Very good John.

I'm with you, no shelf Queens here either.
Greg.

oh... is there a serial number present?

Finally back to it !

The S/N is on a silver foil label attached to inside cabinet bottom: A889703

Because these radios are of such special interest, am thinking about putting together a S/N data-base of those I know of on-line if the owners are willing to share that info.

Worked a bit with this radio a few days back and then decided to finish the Silvertone 1019 first...

The volume knob had been jammed down on cabinet top making it difficult to turn---thankfully, nothing else had been damaged ! Loosened the setscrew and very carefully worked it back to proper position ("OFF" centered in front panel window) using two small flat-blade screwdrivers at base of shaft. The loose ferrite-rod antenna had slid back & forth during shipping and had nicked the side of shaft slightly.

Removed and disassembled the solar handle---since the threads of mounting screws were "crimped", desoldered connections and removed entire mounts through the broken side panels. So that the large, broken-out right side plastic piece can be properly glued back into place, am going to have to use a small jewelers file to try and "dress" the threads so that screws can be fully removed.

There are two "banks" containing eight solar cells apiece soldered edge-to-edge. In one of the banks, one cell has become completely de-soldered as shown in pic below. Neither has any output or measurable resistance either direction, so am going to look to see if the plastic enclosures can be safely split at glue joint for repair. Am very conscious of the value of this radio and have even saved all the old foam rubber "crumbs" in a small Zip-loc poly bag !

I thoroughly examined both sides of handle under bright light and magnification and there is absolutely no evidence of the "SOLARADIO" imprint ever being there ! Could previous owner have been a Hoffman employee who acquired this incomplete from factory ???

Few "before" handle pics below...

John

Back to the Hoffman today !

Carefully desoldered/disconnected wiring to earphone jacks and volume control from PCB and removed for electrolytic cap replacement. Removed the original caps with care and saved as usual in a small poly Zip-loc bag. Used white teflon insulation from scrap 22 gauge wire as sleeving on leads and attempted to install as neatly as possible for good appearance.

While soldering, noticed a component lead connection had a cold joint and was loose from pad. Turned out to be the ceramic disk emitter bypass capacitor for the 2nd IF amp transistor. Resoldered and moved on... Since the cabinet still had to be repaired and I was very curious on how well the radio would now work, temporarily soldered short pigtails onto connection points and used clip-leads to attach to volume control and speaker. Applied power and all very good ! Tweaking the ANT trimmer made a noticeable difference and the 1st IFT much more. The 2nd IFT was nearly dead-on as it was and adjusting the 3rd only made a slight further improvement. Radio seems to be an excellent performer both sensitivity & selectivity and has really good sound for such a small speaker---but it sure should for what it cost back then !

Also, reglued the loose ferrite-rod antenna support pad on right side. Scraped off the old glue and wax residue very carefully with X-acto knife, then thoroughly cleaned area and pad with Q-tips and Isopropyl alcohol. Gently sanded bottom of the somewhat flexible rubber-like support pad to improve adhesion. Used Loctite Go-2 glue to attach. Once glue fully cures, will use same glue to attach antenna rod to supports. Then will attempt to wrap pieces of original black mounting tape in position and "splice" on bottom side of PCB with tiny drop of glue to maintain original appearance.

Have really been nervous about gluing the broken "chunk" of plastic back into side for handle support. Cleaned all fractured edges thoroughly with Isopropyl alcohol and Q-tips, brushed any "fuzz" off with clean toothbrush, and blew off with compressed air. "Dry" fitted the piece a few times since it engages in two directions and is tricky to line up properly. Applied Superglue gel and quickly placed in position, then held securely for around 10 minutes applying pressure in multiple directions with fingertips hoping it would securely bond. Then placed a piece of foam rubber against a weight and stood on end sideways to keep any stress off of repaired area at least overnight. Plan to very carefully trim bead of excess glue with razor-blade afterward. Since plastic does not have a "high-gloss" finish, can't really polish it afterward or it will look worse...

