Re-purposed Bush AC11 - now retro lamp with sound

[Scotorvm]

Guy's, following on from a previous post, re spare Bush AC11 parts, wanted a retro style functional lamp -

Not sure if sacrilege or just saving a beaten up valve radio from land fill.

Chassis and parts from a Bush AC11.

Digital Amplifier Board, TPA3116D2 Dual Channel Audio Stereo AMP High Power Digital Subwoofer Power Amplifier Board 2x50W 5V 12V 24V.

Times Spectra Extreme Braid Braided Fishing Line 300LB Test 100m Army Green.

Socobeta Decoder Board Wireless Bluetooth 5.0 4 Colours Screen Decode Board Module with Remote Control. Available from China £4.

Paint Factory Real Feel Cast Iron Bronze Interior Exterior Spray Paint 400ml.

Vintage Filament Bulbs Edison Retro Style Lamp Amber BC 60W - squirrel cage.

Lamp Holder Bayonet Cap 10mm entry - Antique brass.

10mm Hollow Threaded Rod Tube, 1mm pitch.

Dimmer switch module stripped from an old switch.

Lamps dimmed via tuning dial. Original on/off/volume switch used to power on. Tone switch and band selector for show.

Speakers removed from a faulty set of PC speakers.

12vDC power supply from an old external PC HDD.

Base cover still to be fitted.


All working, sounds great, looks good. Just need to re-string on dimmer to get the tuner dial to turn up brightness clockwise, not anti-clockwise..

[stitch1]

It’s yours to do whatever you want with but not sure why you’d want to share on a ‘repair and restoration’ site.

Personally I think it’s awful and not because it’s sacrilege, but everyone to their own.

Someone had to bite

John

[Scotorvm]

Originally Posted by stitch1

It’s yours to do whatever you want with but not sure why you’d want to share on a ‘repair and restoration’ site.

Personally I think it’s awful and not because it’s sacrilege, but everyone to their own.

Someone had to bite

John

Cheers, appreciate your comment, sorry if an inappropriate post, I'm sure the mods will delete if it is.

I thought I had restored it from rusty junk... very little working parts left, transformer had shed all it's insulation, case rotten.

At least now, this will be used, probably more than a valve radio

Have had positive comments so far from all that have visited..

[paulsherwin]

Seems a lot of effort to no purpose to me, but as John says, it's yours to do what you want with.

[Skywave]

The variation amongst individuals' tastes is enormous. To me, it just looks weird.

Al.

[RoundyMooney]

It's pure steampunk/hipster-take your pick.

You're probably pitching it toward the wrong audience here, while not everyone is a purist, I don't think too many will get it.

My view is this, if the cabinet was red rotten, and the trafo had failed-then ok. It's worth nothing anyway. But it seems a little avant garde to me, what with the pseudo antique bulbs and the dial cord that goes nowhere?

What do non radio people think of it? Would any of them even be able to identify it as the chassis of an "old radio"?

[Nuvistor]

Making something that you value from an item that would have been scrap is ok with me. Tastes differ, wouldn’t suit me but that’s fine, would be a dull world if we all liked the same.
Enjoy it.

[vinrads]

I have always hated the word steampunk .all the effort that has gone into this would have better spent restoring the set ,IMO .Mick.

[Herald1360]

Originally Posted by Scotorvm

Dimmer switch module stripped from an old switch.

Lamps dimmed via tuning dial. Original on/off/volume switch used to power on. Tone switch and band selector for show.

I wouldn't do it myself, (I'd probably have broken something that far gone for parts), but I'd consider giving it houseroom if there was a meaningful scale and pointer for the brightness setting. It's still electrical and has a function that appeals somehow in a way that say a lamp converted AVO or paraffin blowlamp doesn't.

[Radio Wrangler]

It might just be me, but I'd expect that wooden casket to open up every hour on the hour, and 'Thing's hand' to pop out. Like a post-punk Guinness clock.

