| (Please note: All instructions
and advice given for restoration are simply methods that have worked for
me. They may not be the best or most expeditious methods of restoration.
These
techniques can seriously damage a radio if you aren't careful or sure of
what you are doing! Use these instructions and advice at your
own risk.) |
| Transistor radio
restoration can be quite a bit of fun, and very satisfying. Better
yet, you can choose exactly how much restoration you want to do, from a
simple clean-up to a complete re-build inside and out. You don't
need to have knowledge of electronic workings or equipment to do minor
cleaning and repair of many radios, but a soldering iron is often required
for complete disassembly of a radio into its component parts. We'll
go through a simple cleanup and minor restoration on this radio, a Universal
PTR-62B. The photos show the radio as I received it. It is
quite dirty and some of the markings have worn off the volume control. |
 
|
|
At the left some
tools are shown which I consider the minimum for working on radios.
From left to right: two small hexnut drivers, two special earphone
jack removal tools, needle-nose pliers, small slotted and phillips screwdrivers,
an X-acto knife (witha #1 blade), and a small wattage (under 30 watts)
soldering iron. All but the earphone jack tools are easy to acquire.
The only place I know of for the earphone jack tools is in Japan, but you
may be able to find them elsewhere. |
| Most transistor
radios have a slot at the bottom which can be used to open the case (use
a coin, carefully). Beware of radios such as the TR-1, which does
not have a slot and can be damaged if you try to open it the standard way! |
|
|
Now that we have
the case open, we can inspect the interior. In this case, it appears
the interior is in fairly good condition. The label is loose in the
back, and another label is missing from where the battery connector is.
Make sure you save anything loose that might be laying in the case.
We can now set about removing the chassis from the case. |
| Most radio chassis
are held in by screws, although you'll find some that use hex nuts, and
others that use no screws at all. Frequently, one of the screws will
be hidden under a battery label. In our PTR-62B, we find one phillips
screw in the lower right. These screws are sometimes covered with
paint or other goop to keep them from coming undone from vibration. |
|
|
One screw is usually
not enough to hold the chassis in, so we look around and spot this hex
nut near the tuning variable capacitor. Be cautious in choosing which
screws to take out, especially on older radios, as someimes these screws
hold things like the tuning cap and volume control to the chassis.
This nut is removed using one of the small hex drivers. |
| Keep any of the
small parts you remove in a cup or something where they won't be missed.
Small screws and parts can be very difficult to find if they drop on the
floor! |
|
|
There's one more
thing before we can remove our chassis, and that is the earphone jack.
We need to make sure it is removed so we can then remove the chassis.
This is where our handy earphone jack remover tool comes in. Note
the slotted ring at the edge of the jack--that is where we use the removal
tool. |
| The removal tool
comes in two sizes. Most often, you'll need the smaller size.
The tool fits into the earphone jack and has two tips that fit into the
outer slots. You can then remove the jack ring just as you would
a screw. |
|
