Dial print for Ever Ready 5214

[boater sam]

I have a working Ever Ready 5214 radio which is in fair condition considering it is prewar. It is the early version with side contact valves

The sad part is  that the tuning dial which is only a card print has almost completely faded away. 

Has anyone got a good sharp photo of the dial or even a copy that I can use to make a new one please? 
I understand that a dial from any of the portable series 5214, 5315, 5216 or the table version 5218 is the same.

The Radio Museum pictures are unfortunately not clear enough to use.

[Mike Watterson]

Hmm, I'd have to take the chassis out. My 1939 model is a Lissen, which isn't the same.
I have a 1945 Model A, which might have a scale more similar to the 5214.

Both work well. I had to draw a 1946 McMichael from scratch because it faded so badly.

Here is 1939 ER scale I have from somewhere. Use it as a background and draw a new one on other layers and then hide backgrounds.
   

Here is crop of previous photo of my Model A. The old plastic clouds it.
   
It's simplified, quite different.

Don't need to take 1939 Lissen out of cabinet. I had taken a good shot.
Sadly though it's the exact same chassis from same production line, it's not the same scale at all.
   
(reduced by 75% for upload).

Another 5214 scale, source unknown. Good enough to draw one from using a layer on scan of your existing one:
   

The 1941 Forces Model (same chassis)
   

[Mike Watterson]

Here is an example of a scale done from scratch for a McMichael 463.

Red is gone!
   

Original enhanced
   

Text layers created in Paint Shop Pro 7 in 2013, but now I use Inkscape & The Gimp
   

Coloured background added
   

Mounted on chassis
   

[boater sam]

Brilliant!  
Thanks Mike, I will be able to reconstruct from those. Am I correct in assuming that with the red and black cabinet that the scale would have been a red one?  What I have now is a dirty grey bit of card with the odd pencil marking, I will have to dismantle the set to see if there is any evidence of the original scale underneath.
This set was a good buy, it came with a battery eliminator inside which is in good order.

[Mike Watterson]

I think a red background scale as in the image I posted.

Those battery eliminators can be bad. Check LT is 1.28 min to 1.35 max, and LT is 80 to 85V. The vintage ones are terrible. Some modern ones are set to battery new voltage instead of recommended.
The battery voltages are nominal. Those are Phillips recommended.

I used paralleled alkaline D cells for LT and series alkaline AA in a replica pack with about the same run time as original (made out of 8 off paralleled zinc carbon F cells (like 4 are in PJ996 6V pack) and 60 off B cells). The next design of Ever Ready big combo pack used layer cells for HT as did the small combo packs for the Ever Ready model B.

A pity the similar Model A has such a different scale.

Anyway, the McMichael shows what's possible if you have the size and can read the content from something.

[Kalee20]

I have a 5215, scale is like this (yes, those are LED's to illuminate the scale!).

I did an accurate scan, but I may have to do some digital digging to find it!

I'm powering mine from two 1.2V Nicads in series with a low-dropout linear regulator set to 1.35V. The side-contact valves are a highly finite resource, so I don't want to shorten the life by frying the filaments!

[boater sam]

I think a red background scale as in the image I posted.

Those battery eliminators can be bad. Check LT is 1.28 min to 1.35 max, and LT is 80 to 85V. The vintage ones are terrible. Some modern ones are set to battery new voltage instead of recommended.
The battery voltages are nominal.  Those are Phillips recommended.

I used paralleled alkaline D cells for LT and series alkaline AA in a replica pack with about the same run time as original (made out of 8 off paralleled zinc carbon  F cells (like 4 are in PJ996 6V pack) and 60 off B cells). The next design of Ever Ready big combo pack used layer cells for HT as did the small combo packs for the Ever Ready model B.

A pity the similar Model A has such a different scale.

Anyway, the McMichael shows what's possible if you have the size and can read the content from something.

Checked all the voltages before using it, 1.36 on the heaters, 87 on HT, better than new dry cells.

[boater sam]

I have a 5215, scale is like this (yes, those are LED's to illuminate the scale!).

I did an accurate scan, but I may have to do some digital digging to find it!

I'm powering mine from two 1.2V Nicads in series with a low-dropout linear regulator set to 1.35V. The side-contact valves are a highly finite resource, so I don't want to shorten the life by frying the filaments!

Thank you for that.

If mine was that colour originally I will use it, is this off a red & black cabinet? It could well have been so as the "replacement" looks similar just 90% faded and 90% dirty!

[Kalee20]

No, mine is off a yellow and black cabinet (the colour is in the model number - 5214 red/black; 5215 yellow/black; 5216 blue/black). There was a 5217 which came a couple of years later, brown/black.

[boater sam]

No, mine is off a yellow and black cabinet (the colour is in the model number - 5214 red/black; 5215 yellow/black; 5216 blue/black). There was a 5217 which came a couple of years later, brown/black.

Though mine should be a red dial, I do like the clarity of your dial for a 5215. I must get the set apart and see if there are any clues.
Thanks for the excellent photo.