The Franken-Can: R2D2 goes back to the future
- Thread starter ccotenj
- Start date
it was a slow day in the office today, so i was able to get out a bit early and get some work done... 
it's almost ready to be turned over to swmbo for the exterior paint job.... it would have been closer to ready, but i ran out of primer... i thought 2 big cans would be more than enough, but it wasn't even close...
need to finish priming it and then fix a few dents... they show up a lot better now that it's primed... surprisingly enough, there are only a few... i expected a whole bunch of little dings... a bit of putty, some sanding and a re-prime, and it's out of my hands for awhile...
i can't say that i'm sorry about that... this project is a lot of fun (not to mention educational), but taking apart/stripping/cleaning that thing was getting a bit old... i like instant gratification... :tongue:
some pics... a bunch more in the franken-can phase 2 gallery...
cleaned inside and out...
primed... still need to do the inside...
it's almost ready to be turned over to swmbo for the exterior paint job.... it would have been closer to ready, but i ran out of primer... i thought 2 big cans would be more than enough, but it wasn't even close...
need to finish priming it and then fix a few dents... they show up a lot better now that it's primed... surprisingly enough, there are only a few... i expected a whole bunch of little dings... a bit of putty, some sanding and a re-prime, and it's out of my hands for awhile...
i can't say that i'm sorry about that...
this project is a lot of fun (not to mention educational), but taking apart/stripping/cleaning that thing was getting a bit old... i like instant gratification... :tongue:some pics... a bunch more in the franken-can phase 2 gallery...
cleaned inside and out...
primed... still need to do the inside...
recap to date/phase 3
so phase 2 is almost complete... another couple hours of work (still have to clean/prime/paint the baffle), and it will be done...
a recap of where the project stands...
- can itself is out of my hands...
- silver iris has been ordered for the speaker...
- itouch will be used for interface with itunes via an apple tv... a row of buttons will be removed to make room for it...
- the pio integrated amp will provide the juice...
phase 3 tasks...
- finalize lighting decision...
- finish disassembly of control panel and fabricate a mount for the itouch...
- attempt to polish the chrome and see if it will come up... i can live with it being pitted if i can get a decent shine on it...
- clean/prime/paint the grill...
so phase 2 is almost complete... another couple hours of work (still have to clean/prime/paint the baffle), and it will be done...
a recap of where the project stands...
- can itself is out of my hands...
- silver iris has been ordered for the speaker...
- itouch will be used for interface with itunes via an apple tv... a row of buttons will be removed to make room for it...
- the pio integrated amp will provide the juice...
phase 3 tasks...
- finalize lighting decision...
- finish disassembly of control panel and fabricate a mount for the itouch...
- attempt to polish the chrome and see if it will come up... i can live with it being pitted if i can get a decent shine on it...
- clean/prime/paint the grill...
that's an interesting idea that i hadn't considered... i gotta look into that...
in terms of keeping the "original incandescent look" for the big plastics, i could use c7's with clear 7 watt bulbs... if i'm doing the math right, that would be very close to the "original" lighting...
that would also be "simple"... get a string of c7 christmas lights for the wiring and hack it in half... hardest part would be figuring out how to mount them, short of duct taping them in place...
in terms of keeping the "original incandescent look" for the big plastics, i could use c7's with clear 7 watt bulbs... if i'm doing the math right, that would be very close to the "original" lighting...
that would also be "simple"... get a string of c7 christmas lights for the wiring and hack it in half... hardest part would be figuring out how to mount them, short of duct taping them in place...
that's a good idea on the rubber grommets...
the big thing i have to consider is replacing the bulbs if (when) they burn out... they have to be able to be changed from the "inside"... the plastics are held onto the juke by little frames that go around them on the outside, and those frames are held on by a billion speed clips... once i get those back on, i hope to never have to take them off again...
thanks for the heads up on dgwojo... i'll drop him a pm...
the big thing i have to consider is replacing the bulbs if (when) they burn out... they have to be able to be changed from the "inside"... the plastics are held onto the juke by little frames that go around them on the outside, and those frames are held on by a billion speed clips... once i get those back on, i hope to never have to take them off again...
thanks for the heads up on dgwojo... i'll drop him a pm...
weekend progress...
- got the button mechanism assembly apart... gummed up mess that it is... however, it looks like all the wires still go where they are supposed to go, so hopefully with a little care and feeding, i'll be able to get some functionality out of them... sadly, i had a senior moment and deleted the pics of this before i downloaded them... :sigh: fortunately, the service manual is relatively detailed on how it works...
- started cleaning and polishing the chrome... this actually worked out better than hoped... it came up pretty well... rather time consuming, but worth the effort...
some pics of one of the pieces next to an "uncleaned" one... more to come...
- got the button mechanism assembly apart... gummed up mess that it is... however, it looks like all the wires still go where they are supposed to go, so hopefully with a little care and feeding, i'll be able to get some functionality out of them... sadly, i had a senior moment and deleted the pics of this before i downloaded them... :sigh: fortunately, the service manual is relatively detailed on how it works...
- started cleaning and polishing the chrome... this actually worked out better than hoped... it came up pretty well... rather time consuming, but worth the effort...
some pics of one of the pieces next to an "uncleaned" one... more to come...
<blows dust off topic>
sorry for the "lack of updates"... i broke 2 ribs shortly after the last post, and that has made for a real "lack of progress"... :tears:
pictures later, but all the chrome is cleaned, and came up well... it's pitted pretty bad in spots, but it's more than acceptable... certainly acceptable enough to not spend the money to get it re-chromed...
the silver iris arrived... and is sitting patiently in it's box, ready for action...
swmbo has bought the paint for the faux wood finish, and is in the "practicing" phase... hopefully in another few weeks or so she'll be ready to actually enter the "doing" phase...
still in a quandary on the lights... :sigh: but i have some time to make a decision on those...
one button control mechanism is completely disassembled and partially figured out and cleaned... it remains to be seen how useful these are actually going to be...
hopefully more progress soon... i'm itching to hear this thing make music...
sorry for the "lack of updates"... i broke 2 ribs shortly after the last post, and that has made for a real "lack of progress"... :tears:
pictures later, but all the chrome is cleaned, and came up well... it's pitted pretty bad in spots, but it's more than acceptable... certainly acceptable enough to not spend the money to get it re-chromed...
the silver iris arrived... and is sitting patiently in it's box, ready for action...
swmbo has bought the paint for the faux wood finish, and is in the "practicing" phase... hopefully in another few weeks or so she'll be ready to actually enter the "doing" phase...
still in a quandary on the lights... :sigh: but i have some time to make a decision on those...
one button control mechanism is completely disassembled and partially figured out and cleaned... it remains to be seen how useful these are actually going to be...
hopefully more progress soon... i'm itching to hear this thing make music...
Arkay
Lunatic Member
Very cool project, in some ways; it's nice to see an old thing like this being cleaned up and given new life...
Am I the only one who mourns for the rare, original one that is not being restored, though? I would rather have seen this reproduced for the iPod thing, or slightly modified with an input so that you could play outside sources through it, and have the original restored, instead. I could see replacing hot old-style bulbs with cooler new ones, etc... but to simply gut out and NOT restore and use the original record mechanism, amps and drivers?
:tears:
R.I.P., poor, dear Wulitzer... :tears:
Sorry, I don't mean to rain on your parade, but just felt the need to express a bit of sadness here. I do like the work you've been doing on restoring the outside shell, and look forward to seeing the end result.
I'm guilty of a similar "offence", too: Gutting a Phillips Discoverer ("Space-helmet" looking) TV to install a music server. But those are not as rare as Wurlitzers, and once the flybacks and/or one other part go bad (which they tend to) are basically unrestorable, from what several TV repairmen have told me. I have three, know where several more are and one of mine --I was told-- was beyond repair, so I decided to give it a new, updated life. But the Wurlitzer? Simpler electro-mechanical device, worth far more restored than my TV and 100 percent restorable, with a bit of dedication. I'd rather have seen this a resto project than just a glorified iPod dock.
In fact, it could have been modified to STILL include an iPod input, while still preserving the original function. That would have been my chosen course of action. Just my preference, though; it is yours to do with as you please, not mine.
I hope you saved all the gutted inside parts. At the very least, make sure they go towards making other, similar units that may be in need of parts whole again.
Am I the only one who mourns for the rare, original one that is not being restored, though? I would rather have seen this reproduced for the iPod thing, or slightly modified with an input so that you could play outside sources through it, and have the original restored, instead. I could see replacing hot old-style bulbs with cooler new ones, etc... but to simply gut out and NOT restore and use the original record mechanism, amps and drivers?
:tears:R.I.P., poor, dear Wulitzer... :tears:
Sorry, I don't mean to rain on your parade, but just felt the need to express a bit of sadness here. I do like the work you've been doing on restoring the outside shell, and look forward to seeing the end result.
I'm guilty of a similar "offence", too: Gutting a Phillips Discoverer ("Space-helmet" looking) TV to install a music server. But those are not as rare as Wurlitzers, and once the flybacks and/or one other part go bad (which they tend to) are basically unrestorable, from what several TV repairmen have told me. I have three, know where several more are and one of mine --I was told-- was beyond repair, so I decided to give it a new, updated life. But the Wurlitzer? Simpler electro-mechanical device, worth far more restored than my TV and 100 percent restorable, with a bit of dedication. I'd rather have seen this a resto project than just a glorified iPod dock.
In fact, it could have been modified to STILL include an iPod input, while still preserving the original function. That would have been my chosen course of action. Just my preference, though; it is yours to do with as you please, not mine.
I hope you saved all the gutted inside parts. At the very least, make sure they go towards making other, similar units that may be in need of parts whole again.