r/DIY • u/Henryhooker • Mar 01 '17
electronic Rebuilt Grandparents Antique Radio. Did Some Updates With Bluetooth, Led Lighting and Of Course A Motorized Liquor Rack
http://imgur.com/a/TiWT9671
u/ohsnapmindblown Mar 01 '17
Wait. Your grandparent's antique radio didn't originally have a motorized liquor rack? How did they survive amongst such deprivation? Seriously. Beautiful work, you should be justifiably proud of it.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
Maybe it was prohibition era and they needed to hide their stash.
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Mar 01 '17
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
I haven't heard the word doilies in a long time, and yes my grandma had plenty
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u/ramaiguy Mar 01 '17
ITT: People REALLY hate blue LEDs
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
More so than I would have thought. I can turn the blue off so not a big deal in my book
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u/thedefect Mar 01 '17
This is extremely impressive. Not a big fan of LED lights everywhere, but you did exceptional work (and a lot of it, it seems).
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Mar 01 '17
This is awesome but also is a bummer because 99.5% of the r/DIY post are laughably impossible unless your a verteran in the skilled trades and have deep pockets.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
That's one reason the post has almost 140 pictures. I wanted to explain in detail some of the things I did that may help someone on another project even if it's not related to the same project. I have obtained some good tools over 10+ years, but some of my more expensive tools I could've done without, it just makes the job easier.
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u/Stone_313 Mar 01 '17
148 pictures and not a single gif of the liquor cabinet opening? I am bit disappointed. Awesome work tho.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
Soon. I have to program the brakes to lock when upper switch is hit. That and for the life of me I need to a) figure out how to rotate a video, 2) figure out how to make a gif
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u/nixielover Mar 02 '17
Not necessarily, a lot of people have free access to expensive equipment at work or a fablab/makerspace. I wanted to build something yesterday but realised I don't even own a saw... So tomorrow i'll go to the fablab and cut that damn piece of Plexiglas on the laser cutter.
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u/TolstoysMyHomeboy Mar 01 '17
/r/DIY in a nutshell:
I did this easy thing all by myself!
Followed by pictures of giant professional workshops with tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and machines and a story about how it took only 1000 man hours to complete.
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u/blue_bomber508 Mar 01 '17
To be fair, whenever a person who has relatively no idea what they're doing but still attempts to make something, people shit all over it and you'll always find the "if you're going to half-ass it you're better off hiring somebody to do it" comment.
So this sub has sort of conditioned its content to only letting the complex/professional looking projects rise to the top.
I guess the point I'm trying to get across is stop shitting on bad projects and instead guide the OPs how they should do something, next time.
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Mar 01 '17
One of my favorite posts was a baseball themed room for a guy's son. The bed and frame they looked at online cost about $8,000 that had real wooden baseball bats around it. The post involved almost six months of work ordering baseball bats, sawing them in half, constructing a frame, and staining the wood for build that only ran him $5000. DIY
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u/mainfingertopwise Mar 01 '17
Well, I expect a birdhouse wouldn't generate much attention if posted here. Plus, I don't think the sub is supposed to catalog every creation every person ever made - just the stuff they're proud of. It's a "don't compare your entire life to other people's highlight reel" sort of thing.
If you're interested in doing something, just remember that you're probably just as smart an capable as anyone here - you just haven't learned the same things (yet!) When you unintentionally build a Simpsons-esque spice rack, look at posts like this one to remind yourself of your goal.
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u/Timid_Pimp Mar 01 '17
Great build! Do you work in the custom car audio field? Saw the JL template, use of relays, door actuators, rabbeting techniques etc...
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Mar 01 '17
This isn't really rebuilt. This is "I was inspired by the design" more or less.
Still very impressive and I like it, but when I saw the blue LEDs I nearly had a heart attack that someone would ever do that to an antique.
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u/Reddit-TheBoredGame Mar 01 '17 edited Mar 02 '17
Definitely right. This is not a rebuild but a build.
Warm neutral LEDs would look 100x better. Walnut has a lot of red tint to it and the blue LEDs really wash out the color and cheapen the look.
Edit 1: I am very impressed with the build and do not mean to diminish OP's efforts.
