I bought this old GE boombox (made in 1981) for $2.24. When I got it nothing worked and it was very dirty. I cleaned it good and polished the plastic "glass" surfaces to perfection. Some lights would come on, but there was no sound. I cleaned all of the switches and pots and then I got sound!!! The tape deck didn't work, the radio played, but no matter what I did, the whole thing would fizzle out to silent in 3.5 minutes! I kept cleaning the switches and pots thinking that it was just gunking up again. I had heard that this happened. However, no matter what, it still fizzled out in 3.5 minutes. I was puzzled, but determined. I cleaned the deck and put new belts on it and it started working... for 3.5 minutes. The fizzling to silence was so consistent that I started thinking that it must be a capacitor. I had gotten the idea that the capacitor was heating up and then dying. I had seen a video online where someone had to change their capacitors, so I had capacitors on my mind.
Fast Forward to tonight when I got my sister-in-law who worked on radar systems in the Air Force, to come over and help me swap out this one big capacitor on the power supply board. I learned a lot about this process in a matter of 10 minutes! Got the old one out and the new one in. Plugged everything in and turned it on. After 10 minutes of flawless playing...
...TRIUMPH!
I'm so thrilled about this. I love this little boombox. I love the looks and it sounds really good. It's also got metal loops to put on a carry strap!
This was a fun project and I learned a lot.
I still need some switches and a battery box cover, but I'll keep an eye out for those parts.
UPDATE: I found a good leather purse strap at the Thrift Store that already has clips at the end. It connected to the Boombox and was the perfect length. What do you think?
Fast Forward to tonight when I got my sister-in-law who worked on radar systems in the Air Force, to come over and help me swap out this one big capacitor on the power supply board. I learned a lot about this process in a matter of 10 minutes! Got the old one out and the new one in. Plugged everything in and turned it on. After 10 minutes of flawless playing...
...TRIUMPH!
I'm so thrilled about this. I love this little boombox. I love the looks and it sounds really good. It's also got metal loops to put on a carry strap!
This was a fun project and I learned a lot.
I still need some switches and a battery box cover, but I'll keep an eye out for those parts.
UPDATE: I found a good leather purse strap at the Thrift Store that already has clips at the end. It connected to the Boombox and was the perfect length. What do you think?
The cassette door plastic used by G.E. has that slightly green tint to it (like an old Coca-Cola glass bottle) and it is so sexy. Nice job!
