Tech Chat Retro electro workshop.

Cheers for the reminder! 

I really ought to return Rob's magazine to him... 😐 

Did anyone watch the programme tonight?  I thought it was very well done. Much better than some of the others I have seen. Also a good selection of 'things' that were restored and repaired, something for everyone! 

Unfortunately I missed it but it's repeated at 11:30 pm on Sunday evening. 

It can be seen online here. Watch Retro Electro Workshop Series & Episodes Online (uktvplay.co.uk)

Yes, I watched it and thought it was rather good! Nice to see a restoration of a vintage radio that didn’t involve ripping its guts out and stuffing a Bluetooth speaker in it! I did rather like that large radio collection, all those KB’s in speckled Bakelite had me drooling on the floor… 

I noticed on the other forum it’s getting slated for not enough detail, but it is mainstream telly, you’ll never get much detail on there, unless it’s love island where you’ll probably get more detail than you want!! Personally, I found the level of detail good, certainly more than you get from the repair shop. If they limited it to just 2 items to repair per show, I think they could squeeze in a little more detail per item.

I’m certainly going to be watching the rest of the series!

Regards,

 Lloyd 

I too thought it was excellent, just the right amount of detail for mainstream TV.  And as you say proper restorations, no Bluetooth or paint rollers in sight!  I and others have defended it on the other forum from the nit-pickers stating the obvious that it is aimed at a mainstream audience most people outside of the vintage radio fraternity wouldn't be interested in a capacitor by capacitor restoration and you would need more than one programme to restore one radio!  But there you go, some people will always find fault... 

I have suggested that this programme could be a good platform to promote the BVWS and the Dulwich museum to a younger audience. The radio collection shown was a really good demonstration of design and may appeal to more people than just our Niche, if only they knew about it. 

I assume all of the episodes for this series are already made but if they make another it would be great to do a short tour of the museum and mention the BVWS it may just bring in some new blood.  Hopefully a committee member will make contact with the programme makers...   

It’s recorded, I watch this weekend.

Well, I sat and watched it tonight with a plate of fish and chips in front of me.

Verdict?

Really very good indeed! (As were the fish and chips)

I've had the pleasure of meeting Rob many years ago (when I did a lot of FCS driving) so I knew that he would bring a high level of professionalism to the jobs in hand and trust me, you can get lost for hours in conversation with him whilst admiring the stores and the workshop! My only criticism - and it's minor - was the criticism of the prior workmanship on that Defiant M900. Yes, it really was pretty bad but chances are that was repaired in a small TV and radio workshop seventy years ago under a degree of pressure to get it out the door - and that probably helped that set survive as a result. I have a very Art Deco Marconi radiogram from 1933 and you really would not have wanted to see the mods and repairs perpetrated on that, but it most likely helped it survive ninety years on. I should also add that I covet that collector's Bush neon sign!

I would have liked to have seen more on the repairs to Pinocchio but again, I was pleased to see the effort taken to clean and degrease the mechanism as part of the repairs.

Shall I watch the next one? Yes, definitely. It struck a good balance between entertainment for the general public and enough technical interest for the likes of us.

Just watched it on catch-up. Most excellent, I must say. 

Posted by: @slidertogrid

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I and others have defended it on the other forum from the nit-pickers stating the obvious that it is aimed at a mainstream audience most people outside of the vintage radio fraternity wouldn't be interested in a capacitor by capacitor restoration and you would need more than one programme to restore one radio!  But there you go, some people will always find fault... 

I see the thread "over there" has been closed (with over a dozen posts deleted) now, due to inevitable comparisons with "The Despair Shop" and someone mentioned the Sinclair C5, PAT testing...

Watched it this afternoon, enjoyed it, have series linked the programme, whether I get chance to watch more episode time will tell.

It’s a programme that as to caterer for as many people as possible so I thought the depth of the repair was enough. Too much would put many off, so I think they got it about right. The puppet, the games console and the radio, quite a broad appeal. 👍 

Yes if they went into too much detail the public would find it boring . Remember James May "The reassembler"? They showed the reaction to him putting a phone back together on Gogglebox. They thought it was worse than watching paint dry! I think The Retro workshop programme have got it right . I am looking forward to the next episode.  C5 included! I wonder if anyone will mention the "C word" on the other place! 🤐 

It reminds me of Basil Fawlty, "Don't mention the war" " I did once but I think I got away with it"  😀 

Posted by: @slidertogrid

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I am looking forward to the next episode.  C5 included! I wonder if anyone will mention the "C word" on the other place! 🤐 

It reminds me of Basil Fawlty, "Don't mention the war" " I did once but I think I got away with it"  😀 

Someone did and that contributed to Paul locking the thread.

Oh dear... Don't mention "The despair shop" it seems... 😏 

Just watched the second episode . I found it interesting, there is more to a C5 than I realised and the part about radio Caroline was very interesting. It was nice to see where the station comes from!  I really think it is a quality programme and not drowned out by annoying plinkie sympathy piano!  

I have now seen both episodes. They achieve their aim of providing a bit of interesting but not too taxing entertainment for general consumption. Contrary to my usual practice I watched both episodes as broadcast and rediscovered the art of putting on the kettle for a brew, etc., during the commercial breaks (can anyone tell me what the Samsung ad is all about?).

