Grill Repair

Chipped 

First I removed the finish

with a light sanding.  The veneer here is very thin

Apply new veneer edging pieces.  I used veneer with a heat released glue.  I used a clothes iron to apply it.

 

Finish up with stain and sealer.  I then bought a replacement cloth grill from Ebay.

More Reproductions

Time to buy more reproductions.

Since I only had the one reproduction that came with my A100 I began watching Ebay for more.  The crazy part is the prices range from $3 to $500 plus shipping for mostly "as is" discs.   Patience is the key.  I found someone selling 25 discs for $15 plus $15 shipping.   No one else bid, so I bought 25 discs for a little more than $1 each.  Pretty good for 100 year old discs.

When I received them I cleaned them with denatured alcohol.  The amount of dirt that came off was incredible.

Now the real test, playing them.

They all played.  Some with more background noise than others, but they are all enjoyable.  Fox Trot, Tenors, Solos, Bands......a good mix.

I put them in large bags to store them........

about  30 discs

New Felt Turntable Pad

I do not like the green turntable pad that   came with my Edison A100.  

I went to Jo-Ann Fabric and bought some wool felt for $3 ($18 a yard, 50% coupon, needed 1/3 yard)

I removed the original felt from the turntable

and then used rubber cement to first

glue down an under piece of felt

and then glue down the new wine color piece.

Something to watch put for: If, like me, you had the original felt pad with an additional felt pad added you will need to  maintain that height or adjust your reproducer height.  The image below shows the limit pin with the reproducer sitting on a reproduction with only one piece of turntable felt.  It is too low, it should be out of the taper area.  Adding a second layer of felt fixed the problem or the same could have been done by adjusting the mechanics

The Metal Pieces

I could not get the metal pieces clean so I cheated and painted them...

The Final Product

The front grill still needs repair, but I am happy with the results so far.....

Repaired bottom shelf

Leg round repaired with Mohawk Epoxy

Bottom shelf finish

Overall Finish

Ebay crank installed

Below are the before pictures

before

before

before

Installing the Hinge Piece

Next I glued on my new hinge piece and clamped it overnight.  

Next I reinstalled the motor so I wouldn't have the lid in the way later.

When I removed the hinges during the disassembly process, I was not sure if the mix of phillips head and slotted head screws were original.  I looked at Ebay listings for Edison hinge and screw listings and found that in many cases this is how the hinges came.

I assembled the hinges to the lid and then temporarily held the assembly over the cabinet and marked the new hinge hole screw locations with a pencil.  This ensured I had the correct hinge to hinge spacing.  I then drilled a pilot hole for each of the screws since I didn't want to split the new wood piece.

I removed the hinges from the lid and installed them on the hinge piece as shown below.

Finally I reinstalled the lid lock lever and the lid.....All done!

Picture of lid lock taken during disassembly and prior to cleaning.

Note: To clean the metal hinges And other metal pieces I soaked them in denatured alcohol for a few minutes and then gently cleaned with 0000 steel wool

Ebay Crank

I finally bought a crank off of Ebay...with shipping the cost was $22.  I got lucky, it was listed as a "wind up" and not as a "crank" which meant not many bidders.  

Search for "Edison" on Ebay;  many great things show up!

Final Assembly of the Cabinet

First place one of the side pieces on a flat protected surface.  Next vertically glue in the bottom shelf,  rear panel, mid cabinet shelf, and front piece (that goes between lid and grill). Tap as required with a rubber mallet to ensure they are seated.  Next carefully align and glue in the remaining side piece on top.  Tap in place with rubber mallet.  It is very helpful to have a second person help.  Next reinstall the 4 screws that hold the bottom shelf to the legs.  Finally, use bar clamps to hold everything together while the glue drys.

Cabinet after assembly and clamping

Standing it up.  Notice the rear hinge piece is not installed yet.

A front view

These are the bottom shelf screws that need to be reinstalled.

Putting it back together

With all the pieces finished it is time to put it back together.

You will need Hide Glue, a rubber mallet, and some bar clamps.  I purchased the clamps from Harbor Freight for around $4 each.

The key to putting the cabinet back together is to glue the legs on the two side panels first and letting them dry overnight.  If you do this all the other pieces will go together in proper order.

3 clamps on a side panel with legs and a towel to protect the finish from the clamps

Apply a Finish

After repairing the shelf I moved to the lid.       There were a couple of deep scratches on the lid's top, so I sanded those out.  I left the curved sides alone since they were in good shape.

I next applied the Minwax Red Mahogony stain to all of the pieces.  Everything looks beautiful.  