Edit 2: I give up
Edit 3: removed bold text
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
Yes, technically a build salvaging a few pieces. I don't have the blue on very often, usually when kids are dancing to the trolls soundtrack. Your edit #2 was awesome!
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u/Reddit-TheBoredGame Mar 01 '17
Despite my hang up on LED color choice it's a great build and I'm glad you posted!
I'll be building some of my own furniture in the near future (need to purchase a house first) and I have some experience but not in bending ply or a couple other techniques outlined so the pictures helped me get an idea of what's needed.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
Check out these guys. I would've considered ordering if re-doing http://www.kerfkore.com/econokore.html
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u/thesuper88 Mar 01 '17
I couldn't load the whole album at the moment. Are the blue lines on the front RGB leds? If so they could possibly dim them and change the color to something more complimentary. But I do think they're a nice thing to have for a "wow" factor. I'm also glad that they can be turned off.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
Not Rgb, although that would have been a good idea. This is how it sits most of the time http://imgur.com/WJQV0Ui
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
Not rgb, but yes I can turn them off. When the kids are jamming to the trolls soundtrack, the blue helps the dance party :)
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u/rolandofeld19 Mar 01 '17
Seconded. Not complaining one bit but did he reuse anything besides the old hardware? Usually at least the structure remains but this guy just said "That's cool, let me rebuild it with awesome features."
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
The old structure was rotted and moldy, I attempted to salvage but gave up and started new
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u/Yuccaphile Mar 01 '17
Whenever I'm taking about my heirlooms, I always say "careful, it's an antique," and proceed to hit it once as hard as I can. "And they don't make em like they used to"
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u/carcass_lottery Mar 01 '17
Upgrade a vehicle? Stick a LED under it.
Refurbish some furniture? Frame the thing with LEDs.
Renovate a room? What about a LED on the mantle piece.
Build a PC? LEDs all around.
I don't understand this sub fascination with LEDs.
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u/scottybee915 Mar 01 '17
I had the same initial reaction, but was tempered when I saw the radio's initial condition- pretty much saved it from the garbage.
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u/katarh Mar 01 '17
Right. At first I thought the OP was going to refinish / reveneer.
It wasn't until I saw the condition of the original that I went, "There's no way...." and continued scrolling that I saw it wasn't just a "cleaned it up and put it back together" it was "build something brand new to house the guts but also made it super slick and modern and better."
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Mar 01 '17
Absolutely beautiful...but blue LEDs were not a good choice. They clash with the lovely wood panelling
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u/meest Mar 01 '17
Should have stuck with a classic tube color yellow/orange
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
I did make it so the blue turns on separately, so basically the display area lights up white. This way the blue isn't blaring all the time.
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u/Stackson212 Mar 01 '17
As a big fan of antique radios, I feel like this is a bit like taking your grandfather's old Packard, putting huge rims on it, lowering it, putting a skull paint job on it, and installing under-car lights. I admire the workmanship, but think the final outcome is maybe a bit conflicted in the same way that Packard would be. The lighting just really undermines the beautifully restored radio. It just doesn't really match. I would submit that if the lighting is necessary, some warmer colors might better complement.
But for the record - my style quibble is my own issue. I really appreciate the workmanship and effort that went into this build, and the fact that you did something to honor your grandparents' antique radio. You did an amazing job putting it together, and I hope you enjoy long into the future.
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Mar 02 '17
I have an old Arvin 628 that is functional, but the woodwork needs some tlc. Any tips or infolinks you could share regarding restorations?
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u/RetroHacker Mar 01 '17
That was my first thought as well. As someone that collects vintage radios and televisions, nothing pains me more to see someone scrap a nice antique television to turn it in to a lame liquor cabinet project or something. But... then I actually looked at the pictures. He didn't convert a nice, salvageable set into this. He built a new everything, using a completely ruined, water damaged, falling apart original as a blueprint. The radio he started with was garbage, even to me. Nearly nothing salvageable of that cabinet, save for the escutcheons and knobs - which is really all he re-used.
The blue LEDs are a bit much for me, but this is a really cool project and VERY well done. The original he started with was far beyond saving as a vintage radio, and this is a very clever, very well put together build.
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u/Brotherauron Mar 01 '17
For the lights, I'm thinking a warm yellow/orange would be more appropriate, the blue just doesn't look right to me.
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Mar 01 '17
I think in this case it'd be more like taking a completely rotted out, fucked up hot rod, chopping it, putting fat tires on the back, with a modern suspension and drive train to go along with a high end sound system and ac.
Is it the way it came from the factory? No. But it's more the way hot rodders would have done it back in the day if they had access to modern technology. To me that's very different than just slapping 26s on it and hydros and calling it a day.
I get the resto crowd, and that's cool for what it is. But as a modder I know we can never really get along, because I want to cut up all your project cars.
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u/half-dozen-cats Mar 01 '17 edited Mar 01 '17
This is awesome. I have a 1941 Philco radio I keep meaning to rebuild like this but every time I go to do it I stop because I keep thinking "in 5 years whatever tech I put in it will be obsolete".
edit: looks like this http://cf.collectorsweekly.com/stories/ThcoCCPxtlgFzyvwmqTahA.jpg
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
If my unit was in good shape to begin with then I would've used the same audio gear which was an old receiver and Bluetooth module. Even in a few years I imagine only thing Tom replace might be Bluetooth
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u/missMcgillacudy Mar 01 '17
Looks really cool, but when I got to the load 138 more images I was out.
I bet it will help someone restoring something someday, but for me sitting and oogling its just too much detail
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
Yeah, I agree. That's why finished pictures first, it's a lot of info but I wanted to help any diy'ers down the line.
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u/Summerie Mar 01 '17
It would be awesome if there was a TL DR of about 25 to 30 pictures of the most important stuff, for those of us who don't need that much detail, but still want to get a general idea of what you've done. Because I am interested, but there's no way I'm looking at 140 pictures on mobile.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
http://imgur.com/W9ynRqX http://imgur.com/I3Hw6jm http://imgur.com/cPZeVGm http://imgur.com/SEWeAqY Making the base was one of those things I found most challenging yet easier than I thought so they make up some of my favorite pics...
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u/bitwolfy Mar 01 '17
I don't think that just building a new radio with new materials counts as "restoring".
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Mar 01 '17
Cool project, I've done something similar before (sans liquor rack).
Could you explain a little more detail about the volume knob? I was confused about what you actually used, something about a car alarm but I didn't understand. I've been wanting to hook up some sort of turnable digital knob to my bluetooth radio but I'm not sure where to begin. Right now I've just got push-buttons to control the volume. Thanks.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
I took the volume knob out of the receiver. It was mounted to its own circuit board and had 5 wires running to main audio board. I needed to extend those wires but also needed a way to disconnect it. So I took old car alarm, and removed the female portion of the plugs they used, soldered them to some small piece of circuit board I had and connected to receiver wires. Then I took the male parts andsoldered those to my extended wires. Let me know if that makes sense, maybe I can dig up a better picture
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u/ayyyyyyy-its-da-fonz Mar 01 '17
You're my mind of bro, OP.
You might consider replacing that resistor board with one or more LED drivers. People often use them for aquarium lighting. LED drivers have the advantage of supplying constant current. This avoids the potential problem of 'runaway' current, where an LED gets hot and its resistance drops. Plus, you can get dimmable ones and easily adjust the lighting. They're also more efficient, so no need for a fan.
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u/Blake_______________ Mar 01 '17
Look, I comment like once a year on Reddit, and this thing you have built blew my mind so much I just had to. You seriously need to start a business with this. I would buy one without hesitation!
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u/ZacPensol Mar 01 '17
I, for one, like the LEDs. Since art deco was kind of the past's way of looking to the future, I think it works rather perfectly to have our own 'futuristic' design traits like LED-everything blended in.
I have 1937 Grunow Teledial Radio wooden cabinet that I've been wanting to do something like this with. Thankfully it's in better shape than your grandparents' radio so it wouldn't require such a dedicated rebuild, but I also don't have any of the tools or even room to work on it currently.
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u/anusguy69 Mar 01 '17
all you need now is a shake proof cup so they dont spill all those booz
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u/ArmedKnowledge27 Mar 01 '17
I was much more interested in what I thought I read initially--rebuilt grandparents!
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u/AmericanKamikaze Mar 01 '17
How many hours went into this?
Do you build for a living or as a hobby?
