Transistor Radio Restoration Hints

Page 2

(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.)
OK, now we have the chassis free and the earphone jack free. We can lift the chassis out of the radio now. This can be very easy, as on the PTR-62B, but very difficult in older radios that have controls on two sides. In some cases, you may have to bend the shell of the radio a bit to allow clearance for volume and tuning controls. The earphone jack is simply pushed in and is removed with the chassis.
	But wait. We can't remove the chassis entirely, yet. This is beacuse of the speaker, which has wires connecting it to the chassis, and is held to the case with a screw clamp and some glue. We have two options here--unsolder the speaker wires, or simply remove the speaker itself. I prefer the latter as I intend to get the case halves wet in cleaning.
To remove the speaker in this case, use the hex nut driver to remove the clamp on the speaker edge. Then, because of glue used to also hold the speaker in, I used a small slotted screwdriver to carefully lift the speaker from the case. Note that there are some clips as part of the case shell itself that the speaker needs to be freed from, as well.
	Now the entire radio is disassembled. We have the two halves of the case shell, and the chassis with the speaker and earphone jack attached. The screws and other small parts we removed are in a cup for safekeeping.
Since the volume and tuning controls are dirty and are missing some lettering, we'll want to remove those from the chassis for further cleaning. In this case, our slotted screwdriver will remove both of them. Remember which screw goes where!
	Now that we have the two case halves and the knobs, we aready to perform a gentle cleaning. I prefer to use a used, soft toothbrush for the cleaning. I use a liquid hand soap, as I consider dish detergent and other cleaners to be too harsh. Get the brush wet, place some soap on it, and gently clean the case halves and knobs. Be very careful around any lettering--some may come off just with water!
The case will be remarkably clean after the simple soap and water method, but you'll often find some dirt or grease that won't come off. On our case back, we have some black substance which refused to come off using the toothbrush. In this case, I like to use the X-acto knife in a vertical position as a scraper. Don't angle it or you could cut into the plastic.
	Here's the case back after cleaning with the toothbrush and removing the stubborn stuff with the knife.
For renewing numbers, I find a crayon works well for refilling incused numbers, such as on this dial. Sharpen the crayon and work it into the grooves, then wipe off the excess with a soft cloth. You can also buy other types of crayons for precisely this purpose.

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