The web is full of instructions and suggestions for repairing and restoring old radios, but there is also a less popular path: replacing their internals with modern hardware. While this may cause rejection among some users, there are times when the final result is worth it. That is how we arrive at the tutorial by user "darkfly" on Instructables, who took an old Philco clock radio and turned it into a media player with an integrated screen.
Restoring a tube radio is a fascinating project, but sometimes it presents difficulties that force us to take a long break... and the radio ends up in a corner collecting dust. Not everything gets solved by changing capacitors, and some failures require components that simply no longer exist. That is when the possibility of a "transplant" arises, that is, removing the original elements and using its case as a new home for a modern system. That is the path followed by "darkfly" on Instructables, transforming an old Philco clock radio into a media player.
From Clock Radio to Media Player, with Raspberry Pi and No 3D Printing
The trained eye will probably recognize the Philco G761. It is a six-tube clock radio dating back to 1959, and includes a selector on top to control its speakers independently. However, "darkfly" removed the radio's guts, and after a good cleaning (who knows what kind of dirt it accumulated over the decades), began adapting the new hardware. An essential detail is that the whole process seems reversible, and "darkfly" made the frames for the speakers and the screen out of wood.
That's right, there isn't a single 3D printed part. For the bottom (where the dial was) he used a piece of foam board covered with fabric, and the rest of the front is occupied by an AS-22 amplifier (costs about 13 euros on AliExpress, and comes with remote control). The hardware is no surprise: a Raspberry Pi 4B and a 5-inch touchscreen make up the entire media system. The speakers are Boss CH4230, relatively affordable.
Personally, I think I would make a single piece for the front and mount the amplifier's potentiometers on it so the USB ports aren't visible (along with that horrible LED light), and the screen frame deserves a second version, but overall, I really like the idea. I also appreciate the absence of 3D printers in the project. Not everyone has access to them, and wooden details never hurt.
Access the tutorial: Click here
