How Do I Start to Restore My Dad's Old Sony CRF-320?

I would like to restore my dad's old Sony CRF-320 Radio and have no idea where to start.  The unit is in good shape; however, both antennas are missing, the display on FM seems stuck, and Noise Blanketer toggle is busted, the flip cover over the wheel to adjust the time is missing, power cord is missing  I'd like to restore it in working order, please let me know if you ave any suggestions.  Thank you 

Anthony 

Comments

[ace]

Here's some thoughts:

- You need antennas, the power cord and a cover over the clock. Your best bet for authenticity is to find a parts set. Failing that, it may be possible to get antennas from an old TV rabbit ears, or a seventies' set (even an old Sony Trinitron) that 'look' the part.

- I'd buy a manual off eBay or one of the sites that sells them, if for no other reason than to find out how to disassemble the beast. The good news is that there are exposed screw heads on the front panel. It may be possible to go in from the front.

- If you decide to fix the mechanical problems yourself, get a good cordless screwdriver and bits and take your time. Take photos of every 'layer' as you disassemble and be orderly about tracking and storing screws and other parts. It's not impossible to work on a set like this, but you have to be methodical.

- While you're in there, take the time to clean the inside faces of the various windows gently and to use tuner spray to clean all the rotary controls like volume etc. Blow out as much dust etc. that's accumulated as possible.

- It doesn't sound like you have any electronic problems. That's a strong inducement to do the mechanical fix-ups.

- Have fun, don't force anything, and enjoy the experience. Great set, worthy ambition, have at 'er!

[Stan]

For the most part I agree with the previous post. My advice, skip the cordless screw driver and invest in some good manual ones. I'm a big fan of Klein, but there are others. The advantage to manual screwdrivers is you are 10x less likely to strip a screw or start it cross threaded. Plus they are agile enough to get into spots cordless can't.

[ace]

Stan, you're right about the cordless driver, especially if he's not familiar with disassembling a beast like the 320.

I get tired of undoing long-threaded screws that a lot of Japanese gear has, so the cordless has made working on stuff like older stereos far less arduous for me.

[Keith]

These sets use nylon gears in the AM/MW, SW, and FM tuners. These gears are almost invariably broken. There are no parts available from Sony. Several years ago there was a fellow who made a batch of the gears, but that was several years ago. You might Google for them.

The antennas are some very nice, and unique, pop up types. You are unlikely to find any with out the purchase of a parts machine. The power cords are not available either. They work only with the Sony CRF series of radios.

I think your ambition is noble but you might be better off to put this radio in the closet for awhile and gain experience restoring some less complicated radios first while you gather up the necessary parts for this one. The mechanical and electrical systems are fairly complex on the CRF-320. It's a challenge.

They are very nice radios. Because of the built in pre-selector they receive uncommonly well with just the built in SW antenna. The audio is also surprisingly pleasing given the rather small speaker and all metal and plastic construction.

Well worth restoring, just be careful to not get in over your head and wind up creating a parts radio for someone else

[bob dring]

I know this is an old thread but this info might be useful for someone. The gears are available 3D printed from Shapeways (search crf320) at a very good price. Also there is a yahoo group for this radio.