Today's pics below---notice Hoffman name on bottom of PCB. Used the small Ty-wraps to temporarily hold ferrite-rod antenna in place until I was able to fix PCB supports...

John

Progress !!!

Shaun kindly sent me a couple of Nu-Gold alloy discs which he uses for Sony TR-6 brights to replace the one which was missing from this set's volume knob. They look very much like originals seen in pictures, but have to be reduced in diameter and thickness to fit knob cavity. He also told me how he reduced the diameter, but I wanted to come up with an easier method using items at hand. First thought was to center and glue a large bolt to bottom of disc so that it could be chucked into drill, but was concerned about removal when complete. Remembered having a few scrap pieces of thin but good quality self-adhesive Velcro and decided to give it a try. Cut a section just large enough to fit within "finished" diameter and attached to disc and head of bolt after cleaning both with Q-tip and Isopropyl alcohol. Separated the Velcro elements and carefully centered the bolt head, then inserted into electric drill. It worked fine with just a bit of "wobble" while sanding edge with 180-grit sandpaper. Gently "swept" the sandpaper back & forth during process changing areas on surface while maintaining firm but gentle, perpendicular contact. Still took a long while to remove around 1/16" of material, but much less difficult than using a file or sandpaper by hand... Used inside calipers to determine needed O.D. and also checked fit periodically as it became closer to required size. It was clear by the depth of knob cavity that the new disk was also much thicker than original (as Shaun had mentioned in e-mail) and needed to be sanded thinner by simply rubbing across sandpaper on flat surface until fit looked right. Looking at pics of other sets, didn't get it quite thin enough, but very close... Went over outside surface of new bright several times with Novus-2 and cleaned back with alcohol. Very carefully scraped old glue from inside of knob cavity and also cleaned it with 91 % Isopropyl alcohol. Applied a small drop (so it wouldn't "ooze" out edge) of Loctite Go-2 glue in center of knob cavity and pressed in new bright---looks great and very much like original ! Thanks again Shaun !

After gluing loose right-side ferrite-rod antenna mounting pad back onto PCB and then gluing rod to both pads, was able to wrap and attach ends of remaining black factory support tape on to bottom of PCB with tiny amounts of Superglue gel to retain original top-side appearance. Also "re-flowed" wax on windings where they had been chafed during movement when rod was loose inside cabinet during shipment.

Had earlier thought since it was rubbing cabinet top, that the volume knob had been "jammed" down on control shaft and had loosened setscrew and pried up carefully with screwdriver tip on inside. Then discovered after removing the earphone storage compartment that the entire control mount bracket was adjustable ! So restored knob to original & correct position on shaft and adjusted bracket for proper height (which also centers the "graphics" within front panel window).

Since I couldn't loosen the earphone jack nuts and didn't want to risk damage, decided to leave 'em along with speaker and volume control attached to cabinet. Because of this, cleaning cabinet was a bit tedious. Not very dirty, but a lot of residue in grooves which I was able to clean with just a water-dampened toothbrush using Windex or Isopropyl alcohol on stubborn spots on plastic. Carefully cleaned speaker grille using water-dampened, then dry inside-out white cotton sock pieces---the "nubs" help with the holes... Water-dampened, then dry Q-tips and small pieces of cotton cloth for most the rest in & out... Was very careful cleaning around the original foam rubber pads inside back cover since they were still intact...

Reinstalled PCB and reconnected battery contacts and solar-handle mounting blocks wiring. Had to remove volume control mounting bracket screw to install earphone storage compartment and then needed to realign control position. Temporarily attached handle mount blocks to cabinet with short, slotted 8-32 screws until proper hardware found.

