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Gloritone Cathedral - Model 26
Manufactured By: U.S. Radio And Television Corporation
1931
Tube complement: 5 tubes - three 224'S, one 245, one 280
TRF circuit

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The cabinet needs a great deal of work.  The veneer is chipped, many scratches, and veneer separations.  Generally I try to restore the radio BEFORE I tackle the cabinet.  In this photo the chassis has been removed along with the grill cloth, dial, escutcheon, knobs, etc.   I try to  label everything, make sketches, and store the loose parts in plastic bags.  You won't believe how much you forget about what you did at the start of a long restoration project.

In this top view of the chassis you can see the "valuable" 245 tube on the top left, the 280 rectifier below...the tube shield covering the three 224's..and the three gang variable tuning capacitor.  Also note the cover on the two copper-clad electrolytic capacitors in the upper right.




Here is a view with the shield over the 224's removed and the Utah dynamic speaker visible.

The three-gang variable tuning capacitor is quite rusted.  I will use some gun cleaner on it in order to remove the grease and the rust.  The ground wires to the tube caps also need to be replaced.  Hopefully the mica sheets in the trimmer capacitors will be okay...not split. 

Here is the front of the chassis showing the tuning dial which is a "direct drive" to the 3 gang variable tuning capacitor...no pulleys or dial cord here.  There are on-off volume and a tone switch to the left and right respectively.

(Above) The Utah Speaker is of the electromagnetic type...it

The most expensive tube in this radio is the infamous "45"..here in the foreground.  It is an output tube and usually costs between $60 and $85 depending upon the dealer.  Ahhh..supply and demand economics at work...I think the price just went up! :)

Volume Control with a carbon ring of varying thickness around the circumference of the case.  As you turn the shaft, the contact touches an increasing or decreasing, depending upon the rotation, thickness of the ring and thus changes the resistance...and changing the volume.

On-off switch

(Above)  Underside of Gloritone Model 26 Chassis. There has been previous work done on this.  Note the solder connections with "new" caps replacing  some of the capacitors in the "block" at the center of the photo.  I will have to replace all of them.  To the upper left are the two copper-clad electrolytic filter capacitors and the power supply transformer with its many "taps" is visible to the bottom left..  The volume control is at the bottom right....and a unique resistor block is on the middle right of the chassis.  See closer views in frame to left.

Above see a close-up of the resistor block which is shown at a distance in the top center of the photo to the immediate left.  I always have to look up the color codes on these babies...you will note that I have written the value on the yellow resistor...400,000 ohms.  I haven't restored enough 1930's radios to have the older resistor code memorized...I keep a chart handy!

I have my work cut out for me on this project.  I have the schematic diagram and will begin by very carefully studying it and identifying all the components.  I very carefully vacuumed the entire chassis using  a soft artists brush to clean the dust out of the nooks and crannies, a can of compressed air,  and a vacuum cleaner to "whisk" it all away.. There were many insect nests in this set.  All  of the cotton-covered wires have some mildew on them and they have lost their color...makes it harder to use the code on the schematic to trace connections, so I am adding spots of color from permanent markers at different positions along the wiring harness.

Next, I will check the values of the resistors and test all the tubes.  I plan to recap the radio but not to remove the old technology.  One thing about an old chassis, you have lots of room to work in and to hide some modern caps and resistors in as well.  Later I will replace some wires, clean and lubricate the switches and tuning capacitor.  I am going to take my time on this...it is a learning experience as well as a "job".

 

brasscleaner.jpg (8931 bytes)    Birchwood Casey Brass Cleaner is used to soak off the grease and corrosion on the three gang variable capacitor.  An old toothbrush makes a great "helper" to remove deposits.

 precleanchassis.jpg (12770 bytes)Here is the chassis with the tubes, shield, and three gang variable capacitor removed for cleaning.
corrodedcaps.jpg (7589 bytes)Here are the two corroded copper-clad electrolytic capacitors before cleaning.  See photo right.

coppercaps.jpg (8953 bytes)Here are the two copper-clad 8µF electrolytic capacitors...after cleaning.  Even though they are  no longer functional, I will leave them in place as an example of the technology of the time.  Modern replacements  will be installed to replace them underneath the chassis.

rubcemspkr.jpg (8647 bytes)Painting a coat of rubber cement on to a brittle paper speaker cone softens it and makes it more flexible.  I have tried this several times and it seems to work well.

cleanedchassis.jpg (10365 bytes)Here's the chassis all cleaned with the wires from the variable capacitor to the three 224 tubes (under the shield) replaced.  Compare this to the photo above.