John Eng's Dead Tech Rescue - Restoring 1937 Troy Radio 59PC Phono Radio Set

Restoration 15

Restoring 1937 Troy Radio 59PC Phono Radio Set

The Troy Radio Company was located in Los Angeles. They started around 1933 and manufactured radios until 1942 when WW2 started and basically all commercial radio manufacturing stopped. The name Troy was selected because of the popularity with the Trojan college football team from the University of Southern California (USC). This is a 5 tube AC operated set. I found this set on Ebay that was sold by an estate store from Descanso, California. The cabinet was in poor condition and needed a complete makeover. The electronics was well preserved due to the dry southern California climate. My concerns were the condition of the motor and the tone arm cartridge.

This was restored August 2015.

Before the Restoration

Condition of the set as advertised on Ebay in July 2015.

Definitely needs a major makeover.

This is the cabinet before I started restoring it.

I knew before the phonograph came that extensive restoration to verniers and wood damage cause by termites will have to be done. Again if this radio was in the east coast, I might not be able to restore it.

Part 1 Electronic Restoration

(EASY PART)

I decided on a complete restoration. This means stuffing original capacitors with new ones and checking for out of tolerance resistors and attempting to correct that with modifying the existing parts. This unit appears to be seldom repaired as only a capacitor was replaced.
Underside of chassis before restoration:

Underside of chassis after restoration: (Can you tell the difference?)

Top of Chassis Before vs After

Part 2 Restoring the motor

The motor in this unit is large and heavy. That may be a good thing and it can be easily taken apart lubricated and cleaned. Unlike newer motors built in the 1940s on the speed reduction gear is inside the motor.

What the motor looks like after removal.

Speed reduction gear is inside this compartment. Unlike newer 78 RPM motors which is direct drive with the gear in parallel. This one is at a right angle (left) with the armature (center).

Remove the cover on the other side and inspect the commutator and pole pieces. The armature was almost frozen. I plan to turn the fan blades while clean and lubricate the bushing on the armature.

Clean out the bushing with contact cleaner then add dry graphite lubricant and turn the motor fan blade to spread the lubricant and free up the armature. Took quite a few rotations but it finally freed up and spun very smoothly.

Put the cover back in and cleaned the manufacturer's label.

Motor Test set up to run and burn-in the motor.

A VARIAC slowly brings up the voltage to full line value.

With the platter installed, I ran the motor for over a hour to make sure there is nothing wrong. The motor ran smoothly and was quiet. Little vibration was noticed on the platter.

Part 3: The Challenging Part:

Cabinet restoration (Steps 1-4)

1. Repair termite damage to base. Termites ate through quite a bit of the base underside, but did not go all the way through.

2. First I sprayed termite killer into the damaged area and allowed it to soak it overnight. Then added another dose. After allowing it to dry. cleaned out the area with brush.

3. "BONDO" wood filler is added on. I had to do it quickly because it sets fast. Allow a few days to cure and dry then sand it off with a pad sander (pretty messy and wear a dust mask and goggles).

4. Glue and clamp areas of wood separation or plywood separation.

Verneer Work (Steps 5-7)

5. Remove and replace broken or damaged verniers. This may require matching and installing new verniers, glue and clamp delaminated pieces.

6. The top vernier had to be completely removed (with a heat gun, wood chisel, putty knife and a tack hammer) and a new piece glued in place with CONTACT cement.

7. Staining and Finishing:
The cabinet as far as I can tell had four different wood tones. Since the original vernier was mahogany I had to find the stain color that would provide the similar wood tones as the original. The base, trim at the bottom, top lid and around the speaker grille and dial would be painted bronze/black, the speaker louver trim dark walnut, upper trim and lower body early american and the lid and upper body will be golden oak.

A. Painted the base with a ivory bottom coat before applying the bronze coat to minimize bleed through look.

B. Masking the area around the upper body to stain the body trim. Notice that the lower body trim and speaker louvers were stained with dark walnut.

C. The escutcheon around the dial face and speaker louver top and bottom are brushed painted with black paint. The masking tape is "Frog Tape" brand which seems to be the best for minimizing bleed through with paints.

D. Below is the finished cabinet.

If you look closely at the cabinet you can see the different wood tones I used. I think this is pretty close to how it looked like when it was purchased in 1937. The cool thing of this cabinet is that by looking at it it has the appearance that the phono part opens just above the speaker and dial area. It actually opens at the top.

Part 4 Put It Altogether

Install dial plastic, clean grille and rebuild speaker frame

Install the motor, platter and tone arm (tested). All the wires had to replaced connecting the tone arm and the radio-phono switch.

All finished and playing again!

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