Hello All,
Two of these screws were rusted into the chassis. When I tried to unscrew one of them the head tore right off. But the other one will not budge. I even tried soaking it in WD-40 but it absolutely refuses to turn. It must be rusted solid. How do I get it out? It's recessed so I cannot use a hacksaw on the head. It's threads are right up against one of the screws on the power transformer. It's so close to the inside of the case that there's no way to get a hacksaw or screwdriver in there either. It's keeping me from restoring the radio.
Please help. This is extremely frustrating.

Thanks,

Dave

WD-40 doesn't break down rust. Try PB-Blaster. Let it soak.

Another to consider is Naval Jelly, but I don't know if that's as good at penetrating and breaking down rust, without causing more damage. PB-Blaster won't damage anything metal.

T.

Thomas,
This is in a wooden cabinet. Will PB-Blaster hurt wood?

Dave
:WD-40 doesn't break down rust. Try PB-Blaster. Let it soak.
:
:Another to consider is Naval Jelly, but I don't know if that's as good at penetrating and breaking down rust, without causing more damage. PB-Blaster won't damage anything metal.
:
:T.
:

Warren?
What about cutting the screw head off with a Dremel? I'm going to try that.

Dave

Dave
:WD-40 doesn't break down rust. Try PB-Blaster. Let it soak.
:
:Another to consider is Naval Jelly, but I don't know if that's as good at penetrating and breaking down rust, without causing more damage. PB-Blaster won't damage anything metal.
:
:T.
:

Warren,
I couldn't find my Dremel so I used a hacksaw blade between the chassis where the screw comes through and the screwhead. It worked! I had to remove some wood from inside the cabinet to get it started but it worked. The chassis was still held down by rubber parts that turned into glue. But they easily came off and the chassis is out.

Thanks,

Dave
:Warren?
: What about cutting the screw head off with a Dremel? I'm going to try that.
:
:Dave
:
:Dave
::WD-40 doesn't break down rust. Try PB-Blaster. Let it soak.
::
::Another to consider is Naval Jelly, but I don't know if that's as good at penetrating and breaking down rust, without causing more damage. PB-Blaster won't damage anything metal.
::
::T.
::
:

Just a drop of Liquid Wrench on that rusty old screw. Let it sit for about an hour. If that don't do it, yes then grind it off. That's about all you can do about it.

If you use PB-Blaster in very small amounts, it won't harm wood, and is more effective than Liquid Wrench. However, in large amounts it will stain the wood.

T.

Hello All,
I have this set again. It was returned to me because the SW wasn't working (it really was working) and the tweeters needed to be "rebuilt".
Rebuilding the tweeters was a lot of fun, actually. I wish I had taken some pictures but I'll try to describe it the best I can. Here's the way these work, and you can correct me if I'm wrong.
The wires that connect to the primary of the speaker transformer are connected to an electrostatic speaker. It works by attracting and repelling a metalized sheet of plastic, which is connected to one wire, to a piece of metal about the same size. So the large plastic sheet is the "diaphragm". Only one side of the plastic sheet is coated with this metal (gold?) and two tiny contacts (also plastic with metal on one side) connect it to the circuit. What happens over time is that either the metal falls off on the large plastic sheet or the contacts and the speaker no longer works. Also there's a pad than helps push the contacts against the diaphragm. On these speakers it was almost completely deteriorated. I used a piece of self stick felt to replace it. The contacts are held in a frame along with the felt. It was a job to get those tiny metal tabs open to extract the contacts and the old cloth sheet. Then I had to sand it to get all the verdigris off the brass metal frame. I used tow strips of dollar store very very very thin aluminum foil as new contacts. The cheaper the aluminum foil the better. The frame holds together the two strips of foil and the felt. The entire speaker is also a sandwich. The diaphragm is just in there loosely sandwiched between the frame and the other piece of metal on the other side. I soldered the red wire to the frame with the contacts. The black wire was connected to the piece of metal on the other side. It worked fine when it was back together and it works great.
The SW did work but nobody connected an antenna to the radio to receive it. That was the entire problem.

I hope that this helps. If someone needs a better explanation of how to "rebuild" electrostatic speakers in antique radios, I'll try to explain it again.

Dave
:If you use PB-Blaster in very small amounts, it won't harm wood, and is more effective than Liquid Wrench. However, in large amounts it will stain the wood.
:
:T.
: