CitroJim's AX, C3 Picasso, Cycling and Running Tales

[CitroJim]

Thanks Richard

Depending on how long I'm likely to take I will SORN it, take it off cover and save some money...

Just as well as I have other things that need money spent on them...

[Michel]

Thanks Richard

Depending on how long I'm likely to take I will SORN it, take it off cover and save some money...

Just as well as I have other things that need money spent on them...

Park it "off road" SORN it and cancel tax and insurance. It's not like you're going to claim If it gets nicked or torched is it?

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

'welding the Ka'

just a quick mention about welding outside, in particular regarding Screens. Recently, for the first time ever, I noted someone else MIG Welding outside, in this case plating the front of a 20yard Demountable skip, near the top, close to the hook where is....

...and I was surprised by how slight the transmission of the Arc was across about 4 car's length's between me and where the fella was working. There was no Screen, and no need for one, made me think that the screening measures I have been taking are definitely on the side of 'over-cautious'.

[CitroJim]

No car work lately. Weather has been rubbish today so it's been a day for fixing vintage stereo amps...

First up, this lovely late 60s Rogers...

Own work

The problem was traced to a small resistor of a sort that hardly ever fails but it did in this one!

It sounds awesome

The second is a Leak of a similar age that was blowing fuses. A set-up of the output stage bias appears to have sorted it... Now on a long test...

Own work

Neither are mine - I'm fixing them for a friend...

Now I'm on to another amp - a home built kit one from a magazine - and a very swish record deck

Plenty to keep me busy on a wet day ..

[myglaren]

Now I'm on to another amp - a home built kit one from a magazine - and a very swish record deck

Plenty to keep me busy on a wet day ..

Heathkit?

[bobins]

Jim - you might appreciate what a mate of mine has been working on. He's slowly bringing a huge old Army radio set back to life (you might even have heard of it ). He tried to reform the caps in it - they were last reformed in 1964 !! but they all failed, so next best option was to replace them with identical ones to keep it authentic.... but he couldn't get any. When you see the size of them, that's not surprising...

Big cap

...so next best option was to cut them in half, hollow them out, and put new ones inside with the tails coming out the original tag rivet locations...

Hollow cap

Cap tails

Finished cap

The cuts will be hidden by the clamps that holds the caps in place.

Next job is to check each and every component in this.... and then go on to all the other units in the radio kit

Some components, yesterday

[CitroJim]

Now I'm on to another amp - a home built kit one from a magazine - and a very swish record deck

Plenty to keep me busy on a wet day ..

Heathkit?

No, even better A PW 'Winton' built from a series of articles in Practical Wireless magazine in 1979...

It was revolutionary in its day as it's 50W per channel using the then very new power MOSFETS...

More on this one later

Jim - you might appreciate what a mate of mine has been working on. He's slowly bringing a huge old Army radio set back to life (you might even have heard of it ). He tried to reform the caps in it - they were last reformed in 1964 !! but they all failed, so next best option was to replace them with identical ones to keep it authentic.... but he couldn't get any. When you see the size of them, that's not surprising...

WMD_3166.jpeg

...so next best option was to cut them in half, hollow them out, and put new ones inside with the tails coming out the original tag rivet locations...

Wonderful That's right up my street! Keep me appraised of progress please

Doing that with duff components to maintain looks is what we call 'restuffing' I've done it many times with big can electrolytic. Some even restuff wax capacitors and resistors!

Just make sure the small replacement electrolytics are up to the job with respect to their ripple current handling ability when used as the reservoir capacitor just after the HT rectifier... Many aren't and can fail spectacularly...

Make sure too that they are rated 105 degrees C as their cooling will be a bit compromised inside the old can...

[Zelandeth]

Still never going to forget when one of those large smoothing caps decided to let go during the first full power test of a set a few years back. First I knew of it (it had been on a lamp limiter for quite a while and seemed happy!) was when I heard an almighty bang and heard something zip past my left ear. Found later that the can and left a large dent in the ceiling...

[CitroJim]

First I knew of it (it had been on a lamp limiter for quite a while and seemed happy!) was when I heard an almighty bang and heard something zip past my left ear. Found later that the can and left a large dent in the ceiling...

Been there! Once, I had one explode so violently we could find no trace of it anywhere... It had vapourised

Got to have a look at the PW 'Winton' late this afternoon...

It's good It works although the volume pot is worn out... The build quality is not bad for a home-constructed job...

Own Work

Own Work

It's bloody loud and sounds good on decent speakers...

Worth searching out a new volume pot for it...

The wooden sleeve case is a bit scruffy but this amp is a keeper as it's so unusual and doubtless very rare now...

Definitely worth restoring

The kit of parts to build it was £120 or so in 1979 so it was expensive even as a kit...

This is part 1 of the original article in Practical Wireless:

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Arc ... 979-03.pdf

[Zelandeth]

That's an interesting amp that is Jim. Wouldn't fancy trying to track down intermittent contacts in all those push buttons!

[CitroJim]

Wouldn't fancy trying to track down intermittent contacts in all those push buttons!

Quite! Nor me Luckily, they're high quality ones and they seem all good...

Tracking down the proper pot of a decent quality is going to be tricky though...

I'll be hunting down some NOS if I can...

NVCF in May may well be a good source...

[Zelandeth]

What rating is it? I'll be going up in the loft at some point in the next couple of days to re-route coax from the satellite dish, can have a dig through a couple of the random components boxes while I'm up there.

[CitroJim]

It's a dual-gang 100K Log in the old traditional size... A good, proper big one

[Zelandeth]

Ah, don't think I've got any dual ganged ones...I'll have a check though just in case. Wouldn't be the first time I've found something I'd forgotten I had.

[CitroJim]

No worries Zel, thanks ever so for looking

They're not at all common now but found one on eBay for a fairly hefty price...

It claims to be brand new but the quality may not be good if past experience with these new production pots is anything to go by... They very quickly become noisy

One seller is offering a very dodgy looking NOS one, one that looks like it's been damp for years, for well in excess of a tenner