WW2 Hand Crank Generator Restoration - SCR-284 Part 3

This is the third in a series of videos covering the repair and restoration of a WW2-era SCR-284 radio set. In this video, I restore the GN-45 generator, a hand-crank generator which converts human power into a supply for the transmitter section of the radio. This process includes cleaning, fabrication of reproduction components, circuit checks, capacitor replacement and restuffing, and testing.
Subscribe to keep up to date on historical military restoration projects, with a focus on the Second World War. New videos are always in development, including more amateur radios, field gear, and other military technology. If you have an idea/request, you are welcome to leave it in the comments!
See github.com/wartimeworkshop/BC... for custom hardware plans.
Special thanks to these sites:
K4CHE's Website - www.k4che.com/SCR-284/SCR-284%...
N6CC's Website - www.n6cc.com/scr-284-radio-set
G503 Military Vehicle Forum - forums.g503.com/
Radionerds SCR-284 entry - radionerds.com/index.php/SCR-284
Scanned user manuals - www.radiomanual.info/
MicaMold capacitor restuffing instructions - antiqueradios.com/forums/view...
World Radio History (source for MicaMold ad) - worldradiohistory.com/
Carl's M37 Website - web.archive.org/web/202105132...
[EDIT: Carl has updated his website to include a reference to the channel. Thank you so much, Carl, for your kind words and involvement in the community!]
00:00 - Intro
00:34 - Disassembly
02:08 - Field Winding Repair
04:16 - Brush Reproduction
06:04 - Filter System Restoration
08:25 - Reassembly
09:25 - Setup and Calibration
11:40 - Generator Testing
12:32 - Acknowledgements and Closing Remarks
Made in 2021 by Wartime Workshop.

[@AstonishingStudios]

HE FINALLY UPLOADED!!!!!!!!!!

[@valveman12]

You did a great job restoring this generator...I can't imagine a soldier able to run that for long, especially providing enough voltage and current to drive Tubes, which are extremely lossy.

[@alastairbarkley6572]

This was the main reason that the hand crank operation of this set wasn't popular. It was very tiring for the average GI. When using hand crank, the transmitter should only be operated at HIGH power 'for short periods of time'. I bet for those GIs, 'short' wasn't short enough (and for the radio op, LOW power wasn't high enough).

[@kenobi90000]

IIRC, this model radio was used in the sound effects of Pixar's Wall-E as the sound of his tracks rolling.

[@WartimeWorkshop]

That’s so cool, thanks for pointing this out! It looks like they used a model GN-58 generator, which is similar to the GN-45 and works with the BC-1306 set.

[@davesusek3330]

So cool you created a museum piece

[@edwardpartlow4132]

Love the attention to detail and respect for maintaining historical accuracy when possible! Very professional.

[@triciahunt816]

Beautiful restoration and incredible documentation!

[@christianguerrero19]

Great my friend, greetings from Callao Perú, no sabía de esto

[@roberts1938]

WoW! I am a subscriber to this channel and already thought the channel was dead. I am waiting impatiently for more repairs and descriptions. Very good job! Greetings.

[@theselimt]

The detail here is incredible! I'm so excited to see the next one!!

[@maxasaurus3008]

Kick ass work my man!

[@michaelphilbrick6216]

Very neat!

[@allenmiddendorff2068]

Great Job!

[@Free76Thinker]

Restoration videos are my new thing and this one was great. Well done, not too long and explained exactly what you were doing and what materials you used without dragging on. Well done, you have gained a subscriber.

[@FarawayForge]

Beautiful work!

[@gwebocelestron9194]

I just picked up from a flea market a 1945 G-3B hand crank generator used with the TRC-7 radio. Excellent condition with the tripod seat/stand. Internal components look great and it works!!! Mine actually came with a cloth bag of never used brushes inside. Excellent flea market find!! I too am wondering how much I should restore it. Needs some cleaning, a tiny bit of rust removal, but I might consider repainting if I can find the right vintage OD green. Wish I could share a pic here. Yours is the only video I can find about these old generators. Maybe I should make a video.

[@Indyjunk]

Yay! Pt3, been looking forward to this!

[@Raja-kr8ul]

Excellent video sir. Thanks for repairing the old to usable. Brought new ideas of past into present. New to the world would understand the elders. Please produce new generators for the present use. Bring to market and solve energy crisis.

[@elwood.downey]

I applaud your extraordinary attention to accuracy and detail. Thanks for the story.

[@douglascygan3237]

Simply fascinating! Your attention to detail in making sure that this piece looks and functions as it did when it was new is commendable!

[@romangsh]

great job

[@swagmanexplores7472]

Really impressive workmanship

[@arenaengineering8070]

Good work 👍🏻. Thanks for the video.

[@txd]

Sweet you are back :D :D :D

[@mackfisher4487]

Excellent, museum quality restoration. The sound of this generator reminds me of some of the old war movies that showed BC- 654. Hope you make a high-quality audio recording of the transmitter receiver and particularly handcrank generator.

