RCA T8-18 needs MAJOR help!

4/28/2010 8:54:36 PMTerry Decker

This poor RCA tombstone needs help!

This poor RCA T8-18 needs all the help it can get. It was sold on eBay, working and looking great. Then the buyer returned it pretty much destroyed, demanding his money back. The resulting fallout has left my friend, (an NA member), devastated. He brought it to my doorstep because he didn’t want to deal with the pain. I’m hoping I can eventually justify his faith in me.

The chassis seems to be in good shape, and should work, thanks to some good repairs. The cabinet, however, is another story entirely. It needs wood, trim, veneer, a new dial, and possibly a new speaker.

So, I need the links to people who deal in these things. I have faith that with the help of the members of this forum, plus a lot of work AND a lot of luck, (but hopefully NOT a lot of money), this beautiful tombstone can be restored to its former glory.

Where do I start?

Terry

4/21/2011 5:22:28 PMTerry Decker

:This poor RCA tombstone needs help!
:

:This poor RCA T8-18 needs all the help it can get. It was sold on eBay, working and looking great. Then the buyer returned it pretty much destroyed, demanding his money back. The resulting fallout has left my friend, (an NA member), devastated. He brought it to my doorstep because he didn’t want to deal with the pain. I’m hoping I can eventually justify his faith in me.
:
:The chassis seems to be in good shape, and should work, thanks to some good repairs. The cabinet, however, is another story entirely. It needs wood, trim, veneer, a new dial, and possibly a new speaker.
:
:So, I need the links to people who deal in these things. I have faith that with the help of the members of this forum, plus a lot of work AND a lot of luck, (but hopefully NOT a lot of money), this beautiful tombstone can be restored to its former glory.
:
:Where do I start?
:
:Terry

Wonderful news. The front has been completely reconstructed, (photos to come) and the cabinet has been shined up.
However, there is a problem- The electromagnetic speaker is just too heavy to remount on the front panel. That's what destroyed it in the first place. To maintain the integrity of the power supply I'm going to mount the coil somewhere inside the cabinet, and try a PM speaker. The current speaker has a hum-bucking coil and I haven't decided how I'm going to deal with that yet. Experimentation I guess.
Terry
:

4/21/2011 8:48:56 PMRichard

Terry,

What about making a board to mount the speaker to. You could put a cleat on the top of the cabinet and one on each side to support the speaker board so the weight was not on the front of the cabinet.

Richard

4/22/2011 6:48:58 PMEdd

Sir Terry. . . . . ( and the Pirates) . . .

I second the beefing up of the speaker mount . . . that damage profile just reeks of an old brittle frontal woodwork latticework and the downward momentum of the weight from a REAR heavy speaker just popping apart the frontal panel, at the mounting stress points.

Should the unit have been packed vertically the downward plunge of a drop on the REAR heavy speaker would impart its damage.

Almost equally as bad, if the radio was being packed with the speaker facing upward and the downward momentum of any package drop, would be pulling down on its mounting area.

Safest . . . if the whole front face was protected with an overwrap for protestion from lateral shifting and vibrational scuffing during transit . . . and then the speaker would only be pressing downward, against a buffering packing.

73's de Edd

:Terry,
:
:What about making a board to mount the speaker to. You could put a cleat on the top of the cabinet and one on each side to support the speaker board so the weight was not on the front of the cabinet.
:
:
:Richard
: