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Old 03-15-2010, 11:48 PM
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AUdubon5425 AUdubon5425 is offline
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Motorola XC1FH Clock Radio

Another give-away at a garage sale I went to a few months ago. The speaker was rattling around inside the cabinet and the set was very dirty. The clock face was stained and the power/alarm knob was sloppily glued onto the shaft.

SO why even bother?

I guess I feel sorry for sets like these. It's a pocket transistor radio with a power transformer and low-end Telechron clock with no snooze or buzzer. I guess I put forth the effort because everyone else would have pitched this cheapie.

The radio and clock still worked fine. The cabinet took a lot of scrubbing, especially in the grill area. I reattached the speaker to the plastic stud (only one was left - it's pretty stable though.) I borrowed a steamer to get the knob off the shaft.

The hardest part was recreating the dial face. The original was discolored brown with stains on it. I scanned it and then realized I no longer had Paint Shop Pro since I reformatted my computer. I managed to finagle the image with some free software until it was "good enough for now." The plastic clock face was pretty yellowed and I'll polish it out one day, but it's miles better than it was.

When I get another copy of Paint Shop Pro I'll redo the dial face. The newest version is $70 and I'm not sure it'll run smoothly on my old computer. (I think I had PSP 7 before.) The only other repair needed is the time-set knob broke off the stud.
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Old 03-17-2010, 10:10 PM
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RobtWB RobtWB is offline
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Nice clean up.
I am always on the look out for these simple clock radios at estate sales - seldom if ever find a decent one though. The last on I found was a Montgomery Ward Airline solid state, AM only with alarm and snooze, plain white plastic cabinet, non lighted blue dial on clock. Clock and alarm work just fine - radio is stone dead - maybe I'll eventually find time to give it a look see adn figure out why the radio doesn't work.
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Old 03-18-2010, 01:17 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RobtWB View Post
Nice clean up.
I am always on the look out for these simple clock radios at estate sales - seldom if ever find a decent one though. The last on I found was a Montgomery Ward Airline solid state, AM only with alarm and snooze, plain white plastic cabinet, non lighted blue dial on clock. Clock and alarm work just fine - radio is stone dead - maybe I'll eventually find time to give it a look see adn figure out why the radio doesn't work.
A lot of those had a surge resistor that would open, often due to a shorted rectifier diode.

I too am one that will spend time bringing something back to life that most people, including collectors, would throw away. To put it another way, I'm the guy who wants what everyone else thinks is garbage.
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Old 03-18-2010, 03:21 AM
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bandersen bandersen is online now
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Nice Job
I know how you feel - I like sad, neglected sets too. My favorites from my collection are not the most valuable - they're the ones I enjoyed bringing back to life the most.

BTW - I use PSP version 6. I tried 8 for a while but didn't like it much. They added a lot of stuff that I didn't use that slowed it down.
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Last edited by bandersen; 03-19-2010 at 03:44 AM.
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Old 03-18-2010, 06:11 AM
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I love basket cases. A good thing to use to polish that dial is toothpaste with a few drops of water and tons of elbow grease. "You'll wonder where the yellow went...." ... do they still make Pepsodent?? Sometimes if a plastic part is yellowed you can soak it in a bleach solution to clear it, but sometimes the yellow is inside.
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Old 03-18-2010, 09:35 AM
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I got a soft spot in my heart for unloved dawgs like that, too. Yeah, I know, its silly, but so what ?
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Old 03-18-2010, 04:37 PM
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AUdubon5425 AUdubon5425 is offline
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I'm going to try to repaint the silver trim and raised lettering - it wasn't chromed, so I have a chance of making it look decent. The chipping WNW of the volume knob just adds character. Also, I believe this was made in 1968 or 1969.

I'll post a picture of the chassis tonight.

Last edited by AUdubon5425; 03-18-2010 at 04:42 PM.
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