Bush VHF64

[Bushbaby]

Hi All,
I have finally moved my Bush VHF64 onto the work bench for an initial look see. It cost the grand sum of £10 having come from a local Cafe as their mainstay radio for n number of years. Itwas sold to me as working - should I pull the EL84 out before putting on the lamp limiter to determine if the heater chain is working?

Many thanks

Rob

(Pics to follow).

[Crackle]

You could do, but I normally change the audio coupling capacitor anyway, who knows It may work first time, and you wont know if the OP valve is out.

Mike

[Bushbaby]

Hi Mike
Point taken and thanks

Regards

Rob

[boater sam]

You could but why bother? If you check the G1 on the EL84 as soon as it warms up, then change it if its leaking, it will be fine. Enjoy checking/changing all those split Hunts!

I think that it is not a series heater chain...........

Russian EL84 I find to be good, whatever grade.

[Bushbaby]

I recall that I had switched this set on before and indeed it's working but only on one channel (talk sport on MW) I will assume the cord is broken. The pots are all a bit crackly.....it's a staring point though.

Rob

[Bushbaby]

First pics of this radio - I think this might be too much work just at the moment. The case (see pic) has a gouge in the veneer which will need to restored.


Regards

               

[boater sam]

Doesn't look that bad, touchup felt tipped pens and coloured wax crayons will fix most of the damage quite well.
Its surprising what a good clean and wax polish will do.
The cord is off the tuning cap, may be just off rather than snapped, but its an easy set to re-cord anyway. Don't get involved with the cord in the FM tuner head, its a bitch to get it back properly and in tune.
Chassis looks good, all original Mullard valves?
The speakers are not identical, it matters if you ever need to change one.

[Bushbaby]

How much of a recap? I know if start on this I'm likely to do a full recap and resisto change!

Thanks

Rob

[boater sam]

No, don't do it! It is totally unnecessary and leads to mistakes and big problems. 
Blanket cap changes have wrecked a lot of beautiful sets. Read Chas E Miller's view and comments in the Radiophile magazine. And he has been repairing most of his life.

You will find few or no resistors that are out of spec. 
The mica capacitors will be OK. Changing them destroys the alignment.
The waxed tubular paper caps, only  if in critical positions, maybe are worth changing, like decoupling and audio coupling caps.
I always change the output valve G1 coupling cap, its the most critical. And the one on the output valve anode.
The cracked plastic Hunts really need changing but I often leave the valve heater caps alone, with 6.3 volts AC on them they rarely give trouble.

I have repaired hundreds of Bush sets from the 50s, they usually need very little work, and I try to maintain their originality as far as possible.
There are seven in the workshop that are run for days at a time and never go wrong.

[Bushbaby]

I will take you sound advice with thanks. I've always tended to do a full recap - perhaps I've always taken the wrong approach?

Many thanks

Regards

Rob