Was very nervous about cleaning dial window because of reverse painting---but thankfully had no problems... First rinsed thoroughly with cold water, then wiped inside VERY gently with water-only saturated piece of soft cotton cloth, rinsed again and then wiped VERY gently again with dry soft piece of cotton cloth and blew off thoroughly with low pressure compressed air. Went over outside surface several times with Novus-2 to remove light scuffs/scratches. Also polished both sided of clear tuning knob to remove some light scuffing which appeared to be from manufacturing process.

PCB had to be removed to install tuning knob, then mechanically aligned to center shaft in cabinet hole so that knob wouldn't rub or bind.

Radio itself is now complete ! Installed batteries and it's an excellent performer at upper-end of dial with lower side being somewhat deaf as several others in collection... Sound very good for such a small speaker---very neat to listen to oldies and look at this imperfect but beautiful radio !

Now on to the handle and solar pack surgery ! And to find the proper brass thumbscrews for mounting...

Pics in two groups below...

John

Here are the remainder of project pics---please see previous post for 1st group...

Looks great! I like the method you used for modifying the knob brights.

Thanks Colin---amazing how much that gold disk improves appearance of knob !

Handle project began yesterday !

Very carefully separated the two halves of both clear plastic solar packs that were inside handle assembly using an X-acto knife along the glue line. The silicon solar cells appear good---one had broken free from left array and temporarily tack-soldered it back into place. Both arrays put out around two volts unloaded with just the light from LED ringlite, so imagine they'll do fine with sunshine. Since I don't really want to buy a hot-air rework station just to properly solder the one loose cell back into position, am just going to use a tiny jumper behind elements to interconnect. The thin foam rubber turned to crumbs during handling and added the "mess" to the small poly bag to be kept with other original parts/pieces...

Cut new top cover section for handle today. Both ends were broken off of the original at the handle mounting screws' locations. Original is 3/16" thick and the scrapped plastic panel remnants in garage were both 1/4", but think the slight extra height won't look too bad with edges rounded. First cut a strip from Lexan panel thinking it would be more durable and sanded out saw marks. When pulling off the protective paper film, noticed it had a grayish tint and probably would not pass enough light for solar cells to function at full potential (and later remembered that polycarbonate also blocks UV !), so then marked and cut another strip from the Ultra-Clear acrylic stock. Before performing the tedious sanding operation on this piece, peeled off protective film and saw that it was indeed very clear as was original. During test fitting after edge and corner sanding completed, thought it really looked good even if deviating somewhat from original design...

Am very nervous about drilling this new piece after all the effort & time put into it so far. Need to buy the special drill bits for acrylic plastic to reduce risk of damage. Once drilled, will tape off and paint ends white on bottom side like original. As mentioned before, ALL original parts & pieces will be treated carefully and saved for possible future owner and nothing that is destructive & irreversible will be done to this special radio.

Mentioned earlier that the handle body has no evidence whatsoever that the "SOLARADIO" script was ever present. Communication with the few people I know who have them including Shaun and Bill in AZ who has several made me aware that the script is actually a paint-filled engraving and there is not so much as even a scratch in the clear plastic in that area ! So I am still holding to my theory that this set belonged to a Hoffman employee (or someone who knew one) and they had "pulled" an incomplete (or rejected) handle out of stock to replace original which had broken while parts for these radios were still on site... If anyone else has ever seen or heard of another "blank" handle PLEASE let me know !!!

Pics below...

John

That "nu-gold" bright turned out great, I'll have to look into that material! I hope you can get that solar handle repaired to your satisfaction as well.

Thanks Matt---appears to be several selling them on-line. They're also available in different thicknesses...

Thought I'd devote an entire post to a great, helpful, and much-needed home-made gift from Shaun (after receiving his permission).

The two polished brass thumbscrews were missing from this radio and had been replaced with two double-slotted brass truss-heads. Had asked about a source for possible replacements and Shaun made this remark in a subsequent e-mail along with a link to 1" brass rod stock on Ebay: "Hi John, If you have a mini-lathe and a knurling tool and a tap and die set there's this (smiley face & link). I can give you precise dimensions if you need it." ...

