[Hallicrafters] sx-62a restoration & alignment need

Sat Jun 17 21:20:45 EDT 2017

You're absolutely right - you will never make a living at it.  But doing 
something you love and sharing it with others will make that living a 
lot more worthwhile.  I will never recoup the investment I've made in my 
workbench and my boat anchors.  And that's OK. It makes me happy to sit 
here in my shack and look at my projects. Sure, they have caps mounted 
under the chassis, use "inauthentic metal film resistors", or aren't 
"museum restorations." I'm not going to win any CCA awards or have one 
of my radios in the Smithsonian (I wouldn't touch a Collins rig 
anyways), but my stuff just works.  I suspect the OP is looking at that 
SX-62A and thinking about where he was and what he was doing when he 
first saw that rig.  I hope there's someone in Chicagoland that can help 
him recapture that memory.

Sometimes it's more than just about money.

73

Jeff

WB3JIH

On 6/17/2017 3:03 PM, Lee wrote:
> Not to long ago I restored a nice looking Hallicrafters S-38C 
> receiver. This is about the simplest receiver one could restore. I 
> wound up having to replace tubes, clean, lubricate, align, replace all 
> the electrolytic caps and ALL THE RESISTORS!  Every resistor was out 
> of tolerance.  I probably replaced 75 parts in the radio.  Getting to 
> some of them was tedious.  I suspect I put in 50 to 60 hours doing all 
> this.  (I did what the radio needed for a GOOD restoration.)  This did 
> not include the time it took to order the required parts or the $20 
> replacement cost for the new dial cover.   Parts probably cost me 
> around $30.  So what do I now have?  I have a great radio that works 
> as new.  I have in it:  $75 for the nice looking carcass,  $50 worth 
> of parts,  and 60 hours of time x minimum wage of $8 per hour.  Total 
> investment without figuring time for ordering parts or equipment 
> investment costs equal $605.  Who in his right mind would pay $605 for 
> a S-38C and who in his right mind would do 60 hours of work to maybe 
> be able to charge $25 for his labor?  Unless your clientele has 
> extremely deep pockets, you can't refurbish boat anchors for a living. 
> Nobody would pay you a decent wage.  The most you could do running a 
> business is put in a couple hours  of work and most likely this would 
> not be enough to make it play as new again if at all.
>
> Lee, w0vt
>
>
> On 6/17/2017 1:27 PM, Lee wrote:
>> Well lets see, If you had someone totally restore the electronics on 
>> just the SX-62A, he could could easily put in up to 100 hours 
>> replacing tubes, cleaning, lubricating, changing out out of spec 
>> resistors and replacing all the electrolytic caps and paper caps. 
>> Plus do an alignment with equipment he had to buy.  The guy also had 
>> to have plenty of expertise.   This is assuming there are no other 
>> hidden problems with the radio.  In most cases there will be 
>> additional problems to work out.  Parts will probably cost around 
>> $100 assuming they are just the normal replacement parts.  At minimum 
>> wage, say at $8.00 an hour, the bill would be   $800 labor plus $100 
>> parts for a total of $900.  But for his expertise and equipment 
>> investment he should be justified in charging $60 per hour, so the 
>> total bill would be $6100.
>>
>> My point here is, old boat anchor equipment needs to be refurbished 
>> by the owner or you need to be a multimillionaire to pay for someone 
>> else to do it.  Most cannot afford to pay someone even minimum wage 
>> to work on ones equipment let alone normal electronic repair charges 
>> per hour.   I'm talking about really restoring the electronics.  It 
>> would be highly unusual to find anyone interested in doing a good 
>> restoration job on someone else's equipment for the above reason.  It 
>> is just too much work to make 50 cents an hour.  To do a good proper 
>> restoration, you are talking about some major time. Restorations are 
>> not 2 or 3 hour jobs.  Those are the cold hard facts of life.  One 
>> cannot buy a radio to refurbish, do a good job doing it, and then be 
>> able to sell it for time, labor and original purchase price.  The 
>> final price would be just too high to find a purchaser.  I don't know 
>> anyone enjoying to do this kind of work for 50 cents an hour let 
>> alone minimum wage.  I'm 79, and when a restoration is needed around 
>> here, I have to look in the mirror for a person to do the work or it 
>> ain't gonna happen.   Not trying to be mean spirited but just trying 
>> to lay out the reality of this type request.
>>
>> Lee, w0vt
>>
>>
>> On 6/17/2017 12:50 PM, Jammer via Hallicrafters wrote:
>>>    All those YouTube videos are great, but I don't seem to have the
>>> tools or dexterity (read: aging eyes & etc.) to safely perform 
>>> restoration
>>> on an SX-62a that hasn't been touched in who-knows-how-long.
>>>
>>>   So, I'm looking for a local (Chicago, Illinois) ham who enjoys 
>>> tackling
>>> 60+ pound Hallicrafters, and perhaps an S-40 as well (birthday was last
>>> month and my SO bought me something she thought I needed.. and in
>>> fact -did- need; she's a peach. but I'd really like to treat myself, 
>>> grin).
>>>
>>>    Please RSVP either on- or off-list; special rates for retired 
>>> folks would
>>> be just loverly.
>>>       Thanks in advance,
>>>
>>>        73 de KC9KEL Terry Bakowski, on-air someday soon I hope
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