Category: Other Projects

For Christmas, Lori and I made calendars for a few people. But we put a lot of work into them, and I wanted to make sure everyone got a chance to see what we put together. So I'm planning to post two months worth each day for the next six days. These first two were the images for January and February. Enjoy!

I finished the Philco 40-180 a couple of days ago, and we finally brought it in to the living room. I didn't end up using the original controls for anything though - they are just for show. This was for two reasons. First, the original mechanisms were very rusty and worn, and did not really operate smoothly anymore. Second, all of the knobs and buttons are right at eye level for Sean, and he finds them irresistable. So instead, it is wired to our CD player, and we listen to music through it. It both sounds and looks great! (By the way, the curtains are down right now to be washed - it's not normally so bright in that corner.)

I've got the Philco 40-180 refinished, with the decals applied. Today I started recovering the grill plate with the reproduction grill cloth I ordered, and also started taking apart the speakers that will be mounted in the radio. I'm hoping to start assembling the mp3 player kit this weekend, but I'm a bit nervous - this will be the first time I've ever done any precision soldering on anything more complicated than perfboard. Wish me luck!

I'm also refinishing a smaller, tabletop Philco radio. I'm planning to refit this one with some modern speakers, and discretely hide a jack on the backside that I can plug an audio device (my Ipod, specifically) into. I've already stripped the finish, repaired, and refinished this one, but I don't have any current pictures yet. Here are the 'before' pictures, though.

I've got the Philco 40-180 stripped of finish and gutted. I've repaired a few sections that were damaged, and steamed out what dents I could. Unfortunately, steaming out the dents didn't go as well as I had hoped, because the majority of them weren't 'fresh' enough to be steamed out. But now everything is ready for a fresh coat of lacquer. In actuality, I've already started recoating it with lacquer, but I started with a Vandyke Brown toning lacquer, and I think it might be too dark. So I may have to strip it again and start over. Stripping it a second time will go much faster though, as the finish has not fully cured and doesn't have any of the accumulated grime ground into it that the original finish had.

My latest project. I'm restoring an old Philco console radio that I won on Ebay. I've always loved the look of 40's era console radios, and loved the idea of the family gathering around the radio each night to listen to serials, sports, and news from around the world. I've decided to restore the wooden cabinet of an old radio, and put a computer inside so we can use it to play back our collection of music, old-time radio adventure and sci-fi stories, and audiobooks. The cabinet I won is in rough shape, but is structurally sound - so it's a great candidate for restoration. The old tube radio inside is no longer functional. I'll start by stripping the finish, repairing the dents and scratches, and gutting the old electronics. I'm planning to post pictures here of the project as it progresses. These first shots are the "before" pics.

Want to know how to make just about anything? Twenty years ago, you'd head to the library and hope for the best - maybe they would have a book on the subject, maybe not. Today, you pop on the web and you've got instructions at your fingertips in seconds. The only problem is that you've got to know what you want to know in order to search for it. What if you're like me, and are always looking for some project, but don't know what it will be and are looking for ideas? That's where two of my absolute favorite websites come in. The Make Blog over at Make Magazine, and the user-submitted project instructions on Instructables. Both are chuck full of cool ideas. I check them daily!