)!

[Mark R]

some after pics along with the bridge uses to test the caps

cheers Mark

[Paula A]

great stuff.. that Elac speaker looks the job too. As the original tx is working it will be possible to match up.. Just shows how much of a knock these 30's Mullard Golds will take and still work. 1930's valves fragile? never.. Have you glued the wobbly one back in it's base? the stuff rattling around inside is quite scary. The really hard part will probably be finding a pair of original knobs...... I will keep my eyes open on my travels for any others. They may be a forgotten maker but a recap and new uncrumbly wire and working as is with original valves.. says a lot for pre war build quality.

I noticed you have changed the big electrolytic under the chassis as well.. out of interest what is it's date code? I worked out that it was a probable replacement.. but was it done in 45 (when the main smoother on the psu chassis was replaced or thereabouts) or 55.. or heaven forbid even 65 ??

I think the most amazing piece of this whole thing is.. the state of the cabinet you would expect it being full of worm.. not a trace..

[Mark R]

Paula
Jan 1945 for the cap, which is only 12v DC working, and yes the build quality is good, Pitty about the dodgy caps though, and for a forgotten maker it is a wonderful sounding set!
That would suggest no fiddling inside for 60 odd years.

Must say that bridge was a god send in testing the caps for value!

cheers Mark

[Paula A]

I had a think about those.. maybe they are supposed to be using the coloured bands system.. but with one at each end.. were they 0.1's?

The other thought I had was they might be denoting either way up (no outer foil or screen) .. very very strange all the same. I have never seen the like before. It's just possible they "rolled their own" in house.

Last detected repair mid/late 40's then.. fantastic. Probably just shoved to one side and forgotten in the 50's, or when the speaker went o/c..

Now for the really hard bit eh? .. that cabinet is going to take a fair bit of restoration.

Will look and sound lovely when it's all finished.. a pretty rare radio all told. I like the almost "utility set" styling .. Graves were primarily a mail order company and it's interesting to see a lower end wireless from just before hostilities broke out.

[Mark R]

No Paula not all 0.1's some were really odd values, so maybe they did roll their own so to speak.
It is nice to see a set that has not been fiddled with since just after it was made, but it begs the question why it was fiddled with and why the components failed?

I agree a rare find, and yes the cabinet will take some finishing............Col hey Col
fancy doing a cabinet lol.

seriously I will get it done, needs a piece of veneer letting in and a strip down first so we shall see

cheers Mark

[Mark R]

Stripped the cabinet, so here are some pics of it bare so to speak.
You can clearly see where I shall have to let some veneer in, and it would be on the rounded bit wouldn't it!

cheers Mark