I bought a Monarch version of the Astor DJ2152 at the latest Canberra HRSA meeting for the princely sum of $10.
I plugged it in via my dimbulb and it showed a bit of life. I will send photos shortly. You will laugh when you see the speaker cloth as it looks like it was changed in the sixties and the owner must have been experimenting with a white powdery substance. I reckon if I vomited on it you may not notice lol.

When I powered it up I got a lot of hash but no stations, this one has 2x 6U7S in its lineup. I'm looking forward to opening it up and cleaning and tightening all sockets and switches in the hope that this is all thats needed to get it oscillating.

Photo uploaded.

Crikey!
Not quite factory fitted is it!
The thing messes with your mind!
Please burn it as soon as possible......................
Fred.

I’ve always wanted one of these but they are a behemoth of a set. I wouldn’t know where to put it.

Yes! You have managed to do what I have incessantly told people not to do. That sort of power it first & ask questions later can be fatal to a set: Perhaps you. I have seen several sets with catastrophic damage, powering it to see if it goes.

I fix rather than collect so I have seen a hell of a lot of radios. Albeit I did collect a HMV 42-71 recently & the cabinet is mint. Its now refurbished & re-calibrated. Needs the correct knobs. Photo on my Facebook page. (Marcus Chick)

Do note that a Variac is not an isolation transformer & below 130V on the output side; That will not trip a 30mA RCD.

Are those the chook feathers off the one that crossed the road & failed or leaves after a cyclone. Gastly & devoid of any sense of taste.

Marc

Marc I didn't just plug it in. I used a dimbulb through a variac and isolation transformer. I will be pulling it down tomorrow. I dont take risks.
Yes the speaker cloth is definitely devoid of any class lol. I will try and get the metal strips replaced as well.

Well I'm happy to say this old set is working quite well now. The valve sockets were very filthy . I had to give them a good scrub at least two or three times. All three electros were left in circuit and jumpered across ( one of them was short circuit) . The guy had recapped it with the bulletproof mustard caps but was very dodgy with the electros.
I was just about to give up for the weekend when I spied a paper cap ( .05) hiding under the antenna coil and I thought to myself Murphy's law dictates that this one is stopping the radio from working so I dug around and found a way to get to it and squeeze a new one back into place. On switch on the set started howling at the top of its voice. Oh no what did I do wrong?
Then I realised the 2x 6u7s were known to be unstable so I put a goat can on one and soldered a wire from the can to earth and this baby sprung to life. Loud and clear. It needs a major clean up and realigning and this will be a major performer. I believe it needs realigning as its very quite between stations.

This one is still sitting on my to do table

Well, get onto it. Carl

I have not used a dim bulb in decades.

It is well recognised that coils drift and the plastic formers are not as good as wood in many cases as the plastic is decomposing. With wood, It normally takes a few hundred years to become a problem if it's right for the job, in ideal conditions.

It has always been recommended by manufacturer's, to recalibrate & realign, if you mess with stuff in the RF / IF.

Its also well recognised that paralleling, or leaving old (especially wet) capacitors in circuit, is a no no.

Marc

You can't really be more careful than an iso tranny, a variac and a dim bulb.
You will know pretty quickly if there is a major problem.
I have all of the above with a power and current meter in series as well so I can see exactly what's going on as I gingerly wind up the variac whilst measuring the HT rail.
Doing this to begin with gives you a starting point and will tell you if you have a crook mains transformer or an open circuit speaker transformer etc.
Obviously on an 80+ year old radio all the caps will be changed later on.

I do like the idea of powering first & fixing the ramifications later. Its some thing I will not do unless I know its working to some extent from the owner.

I often get the results of doing that and its either expensive or often a write off, as its too expensive to repair. It is never unusual here for a set to be worked on without me powering it, as it failed initial assessment and was considered unsafe for me and it to power it. That also applies to car radios & battery vibrator types.

Isolation transformer has circuit breakers & bezels on both windings, filtering for the line RFI, MOV's and a "Kill" switch.

I normally do the Tag & Test thing on the mains side and its definitely done before it leaves. You can tell if the primary is open with an Ohm meter. If you crack a 9V battery across the speaker coil primary that will tell you if that lots working. If not why? Around eight out of ten Kriesler's will have a dud OP transformer.

Generally on the American Forum consensus is; You change out the filter caps before powering. All electrolytics should be replaced.

Doing a careful initial power up will reveal whether it's worth proceeding before committing any parts to it or parting it out as it's too far gone.

I have finally finished this set after it sitting in the to do list for too long. I decided to fit one of my new Astor Badges to it and it looks as great as it performs.
Will send photos to Brad tonight.