Yes, you can simply switch just the active leg.

The HPM came with a double pole switch which, back in the day when the polarity of the power source could not be relied upon (especially when people often used light sockets instead of GPOs), ensured that active was always disconnected.

Thanks GTC that is one less thing to worry about.

Back then, double pole mains switches were a requirement, where a switch was desired. Radio manufacturers left switches out of all but the most expensive models to keep costs down.

I think it came down to Bean counters having far too much say . The cheif engineer should, but never seems to override a Bean Counter.
I do apologise to any of you that count beans for a living . This Astor Mickey APM is a prime example some of the wiring is good quality plastic insulated some of it is cotton covered all still excellent condition . However we can't afford to waste all this rubber insulated crap, I am thinking as a bean counter. You must use this till our stocks are zero!! Maybe it was getting close to stock take time who knows, you would think they would have had some consideration for us nearly 70 years later having to remove this rubbish. However what would I know! I worked and struggled, working for myself for a seven year period ruined my super and now very dependant on the aged pension..
Maybe some sobering advice from an accountant could have prevented my demise. I guess in the true sense I technically did not go belly up owing people money. I am very thankful for that. Things got tuff so while struggling at age 58 I registered with an employment angency and yes they found me a job selling automation electronics , I later took over doing repairs but times got tuff for them with all our manufacturing going to China so as I approached 65 I was retrenched along with the receptionist who we are still great friends with. I actually still worked for them from home for a number of years. They were good people and it was the least stressful period of my 50 year working life. However my period of employment with them was insufficient to repair the damage to my super . Not complaining we are doing ok.
Sorry I diverted from technical issues.

I dont think the colour of the power cable would be a issue . Maybe the off white but black or Brown I would find acceptable or the pure white.

Hi Carl. I bought the pure white from you to use on this but could not a make up my mind I also bought two brown ones , I guess it does not matter at the moment I have a lot to sort out on it.

As regulations have changed, as long as you break active all is well. The neutral does not go to chassis. In older times a two wire cable could end up in a light socket so it was a bit safer to break both lines. If you ground the chassis it should be impossible for it to become alive.

That should be a 500K tapped pot. I have a set minus a 2M tapped pot.

I did have a shot at a Jaycar rep years ago on the flexibility issue. One can sometimes wrongly criticise the Chinese as they will make what you want. If you want a cheap cable, the amount of expensive plasticisers etc, can be reduced to meet your spec.

The fact that you can lean it up against a wall like a shovel is entirely due to cheap skating by the purchasing department, not the Chinese manufacturer and I would suspect this is why we have the "Infinity cable" problem. I voted with my feet & bought the ordinary "suicide cables" from Middy's and I have no issues with the last two (black), I bought from Steve.

I remember you could get a double Bayonet type adaptor it has shaped like a Y you removed the light globe plugged this in the socket and the lamp plugged into one socket and the other was left to plug in whatever dangerous appliance took you fancy. Them and the old VIR house wiring and brass switches and the exposed 3 pin plugs makes you wonder how we survived I imagine quite a few did not.

Speaking of Steve, I bought rolls of black, burgundy and brown 3-core cable off him a few years ago so I am pretty much done for flex. That lot will see me out as a restorer. Under-chassis hook up wire is a different story, I have some and it'll last me a few years as I rarely do complete restorations but at the same time, as has been said, unless the radio is to go on display, there's no real need to make anything pretty - it just has to be safe, organised and insulated were needed. I've re-used PVC-covered wire when it has met those requirements.

With the Infinity cable, it wasn't so much how much insulation there was but what it was made of. Sometimes the Chinese just don't get it when it comes to standards and safety. The Chinese people won't even buy local baby milk because they don't trust the government-owned manufacturers.

Then there is all the lead, asbestos and PCB they put in just about everything else.

Remember the poster "Treat a tingle as a danger signal" ?

Scary!

The thing is there are specifications: When I was making adhesives & binders it had to meet certain specifications. Clearly with that cable the ball has well and truly been dropped. Sales people are often totally lacking in product knowledge. Like in some countries, your job is defined.

If you are a qualified (and you have to be) engineer running a big plant a person with Accounting qualifications does not do the engineering. We seem to have a lot of unqualified people, in too many jobs.

Well ! I spent many hours replacing the perished wiring I could not simply sleeve it. The wire connections were so tightly wrapped around the components and valve pins it was not possible to just unsweat one end and slide tubing over, this is the worst wiring I have seen the rubber wiring was so badley perished they had congealed together any attemp to seperate them led to all the insulation falling off. There was not one salvageable piece of rubber insulated wire. I know this radio has survived just short of 70 years but it still annoys me they used this rubbish in the first place they had good wire back then,plastic and cotton covered because it was used on other sections of this radio. Still working on the rest of it found a couple of resistors crook the 3K in the primary side of the speaker transformer to plate had doubled in value. Also evidence of a quick bodgy repair the chassis mounted 16mfd electroylitic had been left in place because it was a good anchor point for the components connected to it . It had found to be crook because it had an 8mfd electrolytic tacked onto it. I cut its connection off and added a solder tag to hang off the connections. To be continued.
Regards Jimb.

Watch that 3K that is actually coming off the main HT rail. Wattage is important. One watt is right on the redline. HMV did that in some of their "Nippers" changed 2 by 22K 1W, to 1 by 10K 1 watt & the screen current exceed 10mA & they often cooked. Beware The 24μF (22uF) #15 negative does not go directly to ground.

There were about four grades of that rubber wire & Astor liked to use the cheapest. Tasma seemed to like running too much current through it causing annoyance as it too has to go. All part of the entertainment.

Marc

There was not one salvageable piece of rubber insulated wire

I'm not surprised. I've mentioned here before that, with my Airzone (like in my avatar), I struck different patterns of perishing with different colours of rubber. I don't recall the exact patterns but it was sort of like this: Yellow rubber broke into small separate segments like a string of pearls. Red wire split horizontally. Green wire insulation shrank.

Seems the composition of the various dyes determined how the rubber would perish. Bizarre!

It has two distinct fail modes some goes brittle even when cloth covered, other turns to gel. I do think some of this may be biological attack as the stuff in RF section seems to survive longer, or totally in radios not out of service. Some pigments are known bio-poisons.

They used this stuff in everything I had to rewire the 1951 Tractor here as the cloth rubber stuff just rotted away by the 1980's. They used it in houses & I would not be surprised, if it being disturbed during renovations, was responsible for the roof fire of "Notre Dame".

Marc