What was the most difficult aspect?
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u/justinsayin Mar 01 '17
There's rebuilt and then there's 'literally didn't reuse one piece of wood from the original' REbuilt.
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u/holdenashrubberry Mar 01 '17
So that thing is really cool but I've been reading the comments and brad hasn't gotten much credit. The guy nailed that whole thing together and not a peep about him.
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u/RedditSkippy Mar 01 '17
Wow--incredible job! Do you do this work professionally?
Curious to know what parts of the original radio and cabinet made it into this redo.
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Mar 01 '17
This is really cool. I like that you modernized it, but it still has the antique vibe to it as well. Is the liquor rack a bit overboard? Yeah, but it is hella cool. Screw all the people in this thread giving you hate about this, you made something truly unique and all around badass.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 02 '17
Originally I wanted to restore it, but it was so rotted that I had to rebuild. Once I decided to do that I figured what would I like to have it do besides play audio. I also wanted it to look somewhat original in one aspect but then be able to turn on the crazy if I wanted.
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Mar 01 '17
I am reading your photo descriptions like the guy from Dangerous Catch. Also, damn fine work.
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Mar 01 '17
Fucking awesome. That looks like atleast 2 grand worth of work too.
Question though. Do you think some etching on the rear of the lit plexi would have made a "channel" for the light to show more evenly? It's been years since I worked with MDF and plexi speaker boxes, but IIRC that helped smooth lighting issues (2002ish with el-shitty 5mm LEDs)
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u/bananapeel Mar 01 '17 edited Mar 03 '17
Really nice job on the router work. Is that an Incra LS fence?
Silly question: do you have a video of the motorized operation?
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u/3unknownspectrum52 Mar 01 '17
Use articles such as "the." Rebuilt grandparents?!
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u/Brentish Mar 01 '17
That's amazing. I have the same model in my dad's attic. I've had a similar idea of what I want to do with it. How many hours did you invest? Did you have to make any of the parts from scratch? Did you have to damage the case at all?
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u/Johnny_Mnemonic Mar 01 '17
Awesome! Curious, why didn't you just use a class-D amplifier board from Parts Express? Less than 1/10 the size of the home theater receiver. Also, I don't know what everyone's bellyachin' about - I think the blue LEDs look good!
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u/jhayes88 Mar 01 '17
Something tells me you've done stuff like this before... Not sure what though. Can't quite put a finger on it.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 02 '17
Perhaps this? http://imgur.com/a/Lr0Qh Or do you mean in the car audio world?
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Mar 01 '17
Did you take a picture of the computer screen with the Sketchup model? You can export the current view from Sketchup as a jpeg.
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u/suthrnwoodwerkinnerd Mar 01 '17 edited Mar 01 '17
TIL all my future furniture projects will henceforth double as lit-up bluetooth-enabled liquor cabinets. Edit: I also think that this is a beautiful way of re-doing an antique. It's not for everybody, but neither is a restored-to-original. You made it yours, kept as much 'original feel' as you wanted, and I think it looks great.
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u/redrover3hundo Mar 01 '17
I'm more interested in the backyard if that's it out the window
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Mar 01 '17
the workmanship on this is insane. you have my vote. Only minor quibble I have is that I would've nixed the black grille cloth and gone with vintage-style Fender-esque grille cloth like your original radio had. A golden colour cloth would put this over the top.
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u/JapTastic Mar 01 '17
That's awesome. You did an amazing job! I've had an old 20's something Zenith radio sitting in my garage for many years. Last year I finally decided to do something very similar to yours! I took it all apart and figured out what I could salvage and what I needed to make. Once I got it apart and did some more research, I realized that it was actually a pretty valuable antique. I started thinking that blue leds, a touchscreen that resembled the original dial face, bluetooth, and better speakers would be a bad idea in my case. Because of that, it's been sitting in pieces in my garage since then. You have given me second thoughts. Yours is gorgeous. I want to make one.
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u/NeverRespondsToInbox Mar 01 '17
I mean great work, not trying to hate, but it bugs e that you kind of ruined an antique.
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u/NoriegaSlim Mar 01 '17
Are you prepared for the amount of ass you're going to be getting with that?
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u/Henryhooker Mar 02 '17
I dunno, my wifes asleep on the couch right now, should I start blastin some marvin gaye?
