BC-610H To Begin Restoration

[K3YA]

What is the little steel pocket on the lower part of the front panel to be used for?

[n2len]

That's nice...Would you mind scanning me a copy?

[n2len]

The Power Supply deck hasn't been moved. So I decided to clean it right where is sits! The 409 did a great job on the Power Supply Deck. There was slightly more oxidation on it then the Mod Deck. Removing the relay cover exposed "2 Like New Relays"! Not bad for a 50+ old beast!

[K3YA]

The overload relay tends to talk back with modulation.  Some folks bypass the coil with an small electrolytic capacitor.

Looks great so far.

I'll see if my wife's do everything copy/ fax /printer can scan the tuning chart for you.

[K5UJ]

If you have not seen it already, do yourself a favor and go to www.qualityinformationpublishers.com and in the search box enter hallicrafters and order yourself a $9.99 DVD copy of the WW2 short film "Voice of Victory."  It's 30 or 40 minute long b&w film about the development of the BC610 for the Signal Corps.  How it grew out of the HT4 tx Hallicrafters had made for hams.  it shows among other things, Bill Halligan and his chief engineer Samulson(sp?) and the factory with BC610s being made...any BC610 owner will love it but any vintage gear enthusiast will like it too.

direct link:  http://www.qualityinformationpublishers.com/sku-1648/

Rob

[WD8BIL]

On the ol' SP100 I had I used a toothbrush with wheel-bright on the front panel wrinkle. I'd do a 3"x 3" section then whip it with a water saturated rag and continue. Worked great and the white lettering really POPPED!

[n2len]

Worked more on the front panel dismantle....
Removed all the metering assembly.

A copy of the calibration chart would be fantastic....!

Thank you also for the mention of the Hallicrafters video, I watched it on Youtube a couple of nights ago. It was fantastic!

Wheel bright? Are you talking about Westley's White Wall Cleaner?

[WD8BIL]

Wheel bright? Are you talking about Westley's White Wall Cleaner?

Yes, I am. Small sections then rinse. Start top to bottom for obvious reasons.

[n2len]

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fully clean the tuning tank? Is there a chemical that you can use? Say a liquid that you can fully submerge the tank in?

Someone mentioned Lestoil?

Thanks...

[ke7trp]

Blue toilet bowl cleaner will clean the coil instantly.  Just put on gloves, and use a disposable Turkey pan and a Rag. Then rinse it with water.  Test it on a penny if you want to see the effect. Like magic. 

Of course you can use tarnex if you like. 

C

[ke7trp]

Thats it

C

[W2VW]

I heard he hooked up with Mr. Clean sometime in the 80s and neither has been seen since.

[n2len]

Just an update...Over the last couple of days with the help of Bob, W2CKL the BC-610H has been almost fully rebuilt. This restoration has been an absolute pleasure with no real problems experienced. Over the past 40 hours, (120 invested so far)) each of the three decks were reinstalled in the cabinet. More fine cleaning was done as each deck reinstalled. Bob brought a large dolly, It made moving the cabinet much easy and added some additional height while in the rebuild process. Slipping each deck back into the the chassis went very easily. One fantastic manufacturing process that Hallicrafters did right was the design, measurement, wire wrapping of each complete wiring harness. Each harness is cut perfectly in length and wire wrapped, chassis routed to each terminal block. The field service manual was helpful to check continuity points from one terminal block to another. After the decks were reinstalled and harnesses reattached, the next major project was washing the cabinet panels. I removed 90% of the front panel parts, masked the wiring harness with a plastic bag and some painters tape.  A wash down with the garden hose and soapy bath with a soft brush was done to clean off the grime and 60+ years of dirt and grime.

Here is a picture of Bob W2CKL while reinstalling the decks and reattaching the mod deck wiring harness...

[n2len]

More pics of the last 40 hours of work...

Removal and cleaning of the PA PLATE TUNING TANK...
Washed, scrubbed with many different brushes, soapy water, rinse clean, then rinse with distilled water. Lightly dried with compressed air, some outer rods polished with Neverdul.

[n2len]

More wash and the final re installation. Bob and myself were extremely happy with the final results of the cleaning. No hard chemicals were used at all. I was debating for days on what to use for this cleaning. The old dried up dripping of brown paint removed easily with a cleaning product from the dollar store called "LA's Totally Awesome"

[n2len]

The Main problem that was discussed for some time was the process of restoration of the front panel. You name it, paint talk, powder coat, silk screening, etc....

First, rebuilding of the front panel took, 8 hours. Bob and myself just walked through reassembly slowly. The back of the front panel was filthy. The front had it's opwn problems. Many different wash processes was used. Yea dirt was removed, but the panel had what appeared to be while calcium deposits all across the bottom, stains throughout the panel, besides the slight rusting on the very bottom and small spots.
Nothing that we tried worked!

