Vivisection Mk. II: Radiola

The patient is alive once again!

After disconnecting the solder joints I made yesterday and breaking out my jumper wires, I was able to determine the reason for my short that I was having trouble with yesterday. There were originally three black wires going to the power supply, and even though I had made a drawing detailing where they should connect, I still managed to switch two around, resulting in my short. Once I figured out where the sticky wicket was, I fixed the power supply and my radio came back to life.



The next step, then was to crack open the case a little further so that I could get at the speaker. That was simple enough, and the speaker came out pretty easily. A couple of snips and cuts later and I had splayed out the speaker from the rest of the radio.











Now that I had the speaker out, it was time for some other fun. I decided that I would tackle the main piece of hardware: the tuner. On the front of the circuit board, I pried off the metal dial and was then able to get the tuner loose.
This is a view of the tuner with the metal dial taken off. The phillips head screw in the center connects to the actual resistor responsible for getting a signal. When you turn the tuning knob at the top of the radio, all it does is wind or unwind a string that was connected to this mechanism, causing it to turn and tune in on your station. It's pretty ingenious, I think, and very simple, too.

The tuner mechanism, pictured above, was tough to remove, since it was connected to seven different things, including wires and resistors, but once it was loose, it was pretty simple to extend from the main body of the radio. It still works fine, but you lose quite a bit of fine control when you use your fingers instead of the actual tuner.

The odd thing about this tuner is that there are four screws on the top, which I assumed would enable me to open it up, but after playing with them for a bit, I found that they don't unscrew at all. If the radio is on, you can adjust the signal using these four screws. It was kind of disappointing that I never got into it, because I am curious, but I'm also glad because I'm sure if I did get in there it would end in disaster somehow.

And now for a little before and after!

Before: A sleek, elegant radio...
After: A crazy-ass concoction of wires and weirdness...