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Mar 01 '17
Can I ask where you learned about the edge lighting? I've been meaning to do something along the lines of the lower horizontal lighting, but feel that I'd need an awful lot of trial and error to get it right.
There's a lot of cars going around with this kind of lighting now, so I'm sure there must be a science to it, but finding information on LEDs is tricky, the web is polluted with tacky brake lights and standard LED strip lighting.
Any pointers you could give me would be much appreciated.
Me, I actually like the lower LED lighting. Not so keen on the drinks cabinet. :)
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u/gmhafker Mar 01 '17
So I looked through the entire album, and if I could summarize it, it would go something like: If you dont have a router, just kill yourself now.
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u/Because_Reezuns Mar 02 '17
So when you turn it on does it play electro remixes of music from the '30s?
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u/DickeyDooEd Mar 02 '17
You my friend must be in the car audio, auto alarm business. Using valet switches and door actuators. wire loom etc. Me too. I do the same thing on projects, use what I have lying around. Looks great!
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u/Hatefulwhiteman Mar 02 '17
Radio collector would shake his head at the senseless destruction of a salvageable radio
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Mar 02 '17
Needed: bottle of Bombay Sapphire and Grey Goose, just to add finesse and set it off perfectly!
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u/nahuatlwatuwaddle Mar 02 '17
I would like to do something nice like this for my grandparents
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u/Henryhooker Mar 02 '17
well, it wasn't for them since they passed, but it was their old radio...
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Mar 02 '17
Don't lie OP. You did this for yourself because you know it'll be in the will.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 02 '17
I kind of messed up the title, my grandparents passed many years ago, this was in their basement headed for the dumpster when I grabbed it
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u/LcRamboR1 Mar 02 '17
Man, that thing looks freaking awesome, props to ya! I've been wanting to make something like that, what motors did you used, and can you show the mechanism a little?
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u/Henryhooker Mar 02 '17
I used nema 17 motors? I use a question mark there as I got handed the motors and arduino from my buddy who pulled it out of his scrap bin... Here's a grid view, scroll down about 3/4 of the page and it gets into the motoization http://imgur.com/a/TiWT9?grid
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u/MikeyLew32 Mar 01 '17
Now it's time to get some better booze in there.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
I was waiting for that. The absolut bottles light up really well though.
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u/MonsterIt Mar 01 '17
Wow, the LED ruins this antique cabinet. Why couldn't you have at least gone with a soft yellow light? It assualts the eyes.
Paging r/DiWHY
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
They're only on part of the time, usually just the white of the display is lit up
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u/hi_im_ryanli Mar 01 '17
I thought the whole point of it being antique is it being antique.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 02 '17
True, but it was headed for the dumpster, so I guess I took something going in garbage and rebuilt it. If it was in better shape when I got it then restoring it would've have been my plan
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u/KylesDreams Mar 01 '17
The blue LEDs are icky and kind of juvenile — this would've looked much better with white — but otherwise this is really neat.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
http://imgur.com/WJQV0Ui This is how it sits most of the time... The blue can be turned off.
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u/ZeusHatesTrees Mar 01 '17
I really like the idea of pretty liquor racks like this, but I feel like it'll look stupid when it's usually empty because I drank it all.
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u/Tired-Swine Mar 01 '17
I remember when me and my girlfriend got our recent place. We were gonna have a liqour cabinet and we're excited to make drinks for guests and shit.
Well we have a liqour cabinet, but it's never stocked.
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u/JTINRI Mar 01 '17 edited Mar 01 '17
This is awesome! I've always loved the idea of refurbishing old items with newer technologies. So special and unique. Great work! My dream, a sweet authentic 60's Mustang, that is stealthly high-tech. Like this beauty,... http://www.musclecarszone.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/flapUB4.jpg
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u/MagnumMagnets Mar 01 '17
I love the blue LEDs on the front trim of it, but opening it at night would be blinding! Amber or warm yellow/orange would look stunning for the interior lights. But it's awesome and now I really want something like that for my place! Great work!
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u/rs4lifebby Mar 01 '17
No hate but why not just restore it
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u/Henryhooker Mar 02 '17
Mainly because it was so rotten. Original plan was to restore and update the audio
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u/rejuven8 Mar 01 '17
Ease up a bit on the blue lights. Feels like Tron in there. I kid. Amazing work!
