Resin soldering flux. Ick!

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Ok, for all you geeks out there who solder, you know that the worst part of it is using resin flux. For those who are not tech inclined: Soldering is the process of joining an electronic component to a circuit board with solder. When I attempted to start my own computer repair business, 90% of my calls were from people wanting the power jacks fixed on their laptops, which requires soldering. So here I am at my old community college 9 years after graduating, thrown in with the 23 year old geeks, learning soldering.

For the melted solder to "stick" correctly, the connection must be CLEAN! The only way to do it is with flux, which is derived from the pitch of pine trees. Yes, it's sticky and smelly and gross and takes Boraxo to get it off your hands properly. I had the foresight to buy my own bottle of flux, since I imagined 20 20somethings all using the same bottle of flux, the one provided by the teacher, Mr. K. Sure enough, when Friday rolls around (once a week class) I'm the only one with my own flux, and the rest of the kids are battling over a single HUGE bottle of gross 30 year old flux.

Today we learned how to solder. Not only did I not prep (by "tinning" the soldering iron tip with solder) my iron correctly, almost burning it to a crisp, I got flux all over my hands and clothes. (But at least I wasn't using Mr. K's flux. A for today! ) Well, after I'm done with class, I head out to my car. My air conditioning up and quits about a mile from the college. Only hot air comes out. So I drive home in a very hot car.

Later in the day, I notice that my hot car smells like flux. *I* smell like flux. I can't get away from the smell of flux in my car. My mom has no money to fix the AC unit, so my car will continue to be hot. Not only do I have to figure out how to get this sh*t off my clothes, I have to figure out how to get it out of my CAR! Ick, ick, ick...

washing powder gets it off my hands - also works with superglue. can't remember if its bio or non bio tho...

Do you wear an apron in class?

I studied metal work and jewelry (bench work) and we soldered everyday. I rarely got it on my clothes or hands and carried the bottle around in my tool box. Do you have a brush to apply it with? You have to rinse out the brush every time you use it or it crusts up.

Anyway, maybe your stuff's different than mine was because of the application (there was no iron in my stuff, only gold, nickel, copper, silver, bronze, etc.). Try getting a box of baking soda that's made for freezers, open the sides and put it in your car.

I guess I was lucky that I liked the smell of the stuff, heh. I hated getting it on my hands, though and defacing everything I subsequently touched. Sometimes I used freon solvent to get it off my hands, but that can't be good for your health. For clothes/car that could work, though.

As for the bottle, I have mine wrapped in some layers of aluminum foil. When the outside gets too sticky I peel off a layer. It's not a great solution, but it seems to help a little.

The stuff does make for good/nice/satisfying/beautiful solder joints, though.

I use a rosin core solder. It doesn't work quite as well, but I manage.

And yes, tinning is pretty important, a lesson I ended up learning the hard way

There was a video I saw on YouTube somewhere that had a lot of really good tips, but heck if I can remember where.

I also like the smell of rosin-core solder. I work on repairing/restoring antique tube radios every now and then and it, along with the unique smell of hot vacuum tubes, is one of the joys of the hobby.



As for the health aspects of soldering, just wash you hands after you're done and there should be no problem, especially after using the good leaded (60/40 or 63/37) stuff.

Mike

That's why I use rosin-core solder if I need to solder. I don't like soldering at all - ESPECIALLY sweating copper(sweating copper=soldering) pipe. I glop on ZnCI+Sn tinning flux and liberally apply Ag/Sn/Sb lead-free solder after heating the joint with a MAPP gas flame. I got chewed out by a friend of a friend after I installed a shower faucet about 1/2" too far from the wall and he had to redo my work.

We've got an antique radio sitting around, and I tried playing around with it one day and sound wouldn't come out of the speakers (just a hum).

I went online and did a lot of research, and downloaded the schematics/etc. for it, but that's about as far as I've gotten. One of these rainy days I guess I'll need to go to Radio Shack and get some capacitors (read that this was the main cause of failure).

The problem is that the capacitors available from Radio Shack come nowhere near the voltage ratings needed for use in tube radios. The highest rated electrolytic that I have seen at RS in recent years is only around 35 volts whereas a tube set without a power transformer will require ones rated at 160 volts and a set WITH a power transformer will need ones rated as high as 500 volts. Non-electrolytics rated at 630 volts will be needed, too. The parts are not expensive (+/- $2 each for the electrolytic caps and about 30-50¢ each for the non-electrolytic ones) and a typical transformer set should set you back about $10-15 in parts if there are no other issues with it.

Where in Michigan are you? There is a shop in Plymouth (suburban Detroit) that specializes in antique tube sets and they'll be able to help you get going with advice and the needed parts, or you can hire them to do the work.

There is also a forvm that I frequent (do a Google search for 'Antique Radio Forums') that is full of hobbyists who'll spare no effort in helping you to get your little treasure to make nice noises again. I strongly recommend that you seek them out. And yes, that 'hum' is a normal and expected condition for nearly all 'unrestored' tube radios - it is the electrolytic filter capacitors failing (they take the 'messy' raw DC power from the rectifier and help to 'smooth' it so that it can be used by the tubes that are downstream from them and their electrolyte dries out over time). Once restored, tube sets sound AMAZING.

