Bakelite Restoration, Farnsworth AT-10

[Winky Dink]

I picked this up to add a Bakelite set to my small radio menagerie. I was also enthralled with the "Farnsworth" label and paid way too much for the set. It took more than a week to repair the hole and return it to the original no-paint walnut finish, but the results are excellent. If you held the cabinet in your hand and weren't looking for it, you wouldn't notice the repair.



The electronic restoration is complete except for alignment. If I hold the antenna lead in my left hand, touch the chassis with my right hand, and turn the tuner with my teeth, then I can get good reception of one station.

Now I need to make a back. Can anyone find a picture of the back of a Farnsworth (Capehart) AT-10 or similar model?

With Undying Gratitude,
- Winky

[stusnyder]

Nice job on the cabinet. How did you manage to match the swirly colors in the material?

[Reece]

Would like to see a closeup and if you have in-process photos of the fix of the hole in cabinet?

[Winky Dink]

I used a technique from a Grand Master of Bakelite repair (that is, self-taught). I'll put together some pictures to post soon. The secret of matching the Bakelite is taking a piece from the bottom of the cabinet for the repair.

[Reece]

That was what I guessed you used! I had a similar but opposite repair: to fix a Bakelite with a hunk missing from the bottom, and so since it wouldn't be seen, I cut and sanded and fit a piece of storm door acrylic and glued it in place.

[Winky Dink]

I thought about putting some perforated steel on the bottom to make it look like a ventilation panel, but I'm working on a different idea. Here's how I did the repair:

Reshape the defect to facilitate cutting a matching patch and make a template.



Acquire a piece of matching Bakelite and cut the patch slightly (~2 mm)larger than the hole with a bevel around the entire circumference.



Grind the edges of the patch with painstaking care until it sits in the beveled hole with the margins matched as closely as possible and cement with epoxy. After epoxy is fully set, sand to smooth, even finish



This is a good representation of the true appearance of the repair. The Bakelite patch is twice as thick as the repaired area, but thinner at the edges. Due to the variations in thickness and the translucency of the material, many photos--especially with flash--will show a clear outline of the repair which is not apparent to the naked eye.



Conclusion: This technique is entirely impractical and anyone who attempts it must be mentally deranged. For that reason, I thought some people in this forum might be interested.

- Winky

[stusnyder]

Originally Posted by Winky Dink

I used a technique from a Grand Master of Bakelite repair (that is, self-taught). I'll put together some pictures to post soon. The secret of matching the Bakelite is taking a piece from the bottom of the cabinet for the repair.

I'd love to see how you do it...I passed up on broken sets already because I was not sure how to repair them.

[bandersen]

Wow, that truly is impressive

[Reece]

Deranged indeed; I love it, being deranged m'self! And will adopt it when the next wreck comes along.

[Phil Nelson]

Ingenious, and the results are stunning.

I like the style of that cabinet, with the stepped shoulder on one side. I hope you will post a photo of the finished project.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

[Winky Dink]

I haven't done the alignment on this set yet, but I couldn't resist assembling it for a few photos.





Except for one original resistor, all the vintage caps and resistors here have been rebuilt, but the ones at the left side of the picture are just modern replacements.



When I've done a full restoration I'd like to show off what's inside the cabinet. I have pictures of the chassis work to accompany the radio, but photos are not very impressive. This little Farnsworth is a nice set to display because it's easy to pull off the shelf and handle. So this is what I've done to display my work--the "twist."



The vintage chassis components that I rebuilt or replicated are the ones visible through this window (this is where I got the Bakelite to patch the hole in the side).



After the Bakelite repair, the biggest challenge was replicating the resistors in this set. They're too skinny to accommodate modern 1-Watt or 1/2-Watt resistors. And the originals were all drifted 20 to 60 percent. I'll post some photos soon to show what I did.

- Winky.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Wow! What a trip. That's some most excellent work you've done there with that set. Now I feel like such an underachiever.

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by Kevin Kuehn

Wow! What a trip.... Now I feel like such an underachiever.

Me too!