1: Hose and rinse, brush scrub with soap
2: Clean scrub with toothbrush with 409 then wiped with damp rag
3: I tried Westleys White Wall Cleaner, which is now called "Black Magic Wheel White" with a toothbrush in a circular pattern.
We placed the panel on 2 wooden horsed in direct sunlight
Then we used "LA's Totally Awesome" with a Toothbrush and then the best product in the world that we found really restored Black Wrinkle Finish paint.
Armor All Tire Foam in the spray can. The Awesome really cleaned the paint, remove 90% of the stains
The Armor All Tire Foam was wiped on with a towel in a circular motion wiping hard with several coats. This stuff leaves no oil or residue.
Now here's what we seen:
Older paint spots of the panel which were not affected by the 60+ years on exposure showed a shiny black wrinkle finish. After about 5 applications of the Tire Foam the panel paint looked fresh and clean.
We both couldn't and still don't believe the difference. It is night & day!
Here are some pictures...

[n2len]

The front panel knobs were all cleaned the same way. Toothbrush wash, soap rinse, compressed air dried, then after reassembly, treated with Armor All Tire Foam. The knobs look great.
The original white stencil lettering also cleaned up very well....

Before and after.....With the front panel now fully reinstalled with new stainless hardware...

This rig makes the GK500 look like a peanut whistle....

[W2CKL]

That fellow with the toothbrush looks familiar....
With every meter, switch, and dial added it was looking better and better...but the ne plus ultra (a phrase borrowed from the 1962 Radio Amateur's Handbook) was the tire foam. It looked good from the start, and with fingers crossed, it withstood the test of time and kept its deep black glow even after it dried. Each coat enhanced it further, same deal with the knobs. I figured that a bit of brush work would minimize the white staining at the bottom, but I didn't expect it to remove the stain and revive the area as well as it did.
Len, looking good with the fuses installed.
I might have to bump up the plate a bit on the Heathkit to keep up with that beast.

[Steve W8TOW]

Cool project Len,
I stopped on the way home from Dayton this year and
got a BC-610E! It was last ON about 3-5 years ago, but
was stored in a garage. Mice built a mini-Cabrini Green inside...

I've vacuumed out all the pooh, seeds and debris. Cleaned
with anti-bacterial spray, and re-painted some interior chassis

My Filament Voltage rheostat was bad, but the guys at Fair Radio
had one for $6... easy fix...
Next is a little re-paint of a couple of transformers and will give
it the smoke test Sunday!!!

PS, on Black Wrinkle, try Marvel Mystery oil on a rag...it brings out the
luster, and cleans w/o leaving much residue behind...
vri 73  and hope to hear you soon on it!

Steve w8tow

[n2len]

Thanks for the kind words Steve...

Congrats on you new acquisition too!

Wishing you the very best at getting that beast on the air!

[n2len]

Can anyone help?
By telling me the direct terminal location...

Today I am finishing up the rebuild of the cabinet.

I have Technical Manual TM 11-826 if you can point me to the diagram

I am working with my friend and hoping someone can shed some light on the final
wiring...

First there is a white 16" wire with connector on each end. I believe it came
from the power supply deck.

ON TS-14 (power supply deck) We are using terminals 1-8 goes with the order of
the harness. There were 9 wires from that harness the last wire appears to fall
near the bleeder resistor. What goes on terminal pin #9?

[n2len]

The wiring harness dilemma was solved. Simply by looking very closely at the manual. Each model has variants. Even my model with is the "H" had changes done more closer to the "I" revision. Took 2 hours...

Anyway, This project is Done!
Another 35 hours added to the rebuild process.

All of the tubes check fine. Several tube bases needed to be glued. I followed the suggestion posted earlier and used a touch of super glue. Worked out just fine. The JB weld repair of the top of the tube cap also worked out perfectly. You just need to make sure that you apply the JB weld in a circular motion around the insides sides of the tube cap so not to disturb the anode. 12 hours later after the JB cured, I simply re-soldered the anode to the top of the cap and done! Pretty apparent how the tube bases loosen up. The tube sockets for the 100's and 250th's 3B28's are all seat down and spin/snap-in mounting. Each tube socket pin hole was cleaned with a pipe cleaner treated with de-oxit. That worked out very well. Bob W2CKL came up with that quick idea when we were ready. Cleaning the years of caked on dirt and grime from the tubes took sometime.(several hours) The tubes were then slowly installed. Wow! What a difference it made!
What a gorgeous radio!
Rebuilding the top cover, cleaning the interlocks, reattaching the interlocks and a forth toothbrush scrubbing of the top cover, two side panels, back cover, took about 6 hours. But once again after cleaning with "Totally Awesome" and Armor-all Tire foam the final cabinet parts came out brilliant! All stainless hardware was luckily found at Lowes. True Value, Home Depot, Tractor Supply, all failed to a screw match. One very minor problem we noticed was that the lower screw holes has some rust. WD40 with a new screw, slowly re-tapping the holes worked perfectly. I repaired the aftermarket dow key relay(with will be replaced in the future with OEM standoffs)

Final pictures to follow....
Completely bone OEM stock....
No chainsaw approach to this one.....


 

[n2len]

more pics....

[n2len]

more pics...
Even the carry handles were soaked, toothbrushed scrubbed then straightened, oiled....

[n2len]

more pics...