But as you said, the alternative was landfill. Should provide some work for future archaeologists. My money's on 'religious artefact'

David

[Radio Tech]

Hi Scott

The innovation and thought that went into this is some task, like most say, the chassis was yours to do and create whatever you felt. And it looks as if it can still be used as a receiver for reception. I do not know how old you are but you appear to be of young age. The field of radio and electronics is for both the experimenter and restorer

Ken

[PaulR]

It isn't a particularly rare set and sounds as though it was in very poor condition. If it had been possible to restore it to good working condition what would have happened to it then? It would probably have been briefly admired then consigned to the back of a shelf whilst the next one was restored.

I think it would be a lot worse to break up a Dynatron or RGD radiogram to get the amp whose performance would be easily matched and exceeded by most of the hi-fi amps produced since the 1970s.

As it is, the owner likes and values it. He has clearly put in work to clean and paint the chassis and thought to make the alterations he has done. It will be displayed and be a talking point amongst others. I really don't think we should react like a Victorian maiden aunt shown a photograph of a bare bottom!

[MurphyNut]

I feel this kind of a thing is a fad and will go out of fashion, it does nothing for me and just looks odd. But I guess to younger people not familiar with old technology it might look cool and interesting. What a nightmare to dust!

[Cobaltblue]

An interesting project using what was effectively scrap so I'm OK with that.

I just wonder if a little more could be teased out by exaggerating the dial chord for instance (thicker perhaps coloured chord).

It looks a little imbalanced in execution that may of course be intentional to draw in the observer. The latent artistic side of me was wondering if you could take a faulty speaker and covert it it into a sort of uplighter, replacing the cone with a reflective material.

Don't think I will be doing any such thing anytime soon

So overall not really appealing to me that much, but I do thank you for sharing, It was interesting.

Cheers

Mike T

[dave walsh]

I'm not sure that this is really any different from when forum members put together weird and wonderful bits of vintage kit to produce a technical output that the equipment was never really intended for in the the first place.
It's a little "out there" in terms of the usual approach but a long way from the Mad Max "Steam Punk" Genre perhaps? Or at least I hope so

When the primary aim is to create, effectively, a display item then we are in the area of aesthetics and taste. Arguably, it's the same thing if you just "repair and restore" a conventional set ie you may like the result or not [eg maybe the varnished cabinet is too yellow?]. Except it isn't really because there's no overt modification there. When you put yourself into it the comparison is more like a work of art. Many existing sets are in that category but we didn't design them. The Plastic Ono Band in the late sixties had TV's and other equipment enclosed in clear plastic to emphasise the "works" another variant on this notion. The re-purposed lamp is an interesting project but it doesn't look visually balanced enough for me. Just like a painting for example, it may have some good aspects but not enough. I think there will tend to be a built in bias on here because it's not the usual ethic but that's to be expected. As said, Scot does not appear to be interested in pulling good items apart without regard for anything else. Quite the opposite in fact! The Graves Vulcan piece [mid-August] that he posted looks very good indeed, especially in the room setting. Other members have posted conventional restorations in outstanding room settings as well.

Dave W


For some reason this topic has brought to mind Just A Minute on Radio 4 with it's "Hesitation, Repetition or Deviation", Motto!

[crackle]

You obviously posted on here to seek views so here you are.
If you want my more considered opinion, its not to my taste.
But if you want my less considered first impression:
You have turned something that could have been useful to someone as spares into a hideous looking piece of junk. Wasting your time, effort and adding a whole load more stuff to go to landfill when you eventually tire of the dangerous and ugly looking device.
Mike

[PsychMan]

Not my cup of tea, but hey, if you like it, good for you! It looks like you've put a lot of effort into the project.

Its a very common set and if the condition was horrendous then I see no issue.

The sad fact is there are many radios out there that will not survive into the future, and ultimately, if some are going to be culled then a very poor example of an AC11 would be a prime candidate.

[Electronpusher0]

Originally Posted by Cobaltblue

The latent artistic side of me was wondering if you could take a faulty speaker and covert it it into a sort of uplighter, replacing the cone with a reflective material.

use a working speaker pointing up with the cone covered I tinfoil, shine a laser pointer on it and watch the moving spot.........

Peter

Very silly, I like silly, not enough of it around in these trying times. You have made me smile, as it is also a bluetooth 'speaker, you could listen to a vintage radio play (got to be Paul Temple) and read a book on wireless at the same time. What is the box at the back for?

and watch the moving spot.........

Showing just how unlike a piston a 'speaker is.