Waterhond's restoration of my ex AR XA

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frikkie

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With Waterhond's permission:

Sanded the plinth down with fine grit paper and steelwool after cleaning with thinners to get rid of all oiliness and greasiness from approximately 48 years of use.
Re-glued and clamped the corners. Countersunk some panelpins from previous repairs for loosened corners, then filled with woodputty and stained the repairs to match the solid Walnut.
Three coats of shake 'n spray  polyurethane and it looked pretty much as it did when it sold as "Oiled Walnut" finish in the early 60's (except for the half century's worth of added patina.)
Restored bottom cardboard (!) panel just so as to preserve the old manufacturer's label and serial no. (Glued "split ends" and sprayed with artist preservative and two coats of poly)

The top plate had previously been been spray painted matt black over a layer of rust. Stripped it back top and bottom with a wire brush in a power drill. Some pitting but painted it with two coats of rust converter, two coats of grey metal primer and lastly three coats of Aerolak Metallic Gun Metal Grey with light sanding after each layer dried for about a day.
While the paint dried during about 6 days of spending about 30 mins per day working on this, I cleaned and oiled the mechanical bits and the little motor, ordered a new front badge off eBay and glued a small crack in the acrylic cover - it's still a little noticeable on the side but at least it won't grow.
Reassembled, subchassis springs adjusted, arm re-installed and alligned - a final buffing with a micrifibre cloth and a bit of pledge.
The Audio Technica ATN12XE in the arm is an original from the same era or a bit later - humble but updated with a new Shibata upgrade stylus from LPTunes - it finally all came together and sang... again... beautifully.
Still to get is a new belt, just in case, and possibly a new  motor - the existing one is quiet but must be feeling its age a bit.

arxa.jpg


 
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