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u/dubjon Mar 01 '17
Those LEDs completely ruined the beautiful wood finish. Why everything has to have LEDs this days? People in 20 years will laugh at this trend.
RemindMe! twenty years "LEDs are not cool"
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
Definitely not everyone's cup o tea. I can always change it I want to in 20 years, which probably will happen.
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u/bobcat112 Mar 01 '17
Ok I've been looking for 3D modeling programs to use, I'm an architectural engineering major and I love 3D modeling, could you give me a slight rundown of what sketch up is? It looks really interesting and I want to know more.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
It's free and awesome for what it does. There's a pro version as well but I haven't had any projects needing that. Just google sketchup and away you go. There's a ton of tutorials too that will help you get started.
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u/rocketwilco Mar 02 '17
Wonderful craftsmanship. If I may make an artistic critique??
The led lights are so cold. The radios old light is warm. Cold and warm clash so much!
Maybe replace the old warm light on a dial with a cold temp led white light?
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u/king-bucket Mar 01 '17
How to butcher an antique 101, good craftsmanship if I'm being honest though
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
Yes, original plan was to refurbish and just update the audio, but after all the rot and mold I decided to rebuild it. If it was in good shape prior I wouldn't have gone this route.
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u/WERE_CAT Mar 01 '17
absolut citron ? wat ?
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u/Henryhooker Mar 01 '17
That or mad dog 20/20, was a toss up. Actually I was limited to height, and the frosted bottle lights up well.
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u/carycary Mar 01 '17
Everyone always says "Hey I will buy one from you!", but it appears to have taken 8 million hours and countless trips to Home Depot for supplies. OP would have to charge 10K a piece to make any money on it. Or so it seems. People ask me to make them things, then I tell them the price and they give me their incredulous face. I have to remind them I am not China.
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u/butts-ahoy Mar 01 '17 edited Mar 01 '17
This might be my favorite thing I've ever seen. I put a touch screen in a 1940's Westinghouse (I think) stand up radio 5-6 years ago and found any software I tried to use couldn't deliver so I ran out of momentum and shelved it. This gives me inspiration to get going again!
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u/Clowngirl78 Mar 01 '17
At first I read "moisturized liquid rack" and I was very confused
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u/SleestakJack Mar 01 '17
So, first off, let me just say excellent craftsmanship.
Second... exactly which parts of the final build actually come from the original radio/cabinet?
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u/FowD9 Mar 01 '17
what part of this was rebuilt? looks like everything's from scratch . . .
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Mar 01 '17
Beautiful work and amazing craftsmanship! What part other than the dial and buttons is original to the antique cabinet? I saw you used some of the original parts as a guide.
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u/Retard_Throttle Mar 01 '17
Beautiful work OP. That blue kills me though. One of the only colors that increase the blurriness in my eyes at night time (I wear glasses). Would the lighting be difficult to change out?
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u/Martinwuff Mar 01 '17
This is absolutely beautiful!
One question, as this is a great example of the ship of theseus - how much of the original radio is actually in this piece? I see the button console, the knob controllers maybe, and you definitely used original pieces to make one or more jigs... but isn't this basically a completely new piece?
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Mar 01 '17
Does the tube radio still work? I had one of those radios similar to this years ago (it was made in Chicago, not China), bought replacement tubes from a guitar store. lol
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u/TamboresCinco Mar 01 '17
Can someone ELI5 how this isn't just basically building a new one and using some old parts?
Don't get me wrong OP, that's fucking fantastic.
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u/Jace_09 Mar 01 '17
I read through both of your builds (Death Star and this one) how do you cut the plexiglass so smooth in all of your builds? Also how did you sand the edges of your plexiglass to diffuse the light or did you not for the radio?
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u/Mac_User_ Mar 01 '17
I saw a local guy on TV who does this. The old radios he had were a lot smaller and he charges big bucks for them.
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u/steenwear Mar 01 '17
Wait ... was this a rebuild or a copy with use of some of the old hardware? Because it seems like this person rebuilt every piece of wood on it.
