My find this weekend at Rennigers in Mt Dora.

Loewy Globe radio in black.

Was on my bucket list for a while.

Never wanted to pay retail prices.

Just missing a knob which may be unobtanium.

Not sure yet what to expect with the chassis.

Unobtainium plastic knobs seem to me to be the ideal 3D printer task. I am wondering when someone will start offering that service. So you don't have to buy one yourself and learn all the ins and outs if you cannot justify the costs as a plaything.

The knob is heavy pot metal

Found out my library may be able 3D

That is an amazing find, congrats. Lucky to have that one good knob for reference.

Hello,
If it is heavy pot metal, then you should be able to find a home shop foundry that could make one out of Aluminum.

That is pretty unusual and you found it in good shape. I look forward to the chassis pictures and restore thread.

I have some Cerrosafe metal chunks that melt at what? 180 degrees or something? Would a replica made of that be any worse than "pot metal"? You could make a mold easily enough from the original in something like clay and pour this stuff in. OF course it could be drilled and filed to match. But no one would notice that one knob was made of plastic on a 3D, for practical purposes of use.

Apparently people move to Florida to retire and not open shop.

Found one in Tampa and am awaiting a response.

How would I melt the Cerrosafe?

I live about 20 min from Rennigers in Mt Dora but I don't go very often. Looks like I missed out on a very Interresting radio.

In boiling water?

Glad you stayed home. Lol

That knob would be easy to copy with a plastic casting kit. Your casting will look exactly like the original. If not, you pour another one. The center hole is cut from an old knob, pour around it. No heat required so you can do it in your shop, just need ventilation.

3D printing seems simple but takes time. The image has to be programmed and then the printer lays down plastic threads from a spool of the right color of plastic. The tiny threads melt together but you can still see ripples in the surface, so then it needs sanding.

If wood is your medium, carve a knob from a piece of hardwood.

Metal casting would be best for an authentic copy. Rent a Tiger torch and set up a foundry with some fire brick and an old cast iron pot maybe. I'm sure there are Youtube videos. A metal knob with a thick rim spins easy like a flywheel.

I found someone who had knobs once made and what they did was use resin but mix in metal powder to add weight and color.

Will look into a plastic casting kit

I often hope of day where a 3-D printer would be able to scan and allow you to select the color for those needed plastic pieces.

My source lead turned into a dead end.

Looks like I may have to try to make one myself

Art
Jean has used Smooth On products to make knobs escutcheons and other needed parts. A bunch of years ago a Smooth On
Rep came to the Lansing Michigan radio meet and gave a demonstration at the meet of how to make molds and how to create needed parts..
First link is to their website showing their product line. Second link shows how to do the process.
https://www.smooth-on.com/category/epoxy-resin/

https://www.smooth-on.com/tutorials/

Check your Email Art for a series of pictures of Zenith 1000Z Escutcheons. The molds are made from some rubber type product
that Smooth On sells. The Mold for the large escutcheon for the 1000Z weighed 25 pounds. It took her two attempts to
make that mold. Had to add some relief holes to the mold to get good fill of some of the areas within the mold. So then its epoxy time. Mix up the batch and begin pouring it into the mold. As the stuff starts running out of a relief hole put a cork into that hole. Give it a few minutes to set up and presto you have a new epoxy part. Knobs are easier as they can be done with a one piece mold. Then after knob is poured drill the holes and tap the side holes for setscrews. They have some metallic epoxy that might come close to proper color for your repro knob.

Another alternative might be. Contact Ed Schutz renovated radios. Ed bought the molds and stuff from Larry Bordonaro's estate a few years ago. Perhaps in Larry's stash might be a mold for this particular knob? I know the catalogging by Larry was lousy so Ed would have to look through the stash. Or perhaps just send Ed your one good knob and let him make the mold and repro knob.

The only difficult on your knob would be getting the coloration correct. Make Mold and Make Knob are the simple parts.

John & Jean k9uwa

The Cerrosafe could be melted in a tin can on a stove top or with a torch. However I looked at the link above for the Smooth-On stuff. That Epoxacast 655 that is metal filled casting epoxy looks like a better idea to me, no heating. All depends on how much it costs. I just happened to have some chunks of Cerrosafe that I got to use to cast chambers so you can pour it in, take it out, and take measurements from the casting. The stuff supposedly shrinks a tiny amount as it cools so it is easy to pull out and then reverts to the actual size of the inner dimensions, and it is re-usable. But go to the link instead.

I got lucky and found a repop knob

Will probably start on restoration after 1/1/2021

I did wipe down the base where there is no gold markings and removed about 3 lbs of cigarette tar.

Going to have to clean the top carefully