[Ed Kraushar]

I finished another homebrew from the group I bought at an auction some time ago. I called it a homebrew Erla since almost all of the parts that are marked are Erla. This leaves me wondering if it could have been a parts kit radio.

The case may be home made or a lesser expensive commercial model made from a common wood. It had been shellaced but was very dirty and was washed with alcohol and given a few coats of lacquer.

I rewired most of the chassis as a previous owner had removed the audio transformers rather forcefully and much of the bus wiring was damaged. I would say that the audios were probably Erlas also from the mounting holes. Since I did not have a set of good Erla audios to use I went really home brew and went with homemade transformers. The different transformers furthered the need for rewiring.

The transformers were made using ringer coils from old 500 type telephones mounted on steel from a dead transformer that had been cut to fit. The frames were cast from zinc metal using molds made using Acme transformer frames as a pattern. The coils are roughly 3:1.

I was surprised when I took the knobs off for cleaning. The small knobs and rheostat were Erlas but the large knobs were not. The large knobs are Visco Dials, something I had not seen before. The backs of the dials have spring fingers that rub on waxed cardboard disks. This gives the knobs a good "feel" and they do not move on their own.

Ed.

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