Good luck!

Mike

The old electrolytic filter capacitors in tube sets were made from waxed paper, and a few other things, and tended to rot over time. You'll also need a digital multimeter, available from Radio Shack for 30 or 40 bucks, to test each capacitor to see which one needs replacing. It can be tedious, but well worth it. And yes, the humming sound is from a capacitor. When I was into those old radios in the early 90s, you could still get big band/swing music from the 30s and 40s on AM in most major cities, and listening to that old music on an age-appropriate old radio was really something. Most of those stations have since changed formats what with the exit of the WW2 generation. Now AM is all right wing talk and sports, along with ethnic formats. Even on FM music is going away. There's no need to listen to the radio when you can surf music online, after all.

Oh, okay. I figured it wouldn't hurt to check, but yeah, I really wish I could find a better electronics shop around here.



Nah, I'm way on the West side. I'd like to do it myself, I haven't had a really good electronics project in a while. But yeah, parts would be nice.



I probably passed through it in my search for info =) I forget the name of the site I found the most info on...I think they had a tan sort of layout...



Yeah, I'd love to see how the thing sounds. It's got a record player attached to it, too (78 RPM I think? At least that's what the record is that's in it already). It connects by a quarter-inch mono cable, so I was thinking I could plug other things into it if I ever wanted to get adventurous. There was one tube I couldn't get a really good look at, but it seemed like they were all working okay when I turned it on.



I've already got one, but I read that it's best just to replace all of them, because even the ones that are still working probably won't be for much longer.

I'm not really interested in keeping the value up by hiding new parts inside of the shells of the old parts or anything like that.

But like I said, some rainy day I'll have a nice project waiting (it probably won't even be raining).

Here's the service manual to our model, BTW, if you were interested http://www.nostalgiaair.org/Resources/677/M0003677.htm

That has an FM option, so definitely made after World War 2. (The 88-108 Mhz band was approved during the war, when there was no civilian radio production. Radios started rolling off the lines in early 1946.) From the looks of the cabinet, I'd say 1948-50 era or so. After the early 1950s console radio production wound down in favor of televisions, and the radio was relegated first to tabletop models, then to a transistorized toy for young people. That model doesn't have a TV option, so definitely before the early 1950s. So I'd say 1946 to 1952. That should give you a good idea when it was made. Most collectors when I was a teen (early 90s) didn't consider postwar models to be worth collecting, because printed circuit boards and mini tubes quickly took over, and the old farts at the clubs considered that electronic heresy. The console radios made after the war were sort of odd birds, since TV quickly took over, and after a few years of use most of those sets were stashed in garages.

Your set, assuming that it is the AM-only Crosley 9-212M, should be fairly easy to electronically restore/recap. My usual source for caps is http://www.justradios.com , they are located in suburban Toronto, ON and whenever I order from them, I normally have the parts in about a week. They do have a minimum order, which is usually enough parts to do two or three sets.

The modern replacement caps are waaaaaay smaller in physical size than the antique original parts that they'll replace - the underside of your set's chassis will look totally barren when all is done.

Your set looks to have been made in about 1949.

Good luck!

Also, since you are in western Michigan, several good AM programming options are available to you. Of course, you have oodles of live sports from Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee. Also, there are Old Time Radio broadcasts at midnight on weekdays on WBBM (780 AM out of Chicago), WIND (560 AM out of Chicago) does OTR on Saturday evenings and new programs of the Twilight Zone at 1 and 2 am on Sunday, after their OTR shows) and 740 AM out of Toronto has oodles of period music and OTR shows. Also, WSM (650 AM out of Nashville, TN) still does the Grand Old Opry, live every Saturday night at 8:00pm Eastern Time (they haven't missed a show since the mid-1920s).. Ya just gotta look around!



Mike

Yeah, that site said pre-1950. I tried looking for a date stamped on it somewhere, but didn't recognize any. I don't really know anything about the radio at all, I'm sure my grandpa probably does.



I don't really need that many parts, but I'll look into it. My dad could always use spare parts...unless he already has some, I haven't asked him yet. I know he does have some caps but I think they're all smaller ones. I know I've got a bag full of little ceramic ones.



Won't be able to see it anyway, it's all encased in an aluminum box mounted onto a wooden shelf.

Compared to modern electronics, it already does look quite barren in there =) I love older electronics where everything is so big and bulky and practical, hulking beasts of metal and wood...compared to nowadays where everything has to be super compact, tiny ICs, flimsy plastic, cheap parts, and as many corners cut as possible.



Where do you get this information?

I've tried surfing for stations before, but I pick up so many, it's hard to go through them all, and some of them interfere with each other.

I found all of that programming info by tuning around and listening.

Also, the chassis is plated steel, not aluminum.

Mike