The Fine Things are Always Hand Made
I am not sure if this is appropriate to put on this site so I will ask first. I have been looking for two knobs for my Phantom Deluxe for some time. I was missing one regular round knob and one of the thumb type knobs (not sure exactly what these knobs are called) In any case, I ran into a guy who locally who makes exact replicas of the Zenith Z knobs used on many of the Zenith radios in the
1936 to 1938 range and sells quite a few to collectors. I gave him samples of the two EH Scott knobs I needed and his knobs were amazingly accurate! He makes them out of walnut and digitizes the design and then laser cuts the face of the knob including the S and all cross hatching. When the knobs are on the radio you can't tell an original from the repro. Only when you remove the knobs and look at the brass insert can you tell which one is new (the bright brass gives it away). I am not sure if there are others looking for a knob(s) but these are as close to the originals as I have seen. If others are looking, I would be happy to post the guys contact info.
Tags:
Any chance of a photo?
This is totally appropriate and the type of info we should share with each other. Knobs are a headache, everyone is looking for them. I'd consider funding a number of repros to be available here...what do you all think?
Kent
Forest - great contribution to this forum.
The other type knobs are referred to as "pinch" type.
Forest - That's great news. Can he do a run of, say, 10 or 20 of each style? I'm able to provide examples if he needs them, sounds like he's already seen yours. Let me know...this is really great!
Kent
I posted this a few years ago, but not everyone has access to a lathe,
Thanks...I recalled your post on the knobs...I am glad we have the skills to continue to make these much needed parts.
Kent
mike hadley said:
I posted this a few years ago, but not everyone has access to a lathe,
I suspect the knobs were done with a press back then. Having a die cut, you could punch out many knobs each day. Today's laser tools are superior though.
Kent
Forrest Wagner said:
Kent, I am sure Ben would be willing to make a run of them. He does have one each of the round and pinch knobs (see, I used the correct name). Now that the design on the knob is digitized, the laser does the work on creating the design on the face. He does hand turn each knob on a lathe. He wasn’t quite happy with his first “test” knobs (although they looked great to me) but he now has knobs he is happy with. I will post some pictures when I get back to town. I could also send a sample of the knobs if you would want to take a look at them. I would just need to know where to send them. Once I speak with Ben I will also send you or post his contact info. One question, I am guessing the original design on the knobs were “pressed” under pressure to creat the design on the face of the knobs? They obviously did not have lasers back then and it would have been way too tedious to try to carve the design.
Not sure if these pictures of the knobs will show up. Side by side example of an original and a repro wood knob that Ben has made. He is working on the pinch knob now and is still working on refining this round knob design a bit. The repro obviously has the crisper cross hatching on the knob face.
© 2024 Created by Kent King. Powered by