I then brushed on a coat of shellac to all the pieces, sanded it with fine grit sandpaper, and then applied one more coat of shellac.  I was happy with the look, so I stopped at two coats.  On the legs and curved sides of the lid I used a spray sellac, not a brush on.  I also made sure to shellac the underside of the pieces to help seal in any of the "old" smell.  I did not shellac or stain any of the glue joints.

The shellac is available at Home Depot

Hinge Piece

The piece of wood that the lid and hinges attach to was severely cracked.  I have seen other reports of people having a similar issue.  I believe that the piece sees too much stress and finally fails after 100 years.

I decided to remake the piece out of oak.  Luckily Home Depot has oak in stock that is the same thickness.

I will say that a router with a 1/4 routing bit is needed to cut the bottom groove and the inset hinge areas.  I am not sure how else you would cut the bottom groove.

I used the original piece as a template.

Cracked

New Piece

Stain

Since this is oak, I needed to apply many coats of the Minwax Stain to get the correct color.  I used Red Mahogany color stain.  

  

Repairing the Bottom Shelf - Part 3

Now it is time to get rid of the deep scratches on the top side of the shelf.  

First I gave Howard Mahogany Restor-A-Finish a try.  I applied per the directions and wiped it off.  While it did color the scratches, I was left with a very visible colored scratch.  I knew there must be a better way.

I will add that I did not have much luck with the Restor-A-Finish on any part of the A100 restoration.

So I went old school...an orbital sander and 220 grit paper. I took the old finish off and took the veneer down enough to remove the scratch.  The veneer was pretty thick, so andong was not an issue.

In the above picture you can see the sanded down finish and some Mahawk epoxy being used to fill a gouge.

 The final problem with the shelf is the dowel and dowel hole at the end with the severe seperation was broken.  First I filled the broken dowel hole with Mohawk epoxy and let it set up overnight.  The next day I used a 3/8 inch dowel (Home Depot), a 3/8 inch drill bit, and a Dowel Jig (Harbor Freight). I drilled a new dowel hole using the jig and glued a new dowel in with the hide glue.  I also checked that all the original dowels were secure and cleaned the old hide glue out of the original dowel mating holes

Repairing the Bottom Shelf - Part 2

I started out by repairing the separated layers of wood in the corner.

My first thought was to simply buy a new piece of wood and cut it to the same dimensions.  However, when I went to Home Depot, I found that a nice piece of wood would cost $25-$30.  I decided to give the repair a try.

The items I used were Titebond Hide Glue, a set of syringes, and Mohawk Epoxy Stick.  I bought all of these items from Amazon.  I also used a couple of C clamps for clamping after I glued.

Using the syringe I apply the hide glue down into the separating layers.  After the glue is placed I clamp the area

with the C clamps (with a piece of cardboard between the wood and clamp for protection)  The shelf is made out a core piece of wood with mahogany veneer on both sides.   The veneerwas separating   in many places.  Wipe away any excess glue with a damp rag.

I also repaired a edge where the veneer had chipped.  Using the Mohawk Epoxy I filled the area, leveled it out, and then used the edge of a knife to press in some very small grain lines

The repair went great!

Repairing the Bottom Shelf - Part 1

These are problems with the lower shelf:  deep scratches, separating veneer, chipped edges, and missing/loose dowels.

 

The Tootsie Roll!

This stuff is good....

Mohawk Epoxy Putty Stick.  It looks like a big tootsie roll.  The great thing is you cut off only the amount you require, kneed it in you hands for a few minutes, and then apply it.  It hardens in a few minutes and is sandable.  The only downside is it does not accept stain very well.  You will need to "paint" the stain on.

I used this to fill in a large gouge in the lid, the edge of the lower shelf, and best of all I used it to fix three missing turns from the legs, which I bet is a common problem on the A100....

After applying and shaping the epoxy as shown, I let it set 24 hours and then sanded it to the final shape.  I then applied stain but did not wipe it off, I just let it dry over the epoxy.

Places that needed grain lines needed to be added with a black permanent marker. 

The epoxy is available on Amazon.

Refinishing the Inside of the Lid

Finish is dull

spotty and dirty...

However the color and grain looks good.

To start I take the hinges and soak them for 20 minutes in denatured alcohol to loosen up the black residue.  Then I use an old toothbrush to remove the residue, nice and clean!

For the inside of the lid I used 0000 steelwool and Homer Formby's Lemon Oil.  Making sure I stayed away from the Edison Decal I soaked the steelwool with the oil and began rubbing everthing down with small circular motions.  Stopping every few minutes to check my progess and and more oil, I rub the lid for about half an hour.  Everything came pretty clean.  Not perfect, but much better than it was.