National Panasonic RC-6030B restoration

[Moebiusar]

Hi all!

A couple of months ago, browsing through the local eBay, I found an RC-6030. Being a huge fan of Groundhog Day, I said "Close enough!".

The seller stated:

• the FM radio worked perfectly with excellent sound
• the AM radio seemed not to work
• the clock worked sporadically
• the motor was working fine (he attached a video)

I have attached some photos shared by the previous owner at that time.

It seemed a good first restoration project for me, so I offered 5 USD, and bought it.

(I'll post a reply with the first hands-on and disassembly findings)

[Moebiusar]

After a brief inspection it appeared clear to me that the clock fell, at least, once. It was "a little loose" by any standard. Nothing was moving inside but the frontal clear lens/plastic wasn't firmly attached nor any other part of the case.

A good surprise was to discover that the clock was a RC-6030B, with selectable mains voltage and frequency. As Argentina uses 50Hz some products from USA, or even our neighbor Brazil, were useless to keep time.

As the disassembly carried on, it was also clear that It was "fixed" at some point in its life. but lately this unit was used to get spare parts for another clock. Several screws are missing, leaving just one or two from each "set" .

Once open, there was no further doubt why the AM radio were not working. The ferrite antenna is missing. It probably broke when it fell and was cleaned afterwards. Possibly several tabs used to hold the front panel and lens, had the same fate. The clear lens was being held by double sided clear tape (done with care so it wasn't noticeable).

And of course, a lot of dirt, fluff and goo.

[Moebiusar]

It appears that some was trying to fix something in the clock, but didn't know exactly how to do it. The top plate that contains the holders for the tiles was loose, with the locks straighten so it could be taken apart. Also, the alarm was triggering one hour before the correct time. The motor sometimes ran and sometimes it didn't.

I still don't know for sure if the switch was glued or something to avoid selecting the AM band. But with some cleaning and rocking, it started to move again. I left the repairing of the AM antenna for later. It will need some investigation on the matter and possibly you could help me with that.

It really needed some cleaning. The dial mechanism had something stuck between the threads, and the speaker held a considerable amount of dust and other build-ups.

On the next replies, I'll show you how the cleaning went on.

[Moebiusar]

Been a little busy lately, but I'm back posting!

So... I've been doing some cleaning . Using warm water and isopropyl alcohol depending on the need. I've used a lot of cotton, cotton swabs, a toothbrush and paper towels.

A word of advice: use a brand new toothbrush. There is the possibility that some toothpaste is still in a used one. At least, that's the hypothesis of what happened near the speaker holes.

I love to see before-and-after images, so I've attached some for comparison.

[Moebiusar]

In the repair side of the story I've:

• Corrected the Alarm trigger problem using Mackey's video about that problem (Thanks again for all your work!).
• Tighten the top plate of the clock.
• Re-soldered broken solder joints in some cables and in the Band selection switch chassis.
• Soldered the coil's wires of the motor to the tabs (as they seemed to have been manipulated and damaged).
• Soldered the light-bulb replacement placed by the previous owner.
• Cleaned Volume pot and Band selection switch contacts.

I wanted to know your opinions about a couple of things:

1. The motor is working. If I leave it unattached to the clock mechanism the gear spins normally. When it's attached, the clock won't flip. I think that the final gear's shaft(where the motor's rotation is applied to the clock) is spinning loose. If this is the case, when it has no load the final gear spins normally but when it has to break the inertia or a force is applied the inner gear spins around the shaft. ¿Have you encountered this problem before? ¿Any suggestion to remove the plastic cover of the gear box without breaking it to inspect and maybe glue the shaft to the inner gear? ¿Any other hypothesis of what's happening?
2. Suggestions of grease to place in the plastic-on-plastic moving parts of the tuning mechanism.
3. I'm planning to restore the holding tabs for the frontal clear lens/plastic. To do this, I thought that it can be glued a piece of acrylic (with roughly the same shape and dimensions) in place and mill the slot where the plastic locks. ¿What are your thoughts about this?
4. I want to re-coil the AM antenna. To do this I've to get more info about it. ¿Have you seen a service manual with a schematic of the circuit? ¿Do you have some photos of a RC-6030 where the antenna can be seen clearly and how it's connected to the board?

The previous items are ordered by priority. I know that the AM antenna will take some time, so I wanted to get much of the work done meanwhile. I'll be happy to get the clock working in the short term.

Hoping to hear your thoughts, if you have the time!