Well guys I got both these sets this week and am toying with the idea of making the knobs to make them into a show piece. Photos are sent.
Oh I do have the proper knobs for the beehive as a fellow in my facebook group has kindly offered to sell me four spares he has.

Be careful with the Kriesler. Many of those radios are damaged by over-tightening the rod that holds the 'shells' together, casing them to crack. There should be thin felt or paper washers between each layer.

https://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/Kriesler_radio/Kriesler_11_4_11_4cz_11_4u_11_4y_1867369.jpg

Repaired a few of those, typical Kriesler, speaker transformer is normally dead. Like the unrestored Kriesler I have here that looks like its found a home. Threads are an issue & people will insist on damaging them.

Brilliance with the Beehive lays in the genius that used I think a 3/16" rod in a tube massively bigger and then used fabric washers with a 1/4" hole, so that when a rod ended up loose, the padding washer disappeared down the hole & caused a chain reaction & it "rattled" & the rest followed suit.

If I dismantle those I have used fibre washers that have a 3/16" hole and cannot slip: No vibration issues noted. I also make a point of running a thread tap down the holes, as some times the Bakelite distorts, & I also run a die over the threads on the rods. If the thread is a bit rattly, pipe thread tape helps stop it.

And yes! If you try to tighten up the rods like piano, or fencing wire; "Somethings gota give" There should be two nuts on each rod. Viz one set to keep the cabinet together and the other set for holding the top to the chassis.

Marc

Schematics here if you don't have them:

https://vintage-radio.com.au/docs/Kriesler-11-4.pdf

Photos uploaded.

Thanks Brad. Thanks STC830.

What diameter at maximum are those Kriesler knobs? I have a metal draw I scored somewhere, brand new 32mm at maximum no screws and there must be 50 or more and they look just like those.

That sort of failure on the clear plastic ones is absolutely common, the plastic is too inflexible & does seem to deteriorate. Plastic of the 50's is not the wonder material it was promoted as. Whist it could be molded into an infinite range of shapes & sizes. Some of it was a bit like Nitro-cellulose & self generated the compounds of its own destruction.

Plastic Art work is becoming a conservators worst nightmare "Barby doll" was made from one of the bad plastics; I t decomposes yielding Hydrochloric Acid: Hydrochloric Acid is also the product that is the catalyst for its decomposition.

I have noted in some 50's radios & onward that plastic coil formers (Not wood, Ceramic, or the impregnated Paper) are deteriorating and breaking.

Marcc they are not the correct knobs for the Kriesler. I have procured a set of originals plus a extra and will have quite a few reproduced ( professionally ) . Also I am having those Astor knobs reproduced as well. These sets will be a show piece.

The knobs on the beehive are from some test equipment.

Realised knobs were wrong, but whatever they came off of, I have a lot similar, or same?

BPJ rings a bell, one looses track sometimes, when radios going across the bench exceed several hundred. I do have a collection of wiring diagrams, some on computer & quite a few hard copy ones filed under the chaos system.

Do note the flaws in the originals & one hopes that a different formula plastic, or construction can be achieved, as that type of knob has, what I call, an attrition rate.

Two nice radios.

I have a beehive just like yours, but with different (probably not original) knobs. The cabinet is susceptable to small cracks at the corners of the dial - mine has one such crack.

I also have an Astor of that model, but it's a bluish-grey colour if I remember correctly. There's a photo of it on the forum.

https://vintage-radio.com.au/home.asp?f=2&th=657#6235

Robbert my Astor had a open circuit output transformer. I luckily had a NOS Astor transformer for it. Hows that for luck.

Very lucky.

My luck was with the Beehive, the entire speaker (with transformer mounted upon it) was missing, which probably explains how I picked it up so cheaply. However I had a spare unit that fitted straight in and worked. That was one easy repair. How's *that* for luck?

One question Robbert I have not recapped the astor yet. I may have connected the input wires to the transformer about face and it is distorted. Would that be the issue? I am going to recap and check this anyway.

Jumping in: The reversal of the speaker transformer (noted as 12K) I have the data sheet, should not matter as it has no feedback from the secondary of the speaker transformer.

One can check the speaker is not polling by subbing it.

Otherwise it is pointless fault finding if it has old electrolytic caps anywhere and wax paper caps. I check the resistors as I go & ones like the plate resistor on the 1st audio R103 often fail. If its had new caps C30 does not go to chassis it goes to CT & if its wrong you get hum. I have had instances where metal bodied caps in the position of C30 have been grounded: Shorting out the back bias R138 & R139

What Marcc said. Do the recap and check the resistors in the audio section and power supply. If it's still doing it try another speaker (transformer will be fine).