I'm working on a simple electrical refurb of my old 1950s All-American 5 RCA AM BC receiver, and work has progressed quickly. It's amazing how much fun electronics can be when you can actually see the parts you are working on without a magnifier, hi!
The pair of 100 UF 160v electrolytics arrived from Antique Electronic Supply a couple of days ago, and the .047 UF “orange drop” caps arrived today. The only component missing is the new 50C5 vacuum tube, so I decided to go ahead this evening and recap the thing.
There are only four fixed caps in the receiver: one is a dual-section electrolytic that filters the rectified AC; two are bypass capacitors and the other is a coupling cap. Because I didn't care about keeping the radio “original,” I replaced the dual-section electrolytic with two larger electrolytics … larger in capacity, i.e., 100 uf and 100 uf vs. 30 and 50 uf. The two bypass caps were replaced. The coupling cap I did not replace; that replacement is not here yet, and frankly, if the tube arrives before the cap, I may just do without the new cap. The caps I changed out tonight are the biggest issues the receiver has, so I'm very hopeful it will play like a new one once the new tub arrives.
I'm a little anxious to wrap this overhaul up; I've decided to refurb several other old receivers that I have stashed away in the attic, one of which is the radio my parents received for their wedding present when they married in June 1945. But I'm determined NOT to start one until the one I'm working on is done.
SMOKING GUN … SOLDERING GUN. Somewhere I have stashed a very old but functional Weller soldering gun. I have had the gun for 40 years … well, had. It's here “somewhere.”
But for these old radios I needed more soldering wattage than my little 15w pencil could muster. I had to get some solder wick at Radio Shack today, so I splurged and bought a new Radio Shack soldering gun.
It looked heavy duty enough, though it was NOT a Weller it was cheaper than a Weller. I've owned a couple of the Big Lots variety soldering guns, and they were a waste of money. So far, I'm having better luck with the Radio Shack gun.
In fact, this gun is one of the hottest soldering guns I've ever used. On high (230 watts), most of the tip glows a medium cherry red … whoa! It's hard to keep the tipped tinned nicely because when it gets hot, it gasses off the damn solder you tinned it with. No wonder the instructions say firmly to never hold the trigger for more than 60 seconds at a time … the tip would probably vaporize!
My old Weller's high watt range seemed like it was about half of this gun's wattage. I used high wattage to get the iron up to temp, then throttled it back on low to keep the iron hot. Hot, it does and quite well!
I'm not sure the build quality of this thing matches the Weller; in some ways, the R/S gun feels a little like an incendiary device with a trigger. It is physically larger than the Weller I have/had. This thing is made in Taiwan. I don't have a case for it, but maybe I can find something that'll work to help keep track of it.
One thing I did not do was to shop eBay for a new Weller, mostly because I needed it today, not next week. Prices for gently used Weller are very reasonable; I may have to pick one up just in case I decide to retire “Old Glowie” before I burn my shack down, hi!
Where's that damn 50C5?? I wonder if Clay Blanchett still has his tube caddy ….
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