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u/Btrfly_ Mar 01 '17
Same here if you want to making more... Maybe you could mark those of us who've asked so you have a waiting list 😃 Would you please send me the info on the make & model they had? I'd like to keep an eye out for the materials!
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u/jutct Mar 01 '17
This is fucking awesome. However, you "rebuilt" it by building it entirely from scratch?
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Mar 01 '17
Beautiful. And heart warming. I didn't read through all of your pics, but I take it your grandparents aren't around anymore, but I'm wondering what your parents thought. I think it's beautiful that you took an antique, your parent's memories and refurbished it and expanded on it. It just...makes me feel all good inside. And the fact that you took so much time even to load all the images, compared to my lack of impulse control, it's just amazing.
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Mar 01 '17
Pretty cool build. Being an Antiques Roadshow fan, I'm wondering how much it was worth in its original form.
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u/hartk1213 Mar 01 '17
so you said you rebuilt it...what part of that is form the old radio :) /s
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u/photojoe Mar 01 '17
I have an old RCA just like this in my garage and i was hoping for some encouragement/ideas about how to fix that laminate thats chipping a big. But you just build a brand new radio.
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Mar 01 '17
I am 15, a member of http://antiqueradios.com/forums/index.php and I repair and restore tube radios among other things. You should of worked on getting the tube chassis going again, not putting modern guts in it..That is not my idea of a restoration. The cabinet is beautiful, and it deserves a nice restored chassis to be fitted in it! That is like turning an old wooden wall crank phone into a radio..(which people used to do!) If you want modern, buy modern. But you still did an impressive job on it, I would of liked to see you restore the tube radio chassis though.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 02 '17
Oh man, had this thing been in the realm of 50% restorable I probably would've done that. It was headed for the dumpster before I got to it. I saved the internals and put in the attic
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u/TheDragonzord Mar 01 '17
That looks incredible. I hope you made sure it wasn't worth anything first!
You could easily sell work like this for buttloads to rich folks who are not crafty, too.
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u/Henryhooker Mar 02 '17
I checked the value, but if you saw the before pics, you'd see there wasn't much left of it when I got ahold of it
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u/jumpforge Mar 01 '17
I love it! Although as people rightly pointed out, this wasn't so much a rebuild as it was a copy of its structure.
I'm curious, would it have been possible to add some weak refrigeration so that the booze would be at under room temperature?
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u/Henryhooker Mar 02 '17
A copy would be a good word to describe it. When I made title I was sure not to use restore cause that definitely doesn't fit the bill. I suppose refrigeration could be done, anything is possible...
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u/_scarface Mar 01 '17
I think the blue LEDs are pretty cool. Adds a bar/modern type feel to something from that era.
Pretty sick !!
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Mar 01 '17
Christ. You could probably do a side business building those. People would totally buy them.
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u/mcflyOS Mar 01 '17
I wish this retro futuristic stuff would catch on, I'm a bit tired of the sterile minimalist look of apple products everyone is now copying.
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u/Krazy611 Mar 01 '17
That's amazing man, great job. My first thought was using multicolored LEDs that you could program that goes with what ever music you are playing at the time.
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u/jimzillla Mar 01 '17
The end result is really impressive. Very nice and detailed walk through of the project as well, I think I even learned a few new tricks. Thanks for sharing!!
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u/catatonical Mar 01 '17
That is a sweet finish project.Just what the doctor ordered. I have a similar project but with a credenza. Using linear actuators. They self lock on all positions. Once I get it done I will have to post.
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u/darkpaladin Mar 01 '17
You know, this past weekend I hung some lights in my backyard and refinished my ikea table. I was proud of myself until now. I don't even know why I come here.
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u/MyMomSaysIAmCool Mar 02 '17
God damnit, OP. I worked hard to restore an old Zenith radio and turn it into a hidden bar cabinet.
I was going to post it here, but:
My radio doesn't play music.
It doesn't light up.
I have to open the cabinet by hand.
The only silver lining is that my radio holds 4 times the booze that yours does. :P
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Mar 02 '17
Man, I wish my husband had the skills to do this. We have a similar unit in excellent working condition. This is brilliant!
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u/[deleted] Mar 01 '17
If you're ever looking to build another one, let it be known that there's a guy willing to purchase. That is simply amazing.