I recently purchases a tube tester (Model Jackson 648A) it was fairly nice except the case so I decided to refinish it.

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after sanding, staining, clear coating, replacing the bottom (had a hole in it), polished the metal, and reused the rivets

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around this time I realized I wanted a tube caddy got this one for very cheap and had some very nice parts inside.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4053/4636476008_33a55e7c64_b.jpg

After sanding and staining it, I used a light colored fabric iron on transfer to reproduce the original logos then polyurethane, I ended up using screws that I had to countersink
(the rivets removed were not that great and could not be reused also it would be very hard to pinch them in at the bottom of this box)

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Those are very nice! New life for them. Could you explain more how you made the RCA transfers?

I used a t-shirt iron on inkjet printer paper but the kind for light color as the dark color kind have a white background. then cut them out as close to the lettering and logo as I could. In retrospect I may have tried overhead transparencies instead for a smoother finish. I scanned the sides of the box and cleaned up the logo then made it black and white, also inverted the colors so the logo was black. then reversed the image printed and used the iron. the lettering bled a tiny bit as well but overall I think it turned out nice. the hardest part was removing the 82 rivets.

Nice job :thmbsp:
I have an old PAC 920 tube tester with a similar dove-tailed box that I'd love to refinish but it's missing the top :(

thank you for all the nice comments,

I wanted to learn how to make these kind of boxes they have a jig for a router or you can make an easy one for a table saw.

I remember seeing a router jig on The New Yankee Workshop or This Old House that sure made quick work of dovetails.