10 days later he asked the length of screws used on mine since my handle was different...

Then, almost two weeks after his remark about a mini-lathe, received this e-mail along with some pics: " Hi John, Lets face it, I think your never going to find thumbscrews from a unloved junked Hoffman.

Lucky for you I got a piece of 1inch brass rod and thought I would have a go making some. I do have a mini lathe, knurling tool and tap and die set. I didn't want to say anything until I tried.

I am not attempting to do the cut in the middle as on the original, and the two ends are kind of different. Note once you get that much cut into for the screw you really don't want to mess around with the end or cutting grooves in the middle.

Also the original is just under one inch. Apart from that they should be pretty good copy. I even got the dip in the middle.

I'll pop them in the post if you want them on Monday. Hopefully they will help you finish. You may need to put some brass offsets to get the length correct.

Good luck
Shaun"

Received the two home-machined and well-polished thumbscrews a couple days later and they are just beautiful ! What a thoughtful, generous, and helpful gift that required a lot of tedious effort ! Thanks again Shaun, VERY much---Sure appreciate your help with this project !

Few pics below from Shaun---the last one was taken here after they arrived...

John

Incredible workmanship! You owe this guy (you know that though).

Can't wait to see the finished "objet d' arte" with the new hardware in place! Those thumbscrews are drool worthy.

My favorite Hoffman, or Sony TR-6

Note the quality of machining & polishing in the "face" of the thumb-screws---The uniform reflections sure resemble Yin Yang symbol !

John

That was incredibly decent of Shaun to make those screws. What a fine fellow!

You're absolutely right Colin---was so surprised and amazed when I received e-mail (with pics) stating that he had, that I had a hard time finding words to respond with in gratitude ! Sure looking forward to getting handle together so they can be installed !

Haven't mentioned the mishap with a couple solar cells awhile back where the solder strip at edge of silicon came off when trying to reattach to array. Found on-line that conductive silver epoxy may work, so am researching a bit... Anyone else use it for that application ???

John

Hello All,

Haven't forgotten this old "treasure" !

Finally got up the nerve today to glue the brass handle-mount blocks to insides of repaired cabinet. Very carefully used Loctite Go-2 glue which has proven itself very good on several projects. Inserted 2.5 mm screws of needed length through short pieces of Teflon tubing with O.D. just under that of 8-32 screw to prevent glue from entering threaded holes. Once glue applied and block placed into proper position, put small flat-washer and nut on end of screw and tightened to hold part securely against plastic until cured.

Then revisited article found awhile back on Indium-alloy soldering for silicon solar cells and posted in Clubhouse to see if anyone here had used it---need as much help as I can get to reconnect those elements !

Still haven't found drill-press to borrow for handle cover holes, but continuing to look...

Hopefully one day it will be complete and can show off Shaun's beautiful thumb-screws !

John

Looking forward to it!

Hello All,

Radiohenry responded to my Clubhouse post on indium soldering and very kindly sent me some samples to experiment with along with suggestions on how to use it. Unfortunately, it didn't bond well to the silicon as hoped, even after proper preparation---may need a special flux. But the really bad news is that I physically broke one of the cells during process effectively killing this portion of project---arghhhh ! So may try to find newer solar elements which will fit inside handle and function and keep the original cells with ALL the other factory parts that were replaced. Am trying to keep anything I do to this rare, historic radio easily reversible so that it could be returned to original state (other than the glued plastic)...

Still searching for a drill press to borrow to complete new handle cover...

John

John - Perhaps you could "experiment" with this Radio Shack solar panel that someone is selling on eBay for $3.99:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RadioShack-0-5 ... SwiB5c-u3X

Thanks Mark !

Am thinking that some of the rechargeable lawn lights have panels that may fit handle openings and am keeping eyes open for junked units... Of course, will install them so that they can be easily removed and radio returned to originality for next owner one day...

John