Thanks. Looks good.
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Fisher 500c dial lamps
- Thread starter onemug
- Start date
Thanks. Looks good.
I've seen some worse than others. I seem to recall someone saying the foam around the dial deteriorates, letting more of the light in.
I'll see if mine is tolerable, if not, I'll try some of your suggestions. Thanks.
RUmad
Super Member
True. I just refoamed about a month ago. It’s not that. And foam is easy to do if you need it. By now the cork will mostly fall off. Gently scrape what’s left and the glue with a razor, and I cleaned the glass with water and a cloth. I forget exactly what size foam to buy but Larry posted it somewhere recently. Also, with the LED’s you can foam all four sides. No heat.
The foam along the sides and the bottom is very important, makes a huge difference. The foam should make contact to the back of the face plate in order to limit hot spots.
I've found the biggest problem with hot spots results from the old weatherstriping on the dial glass (Ends) rotting away and inexperienced owners NOT replacing it. Go down to home Depot and get some 3/16"x3/8 or so Foam weatherstriping in black. Lay it along the outside edges on the front of the glass so none of the light leaks across the front face. problem solved. A strip across the bottom is ok too. But NEVER the top as the gap acts as a heat chimney. Make sure the Rubber gasket on the back side of the glass is intact and placed at the ends of the dial cavity. DO NOT GLUE THEM TO THE GLASS. These keep the light off the back plate AND act as shock absorbers for the glass (such as it is). Put a layer or two of electrical tape on the screw tabs to keep the metal from gouging the glass and putting a little more downforce on the glass.
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Got it...LOVE IT. What a nice sounding receiver.
Before I load it into its wood cabinet, I'd like to remove the faceplate and secure the glass dial, looks like it's leaning back a little. Is the dial glass supposed to be flush with the faceplate or slightly behind it supported by something?
It might be obvious once I remove the faceplate (pull knobs/loosen two nuts right?) but I'd like to go to the store first before I do that in case I have to buy double sided tape or some weather stripping.
Before I load it into its wood cabinet, I'd like to remove the faceplate and secure the glass dial, looks like it's leaning back a little. Is the dial glass supposed to be flush with the faceplate or slightly behind it supported by something?
It might be obvious once I remove the faceplate (pull knobs/loosen two nuts right?) but I'd like to go to the store first before I do that in case I have to buy double sided tape or some weather stripping.
The Dial Glass sits in the Brown SUB-PANEL behind the faceplate on a couple of rubber gaskets, with 2 screwed down clips on either end. The way the faceplate is attached to the panel(2 nuts on the lower pots) the faceplate sometimes angles fwd a little. This is considered Normal stress after 50+years. Home Depot has 3/16" foam weatherstripping that works fine for replacing the gaskets on the back of the faceplate. You could also attach to the glass edges.
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Out of the many Fisher receivers I have owned and restored, a bunch of them that were shipped had the sub panel bent slightly back at the top. I actually look for this now while doing the new lamps and cleaning both sides of the dial glass. I have take a large Cresent wrench at each end and been able to tweak the sub panel back straight. This allows the foam to seal evenly and the face plate sit more square to the sub panel.
Fisher should have fabricated the "sub-panel" from a more substantial Sheet metal, or Aluminum casting or extrusion. Most of the time the sub panel is straight while the mounting holes for the pots the Faceplate is attached to are "tweaked" so the pots angle down slightly. I've seen a few with the Sub-panel tweaked back, Mainly on 400's.
Faceplate removed. Each side of the glass has this black strip attached next to the festoon. For the life of me, I can't see how any, or much, light could get past them. Is this 'stock'? or maybe a mod...it does make the faceplate fit up nice when installed.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
Well, the placement is correct; the material is not. Here's a pic of stock foam. You can see on your clips where the foam left marks.
Not much space is need for the light to pass. Leave what's there and see if it works. Be prepared to manipulate the bulb for best effect.
Not much space is need for the light to pass. Leave what's there and see if it works. Be prepared to manipulate the bulb for best effect.
The light actually enters thru the edge of the glass so as NOT TO reflect off the back plate. The intent is for the lettering to "float in space" with minimal sight of the glass itself. With the Gasket on the back and front edge's of the glass, light only goes thru the edge. You can clean the front of the glass with Windex and paper towels (if it's not outlawed in Calif) but DO NOT Use on back. Use Q-TIP's around the lettering. The paint is fragile and can dislodge if wet. The cleaner the glass the less light glare.
Thanks to all the above for the help and guidance.
I put it back together and slipped it in its wood case. The case seems to trap/deflect more light to the dial, not as bright as my 'role model' in post #9 but I'm very happy as it is. Looking forward to listening and "looking" at it after dinner tonight.
Did a couple quick pix to show what your help has got me to. Thanks again. Picture on the right is out of focus but it does show how much it lights up and that is still with daylight creeping in. Can't wait til it's dark.
I'm in Da Club.
I put it back together and slipped it in its wood case. The case seems to trap/deflect more light to the dial, not as bright as my 'role model' in post #9 but I'm very happy as it is. Looking forward to listening and "looking" at it after dinner tonight.
Did a couple quick pix to show what your help has got me to. Thanks again. Picture on the right is out of focus but it does show how much it lights up and that is still with daylight creeping in. Can't wait til it's dark.
I'm in Da Club.
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onemug, that's the same stuff my 800c has next to the festoons. the glass was stuck to mine, and it was a pain to get it loose (not least because i really, really didn't want to break the dial glass). the 3/16" foam goes on top of the glass, so it's backing plate/rubber/glass/foam/faceplate, from back to front. and the four corners are held by cork-backed plates screwed into the brown plastic mounts that also hold the festoons.
Same here, so I left it as is, buttoned it up, and have been enjoying it a lot.
As an aside, many yrs ago, I spend a weekend with some good friends who had moved to Felton (from our San Diego). It was beautiful up there. After a great dinner and some greater wine, they drove me to a location where we could see the Sunset in all it's glory. Good times.
. we love it here. have a half acre with redwoods, oaks, fruit trees, and lots of sun. don’t ever want to sell...