Bluetooth 1947 Crosley Radio

I picked this radio up because it was going to be thrown out. I was also given an old Bluetooth radio that had a broken charging port so I had an idea! the plan was simple just swap the internals of the radio with the internals in the Bluetooth radio

Step 1: First Take It Appart

while taking it apart I figured out why the radio didn't work, the cord that drives the channel selector broke and it wouldn't change the channel it would only be static. once I turned the pully by hand I found 4 stations I kept the internals in case i get a bug and decide to clean it up and fix or replace the speaker because of the cracked paper cone and replace the string/ cable that attaches the needle to pulleys to select the stations or if someone else has the same radio and needs parts since it still works. I didn't alter the case or internals other than painting it

Step 2: Next Was to Take Appart the Bluetooth Radio

this was easy, there was a decorative cover over the radio once it was removed it had 8 small screws holding it together after that there were 2 more screws holding each speaker.

Step 3: Fixing the Broken Charging Port

I don't have any pictures of this step but basically its charging port was a micro USB female end and it had broken off. now for me and the soldering iron I have made soldering the connections of the micro usb port back together simply impossible. I know this because I tried a few times to no avail so the next best thing was to cut the male end off a micro USB cable find the positive and negative ends off and trace the positive and negative connections on the board of the Bluetooth radio then solder the cable directly to the board, I don't like this rout and I will most likely change it to a micro USB female cable sticking out flush to the back of the radio so I can get rid of the wired cable sticking out of the radio

Step 4: Building a Speaker Box

I played the Bluetooth radio while it was out of the box and it was very quiet so I had to put the speakers in an enclosure lucky the speakers fit perfectly inside a 2 1/2 inch PVC pipe so I cut 2 pieces 3" long then notched it to fit the speaker cords then glued them together with PVC cement

Step 5: Glue and Speaker Install

I cut a bace out of 3/4 pine and used silicon to glue the tubes in place then glued another piece under the tubes for support then tested the sound out again it was better but not how it use to be so I drilled a hole into the tubes and angled them toward the front and tested it again and viola it sounds like it did from the factory

Step 6: Building a Base

I cut out the base to fit in the radio enclosure and used machine screws and nuts that I recessed and glued in the wood so I don't have to put a wrench on the other side then glued spacers on the bottom to hold the back plate

Step 7: Assembly

once I had the base mounted I glued the speakers in place as well as hot glued the board and battery

Step 8: Switch Bypass

I soldered in a rotary switch for the on/ off switch and a momentary switch for the Bluetooth sync button and mounted them in the original holes

Step 9: Back Pannel

for the back pannel I used a scrap piece of plastic fiber board and traced then cut out the shape and sanded the edges

Step 10: Prep for Paint

i sanded the entire thing then I taped off the glass.

I wanted to keep the original sticker on the bottom of the radio but it was so dry rotted the painters tape would pull off the writing so I put a top coat of super glue on the sticker to keep it together then I taped it off and painted the case red as well as the back and let them both bake in the sun inside my spare beater car for a full day

Step 11: Final Touches

I installed the back panel and pealed off the masking tape put the internals inside, put the knobs on and I used a permanent marker to color the speaker slats black to offset the look of the radio and give it depth. also I'm glad I kept the original sticker to keep the vintage look

Step 12: Final Product

I'm pretty proud of the radio and I like the1947 vintage look. on a side note the music I have played on this radio probably had crosley rolling in his grave haha

Comments

[azroger]

Good work on the case, but yes, please do keep the old radio innards. For those of us who love those old things, they will only get harder to find with time.

[bakovidagi]

Looks awesome, dude. I love to "re purpose" antiques and give them new life. The red and black theme looks great. I'm pretty upset, though, that you destroyed a perfectly good bluetooth speaker. Someday when people are looking for an antique bluetooth to restore, yours won't be there. Just kidding.

[javierdiaz4]

Drosenkranz, great great work in my opinion. I've done a few of these but never have I touched the internals for the sake of not violating the radio. But I like what you did with the POT. I'd like further info on how you did that as far as connecting it to the receiver and controlling its power. Any insight you have will be great. Secondly, any thought of making it control volume too?

[ttripp2]

I want to do something like this with an old floor model radio. I want to set it up to play anything. Records, 8 tracks, cassettes, cds, mp3, maybe even reel to reel. The Rosetta Stone of media.