[@johnnaglic]

Great work in restoration of the product. You know your stuff well. It's always interesting to seeing other people's inventions and designs back in the day. I made my own generator as well mainly as an experiment to have answers on torque, etc. Hand powered devices have limits, one being the human element.

[@lotsabirds]

Excellent!

[@ConSeann3ry]

Great video, didn't expect to watch the whole thing but you explain everything well and keep a good pace.

[@dundeedideley1773]

whoa that mounting connection between the generator and the seatboard leg os wobbly AF

[@WartimeWorkshop]

Yeah, it’s really only held in by the weight of the operator.

[@cvcoco]

Really interesting since Im shopping for a modern generator which have become simplified and compact which I believe will translate to reduced longevity. That generator is seriously up to the task but I doubt many soldiers were! I pity them.

[@Dallas-Rife-UDX-347-Tennessee]

Very cool 👍. Can’t wait to see this and the radio transmitting 👏👏

[@DieAnderTier]

I LOVE old electronic restorations but the way you hid that new cap inside the old one with a little spacer. XD Please make more insanely well produced videos of you busting your ass, or anything else you have time to film! If anyone could reccomend any favorite channels like this, eevblog, electroboom, photonicinduction, etc. I'd really appreciate that too thank you!!

[@dingding554]

Great restoration! Especially the details of the brushes is so impressive.

[@lethamburns]

Stunning work. Thanks for this awesome video!

[@zawzawaung6789]

The last hand-cranked generator in the US Army was the 1980s PRC-70, which came with a G-76 generator to charge the awful NiCad batteries. The thing was quite loud. And it was also tough to keep turning at the right speed to provide juice. It had a red/green light to show when enough power was bring produced. I hated this radio. It was made by Cincinnati Electronics, and was intended to replace the PRC-74 and PRC 77 for special operations units.

[@zawzawaung6789]

The whole PRC-70 thing was a debacle. They wanted a heavy radio to do too much, and with the worst rechargeable battery system we'd ever seen.

[@alastairbarkley6572]

SCR-284 was the nearest US forces came to a 'bad radio'. Designed for development engineers in a lab, not frontline troops, it was heavy, heavy ("like carrying an air-conditioner on your back", according to some), the casing unable to keep out moisture and humidity, fussy and fiddly to keep going (the tuning dial mechanism needed a special jewellers type lubricant, for example) and hell to hand crank for any length of time (it also came with a vibrator supply and a dynamotor supply for vehicle or fixed station use). So poorly did SCR-284 perform in the really harsh conditions/terrain of Italy 1943 that the Signal Corps was forced to un-mothball the pretty dreadful SCR-511 'pogo-stick' cavalry radios to substitute. Photos show the US 101st Airborne using the SCR-694 (a vast improvement) at MARKET-GARDEN (Sept 1944) - the French Army Signals Directorate documentation on SCR-284 is dated April 1947 so I guess the US Army Signal Corps arranged to dump these radios (plus other less than stellar performers like the hugely over-rated SCR-536 Handy-Talkie) on the French and other unfortunates like the Thai military, post-war, as soon as possible. Beggars can't be choosers after all.

[@CarlReinemann]

Very impressive!

[@CarsRestored]

Me: No way he can restore this Wartime Workshop: Hold my tools

[@howardhiggins9641]

I like the video and the work you put into this project. I am wondering why you didn't spend some time on the armature which looks worn. Undercutting the mica insulators was a standard technique that would also help prevent shorting between poles - and clean up those spaces. You went a little overboard with the old style grease. More modern equivalents, with better water resistance and temperature properties, would be more robust and last longer. Keep up the great work. It looks really nice.

[@krispoland4452]

Świetna robota szkoda że tak mało filmów. Może jakieś naprawy innych radiostacji?

[@joswhite7923]

Nice work. Why did you not dismount and clean the rotor? Did you perform a continuity check off camera? Great to see old gear like this appropriately and sympathetically restored.

[@juanbizama5438]

Buenas tengo un generator gn-58-a-gy esta funcionando original

[@mhowardweasel]

Where do you go to find the capacitors and the carbon brush material. I have 3 radio’s and 3 generators I need to restore. Great set of videos and how to here!!!!!

[@WartimeWorkshop]

Thank you so much! For capacitors I usually order from Digikey. For brushes, I get common carbon brush stock from McMaster, and less common types such as metal graphite directly from Helwig Carbon. Sometimes it is necessary to buy complete brush assemblies and cut off the size of stock you need.

[@Radiogenes]

Suscribed

[@waynecoulter6761]

I have an SCR-284 and GN-45 genny... The issue I have is that the CD-501 cable I have had 8 pin connectors on each end. The connector on my GN-45 is a 9 pin Amphenol connector. How do I replace the 9 pin with an 8 pin to work with my CD-501?

[@jasoncreed6396]

Is it for sale?

[@scottpearson9846]

thats not a pick, its a scaler with a tip. its a dentists tool