I find the scenarios a little contrived but this is general entertainment and I am – as we all are here – viewing with a more than the average critical eye. There are the inevitable bits of drama and mentions of potential monetary gain as these are the hook for Joe and Joanne Public; however, these are relatively minor and I just smile with a ‘here we go’ look on my face. I’m sure that the Defiant wireless set was well-ready and tested before the day of the delivery though, even so, whether all would perform at the customer’s premises always raises the heatbeat a little (been there).

There was a lot of talk in another place about the Defiant’s electrolytics. Joe Public is not interested in the pros and cons and merits of re-stuffing capactors - as it had had a bodge job done sometime in the past the originals would not be there in any case – or that kind of detail though I felt that what went into the job was skimmed over a little. The mention that electrolytics dry out and basically what they do was useful and enough; however, I would have included a little more very general information/overview about other unseen work done to the set.

I’m sure a mound has been left on the cutting room floor (or its equivalent – I go back to the days of the 16mm pic sync) but with 10-15 minutes per item there’s a limit to what can be included. It’s not an OU programme or a YouTube tutorial.

Pinnochio and the Atari were interesting. The former provided a bit of sentimentality and the latter the required monetary gain (as did the C5).

Seeing what went into a C5 – not a lot – was interesting and provided a fun element. I was relieved when it was finally explained that the new battery switch was operating a relay! I remember seeing a guy in one at the Five Ways roundabout in Birmingham in the mid-eighties. Brave fella!

The Casio keyboard demonstrated a user mistake that was easy to make.

As a contributor to the Support Group I really enjoyed the Radio Caroline feature. I have heard a lot about the rebuilding of the turntable studio on the Caroline North weekends that come from the ship. Nice to have a mini-tour around the ship and see Dave Foster – a voice I know well. The Vintage Repair company advertises on Caroline so I figured how this feature came about! Great to get a bit of publicity for the station too.

[Viewers from another place please look away now!] Also interesting to me was what was either a Morris or Austin 1100 or 1300 used for getting to and fro. The plate was blanked out but it looked like an early model to me. I wonder how he gets on with the hydrolastic suspension. I have heard that parts are the proverbial rocking horse do do. Nice to see one on the road especially as they rotted like fury and had all the usual subframe problems associated with BMC front wheel drive cars.

There seemed one or two minor inaccuracies and I suspect these crept in at a late stage in the production when all is being edited together and a bit of fill and link is needed here and there. The expert will likely not be present at this point. I noticed a bit of fuzziness on the screen on one set of shots which bothered me a little and then realised a motorbike registration plate that could be seen in the background was being obliterated. This was probably noticed after the shots had been taken as it would have been much easier to cover it over with a bit of card. Perhaps the banner stating that all jobs have been done by trained professionals was a later addition. However, it has to be remembered that these programmes are done to a budget and probably not a great one.

All in all I was reasonably entertained and also, in this throwaway world, it sends a vital message to the masses that some things can be repaired.

Posted by: @pye-man

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I wonder how he gets on with the hydrolastic suspension. I have heard that parts are the proverbial rocking horse do do.

I have hydrolastic suspension on my Allegro, the main problem is not the fluid in the lower chamber, but the upper chamber which has the gas. On most cars this has long gone, or severely depleted, BL never designed the upper unit to be re-gased, you just replaced, obviously new ones are not available.

However, it's not a problem as Ian & Dawn Kennedy offer a replacement service. You can send them yours,  they will refurbish and re-gas the upper part. Yes, they have devised a way to do this. You can also buy ones from them off the shelf, send them yours and get a discount. They also offer an on site fitting service.

I'm a member of the Allegro club, they are legends within that community, and have done many members cars. Frequently, videos are posted of them performing their service, you can find some of those on YouTube. Almost everyone uses them, and when my VDP is ready I shall do likewise.

Also, once you have a new set, because of their modification to the upper chamber, they can be re-gased again and again. There are only about 250-ish Allegros left alive, and just 82 on the road, ICBW. Once they're all done, allegro business will dry up. Still, there's all the other BL range that use the suspension system, so they'll be at it for many more years to come.

https://www.hahsltd.co.uk

My Dad had two Austin 1100s a B reg and a E reg then we went to the luxury of a H reg Maxi! I think the early 11/1300s were not too bad rust-wise the later '70s models were terrible, my Uncle's 72 model failed it's first MOT on rust and by 5 years old all of the doors were rotten along the bottom, I think he scrapped it at 7 years old!  It was the "BL disease" Every subsequent model has to be worse than the previous one!

I restored a lot of Rover P5s in the '90s. The earlier cars up to 1970 weren't too bad rust wise. But the last ones up to 73 were rot buckets. I found the under sealing on the later cars was minimal and the steel lower quality. When you consider how much these cars were back then (about 48K in today's money) it is shocking! 

Anyway it is a good job free speech is allowed here ! I better get back on topic though!  I nearly bought a C5 back in the day just for a laugh, I came to my senses just in time. There was a local chap who had one he had a long whip aerial on the back with a flag on it to prevent being flattened by a HGV. I wouldn't fancy taking one on the road now though! Too many people driving huge cars not watching what they are doing!  I bet with a modern high capacity light weight battery they could have a useful range and be made to perform, you may need that cooling fan modification though...!