[drosenkranz]

my brother just picked up an old floor model radio with a record player and asked how to install Bluetooth and replace the speakers since the old ones were broken. we wired the speaker inputs to a small amp switched out the old speakers and I soldered a Bluetooth receiver into it so it now plays the radio, record player or Bluetooth. I like your idea of the Rosetta Stone of radios!

[robot797]

i always hate it when people destroy old radios just to get an old look

i say restore or give away

do not destroy

[bhm133]

As I have understood it the originals are kept for someone else who had the same radio. I don't think this radio was destroyed as such. It was nouveaux restored.

[robot797]

it was not restored it was reused
if it were restored it would use the original chasis but with new parts

look if somone restored an old radio and placed a bluethooth recever at the record playing imput i would love it
if it were an empty cabinet without the chassis i would like this project

but it was a complete radio
that got a bad repaint (what came out good)
and its inside got removed insted of using it again

[drosenkranz]

the radio in its original form was a turd. It sat outside in a leaky garage for years it was filthy inside and out as well as presumed broken since the only thing it played was static. it had one broken knob as well as a dry rotted cord as well as the speaker cone and rusty internals. on another note I was able to receive 4 stations but only when I held onto the antenna and in doing so you would get a small jolt of electricity. the whole inner chassis with all the soldered wires looked like some of the "concraptions" that you have posted on instructables. it looked like someone used a cattle branding iron to solder all the connections. the whole thing was something I wouldn't write home to mom about. but to ease you're mind robot797 nothing on the radio was altered other than a fresh coat of paint. I have all the parts it came with to put it back together or it can be salvaged and the parts be used to bring a similar radio in better condition back to life.

I'm sorry you feel the way you do about the radio I can't please everyone. Here's an idea! instead of demeaning someone else's work and downplaying what they did. maybe try keeping you're mouth shut and worrying about putting more attention into you're own channel. like better spelling, better presentation or better workmanship. take pride in things you build don't just halfass it robot797 because doing so gets you nowhere in life

so with that being said happy building to you sir. hopefully you learn from this and place your attention where its needed most. like the projects you have built on your page

[robot797]

ofcourse the radio played as a turd the parts are 50+ years old

and need to replaced

the yolt you felt was from leaky capasitors

and as for my instructables

look at the dates there old

i stop making them becaus my dislectia was turning people of

i have so many cool projects and thing

radio's i have restored

amplyfiers i have build but i wont make instructables about it

not becaus i dont want to share them but becaus people start whining about my gramar

look i wanted to offer my opinion on this project

i did not want to be to hars

and looking back i was

sorry for that

i will not change myself becaus of that but i will try and be less direct on my next complaint

[robot797]

one of my proudest projects until now

this is what i make

from scrap and unused parts

[slo5oh]

What is it?

[robot797]

a cox powered diesel generator

build in 1.5 weeks

[lathe_makeatio]

i would agree to this too. I will not blame the creative work of the author with this, but i never would disassemble only one of my over 10 vintage radios only if they didn't work. Most of them work, and some have to get repaired by me. In these radios is no rocket science and no things (except of a missing tube) build in that not can be repaired, if someone has the needed skills.

Vintage radios have their own charm and style and it would be strange for me if i switch one modified on and it starts to play in the same second without heating up the tubes.

Rather i would build an adapter - depending of the desired media - which can be placed inside or behind and maybe could get controlled with a smartphone.

[robot797]

amen to that

and that is why i suggest a bluethooth plugin that can plugin into the record player input

[mrandle]

Have you actually tried plugging anything to a phono before? The reason I ask is depending on the age it will sound pretty terrible and you will have little to no bass response. Best case scenario, if you do restore a radio like this all you have is AM radio anyways, which now is basically limited to talk radio. That's assuming your capacitors and wax resistors don't blow up and light your house on fire first. While I understand that junking the components of a PERFECTLY FINE radio would be terrible those are few and far between and with radios 50+ years old this is just not practical and possibly dangerous.

[robot797]

yes i have

and if correctly restored they have a better bass responce then most modern radio's

it was an erres ky536

plugged my phone in vid the record input

you are right that old radios are dangourus

that is why i repair and restore them

so that they are save again

the firsth radio i have fixed is still working and that one (philips b3x92a)

plays 8 hours a day for over 4 years

[slo5oh]

Looks great. I've been debating building or buying a simple mp3 boombox. Something like a clock radio that takes either USB or SD input. I haven't seen any on the market for less than $100 that look decent. Maybe I can follow your idea and take an older boombox and swap out the internals with some kind of mp3 player.

Carry on.